Pets Left Behind in Disaster Area

This is so sad. Just pitiful.

Velvet Revolver in Concert

Just got back from seeing Velvet Revolver at the 3,000-seat Moran Theater in the Times-Union Center, and they rocked hard. It was good to finally see Scott, Slash and Co. as I had never seen GNR or STP before, and they didn't disappoint. I kind of regret not having seen these guys in their former bands; back in those days I was into harder-edge bands and I guess it took awhile for GNR and STP to grow on me. By the time I began to appreciate what they were doing, both bands had scattered to the four winds.

The running joke with Chuck before the show was which band member was going to drop dead onstage, but I'm happy to say the band members all looked healthy and were in good form. I'm going to hold off on giving them "Back from the Dead" Aerosmith awards just yet, given Scott Weiland's history of "re-tox" lapses, but for their sake I hope they continue to walk the straight and narrow.

We were waiting in line to get libations when the band started. Assuming that it was the opening band (we couldn't really make out the music—too muffled outside), Chuck and I weren't in any hurry to get to our seats. Boy were we surprised to see Slash's frizzy head onstage as we made our way to our seats. No opening band! So we missed the first song, no big deal.

I'd forgotten that Weiland used a megaphone onstage, and he did so with great effect, wielding it simultaneously like a weapon and an ad hoc sex toy. Along with with the Nazi SS cap he wore for most of the show (I wonder if anyone there really understood what the quaint little totenkopf on it represents) he struck menacing, pseudo-fascist-dictatorial poses, all the while twirling and, uh, slithering around the stage. We probably could have done without the extended mid-show rant against the press—he definitely has a chip on his shoulder about all the negative press he's earned in his time. But I will say this: Scott Weiland can flat-out sing his cojones off.

Slash looks like he hasn't aged a day in the nearly two decades he's been a major player on the circuit, which is amazing considering the hard livin' that guy's done. Still puffing away on cigarettes while he plays (I don't see how he can do that without getting smoke in his eyes) and pulling guitar-god faces. We were fortunate to have him on our side of the stage (stage left), less than 40 feet away. While I don't think he really breaks any new ground on the guitar (oh, I'm soooo critical, LOL), if it's blues or pentatonic he can play it. His technique is prodigious; he didn't miss a note all night. And what a sweet, sweet vibrato. If he'd been born a decade or two earlier he would've been in the top five or six rock guitarists of all time; as it is now he'll have to settle for the top 20 (poor guy).

Anyway, we couldn't hear the rhythm guitarist at all; for all his enthusiasm he just wasn't there in the mix. Duff gooned around the stage, swishing his hair and striking random rock-god poses (I didn't realize he was so tall). I couldn't make out a note he was playing, but it didn't really matter.

It was great to hear a few GNR and STP "oldies" from the golden years. I liked how Weiland handled the vocals on "Mr. Brownstone;" not as scratchy/whiny as Axl, but effective. They played a few encores, including a crowd-rousing rendition of "Wish You Were Here," before closing with "Slither." Slash donned the ol' top hat for the last few songs. It looked like the same one he's worn all these years. I wonder what that thing smells like.

Anyway, it was a good show! Four out of five stars.

-----------

Update 9/6/05: Here's Weiland's explanation about his SS cap. As usual, I think musicians should just stick to music! (And I'm a musician saying that, too.)

Here's a setlist from a May concert that someone posted that is basically the same one VR used the other night. Scott also slid in a few bars of "Dead and Bloated" somewhere in the middle of the set, and that really got the crowd going.

1. Sucker Train Blues
2. Do it For The Kids
3. Headspace
4. Superhuman
5. Crackerman
6. Illegal I
7. Fall To Pieces
8. Dirty Little Thing
9. Big Machine
10. It's So Easy
11. Sex Type Thing
12. Set Me Free
13. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover)
14. You Got No Right
15. Mr. Brownstone
16. Slither