As soon as I mentioned to anyone that Halestorm were supporting Slash they all told me I had to be there to see Halestorm and after I made sure they didn't mean the brilliant Alestorm, who I love, I made sure to be there in plenty of time.
Now for this gig we were upstairs in the seats which gave us a great view of everything if a little bit far away to know if they were as good looking as you'd hope. Still, as you'd expect from a band that are on tour till the end of October they can't half rock.
They opened with Love Bites. That saw Lizzy Hale who fronts the band and plays a mean guitar giving it her all while striding across the stage in her thigh-length stilletto boots. Her vocals sound like a cross between Joan Jett and Suzi Quatro while her brother Arejay Hale bashed the hell out of the drums while looking like a cross between Robin Guy and Jussi 69.
They were really entertaining and Mz Hyde sounded great while I Miss The Misery sounded like it was in a similar vein to Simplify by Sanguine. It has to be said it's nice to see some reasonably hard female fronted metal. Freak Like Me was a chance for them to ask us all if we were freaks, well of course we are. Rock Show was a little bit too cliched for it's own good as you'd have to go some to come up with a stormer with that title and get away with it.
It's Not You had some decent soloing in it and they had the crowd going for the last number of the set (I Get It Off) and I'm sure many of us wanted to do just that. A good set and I've made a note to see them when they come back to London in September.
Soon enough it was time for SLASH. Now, unlike his former band mate he didn't have signs up banning anyone wearing t-shirts that mention former bandmates from entering the show without changing or wearing their shirts inside out. Good for him.
Now I have to admit that I was never a Guns'n'Roses fan, being put off by the idiot front man long before it turned out he was nuts. So that the news that Slash has chosen Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge to sing in his group isn't good news as he sounds like a cross between Axl and Josh Todd of Buckcherry.
From the opening of One Last Thrill, the sold out crowd go nuts as this band sound like the world's best Guns and Roses tribute act which is more than can be said for the sorry apparition that was in London just a week earlier that I thankfully missed. Been There Lately featured the first of many rather too widdly solos from Slash. Damn he can play, but he loves to widdle.
Night Train was the first song to get a mental reaction and it was, it has to be said, pretty good. The second guitarist did a damn good job on this tune. Back From Cali wasn't quite as good, though, and no matter how much Myles tried he never quite seemed like a natural front man.
Standing In The Sun was pretty cool, sounding like a good single and the interplay onstage was fine, although it did feature one of Slash's patented base of the guitar on his thigh solo's with loads of bottom of the neck action. That was followed by Pocket Queen that got an enormous cheer as if it was a classic tune. Well, the first half of it was and then we got to the solo and it lost the plot and sounded like two separate songs welded together. No matter how much of the crowd sang along for me the song should have ended halfway through. Ho hum.
Dr Alibi was much better: crisper and more focussed and less like G 'n R. It was followed by the old Snakepit classic Speed Parade. That went by in a rush of fury and raging guitars. Halo was acceptable enough but by no means the best song I've heard of that name this year!
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Watch This just flashed on by and left no marks on my memory unlike Starlight which was the low point of the set: a godawful ballad that sounded like it was rejected by Andrew Lloyd Webber for being too mawkish. It was truly appalling and I was amazed by how many people knew all the words to this song I'd thankfully never heard before and hope to never hear again.
They recovered somewhat from that by playing the title track off the new album Apocalyptic Love which while not sounding all that apocalyptic at least rocks like a bastard and got the place going. Then came Anastascia's live debut and it sounded great, making me wonder who she was that she had such an effect on Slash. This was followed by the best song of the set, Just Like Anything, from the Snakepit album and it sounded better than when Velvet Revolver played it live a few years ago. A great song that I always love when I hear it live.
You're A Lie could easily have been dedicated to a certain follically challenged singer but wasn't. Instead, it sounded rocking with another rather widdly solo in it (c'est la vie) before they pleased almost everyone with a good version of Sweet Child Of Mine that had almost everyone in the seats on their feet and even got one person thrown out. No idea for what transgression though.
Then Slash (who was wearing a t-shirt with Lizzy on the front) did his version of the National Anthem played in the style of Jimi Hendrix. It sounded good but not as good as the Urban Voodoo Machine's version the night before. They then slid into a great version of Slither that certainly sounded better than Velvet Revolver managed the last time they played London while falling apart.
They then departed to a huge amount of applause befoe coming back out to totally murder Led Zeppelin's Communication Breakdown to the point it was almost unrecognisable. I'm sure half the audience had no idea it was a cover, it sounded truly dreadful. Thankfully, they redeemed themselves with a crowd pleasing finale of Paradise City: one of my least favourite G'n'R songs though at least they did it justice and left large parts of the crowd wanting more.
I managed to leave one fan gobsmacked on the way out when he asked me what I thought and I told him honestly it was All Right. I think I was meant to be frothing at the mouth with joy, but really it was all right but nothing to make me rush out and buy any more of Slash's back catalogue. Only go and see him if you really want to see Guns'n'Roses and have given up on Axl.
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