Guns ‘N’ Roses –
Slane Castle, Dublin, Republic Of Ireland, Saturday, 27th May, 2017
Set List: Intro (Looney Tunes/The Equalizer)/It’s So Easy/Mr. Brownstone/Chinese Democracy/Welcome To The Jungle/Double Talkin’ Jive/Better/Estranged/Live And Let Die/Rocket Queen/You Could Be Mine/New Rose/This I Love/Civil War (With Voodoo Chile Outro)/Black Hole Sun/Coma/Slash Guitar Solo/Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from ‘The Godfather’)/Sweet Child O’ Mine/Out To Get Me/Wish You Were Here/November Rain/Knocking On Heavens Door/Night Train.
Encore: Patience/There Was A Time/The Seeker/Paradise City/Outro (You Know My Name).
I had the great pleasure of seeing Guns ‘N’ Roses last night at Slane Castle who opened with ‘It's So Easy’ much to the ecstatic delight of the crowd. It was without a shadow of a doubt the best concert I have ever been to. Axl’s vocals got ‘Better’, scuse the pun as the set continued with Slash and Richard Fortus jelling like they had played together for years.
Duff was so strong in his own right and the set list was just epic. They did a great version of Soundgarden's ‘Black Hole Sun’ as a tribute to Chris Cornell that was a major highlight, needless to say, really emotional for the 83,000 fans.
Another stand-out cover was their rendition of The Who’s 1968 classic ‘The Seeker’ in their four song encore and of course in Slash's seven minute guitar solo intro into ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ he included his epic rendition of ‘Softly Love (Love Theme From The Godfather'.
Okay, so they didn't play ‘Don't Cry’ but during the 25 string of songs on offer tonight they included The Damned’s ‘New Rose’ and a killer version of the Illusion classic that is ‘Coma’, not to mention a personal fave of mine in ‘Estranged’ that saw Axl still aged 28!
Starting at 7:55, 5 minutes ahead of schedule, their set lasted just short of 3 hours and featured a stunning array of video wall graphics, an epic guitar solo, a few customary pyrotechnics and an inevitable firework display at the end of the show.
This is one reunion that I never thought would happen in my lifetime - hence the aptly named ‘Not in this lifetime Tour’. I doubt I will ever see a concert so emotional, full of energy and so full of memories ever again. It’s the concert of the decade and I'd love to see them again in London!
All I can say is, if you are going, you won't regret it at all. Axl is back on form and the whole band played as a tight single unit.
Although difficult to get to, Slane Castle is a perfect setting for big bands like this and has every right to be dubbed the Irish home of Rock.... Ireland's very own Donington Park.
10/10
Review By Steve Colledge (@slashfanclubeu)
Photographs by Andii Andrews of Stone Trigger
