written by Chris Familton

Entertaining the swelling crowd early was Juke Kartel. Theirs is a big, predictable sound fusing metal, angst and commercial rock that received a good crowd response but there was an overwhelming sense that they are a band with a business plan and music as a secondary concern.

Slash has worked hard since the demise of Guns n Roses to carve out his own niche. Slash’s Snakepit never really worked and it wasn’t until Velvet Revolver that he began to look like he was back with his kind playing good sleazy heavy rock music. The new album is a vanity project – and he deserves some indulgence at this stage of his career – but live there were mixed emotions.

In Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy Slash has found a vocalist who can nail the vocal stylings of both Axl Rose and Scott Weiland. Close your eyes during Sucker Train Blues and you could picture Weiland prowling and pouting, during Civil War you could easily imagine Rose swaying earnestly and hanging off the mic. Kennedy may be a stellar singer but in terms of danger, excitement and commitment to his frontman role there was little substance. Too often he resorted to cliched interaction and half-hearted gestures. When you’re playing with an icon like Slash you better be prepared to give it everything.

Slash let his fingers do the talking for most of the twenty one song set. He knows too well that his legacy is his earlier years so we were treated to five GnR tracks – Nightrain, Civil War, Rocket Queen, Sweet Child O’ Mine and the epic closer and highpoint of the night – Paradise City. They were the undeniable highlights though some of the Velvet Revolver songs like Slither threatened to upstage the classics.

A guest appearance from Rose Tattoo’s Angry Anderson for Nice Boys was a special moment that felt a whole lot more ‘real’ than most of the note perfect songs but the overriding feeling was that this was merely a showcase gig for Slash, Triple M and the merch stand. Time has moved on since GnR strode stages to such an extent that I overheard young men discussing wide-eyed about what it must have been like to see GnR live all those years ago, a reminder that if Slash doesn’t find another musical gang to run with then this entertaining yet staged nostalgia is all he will have left to trade with.

This review first appeared in Drum Media