A GOOD WEEKEND TO BE A GUNS N’ ROSES FAN

Well, it has finally happened: Axl Rose’s “new” Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver (a.k.a. Guns without Rose) are touring the world at the same time, both promoting highly anticipated new albums that took longer than expected to make – the difference being, of course, that one band actually has a release date in sight.

Still, it was as though the universe knew that GN’R was out there, in some form or another, this weekend. In addition to the Rock Am Ring live webcast of VR’s performance in front of a few hundred thousand screaming fans, here’s a run down of this weekend’s GN’R-related happenings.

• Melody and the Tyranny was released in Europe. This “EP” is actually more like a maxi-single, previewing some tracks from the band’s forthcoming album, Libertad. Although one song is a single we’ve already heard before (“She Builds Quick Machines”) and one song is a so-so cover of, all things, a Talking Heads song (“Psycho Killer”), one track from the upcoming release, “Just Sixteen,” is good enough to get us all hot and bothered about VR all over again. Maybe this time they’ll make an album that lives up to their potential?
• The umpteenth version of GN’R’s new track, “Better,” leaked, making Axl Rose official holder of the world’s record for most versions of a single song ever leaked. This version has a much more rock-friendly mix that plays up the guitars and plays down the synths, while actually allowing you to hear Tommy Stinson’s bass line. In short, it’s a much more testicle shaking mix, and we, at least, really like it.
• Axl actually showed up for his gigs in Mexico… although not until the wee hours of the morning (what else would you expect?). The shows brought no new Chinese Democracy news, but did bring us some new bootleg concert footage.

-AR
Words