Review
- Mike Gitter, Rolling Stone

Will Wonders Never Cease? Tonight Axl Rose was reasonably on time, stuck to one outfit (shorts and a Charlie Manson T-shirt) and finished a tantrum-free set, one demolished microphone notwithstanding. Rose's much publicized psychotherapy seems to be working: When he cantered across the stage or let loose one of his rasping growls, spasmodic rage evolved into the grace and control of an angry swan.

On the current Skin And Bones Tour, the band has recaptured its early aggressiveness. The "Guns N' Roses Revue" cabaret extravaganza, complete with horns and backup singers, is gone. With the first strains of "Welcome To The Jungle,"followed by the one-two punch of "Nightrain" and "Live and Let Die," the Gunners came full circle, finally comprehending the greatness of 1987's Appetite For Destruction and ridding themselves of any enormodome attraction bloat.

When "Double Talkin' Jive" (which Rose sneeringly dedicated to former tourmate Lars Ulrich of Metallica) kicked in, Slash provided the requisite heroics while Gilby Clarke chugged out the rhythms and crunch, quietly claiming Izzy Stradlin's spot as his own. Burly drummer Matt Sorum kept the backbeat percolating; on sheer instrumental weight alone, the band was firing on all cylinders.

But the momentum was halted when a piano and overstuffed green sofa were hauled center stage, and the Guns lazed through a godd half-hour of acoustic numbers. The bare-boned power schmaltz of the MTV staple "November Rain" aside, the excursion into unplugged turf proved that the band's raucous swagger is best delivered from a standing position.

Mike Fanara's Review [posted 3.8.93]

Well, the show at New Haven went off without a hitch. Brian May came on stage about 8:50pm and played to 10:00pm. He didn't sound to bad. He threw in some Queen stuff and of course, his own new stuff. Unfortunately, the crowd was totally for GNR. Some people in back of us didn't even know who Brian May was. He was under 20 so go figure.

Well, GNR hit the stage at 10:50pm with a kick ass version of "Welcome to the Jungle". The crowd of 11,000 literally went nuts. The set went something like this: (if you read the review about the Austin, TX show, then you know what New Haven was like)

I'm trying to get the exact order, but I might not. Maybe Lorrie can help me out.

1. Welcome to the Jungle
2. Nightrain
3. Live and Let Die
4. The Garden
5. Double Talking Jive
6. You Could be Mine
7. Attitude
Couch was put on stage and did accoustic set, can't remember 1st song
8. Dead Horse ?
9. Your Crazy
10. Should have killed her (can't remember exact title)
11. Sick of this Life
12. Patience
13. November Rain (half accoustic)
14. Sweet Child
15. Knocking on Heaven's Door
16. Estranged
17. Paradise City

I must say that the show was excellent. I wish they could've played alot more tunes, but I'll take what I got. The performances were excellent. Axl's voice couldn't have been better. He hit every note. I did tend to hear feedback when he came to the edge of the stage, but it was tolerable.

Slash had a solo somewhere in the set list, but he was smoking on Double Talking Jive and You Could be Mine. For all of you fans who want to hear Estranged, if you ever get to see them, you will not be disappointed. Estranged was awesome! It couldn't have been better. They ended the set at 1:00pm with a great performance of Paradise City. I think we were all surprised when they didn't come back for an other tune. All in all - excellent time, excellent show GO SEE THEM!

I think I'm going to take a ride up to Hartford on Tuesday and catch the next show. That's another thing, the Box Office release 500 tickets a few hours before the show - all good seats too. It made the scalpers scramble just to get their money back. So, if you want to see them in Hartford, but don't have a ticket, I'll bet you'll be able to pick up a good seat for a reasonable fee.