The final day of Aftershock Festival was all about headliners Guns N’ Roses. The biggest rock band on the bill, which also included the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, got a whopping three hours on stage to close out the four-day event and the excitement built throughout the day—even as the band showed up a good 30 minutes later than expected. All was forgotten once Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan and crew hit the stage, exploding right out of the gate with “It’s So Easy.”
GNR played more than two dozen songs. Rose was a spark plug. The 61-year-old nimbly worked both sides of the stage and had plenty in the tank to deliver his powerful screams.
After “Bad Obsession” and “Chinese Democracy,” the band worked in a cover of Velvet Revolver’s “Slither.” That band featured several Guns N’ Roses members but with Stone Temple Pilots’ Scott Weiland singing. Rose made it his own
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After crowd favorite “Mr. Brownstone” and “Pretty Tied Up,” it was time to roll out a classic. As the band broke out seminal hard rocker “Welcome to the Jungle” early on, tens of thousands of cell phones shot up into the air to record the moment and sing along. Appetite For Destruction was the most represented album in the set with seven tracks.
The stage was well-lit but the production relatively simple for Guns N’ Roses compared to the weekend’ prior headliners. Massive video screens show 3D renderings. Keyboardists Melissa Reese and Dizzy Reed, and drummer Frank Ferrer were situated on a large riser at he back of the stage.
Multiple times, GNR rolled into extended jams that featured Slash’s virtuosic guitar work. Watching him was alone worth the price of admission. Each bend of the strings and flash of wah-wah pedal was so distinct, while these jam sessions offered plenty of space for him to operate. At one point, the guitarist even played a talk box. McKagan looked stoic and determined, even singing lead on of The Stooges “T.V. Eye.”
Songs like “You Could Be Mine” and “Hard Skool” kept the pace moving while “Better” brought a distinctly modern rock energy. With Reed and Reese, Guns N’ Roes have a few extra tools that were especially evident on Chinese Democracy‘s “Better.
