"The Charbor Chronicles": Guns 'N Roses & Mammoth WVH at MetLife Stadium, Meadowlands, East Rutherford, NJ 8/5/21

So a few months ago, I just decided, rather halfheartedly, to check ticket availability and prices for the Guns 'n Roses show that was scheduled for the Meadowlands in East Rutherford for August 5th. For years, I had checked tickets for their shows, but they were almost always quite expensive, even prohibitively so. This time, however, I found tickets were selling for decent, affordable prices. They were kind of nosebleeds, but hey, they were tickets nevertheless. After some hesitation, I went ahead and bought them.

The thing is, the first show that I usually count as a concert that I did not merely get dragged to involuntarily was with these guys. It was back in the summer of 1992, five weeks or so, approximately, after I graduated high school. That was the tour that they did with Metallica, and Faith No More was the opening act. It was intense, and very exciting, even intoxicating. Both my brother and I were there mostly for Metallica, and it must be said that they kind of stole the show. Their live shows were super intense, and a common problem for GNR was that, since they insisted on going on last to kind of reinforce the notion that they were the headline act, the crowd was almost always drained by the time that they actually took the stage. That certainly felt like the case for our concert, which took place at the old Giants Stadium on July 29, 1992. Again, I was excited to finally go to a "real" concert, as I viewed it.

Now, in fairness, both my brother and I had been to some actual concerts before. A few of them, actually. Just weeks earlier, at Sun Tan Lake, we had seen the Marshall Tucker Band and Roger McGuinn (formerly of the Byrds), and had just narrowly missed seeing Jefferson Starship, because it began to be pouring rain shortly before they were scheduled to come on. In the years before that, even, we saw some concerts. Lo Jai, a French traditional band, very near the old World Trade Center in New York City, in July of 1989 (July 5th, if memory serves correctly). Jean Jacques Goldman a pretty cool French rock solo act. Yves Montand, another famous French musician. A woman who's name escapes me, but who played Montand's music in his honor at a show shortly after he died. Some free classical music concert, which I believe was at or in association with the Lincoln Center (outside, though) when I was really young.

There may have even been others. But for whatever the reason, I generally did not count those. Not sure why, even. I guess the level of excitement was really ramped up for the Metallica/ Guns 'n Roses tour. And again, it was intense. What I remember most was that, indeed, the Metallica set was what we had come for, and it was really intense and, yes, draining. It felt like there was a real lull after that, even though the "main act" was yet to take the stage. Admittedly, Guns 'n Roses were not my favorite band (at the time, Metallica was, but they also would not be for long), and I was particularly unimpressed with Axl Rose's antics. He was up to his old tricks for that show, as well, cutting it short because someone was giving him a hard time, perhaps throwing something at him, or bothering him, one way or another. I remember that he said some people ruin it for everyone, and the show seemed to end abruptly, well before it was supposed to end. I also remember it seemed to end very late, like in the wee hours. It was 1 or 1:30 at least, if memory serves correctly. Back then, it seemed that such things were a little bit more commonplace.

When the show was over, I was actually still pumped. It felt thrilling to have gone to such a badass show, finally. The drive home woke me up a bit, and as I recall, it seemed like I had a burst of energy once we got home. So, despite the ringing in my ears (it would last something like three to four days), I blasted some Metallica on the headphones. Man, the energy that seemed to come so easily and effortlessly back then amazes me. But it is not all that surprising, given my age of 17 at the time. Let me tell you, after this GNR show, which ended much earlier (about 11pm), I was pretty much drained, and the drive, if anything, drained me more still. Somehow, I did not go to bed right away after getting home, but went on the old laptop and started writing about this show. In fact, you are currently reading what I was (am) writing about it on this night (just for the record, it's 1:34 EST).

This was the first time that I had seen GNR in 29 years. Ironically, the first time that I saw them was almost in the same exact place. It was in late July of 1992, when GNR was probably still at the height of their power, having just recently released Use Your Illusion I and II. My brother and I got tickets for this particular show of the Metallica/Guns 'N Roses tour. It was the second stop at Giants Stadium, but I still have fond memories from that show, and it still probably ranks among my top ten shows of all time.

Now, I had made a point of seeing Metallica again. My brother and I saw them at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown two years later, but that show proved to be a disappointment. I swear, it felt like they just stacked a bunch of regular stereos together and blasted it full volume. It did not sound nearly as good or crisp as it had at Giants Stadium. Also, Metallica was less energetic, it felt, and James Hetfield opened the show with a very corny line. By then, Metallica was already dropping fairly quickly on my list of favorite bands, and that show kind of cemented their fall from grace in my eyes. Yet, I would see them still one more time, although this time, they just happened to be at a show that my friend and I went to, almost despite them, much rather than specifically to see them. It was Lollapalooza 1996, and I still have very fond memories of that show. The Screaming Trees, the Shaolin Monks, the Ramones, some weird band Psychotica, Rancid, the Wu Tang Clan, Soundgarden, and then, at the end, of course, Metallica.

Yet, I had not seen Guns 'n Roses more than once, which was a bit surprising. Part of it was my aversion to Axl Rose, who really did kind of get on my nerves. He seemed the epitome of a rock star cliche, taking himself and his money and success way too seriously. I heard Chris Cornell suggest that Rose always was running around with a fist full of $100 bills, and that was a big part of what I did not like. It always seemed like he had women on each arm, with hard liquor in one hand, and a cigar in the other. That in and of itself does not bother me, but his ego certainly did. Showing up hours late to his own shows grew a little tiresome and was way too repetitive, and I even heard that he was still doing it about 20 years or so later. What as infinitely worse to me, however, was him cutting a show short because he claimed to be having vocal problems, that his voice hurt. But this came on a night when Metallica frontman James Hetfield had been injured onstage, and GNR could have saved the day. Backstage, Metallica found GNR, and Rose in particular, smoking and drinking heavily, which to my knowledge has not been confirmed as a reliable cure for vocal chord problems. That, and their indifference to literal rioting were things that really pissed me off, and seemed to cut to more than just ego, but to how seriously rotten a typical "star" can be once he's reached the point where he feels his success exonerates him from literally everything.

But I digress. Point is, I did not see them again. of course, for many years. Hell, within a few years, they had broken up anyway. Once they got back together, I still hesitated, although this time, it often was about the price. Indeed, there was an interest in seeing them again. Rose's behavior aside - and it was definitely a turn off for me, personally - there is just no denying that they are a solid rocking band. They have a good body of work, and as I discovered on this night after all of these years, these guys can still really rock.

So as mentioned earlier, I did keep checking to see if the opportunity would arise to see them at a price that I thought fair. And that opportunity finally came earlier this year. Granted, the tickets were in what is considered he nose bleeds. But I have been trying to take my son to see some great concerts, and notable rock acts, in the past few years. Among some of the artists that we have seen together are both of the surviving Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Bob Dylan, some of the original Woodstock acts, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, the Smashing Pumpkins, Temple of the Dog, and some other decent acts as well beyond that. GNR would be a solid addition to those names.

Of course, these are not normal times. Neither of us had been to a concert since well before the pandemic. And like with most scheduled events, I was half expecting the show to be delayed or canceled, especially since they have been talking about a second wave. We left fairly early, hoping to catch some of the setlist by Mammoth WVH, the band featuring Wolfgang Van Halen (Eddie Van Halen's son). The traffic was light, which was great. By the time that we reached the stadium, the traffic remained surprisingly light. We took the exit, and it was still light.

Uh-oh. I had checked MetLife Stadium's website not just the night before, but a few hours before. Had something happened to indeed cancel or postpone the show? But then we rounded a corner, and sure enough, there was a line of traffic waiting just before the booths to pay for parking. I cannot remember ever having been so happy either to hit a traffic jam (minor as it was) or to pay for parking.

They really were going through with it. This was the first major event that either of us would be attending since 2019!

We parked, and settled in maybe around 6pm. The gates were supposed to have opened by 6:30, and I mistakenly had assumed that Wolfgang's band would not be on until 7pm. We headed towards the stadium, and I noticed something as we got closer that was impossible to notice before, when the music (Metallica and Guns 'n Roses, mostly) were blasting from a number of different tailgate parties: there was a band playing inside.

So we hurried inside, and got to our seats. Sure enough, Mammoth WVH were playing. And they were pretty damn good! I could not say that either of us were familiar with them, but my son was very impressed, as well. This is a band that I will explore a bit more in the future. Sorry that we missed the earlier part of their set, but glad to have caught the twenty to thirty minutes or so that we did get to see.

They went off perhaps around a quarter after seven or so, and then came the wait. Was not sure that Axl would not make everybody wait a very long time, like he used to be known for. But the band came on, if memory serves correctly, somewhere between 8:20 to 8:30. Not bad.

And you know what? The show was pretty damn good! It was one of those rare shows where I knew every song except for one. They debuted a track called "Absurd," which as I understand it, they just released the studio version of. It was only the second time that they ever played it live, having played it a couple of nights earlier, most likely at their Boston show.

Indeed, they played a solid show. When Axl can focus on the music, he and his bandmates can really rock the house, and put on a kick ass show. That's basically what they did last night, playing for maybe around two and a half hours.

Two of the first three songs were from Chinese Democracy, an album that I had really begun to listen to and appreciate in the weeks leading up to this show. In between was Mr. Brownstone. The fourth track was a cover of Slither by Velvet Revolver, which I thought was really cool! They would play at least one more Chinese Democracy track a bit later (Better, a song I really came to like, actually).

They covered most of their best known songs. That included Patience, one of my personal favorites. Surprisingly, it was apparently the first time that they had done the song on this particular tour. They played some other favorites as well. I particularly enjoyed Estranged and November Rain, both of which really take me back to the early nineties. They closed with Paradise City, a song that I really fell in love with back in the late eighties. Couldn't get enough of it back then, and really enjoyed it last night, too!

Here is the setlist from both bands from last night's show:

AUG 5 2021 Guns N’ Roses Setlist at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, USA

Tour: 2021 Summer North American Tour Setlist

SETLIST

It's So Easy

Mr. Brownstone

Chinese Democracy

Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)

Double Talkin' Jive

Welcome to the Jungle (Link Wray's "Rumble" intro)

Better

Estranged

Live and Let Die (Wings cover)

You're Crazy (Slow Version)

Rocket Queen

You Could Be Mine

I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges cover)

Absurd

Civil War (Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun" outro)

Slash Guitar Solo (band introductions) (Muddy… more )

Sweet Child o' Mine

November Rain (Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend”… more )

Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan cover) (Alice Cooper's "Only Women… more )

Nightrain

Encore:

Patience (tour debut)

Paradise City

Note: "Absurd", "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "Estranged" and "Hardskool" were soundchecked.

Taken from:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/guns-n-roses/2021/metlife-stadium-east-rutherford-nj-1b8f7d68.html

AUG 5 2021 Mammoth WVH Setlist at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, USA Setlist

SETLIST

Don't Back Down

Mammoth

Mr. Ed

Talk & Walk

Think It Over

You're to Blame

Stone Play Video Distance

Epiphany (with band introductions)

Note: Opening act for Guns N' Roses

Taken from:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/mammoth-wvh/2021/metlife-stadium-east-rutherford-nj-38f7d6f.html

I took a couple of videos. One was lesser in quality, but much longer, but which I had some issues with getting onto Youtube. more on that later, hopefully. On my cell, there was very limited storage space, so I could only do one track. It is about one minute long, with Duff doing his cover of the Stooges. Sorry it is so short, but it was the only one that I could do:

https://youtu.be/xZMxwMlqsxs

In any case, here are some pictures from this show. Enjoy!