Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: New Age / Roncade (Treviso) / Italy
Concert date: February 4, 2011
Attendance: 350
Ticket price: €25.00
That’s how it goes. You weigh up all kinds of things when Slash and Axl Rose are miles apart. No version of any lineup is enough to bring the magic of Guns N’ Roses from their golden era back on stage. Not Slash’s band, not Axl’s “patched-up” Guns N’ Roses of today, not McKagan’s Loded, not a trillion “tribute to” bands. Nothing. And then there’s the regenerated, cured-of-the-white-stuff former drummer on “Apetite For Destruction”, Steven Adler, with his outfit Adler’s Appetite. Sure, that’s not the real thing either, but if you’re after the true L.A. spirit of hard rock, club-sized, authentic, raw and unpretentious, this might be the closest living approximation of classic Guns N’ Roses you can get today, or rather of first-era Guns N’ Roses, up to 1990. In general, your appetite grows when you run your eyes over the cast of characters around Steven Adler. There’s Canadian-born LadyJack singer Rick Stitch, Enuff Znuff bassist Chip Z’nuff, and Faster Pussycat guitarist Michael J. Thomas. The lineup is rounded out by Quiet Riot guitarist Alex Grossi, who was replaced on this European tour by a guy going by the name Robbo. He actually looks a bit like Brian Robertson, who picked up that nickname during a short fling with Motorhead between 1983 and 1984. Grossi had to skip the European tour with Adler’s Appetite because of his commitments to the reactivated Quiet Riot.
Our classic refuge whenever we go to catch gigs in Italy is, of course, the good old New Age club in the industrial zone of the little town of Roncade near Treviso. As expected, the club was only about a third full at the start, even though Steven Adler has played this club with his band before and Adler’s Appetite are very well known to the crowd in northern Italy. But our western neighbors simply have their daily rhythm shifted three hours back, so the real partying there starts around ten in the evening, or even later.
Let’s be honest, even the name of the opening act Knock Out Kaine doesn’t say much. It’s four buddies with the character of “dirtbags” pushed to the margins of society, running on a spring of rebellion, mockery and defiance. The band, who of course haven’t left glam frills out of their personal baggage, lineup Dean Foxx (vocals), Jimmy Bohemian (guitar), LFB (bass) and Danny Krash (drums), tried to warm up the crowd in just under an hour by presenting their released EP “KandyKaine”. Nice playing, a likable show, but not enough for the guys to grab enough attention and stick in people’s minds as a band bringing something special and worth mentioning to the scene. They certainly don’t hide that they grew up on the sounds of Guns N’ Roses, which comes through especially in the way singer Dean Foxx handles the verses. Of their own material, the live highlights were Little Crystal, followed by the perverted Goin’ Down (She Goes) and the ballad Coming Home. The band woke the crowd up properly with a cover of The Cult’s Rain. Quality stuff, but with no (yet unheard) standout qualities.
Adler’s Appetite brought the album “Appetite For Destruction” back to life over an hour and twenty minutes, just as expected. With the “Lies” kicker Reckless Life, they instantly flag their excellent stage condition. Rick Stitch, with greasy straight long hair and Ray Ban shades, instantly brings the Guns N’ Roses songbird Axl to mind. But what counts, of course, is the delivery. Stitch nailed every vocal throughout the show and didn’t buckle for a second. The rest of the crew, smoking away in a ton of fog that night, embodied extreme tightness and rock-solid focus. Even without Alex Grossi in the lineup, Robbo took over as the stand-in guitarist brilliantly and proved an equal partner to Michael Thomas.
Steven Adler addressed the crowd a few times during the show and thanked them from the bottom of his heart, almost too profusely, for their support and loyalty. All this further fired up the hot-headed Italians, who are known for taking everything very emotionally. Every Adler move was blown up into a sensation, and when the man tossed a dozen drumsticks into the crowd a few times during the show, it was of course pure mayhem. You were better off ducking out of that boiling, scorching cauldron at that point. The crowd practically breathed every word of the classic Guns N’ Roses lyrics, which took even more weight off the band on stage. The quintet came across as extremely positive, approachable and relaxed. Besides almost the whole of “Appetite Fof Destruction”, played with total confidence and sounding devilishly stubborn, raw and stripped bare, the guys threw in three brand-new songs (Stardog, Fading, Alive) that will land on the upcoming Adler’s Appetite studio album. The peak of the show was without a doubt Sweet Child O’Mine. Before Paradise City, Robbo took a few solo moments and worked in the Pink Panther theme (briefly and unobtrusively at the start), and Adler urged everyone present one last time to go completely wild. The band erupted into the Guns ‘N Roses classic hit and said goodnight.
In the last song of the (obligatory) encore, Adler used a tried-and-true trick in his speech, tied to the title of the “mysterious” (still missing) song: “When I got to this place, I felt like I’d landed in the middle of the jungle!” In Welcome To The Jungle, Steven introduced the members of his crew. It’s hard to stay indifferent when Adler’s Appetite are firing off Guns N’ Roses classics one after another with such fury. These really are great songs that have stood the test of time and already belong in the eternal catalog of hard rock evergreens. An excellent approximation of the original by a crew of musicians who know how to serve up the goods on stage. Full-on approach, no brakes! For a New Age club packed to the rafters once again, the sound was tremendously loud this time. Steven Adler is clearly in excellent shape, so it’ll be extremely interesting to hear the upcoming first proper Adler’s Appetite studio album and compare how far it lands from the Guns N’ Roses debut.
If Adler’s Appetite ever show up in your neck of the woods, do yourself a favor and go see them. You won’t regret it. No “tribute to” Guns N’ Roses band can make up for the execution of Guns N’ Roses material the way Adler’s Appetite stage it. You can take our word for it. Simple as that. The members of Adler’s Appetite, who come from proven names in sleaze/glam rock, punk rock, hard rock and rock n’ roll, have so much experience, know-how and charisma that they come across as incredibly convincing once they warm up to the right working temperature and the stage chemistry kicks in. Without a shred of pretension. The band’s character also shows in the fact that after the show they turn up among their fans in the club and stay with them as long as the fans ask them to.
photos: Martin Prezelj
Setlist
1. Reckless Life 2. Nightrain 3. Out Ta Get Me 4. My Michelle 5. Stardog 6. Civil War 7. Mr. Brownstone 8. Fading 9. Rocket Queen 10. Sweet Child O’ Mine 11. Alive 12. Paradise City —encore— 13. Welcome To The Jungle
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