Location: Nickelsdorf / Panonnia Fields / Austria
Concert date: 06/20/2006
Attendance: 1506
Ticket price: approx. 100,000 (for the three days)
Sun, 30°C, lots of tanned skin and plenty of great music. Heat aside, you couldn’t have wished for better weather at a festival. That’s pretty much how the three days of the second Nova Rock festival looked, held June 15–17 in Austria. The young festival comes from an excellent, battle-tested crew of organizers and promoters from Vienna, the folks who bring the biggest bands to Austria. This year they landed quite a few big names, like Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Placebo, Tool, Motorhead, Queens Of The Stone Age…
I only made it on the last day, mainly to see Axl Rose and his new Guns N’ Roses.
Saturday on the main stage kicked off at 1 p.m. with an Austrian band with a wonderfully curious name, Jesus Christ Smokes Holy Gasoline. A mix of ska, punk, metal and who knows what else, and seriously energetic guys, they got the keener early birds moving, the ones who gave in to the rhythm despite the heat.
Next up was Sebastian Bach, best known as the singer of Skid Row. At 30°C with the sun beating down, the strapping frontman walked out on stage in leather pants. Just looking at that bumped the temperature up a few more degrees, so I retreated to the press area, where there was at least a bit of shade. After him came The Krupps, Opeth, Apocalyptica, Oomph!. Meanwhile the space in front of the stage was slowly but steadily filling up.
Around 8 p.m. Bloodhound Gang took over the main stage. They played their hits like The Bad Touch, Alongs Come Mary, and also a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence”. The last band before Guns N’ Roses was Tool. By now the crowd was huge (supposedly around 100,000 people over the three days in total), and after their set it was waiting, more or less skeptically, for the night’s headliners, Guns N’ Roses.
At 11:45 p.m., surprisingly on the dot, the lights went out, and after the intro came the first notes of their hit Welcome To The Jungle. Next came It´s so Easy, Mr. Brownstone, and Live and Let Die. Then Axl brought their tour manager Tom out on stage, since it was his birthday, and sang Happy Birthday to him. The birthday boy then bolted off the stage as fast as he could. Next was a song from their long-in-the-making new album Madagascar.
And then it began… Robin Finck played the first solo of the night. I don’t think that one was even all that long. Every spare minute or five, Axl used for a costume change and showed off quite a few of his nice multicolored jackets. Next came the intro everyone knows to one of their biggest hits, Sweet Child O´ Mine. Which sounded somehow not quite authentic. Well, it could definitely have been better. Soon after came a solo by keyboardist Dizzy Reed. An incredible virtuoso, but after 5 minutes the listeners start getting bored and that real vibe disappears. Next was the song The Blues. And, surprise, another solo right after it! This time from guitarist Richard Fortus. Which turned into a guitar duo with Finck, the two of them playing Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful. A few more songs followed: Knockin On Heaven´s Door, Don´t Cry (with Ron Thal aka Bumblefoot and his famous guitar). Then Axl invited Sebastian Bach up on stage. Before they played My Michelle (it sounded really great), Dizzy Reed got his own birthday moment too. The crowd joined Axl and Sebastian in singing the birthday greeting. Then came one more special guest, Izzy Stradlin, a member of the former Guns N’ Roses in their best years. Together they played Think About You, Used To Love Her, Patience and Nightrain. The band members left the stage and soon came back with a bang for the last two hits. My favorite, Rocket Queen, and to close, the excellent Paradise City. Axl and company said goodbye to their fans in a good mood. The band was in surprisingly good spirits all night. Axl ran wild up and down the stage and had a few funny remarks, apparently the late hours suit him… His voice is no longer what it was in his younger years, but for his age it holds up pretty well.
In short, the show was delivered very confidently, if you subtract the overly stretched-out solos.
My impressions overall are definitely positive, because I wasn’t looking for Slash or Duff on that stage and, without any prejudices about Axl, I’d rather devote myself to really great music. Nova Rock 2006 officially wrapped up. Fireworks lit up the sky, and on the road the visitors were greeted by signs reading “See you at Nova Rock 07”.
Guns N’ Roses set list:
1. Welcome To The Jungle
2. It’s So Easy
3. Mr. Brownstone
4. Live and Let Die
5. Madagascar
6. Robin Finck Solo
7. Sweet Child O’ Mine
8. Blues Jam
9. Dizzy Reed Solo
10. The Blues
11. Richard Fortus Solo
12. Richard and Robin “Beautiful” Solo
13. You Could Be Mine
14. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
15. Better
16. Jam Session
17. November Rain
18. Ron Thal Solo
19. Out Ta Get Me
20. My Michelle (w/ Sebastian Bach)
21. Think About You (w/ Izzy Stradlin)
22. Used To Love Her (w/ Izzy Stradlin)
23. I.R.S.
24. Patience (w/ Izzy Stradlin)
25. Ron Thal Solo
26. Nightrain (w/ Izzy Stradlin)
—encore—
27. Rocket Queen
28. Paradise City
Written by: Živa Viviana Doria
Setlist
Guns N’ Roses Tool Bloodhound Gang Oomph! Apocalyptica Opeth Die Krupps Sebastian Bach Jesus Christ Smokes Holy Gasoline
Photo Gallery
