The title of the Guns N’ Roses reunion tour, “Not in This Lifetime”, indicates just how unlikely most fans – and even the band members – thought it was that they would ever see the chief protagonists, frontman Axl Rose and guitarist Slash, together again on stage.
But defying all expectations, and overcoming no little animosity between the infamously egotistical singer and the famously gifted axe man, the lead Gunners duo are together again, 21 years after Slash quit the band. Classic-era bassist Duff McKagan, who departed soon after Slash, is also in tow.
After a run of gigs that started in their native United States last year, before moving through Central and South America, their world-gobbling run of shows continues at Autism Rocks Arena in Dubai on Friday.
It’s the final date of an Asian and Australian tour, before the hard-rock juggernaut turns its attention to Europe in May.
We slipped on our skintight jeans to check out the first of two recent GN’R shows at Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo to find out what we can expect in Dubai.
The production
With sweeping stairs at the back, modest protruding wings for guitar-solo posing to the left and right, and a centre section for Axl to strut his stuff, if you squinted at the Tokyo show, you could almost imagine the stage was falcon-shaped – which would please plenty of people in the UAE.
The stage is certainly big enough to necessitate a certain level of fitness for the band to cover all its extremities.
Accordingly, perhaps, "Fatxl" is a little trimmer now compared to his much-derided excesses while gigging in the early noughties, during the overly long gestational period leading up to comeback album, Chinese Democracy, in 2008.
A huge screen at the rear of the stage and projections onto floor-to-ceiling drapes mean that regardless of his reduced bulk, you can’t miss Axl.
Confetti cannons explode paper fragments into the air during the final number, a joyous rendition of Paradise City.
The performance
They are older but, on the whole, in Tokyo GN’R blasted out the hits with the verve of men half their age.
Axl’s voice is just about there, if a little higher, behind pearly-white teeth.
His clean-shaven appearance, meanwhile, coupled with nods to his 1980s dress sense – most notably a bandana – suggest he is attempting to recreate the drama of a time when GN’R were labelled “the most dangerous band in the world”.
Axl gets to have a little sit-down while indulging his Elton John-esque, ivory-tinkling whims – but when this includes the mighty November Rain, which results in a sea of phone lights, who even cares.
Slash is unchanged from the GN’R heyday: spray-on-snug trousers, tight T-shirt, top hat balanced atop his shock of black hair.
At 51, the British-born six-string-slinger can still shred, wielding a Gibson Les Paul snarl that nobody else can replicate and finishing the show soloing behind his head.
But while it is life-affirming to see Axl and Slash perform together again, there is the feeling that even if old grudges have been put aside, the pair probably do not have the kind of rapport they enjoyed during the band’s early last-gang-in-town days, when they lived together in less-than-salubrious areas of Los Angeles.
It’s also incongruous watching Slash and Duff gamely play along on a smattering of forgettable material from what we’ll call “The Wilderness Years”, when they were not in the band.
The songs
The set list is by turns magnificent and confusing. Everything from Appetite for Destruction sounds world-endingly sleazy, particularly when Nightrain is dusted off pre-encore.
Axl even avoids asking for "some reggae" midway through the Bob Dylan cover Knockin' on Heaven's Door (check YouTube for evidence of his past obsession with adding unnecessary "riddim").
Another cover during the encore is a rendition of The Who's The Seeker.
That is preceded by one of the most surreal moments of the night, when Axl emerges for encore opener Don't Cry wearing a baseball cap adorned with what appears to be tiny model cats, then barely contains his laughter during the opening lines.
The merchandise
It will be interesting to see if there is geographically specific merch in Dubai, although it will be hard to top the finest Japanese effort: a skeletal Godzilla smashing an apocalyptic Tokyo landscape beneath the legend “The incredible, unstoppable... Guns N’ Roses”.
Axl Rose riding into town on a camel, perhaps?
Look out for
The previously punctuality-averse Axl turning up on time. Perhaps that is actually the shocking reality that the tour’s title is referencing.
Sadly, there is little possibility of unexpected megastar musical guests to appear on stage with GN’R in Dubai. While previous tour legs have included support acts as varied as grunge veterans Alice in Chains through to Japanese girl rockers Babymetal, in Dubai, UAE band Point of View will open proceedings.
Why you should go
Because Guns N' Roses are one of those bands that transcend time and, particularly in the case of Appetite for Destruction, their bombastic sounds have aged surprisingly well.
They have also declared this a beyond-once-in-a-lifetime event, and given the amount of hedonism they got through in their glory days, this might conceivably be the final chance you get to see GN’R as a rock ’n’ roll force in its original form.
• Guns N' Roses perform at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai Outlet Mall tomorrow. Doors open at 4pm. Tickets cost from Dh400 at www.platinumlist.net
aworkman@thenational.ae
