Slash impressed his hungry audience both aurally and visually at Thursday night’s Tabernacle show
Review by Russell Eldridge, photos by Rose Riot
The crowd Thursday night at Tabernacle consisted of fans of all ages and dress, packed in at the start for opener Foxy Shazam. Some band highlights–in addition to the songs–included a keyboardist who treated his keyboard like a rag doll in his quest for absolute mobility and singer Eric Nally who told fans a story of a drunkard and by the end of the story he asked for a cigarette. After being pelted with cigarettes, he asked for a lighter. At that point, he assumed the dodge ball pose of the last man standing.
Tabernacle’s top balcony felt quite comfortable and the sound quality was amazing as Slash took the stage with Myles Kennedy and the conspirators, perhaps better from the balcony than from within the swollen mass of sweating bodies. After hearing “Not For Me,” one might wonder where in the world did Slash find Kennedy. Especially in this day and age where someone of Kennedy’s ilk vocally is frowned upon. One could only hope the day of great soloing and multi-octave singing will return.
Kennedy easily handled the Vocals for “Night Train” and though some subtle similarities exist between Kennedy and Axl Rose, Kennedy’s voice is a lot clearer. Kennedy asked the audience for help whistling the intro in “Civil War,” saying “I can’t whistle for shit.” One might wonder whether he was poking fun at Axl Rose or if he really couldn’t whistle….
Slash’s tone was album quality, and the beginning lick to one song instantly recalled a Warren DeMartini lick. During “Rocket Queen,” he took a blistering solo that replaced the climactic ending on the album.
Bassist Todd Kerns took over for a few songs including “Out To Get Me.”
Slash, Myles Kennedy and The conspirators can easily stand on their own, but everyone expects some Guns ‘N’ Roses when Slash is in the house, and it was also refreshing to hear the songs sung very well. The last time I saw Slash play was with Velvet Revolver. Scott Weiland is a great singer in his own right, but I don’t think he would be able to pull off a lot of the GNR material that was played that night.
After Thursday night’s performance, the possibility of Slash making a huge comeback seems easily within reach and well wanted.
All photos by Rose Riot
