‘Warm-Up Show’ For Guns N’ Roses

Ben Ratliff of the New York Times was on hand for Friday night’s Guns N’ Roses concert, the first of four shows for the group at Hammerstein Ballroom. Ratliff writes, “On stage, Mr. Rose called them ‘warm-up shows’ for the band’s European tour, which begins May 25 in Madrid. It’s fair to assume that the large-theater shows will have clearer sound and more effective stagecraft; Mr. Rose’s voice sounded strong, even in his highest nasal shrieks, but the band wasn’t using the warm-up time to experiment. The set list of the two-hours-plus show, complete with flash pots and confetti, came pretty close to what an only slightly different version of the band was playing four years ago, on its last tour.” Read more.