A sore throat and half deaf.

These are the two signs of a good concert; Guns N’ Roses delivered this and more at their show at NRG Stadium. Even though the doors were supposed to open at 6:30 pm, they did not actually open until around 7:00 pm, which irritated many fans, but gave me a chance to take a good look at the crowd. Unsurprisingly all I could see was a sea of black Guns N’ Roses shirts, but there were a few that wore some from other iconic bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Poison. If a person didn’t have a Guns N’ Roses shirt, it looked as if they just grabbed their next best rock band shirt and showed up in that.

The concert united so many people from the classic rock generation, and it was fun seeing a bunch of

middle aged fans and older being introduced to the opening act, Skrillix, for the first time, and not being sure what to think of it. Cheers to the little old lady sitting next to me bobbing her head and clapping off beat to the dubstep. By the time the band actually got on stage it was almost 10:00 and the crowd welcomed them warmly, whistling and throwing fists in the air. Despite Axl Rose’s age, he still sounded just as he did 30 years ago while running and jumping around on the stage with so much energy you wouldnt think it was him.

By the second song all of the musicians had sweat sflying from their elbows with each dramatic movement. Even though Rose impressed the audience with his vocals, Slash brought the audience to their knees. The crowd blew up every time he would take control with a solo or when Rose mentioned his name. Everyone completely lost control when they saw his signature curly hair, top hat and aviators. During his mind-blowing solos that would make you think he was playing a piano, his hands were moving so fast across the strings I couldn’t get a clear picture of them when they showed up on the screen.

Through the band’s tenure they have really learned how to put on a good show, but that still doesn’t prevent accidents. While Rose was playing the piano for November Rain, a key string broke. He had to stop to see what was wrong, but couldn’t fix it so he said “**** it” and played on. He laughed through it and at the end apologized for the inconvenience.

When the band started playing the intro to Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Rose strutted on the stage with a cowboy hat and a leather vest complete with tassels. If I learned one thing from this concert it is that Axl Rose can rock the cowboy look. After two hours I dragged my exhausted body from the stadium, not making the smart decision to stay for the encore, where they played through several more songs. I could at least hear Don’t Cry from the parking lot. Overall the show was full of harsh lights and long guitar solos which is exactly what I was looking for in a rock concert.

Rating: A++++ x infiniti