Guns N' Roses won't give you the concert of your life anymore

BarcelonaOut of respect for the work of photojournalists, this review is published without photographs of Guns N' Roses concert because the band did not authorized professional photographers on this tour. The group doesn't provide press accreditation either, but since tickets for the show at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys weren't sold out, nothing stopped an ARA journalist from purchasing one, for €130, to cover the concert from the floor.

The band appeared on stage at 8:54 pm, 24 minutes late, and wrapped up at 11:52 pm, complicating the journey home for many fans unable to catch the last metro —a familiar inconvenience with concerts taking place in Barcelona's Olimpic area. The audience's enthusiasm was palpable, eager to reconnect with Guns N' Roses seven years after their previous visit to the city. Indeed, the band's current offering is essentially unchanged since then: celebrating the reunion of singer Axl Rose, bassist Duff McKagan, guitarist Slash, and keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who started playing together again in 2016. This lineup isn't exactly the founding core –Reed joined on the album Use Your Illusion (1991)– but it’s close enough. The band’s performance was bolstered by guitar player Richard Fortus, keyboardist Melissa Reese, and particularly Isaac Carpenter, debuting this year as the band's drummer. The rhythm section, featuring McKagan and Carpenter (who previously played together in Loaded), was the night's standout, impeccable, and essential for maintaining momentum in the most demanding sections of the set. McKagan notably delivered an outstanding rendition of the Misfits' Attitude.

The same praise cannot fully be extended to Axl Rose. He retains his peculiar charisma and knows how to seize the photo opportunity alongside Slash, yet within a single song, his vocal performance oscillated dramatically, nearly plunging into catastrophe with forced notes while simultaneously handling higher pitches effectively. This was evident from the start with Welcome to the Jungle and again during a shaky performance of Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney & Wings). In other tracks, a combination of questionable sound quality, inconsistent microphone dynamics, and vocal fatigue led his voice to falter during the challenging parts. Nonetheless, Rose summoned enough strength to deliver commanding renditions of Nightrain and Paradise City which closed the concert. The sound quality issue was most pronounced during November Rain, performed by Rose at the piano, where the majestic grand piano was overshadowed and ultimately drowned by Slash's riffs. Slash himself continued to embody the archetypal guitar hero, delivering captivating solos steeped in blues and rock ’n’ roll traditions. His interplay with Fortus, particularly on songs like Bad Obsession" was especially impressive.

Familiar repertoire

The concert journeyed through familiar terrain, highlighting elements that made Guns N' Roses perhaps the last iconic band of a particular rock ethos, particularly showcased in their album Appetite for Destruction (1987). A remain from that era, and subsequent Use Your Illusion days, are the tattoos, Slash's hat, Rose's devilish gaze, and the songs themselves. Audience recognition surged during hits like Mr. Brownstone, Civil War, Double Talkin' Jive, and Sweet Child O' Mine, as well as covers like Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan), a high point despite a visually questionable stage setup: a stairway to heaven flanked by bizarrely classical statues missing arms and heads. The visual aesthetics of stadium rock's shows, especially those attempting faux-3D effects, certainly deserve future scrutiny.

Although the stadium wasn't full, the crowd's enthusiasm never waned completely. Moments of detachment suggested Guns N' Roses might no longer offer the performance of a lifetime, yet whenever needed, fans rallied with cheers and applause, reaffirming the enduring significance of classics like It's So Easy, Civil War, and Sweet Child O' Mine.