Guns N Roses and Thin Lizzy Newcastle Arena 23 May 2012
My friend John and I saw a marathon, but amazing, gig by Guns N Roses in Newcastle last night. They came on stage around 10.40pm and played until 1.40am. John has been over from his home in the USA, and suggested we go to the gig. We got there quite early, bought our programmes, and John bought a poster, and we took our seats to see support act Thin Lizzy. They came on stage around 8.30pm and delivered a set of all the classic songs, finishing with The Boys are back in Town. The latest line up of Thin Lizzy is pretty true to the original, however the sound wasn’t wonderful in the big area. The venue was around three quarters full, and Lizzy got a warm reception, although everyone was there to see the headline band. We had read report of Axl and crew coming on stage very late on this tour, and Ticketmaster had emailed me to warn that they would be on stage at 10pm. On the night Guns N Roses actually took to the stage at 10.40pm, around an hour after Lizzy had finished their set. This wasn;t as long a wait as we had feared, and the crowd didn’t seem too restless. The band literally exploded onto the stage, with lots of flares and explosions, which continued at various points throughout the gig. Their performance was much much better than I had expected. Axl has assembled a band of excellent musicians, all of whom showed just how good they are. Although the set came in at around 3 hours, it didn’t drag at all. Its a long time since I’ve seen a band play this long, yet I didn’t get bored. The timings were perfect. A great mix of classic GNR tracks, well chosen covers and impressive solos that were just the right length made this a class rock show. 
And Axl still has all the energy that he did when he was a much younger guy; his voice is also as strong as it ever was. All in all John and I both agreed that this was a pretty neat gig. Impressive stuff, even if I am still tired today. Setlist: Chinese Democracy; Welcome to the Jungle; It’s So Easy; Mr. Brownstone; Sorry; Rocket Queen; Estranged; Better; Richard Fortus Guitar Solo; Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney & Wings); This I Love; Motivation (Tommy Stinson lead vocals); Instrumental Jam ; Dizzy Reed Piano Solo (based on The Who’s Baba O’ Riley); Street of Dreams; You Could Be Mine; DJ Ashba Guitar Solo; Sweet Child O’ Mine; Instrumental Jam; Another Brick In The Wall (Pink Floyd); Axl Rose Piano Solo; November Rain; Glad to Be Here (Bumblefoot lead vocals); Don’t Cry; Civil War; Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan); Nightrain.
Encore: Madagascar; Whole Lotta Rosie (AC/DC); Patience; Paradise City
24 May
Guns N Roses and Thin Lizzy Newcastle Arena 23 May 2012
Posted May 24, 2012 by vintagerock in Guns N Roses, Thin Lizzy. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, music, prog rock, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 2 Comments
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Posted by adam evans on January 10, 2023 at 12:29 am
i’ve so many regrets re gigs I’ve missed over the years as I’m sure we all do, but one of my biggest brags is seeing guns n roses at Newcastle city hall in 1987 on their first European tour, the city hall wasn’t even full, the promoter had clearly aimed too high, they should’ve played the mayfair! I have my cousin Michael to thank, I didn’t know who they were, but he was well into heavy metal and talked me into going, I spent the days leading up listening to appetite on my walkman to get familiar with them, as for the gig itself, they were ragged as hell but got better as they went on as I remember, the highlight for me at the time – not being massively familiar with their stuff – was the encore of ac/dc whole lotta Rosie; essentially not the greatest gig I’ve ever seen, far from it, but an amazing one to look back on; all in all, I’m willing to say it was worth the £5!
Posted by vintagerock on January 10, 2023 at 12:55 pm
Hi Adam
I share similar regrets that is certainly one of them! Never mind you can’t have everything in this life! Peter