April 22, 2005 - Everett, WA - Everett Arena

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General Information

Date: April 22, 2005
Location: Everett, WA
Venue: Everett Arena; 2000 Hewitt Avenue Suite 200; Everett, WA 98201 [ Venue website ]
Box Office Number: 866.332.8499
Additional Info: Support Act: Hoobastank

Thanks to Matt for the set list!

Set List

• Sucker Train Blues
• Do it For The Kids
• Headspace
• Superhuman
• Crackerman
• Illegal I
• Fall To Pieces
• Dirty Little Thing
• Big Machine
• It's So Easy
• Sex Type Thing
• Set Me Free
• You Got No Right
• Used To Love Her
• Mr. Brownstone
• Slither

Reviews (15) [ send in your own review/pictures of the Everett show ]

Thanks to Stephanie: The show was great. I got in the front row of the mosh pit with my family sadly the crowd went crazy and had to be lifted out right in the middle of the 3rd song, durring Slash's solo, right in front of Slash. The band sounded great and loved every minute of it. The show had the worst security! It was a little loud but who cares it was ..... Velvet Revolver! My dream came true to see Slash in person. I could barely go to sleep after driving 6 hours then getting to the hotel at 1:00! Yeah it's me again, the vibe of Velvet Revolver was crazy they were great with the stage, the lights, oh yeah and the band. I tried to get Slash's cigarett but almost fell over the railing! I think somone else got it. Scott was looking as if he was in the bathroom singing! Slash playing like the guitar legend he is. Duff looking at the crowd with those awesome rock n roll eyes, Dave playing like he was the only one in the room but still having a great time. Matt beating on his drums rockin the whole place!

Thanks to kalakala : Worst...absolute WORST sound mix I've EVER heard in my life. One big wall of white sound, you could barely tell one song from another. Their previous Seattle appearance at the Moore Theatre was great. Damn shame.

Thanks to Mike Wisecarver: This concert was the greatest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Everything was awesome and everything sounded perfect. There were no mess ups when Velvet Revolver was playing. This band is by far the greatest band ever, I mean with Scott, Slash, Matt and Duff. You can't go wrong it was just amazingly awesome.

Thanks to Victor Balta from Herald Writer: They were promised an honest, hard rock show, and that's what about 4,500 fans at the Everett Events Center got Friday night.

Velvet Revolver brought its Electric Wonderland Show to town and promptly pierced eardrums for an hour and a half with squealing guitars and wirey vocalist Scott Weiland reaching to the depths of his lungs to offer everything he could.

The band is made up of Weiland, the former Stone Temple Pilots frontman; guitarist Dave Kushner; and former Guns n' Roses members guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum. Its platinum CD, "Contraband" debuted at No. 1 last year, and the band has been making its own name ever since. Weiland stormed onto the stage dressed in a police officer's uniform, a clear nod to his many encounters with the folks who wear such clothing every day. From the hat to the blue jacket to the classic cop sunglasses that Fred Dryer used to wear in the TV show "Hunter," Weiland personified authority, and he masterfully led the crowd and his new band through a raucous 16-song set that lasted an hour and 45 minutes. Opening with the first two tracks from the band's album "Sucker Train Blues" and "Do It for the Kids," Velvet Revolver kicked off a relentless string of rock that didn't let up until the house lights came back on at 11:10 p.m. Fans with ripped jeans and studded leather jackets were delighted with virtually every move Weiland and the gang made. Particular favorites were renditions of Stone Temple Pilots classics "Crackerman" and "Sex Type Thing," as well as Guns n' Roses favorites "It's So Easy," "I Used to Love Her" and "Mr. Brownstone," the last of which was played during the second encore. Velvet Revolver closed the show with its Grammy-winning "Slither," which earned the trophy for best hard rock performance last year. Given the accolades and critical acclaim the band has received since its debut, the turnout was a mild disappointment. However, Everett Events Center officials said it was one of the best-attended shows on the tour, which could speak to rock fans' lack of knowledge about the band. To be sure, Velvet Revolver is no 1980s retread, and should not be lumped into the Reagan-era bands that are circling the nation on reunion tours these days.

This is a new band with a reinvigorated sound that is more genuine than most of what's heard on the radio these days. Slash's familiar guitar sounds fresh again, and Weiland's David Bowie-inspired vocals feel brand new.

The Grammy-nominated band Hoobastank opened the show with an inspired 45-minute, 10-song set that included its trademark ballad "The Reason." But nine other songs tore the roof off the arena and likely surprised many in the crowd who only knew the radio-friendly hit.

Thanks to Travis Hay from the Post - Intelligencer: In the world of rock 'n' roll, sometimes it's good to be bad. At least that's the case for rock group Velvet Revolver, a band that consists of members of renegade bands Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N' Roses.

Scott Weiland, formerly of Stone Temple Pilots, is the group's singer, and the band is rounded out by guitarist Slash, drummer Matt Sorum, bassist and Seattle native Duff McKagan -- all formerly of Guns N' Roses -- and guitarist Dave Kushner.

With an all-star lineup, Velvet Revolver's sound is aggressive, abrasive and amped. It's the type of music you crank up to 11 while rocking out and playing air guitar. When the group performed at the Everett Events Center Friday, it delivered a smashing set of high-powered, old-fashioned, fist-pumping rock.

The set started with "Sucker Train Blues" and "Do It for the Kids," making for a heavy one-two punch. Weiland's magnetic stage presence was undeniable as he undulated and slithered his way around the stage.

The last time the band visited Washington, it played a sold-out show before its Grammy-winning debut album, "Contraband," was released. This time around, the crowd knew the words to the songs and the extravagance of the stage show was taken up a few notches.

During the ballad "Fall to Pieces" a giant light-up Velvet Revolver sign, a la KISS, was revealed. The massive visual aide was appropriate for a band with such a massive sound.

Along with playing its own material, Velvet Revolver also performed songs from its members' previous bands. The STP songs "Crackerman" and "Sex Type Thing" and the GNR classics "Mr. Brownstone," "It's So Easy" and "Used to Love Her" made it into the set.

The only disappointment was the set list's lack of variation. Although the group performed almost every song from its own record, it performed the same GNR and STP songs it did last time through town. With such a deep catalog to choose from, it would have been cool to hear "You Could Be Mine," "Vasoline," or "Welcome to the Jungle."

Southern California band Hoobastank opened the show with songs from its Grammy-nominated album "The Reason." The group's uninspired set combined with its nu-metal style made the band sound no better than a poor man's Incubus.

Unlike Velvet Revolver, in Hoobastank's case, being bad was a bad thing.

Thanks to Monica: Holy fuck! The show was so fucking amazing!!! It was the best time of my entire life hands down!! The band was unbelievable! I was in front row on the right (facing the stage) and Slash played right in front of me almost the entire time! Duff and Slash would come over to the stage right in front of us and fucking rip! Then Scott walked right in fucking front of me and I got an inch away from touching him! Holy shit I just can't describe it in words, just... fucking unbelievable!!!!

Thanks to anonymous: Velvet Revolver rocked the place. I saw the show in Vancouver a couple weeks earlier from the front row. The Vancouver show was far more energetic. Part of the reason was because the crowd at the Everett show was so pathetic. The place was barely half full. Hoobastank opened and proved to the entire audience that they are without a doubt the worst band in the world. They openly mocked more successful bands then them (Journey) and at one point were booed. Absolutely terrible. However Velvet Revolver kicked ass despite the lame crowd. The crowd never really got into it unlike in Vancouver where the band played off the high energy sold out crowd. The fans seemed uninterested. That said, Velvet Revolver still put on a kick ass show and Weiland's voice was the best I've ever heard it live.

Thanks to catdaddy: We arrived in Everett about 90 minutes before the show, so we had a few beers at turners. Having been a big GNR fan in the 80's, I was eagerly anticipating a good show from the former GNR members Slash, Duff and Sorum. I've only heard a couple of Velvet Revolver songs on the radio, so I was going to the show wihtout knowing what to expect, or even the names of the songs (except Slither). It was interesting to see the people in the crowd, I think there were more tatoos than a sturgis bike rally. (the cool thing about GNR back in the day was that they were all tatted up long before it was a fad) the audience had a lot of high school aged kids, and a lot of gray hairs too. The opening songs were good, played with a lot of energy. But the one thing that struck me was the poor sound. I think it was a combination of the venue, but also Velvet Revolver has too many guitars. I think they could do without the rhythm guitarist. I thought all the songs sounded muffled and loose, I didn't think they were tight at all. I turned to my buddy Jim, and said they were not in the same league as ac/dc (an example of a band that is very tight sounding, with no wasted notes played). I also think the fact that Velvet Revolver is being billed as the next great thing hurts them too. The expectations, and the comparisons to gnr. The 4 gnr songs they played seemed to illicit the biggest response from the crowd (including me)"It's So Easy" sounded great and the encore of "Used to love her" and "Mr Brownstone" I thought would be the highlight of the show. I was pleasantly surprised when they played "Slither" as the last song of their 2nd encore. It sounded great, and makes me thing this band has some potential. We definitely need a good hard rock band in what has become a pathetic music wasteland of today. Overall, I think it was a solid show and that Velvet Revolver is a solid hard rock band. I think they could improve their sound a lot without the extra guitar, since McKagen and Sorum are a very capable rhythm section. I give the show 3 stars out of 5.

Thanks to Jeffrey: If anyone is still confused as to why today’s concert attendance has significantly fallen from the heights reached in the 1980s, they need only to have attended last night’s Velvet Revolver show at the Everett Events Center. Comprised of 3/5ths of Guns and Roses, creators of arguably the most significant American rock album of all time, and the former front-man of grunge-metal pioneers Stone Temple Pilots, last night’s furry pistols failed to fill half of the eight-thousand seat minor league hockey arena.

Having been a part of the filming of the 'Paradise City” video at Giants Stadium in 1988 and having sat through the pretentious and over-blow tribute to Axl Rose’s inflated ego, otherwise known as the Use Your Illusion tour, I came to last night’s show with memories of rock immortality and self-indulgence; what I witnessed was a surprising display of slothful capitalism.

Middle-of-the-road rockers, Hoobastank, opened the show with a surprisingly raw, high-energy, set which was more reflective of the glory days of GnR than the performance that would follow. Sacrificing the production assistance of a recording studio, Hoobastank’s paired-down sound turned the band’s bland Hootie and the Blowfish style studio cuts into raucous punk-metal showcases. Dan Estrin’s energetic masturbatory guitar antics epitomized the term 'White Punks on Dope,” while vocalist Doug Robb continually encouraged displays of violent lunacy from the surprisingly young crowd on the area floor.

However, the highlight of the act turned out to be a brief cover of Journey’s 'Don’t Stop Believing.” As Robb asked the audience if there were any fans of Guns and Roses in the audience, the predictable cheer erupted. The same occurred after mention of Stone Temple Pilots. However, when Robb asked if any Journey fans were present, a chorus of 'boos” followed. Then the band began a surprising acoustic tribute to small town girls and lonely boys. Within ten seconds, four thousand souls too 'cool” to be Journey fans began singing along, overcoming the volume of the band itself with a thunderous 'aaannnyyywhheerree.” Robb immediately cut the song short, and with a tip of the hat to Johnny Rotten, noted the hypocrisy of the affected masses in attendance.

Unfortunately, the spirited energy of Hoobastank’s opening set was quickly quenched by an absurdly long sixty-minute set change. This annoyance was then outdone by the dropping of the houselights – not for the expected arrival of Velvet Revolver – but for a television commercial for Robby Knievel’s new reality show on the A&E network, mixed with clips from the latest Velvet Revolver video. Last nights promoters obviously overlooked the fact that anyone interested in the exploits of Sequim, Washington’s most celebrated resident, need only travel on any given day to the Olympic Peninsula’s Seven Cedars Casino to see a less television-friendly, oft-inebriated, dare-devil.

Stage lights were finally raised and the super-group took the stage immediately following the commercial interruption. The band was surprising tight, adding a mix of false-endings and perfectly timed theatrical crescendos to the band’s limited repertoire of original material. However, this mechanical precision left an uneasy taste, like listening to the Stone’s Sticky Fingers on a digital audiophile sound system, much of the cherished raggedness and spontaneity associated with the personalities on stage was regrettably absent. Imagine Keith Richards put through the wash, wearing a tux. That is not to say that the evening’s sound could boast of the same sharp edge. Unfortunately, all expenses were obviously sparred as Scott Wieland’s vocals were often indistinguishable from Slash’s higher octave leads, and the result was a muddily distorted wash, making the only the ballads 'Fall to Pieces” and 'Loving the Alien” aurally pleasing.

After one hour, it became obvious that the extended set change between headliner and opener was probably a stalling tactic, rather than spurred by an inescapable technical dilemma. The band closed its set after only a fifty-five minute performance, which included self-indulgent and sleep inducing extended guitar and drum solos. The only shorter headlining set I’ve ever witnessed came from a frothing-at-the-mouth Dylan during his most chemically dependant period. The band did return for two short encores, which included a magnificence electrical rendition of 'Used to Love Her;” but, by then, one could realize they’d be had. The audience was undeniably cheated by a 'phoned-in” effort, and Velvet Revolver, the profound achievement of their debut studio effort aside, came to resemble more the producers of a Gunthy-Renker infomercial than legendary rock icons. As the band left the stage, I left the arena feeling I had witnessed a dash-for-cash, rather than a genuine effort.

Perhaps its not coincidental that of the hundreds of compact-discs in my collection, only Velvet Revolver’s Contraband contains copy protection software that won’t even allow me to copy the files to my I-pod, making the disc virtually worthless to me due to overzealous capitalistic greed. Obviously, the hypocrisy of the rock zeitgeist, pointed out by Doug Robb, goes beyond the audience and infects even those we place among the pantheon of rock icons. For all the talk of a return to greatness, Velvet Revolver’s performance was a pale reflection of former selves. Although before my time, I can now imagine what it must have felt to have attended a show by Paul McCartney and Wings.

Thanks to JennyKitty: I thought it was an awesome show. We were in the reserved seats but we sat in the first section next to the stage (Slash's side), first row. I wore my cool Scott Weiland military-style hat, which was right on at the concert but when we went to dinner before the show I sure got a few stares! During the show Scott came into the audience and got up on the wall between the seats and the floor and walked right over by where we were sitting and I am pretty certain he saw me wearing the hat. I thought that was pretty cool. I felt like such a groupie. LOL

Thanks to isabelle_guns: We, Aaron and I, stood in line with other Velvet Revolver fans, many of whom were seeing their first concert. I never actually thought that I would have a chance to see them again. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting hours in advance to be right in front of the mosh pit.

The opening act were Hoobastank who were decent but nothing special. All their songs other than "The Reason" sounded annoyingly the same. I bobbed my head but I was also anxious and impatient for Velvet Revolver. I was very annoyed with all the 12 year old girls who kept screaming at guitarist Dan Estrin as if he was a Backstreet Boy. The screaching of little girls is as painful as nails on a chalkboard.

Velvet Revolver came on stage annoyingly late, however, as soon as the first notes to "Suckertrain Blues" rang throughout the newly built Everett Events Center, all was forgiven.

I was right in the front of the moshpit and took the biggest beating of my life. I forgot how rough American mosh-pits were in comparison to Canadian ones. The floor was over-packed by 2,000 people, all wanting to get close to their idols. The beating was well worth it.

Velvet Revolver tonight was the second best concert of my life. This show was 3 times better than the one in Vancouver. The energy was definitely there, nothing watered down.

The highlight of the evening for me was when Slash did his guitar solo in front of me and he noticed my shirt. He smiled and said "I love your shirt." Slash is the kind of musician that's in his own world when he plays and barely gives eye contact with the audience when performing. It genuinely surprised everyone in our section, myself included, when he smiled, laughed at my shirt.

There's nothing like the feeling of having your body squished against another Velvet Revolver fan's and singing along to all the lyrics.

I feel asleep in Aarons car on the way home dreaming about the concert and reliving the memories.

Thanks to bowieweiland: Well, I have to say that I thought it was a fantastic show (I was against the barrier and almost exactly in the center). I brought a camera in, so I'll post the pictures if any of them turn out (I took a couple pictures with my phone, but those are most likely crap and not worth posting).

Thanks to Luna: That was quite far the best fricken show I have seen in a LOOOONNNNGGGG time! My best friend Kayla and I got front row on the left side of the stage and when they came out I freaked out with teary hysterics! You heard right front row! I made contact with all of them! Scott seriously came over to us and looked STRAIGHT at me and sang to me while he pointed, Duff yeah it took me forever to get his attention but when I did I kept screaming "Duff, I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!!" he smiled and said "I love you too" and Slash when he came over to our side he looked at me and I was like "HEY Slash! I LOVE YOU MAN!!!" he smiled. But the one that really made a friend in me was Dave when we spoke I was like "Dave, Dave!" and he was like "YEAH!?" "OUR BANDS NAME IS PETER PANIK!!!!" then he said "OK!". And started playing and was looking at us while we were all singing! Then in the middle of the show he walked over to Sorum and pointed to me and Kayla and Sorum saw us and smiled. I swear to god it was sooo cool!!!!!!! THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY LIFE!!! thanx KUFO!

Thanks to Nick Kelly: Holy-Fucking-Shit! That was the goddamndest, craziest, most intense thing that I have ever been involved in. Velvet Revolver fucking rocks. This was my first big concert and I had only been to one other local one and they did not disapoint. It was great!

We left from Spokane for the show around 9 a.m. and ended up waiting in line around 4:30 p.m. There were lots of younger people, like 10-16 year olds, waiting around already. Security was really nice and really helpful. The doors opened around 7:15 and we ended up in the front row on the left side of the stage (if you were on the stage)/right side (if you are facing the stage.)
Hoobastank went on around 8, and a lot of the people in the middle section were really digging them. They knew the words to their songs, started moshing, it was weird for me since I know none of them. Considering how akward the billing was, Hoobastank did pretty good. Funny bit in the middle where their lead singer asked the crowd if they liked "a band called Guns n' Roses. *cheer* Well how about STP? *cheer* Well how about Journey? *boo*" But then Hoob started to sing Don't Stop Believing, and the crowd knew every word of it. Funny stuff.

Velvet Revolver came on around 9:40, and the place just went nuts. I think my ribs are bruised from being shoved up against the guard rail and I no longer am an anal virgin. Highlights of the show included: Slash and Duff being in front of us for a good 2/3 of the time, Duff checking out my girlfriend, Slash spitting out his smoke and the security guard being nice enough to pick it up and hand it to me when I asked him to, Scott jumping off stage and running by us (he was no more than two feet away from me) and singing in the crowd, hearing some GnR tunes live, seeing/hearing Velvet Revolver live and catching the last drum stick that Matt threw after Slither (these long monkey arms have to be good for something.) The show lasted about an hour and a half.

Fucking awesome show. If they are even relatively close to you, same state short 5 hour drive close, then you need to go and see this show.

Thanks to Matt: Wow, I coudn't have asked for a better show. That was the best concert I have ever been to in my entire life. I wasn't expecting much out of Hoobastank, but they were actually alright. Their set was short, but perfect length because I think most of the crowd was gettin mad that Velvet Revolver wasn't on the stage. So once Velvet Revolver was on the stage, I was dead center, in the very front up against the railing, getting beat from crazy drunk guys in the back. They opened with Suckertrain Blues which was awesome.

Highlights:

Mr. Brownstone, Sex Type Thing, Dirty Little Thing and Slither

Best show I've ever seen plain and simple.