May 27, 2004 - Washington, DC - Nightclub 9:30

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General Information

Date: May 27, 2004
Location: Washington, DC
Venue: Nightclub 9:30; 815 V St. N.W.; Washington, DC. [ Venue website ]
Box Office Number: (202)393-0930
Additional Info: Support Act: Living Things

Set List

• Sucker Train Blues
• Do It for the Kids
• Headspace
• Crackerman
• Illegal I
• It's So Easy
• Fall To Pieces
• Big Machine
• Set Me Free
• Used to Love Her
• Slither
• Sex Type Thing
• Mr. Brownstone
• Negative Creep

Reviews (9) [ send in your own review/pictures of the Washington show ]

Thanks to Liz: Okay, so I have to admit that I have always loved STP- but never got into GNR (besides their commercial regulars). I learned of the concert via an alert from the 9:30 club and purchased tickets online the next day (sold out in less than 5 minutes). My best girlfriend and I took a room at the Hilton (we love to party at the club-it's the best)! In any case, I get this call from my bro-in-law who just happens to be helping the band on the sound stuff- so we ended up getting in free, hanging in the bus and getting drinks at a nearby dive. We skipped the opening band bc Doug said they sucked (last minute gig) and wound up seeing the show from the sound booth which was perfect. I love Scott's voice- but he was sort of weird looking- met Matt and Duff on the bus- and all in all it was awesome! Got the CD the same day it was released and it is the best!!! Velvet Revolver is the coolest!!! Later a friend of mine told me the show at the Borgata in AC was freakin great also! As weird as he looks - Scott is awesome and Slash's guitar takes the edge off what would be a typical STP sounding album. Rock on- btw my bil will be with them on the European tour- I am so jealous!! Thanks to Doug!

Thanks to Rebecca: What an amazing show! The best show and performance I have seen in years, maybe ever. Such raw electricity igniting everything! I cannot wait until tomorrow to get Contraband. What I heard at the show was great. I have some incredible pics, too! Met Duff, what a nice guy. Wish we could've met them all just to say that it was a great time and keep on keeping on!

Thanks to Sean Daly from the Washington Post: Shaggy, shirtless guitar star Slash -- formerly of iconic hair-metalists Guns N' Roses, currently of hirsute supergroup Velvet Revolver -- is a sublime musician but a shaky judge of character. After hitching a bumpy ride from the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s with the infamously unstable W. Axl Rose, who seemed to flake on more shows than he played, Slash has now partnered with wide-eyed wackjob Scott Weiland, the one-time Stone Temple Pilot.

Perhaps already sensing the inevitable meltdown of Velvet Revolver -- catch 'em while you can, kids -- Slash was a strutting, swaggering, all-or-nothing marvel at the 9:30 club Thursday, leading his much-hyped throwback band through a power-chords-aplenty 75-minute set that had a sold-out all-ages crowd of aggressive guys (and a few understandably skittish gals) eager to bang their heads -- and any other nearby noggins, as well.

"Boys and girls, we are a rock-and-roll band," the kooky Weiland -- initially clad in an airline pilot's cap, polka-dot tie and aviator shades -- promised a hungry audience that devoured every last ticket for this time-travel event in seconds flat. "And we're here to put the sex back in rock-and-roll." Soon enough, backed by a strobed-out light show, Weiland and his band mates -- which also include former GNR staples bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum, both looking absolutely muscle-ripped -- had doffed their tops, lit their ciggies and assumed those too-cool rock-star poses. After all, this is an L.A.-born band, and its sole function is to sell the naughty lifestyle of the Sunset Strip. Just as those goofy Brits the Darkness are playing it for real, there's nothing even slightly ironic about the old-school theatrics of Velvet Revolver. These days, that's a beautiful thing.

With his creepy stare, skeletal frame and herky-jerky dance moves that make him look like he's fighting his way out of a straitjacket, Weiland is an unsettling frontman. He doesn't have the glass-shattering howl that Rose used to welcome teens to the jungle and he busts out the lame sing-through-a-megaphone trick far too much. But such anthemic Velvet Revolver burners as "Sucker Train Blues," "Do It for the Kids" and incendiary first single "Slither" -- the band's debut disc, "Contraband," arrives June 8 -- were such massive walls of cowbells, gongs, bass lines and feedback you couldn't really hear him anyway.

Besides, this was Slash's time to shine, and every amped-up song came equipped with one of the ax-wielder's frenetically bluesy solos. Playing most of his licks with his guitar sticking straight up -- a showoff move allowing everyone to see his masterful chops -- Slash gave a suitable greasy sheen to Stone Temple Pilots mock grungers "Crackerman" and "Sex Type Thing." He sweetly plucked out the pretty hook to "Patience"-esque new ballad "Fall to Pieces." And when he fingered out the opening riffs to Guns N' Roses classics "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone" -- both from 1987's "Appetite for Destruction" -- you could see a smile through the tangled layers of his sheepdog 'do.

"Before this tour, I never knew how popular this hat was," Slash said laughing when, late in the set, he unveiled his trademark black top hat to the gone-bananas delight of his fans. "I wish this [expletive] hat could talk." The crowd was still cheering on his headgear when Slash picked out the acoustic opening to GNR's anti-love song "Used to Love Her" (you know: "But I had to kill her.') The place, of course, erupted to the night's best surprise -- and even those nervous gals couldn't help but join the rowdy sing-along. Here's hoping Slash's next doomed band is just as entertaining.

Thanks to Dave: It was a really high energy show, I just wished I could have heard Scott. I did recognize the STP and GNR songs but the rest of them (excpet Slither and Set me Free) were basically a muddled mess. I wish rock bands in small venues wouldn't crank up the music so much that you can't even hear the vocals. Maybe it's just the 9:30 club's acoustics, I don't know. I can't wait for the CD to come out so I can actually hear them. Other than that it was a pretty good show. The first band wasn't too bad, I was a little afraid after hearing the NYC review.

Thanks to Mark: Wow. That was a hell of a concert! The opening band 'Living Things' was ok. The singer was pretty weird and should have kept his shirt on, but overall their style was a little too punk for me. Anyways I'll review each song they played, but I don't remember a lot about the new stuff but oh well.

Suckertrain Blues: Man, the annoucer comes on and says "Washington DC! We give you Velvet Revolver!" and on comes Duff and Matt first and they start into a cool bass/drum groove. Then Slash and Dave come out and they start blaring into a cool intro. I don't remember much more about it, but I remember loving it. Do It For the Kids: Great song! Real cool vocals in the chorus. Headspace: Don't remember this very well, I remember it being cool though. Crackerman: Scott comes on and says "alright guys we're gonna do an old tune" and they rocked into Crackerman. That's when the crowd really got started. Illegal I: Slash introduced this after thanking us for packing the place and being such a rocking audience. He said "there's really nothing to describe this song as except as angry." Cool song! It's So Easy: Duff introduced this one: "We're Velvet Revolver and we're putting the sex back in rock n roll!" the whole crowd cheered."Yea that's right! This next one goes out for all of you who are going to go home and F*ck!" and then he started into the bass intro of It's So Easy. The temperature rose literally 10 degrees, the whole place was rocking. Fall To Pieces: I forget what Scott said about this, but I remember he didn't mention it being about his marriage. He did say "things are better now, and it's a good song to make love to." Fall To Pieces is a great ballad and Slash's riff in that is so killer. Nice Slash solo as well. Big Machine: By far my favorite new song! I forget how the music went but the chorus was awesome with Scott chanting "Big Machine, Big Machine" then Duff answering him with "We're all slaves to the big Machine." A F*cking rocker! Set Me Free: This song was amazing. They extended it and that made it really cool. The whole crowd was singing along. Great song, 10 times better live.Then they left the stage, and in about a minute Slash comes out and grabs his top hat. He starts talking about how on this tour he "just realized how much people like this top hat, and if only it could talk." He then introduced the next song, Used To love Her: The guitars used an Acoustic Simulator on it. I was hoping for a version more like the one on GNR Live Era, with distortion and what not, but this version was still really cool. Slash pulled some great solos. Slither: After Used to Love her, Matt and Duff started fooling around with this cool groove. Everyone was looking around at each other becuase Matt was using the floortom like he does in Slither. Then we heard the distinctive accents from the intro of Slither, as they went in to an extended intro of Slither. Slither was amazing. The whole crowd was singing along. Slash was so into it. Sex Type Thing: Velvet Revolver pulls off this song amazingly. Their energy is just so amazing. It's a cool song, but 10 times cooler when Velvet Revolver does it. Mr. Brownstone: The band went off for a couple of minutes, and Matt came back alone. He fooled us by playing the intro to You Could Be Mine and no-one was expecting that! But of course, he changed to the Mr. Brownstone drumming and in came Slash Duff and Dave. This song was so powerful. Everyone knew the lyrics and we were all singing along. The outro "Stuck it in the middle" part was done real well by Scott.

Negative Creep: Alot of people complain about them ending on this. I was prepared to be disapointed by it because I heard the Nirvana song and disliked it pretty strongly. But when Velvet Revolver did it, man it was so powerful. They were on!

All in all, it was an amazing show. About the band. I was on the right so we were primarilary next to Slash. My friend scored a Slash pick which was pretty cool. The band had such a great stage performance. Dave Slash and Duff are real cool guys! Scott seemed pissed for some reason, but it couldn've been just me. He sang great though, so if you guys are contemplating going, go! June 8th will be huge! This was by far the best rock concert I've ever been to. Amazing, just f*cking amazing.

Thanks to DK: Ok, yes the show was fabulous, yes, it rocked. Yes, most music today sucks and this is clearly a breath of fresh air for most of us. But, come on with the lame reviews. Are you guys in it for the music or are you in it for what color Scott's pants were when he gave you "high fives". That's not a concert review. We owe much more to the gunners than that. I would be embarrased if they read those reviews. With that being said, the show was good.
The show was very good it did rock here was an exitement in the air that I had not felt in years upon years of going to shows. Most of the crowd had not seen either Guns or STP in years--if at all. So, there was a heavy build up of emotions. It was interesting to see the cross section of attendees the moms the little girls that were born after use your illusion the 80s rockers turned 2000s yuppies the 80s rockers turned 2000s rockers the 90s rockers wondering wtf this is all about. One common thread kept this crowd together--the love of great rock that we desperately miss. The entire show was relatively high energy as one would imagine. There was space here and there--not a double encore, more like 3 mini sets. The mix itself was pretty good very clear, transparent. The drums were clear and very present. There was almost no verb or other color added it was a natural mix. This might be the style of their sound guy or it might be the style of the band. but, I like it. I had a tough time hearing Scott's vocals up front, but, that may be him as well. The guitar was warm and sedate--the way it should be, but, it screamed when necessary. Do you know how hard it is to do that with four cabinets for your lead guitar? I think the bass could have ridden a little higher in the mix it was a little muddy for my taste. But that could have been the room. The show left you wanting a little more. It would be nice to hear a few more songs. Those that have seen other bands in the last ten years--bands that play for hours are with me on this. But, what more can you ask for? I would ask for some more experimentation. This band is tight. They have been practicing. But, come on--the same set list for weeks? how much fun is that? A band this tight could rotate a new song in every night until they have 100s of songs in their repitoire. It would also have been nice to see them jam a little. Ok, they jammed, but, I'm not talking about these off the shelf, played 1000 times jams. I'm talking set some guitar vamping, a little drum and bass groove and let's see Slash do what he does best. The "You Could Be Mine (tease)>Mr. Brownstone" was nice. Now we need a lot more of that kind of stuff.

Is that asking too much? I know this is a rock band but, that doesnt mean that they have to do canned material. They are talented musicians--much more than we can say about most of the"artists" out there today. So, the whole show, on a scale from 1-10. I would not give it an 11. But that's what I would want to to give it. Maybe next time.

Thanks to Patrick Bergin: The show was amazing. I had been waiting to see Slash since I first heard Guns N' Roses at age 7 in 1987. Finally I got to see him! I was right up front on the right side of the stage. They came out and started jammin out Sucker Train Blues which was a bad ass song. Slash came out and slapped us fives which was cool as shit. Scott Weiland came out and jumped into the crowd right by me, I thought he was going to crowd surf, but he didn't. Around the third song we all began to get crushed. Everyone in the back started pushing forward, I was starting to get really exhausted from it by the end, but whatever! I had spent $200 on these tickets and it was worth every penny. I hope we showed them how D.C. loves to rock!!!!

Thanks to Kevin: Got at the show about 8:00, the opening band was actually pretty good. They played about a 25 minute set. Then Velvet Revolver came on around 10. When they came out the crowd went nuts! The first song Sucker Train Blues was amazing! After the song was over it was easily noticed that this band clearly defines "Rock N Roll". Another one of my favorites was Big Machine! This song just rocked! It was nice to see some long guitar solo's from Slash especially durning Set Me Free. STP covers included Crackerman and Sex Type Thing. GNR covers were It's So Easy, Use To Love Her and Mr. Brownstone. I was surprised on how good Nirvana's Negative Creep was with Scott singing! He was dead on! Ladies and Gentlemen loud in your face rock is back!

Thanks to Zucc: I can't believe I just saw one of the greatest rock guitar players of all time! I got there early, around 5:30 p.m to start waiting in line so I could get a spot right in front of the stage. The opening band was not bad, at least they played rock 'n' roll. The guitarist was half-way decent and the singer looked like he missed one too many meals, but all in all not bad. They played for about 25 minutes and then the stage crew started setting up for Velvet Revolver. The first thing I noticed were Slash's guitar amps. They had the silver symbols of Slash with his top hat on. Then one of them brought out Slash's hat and sat it on top of the amp. Later Slash brought out the hat and said to the crowd he wished that it could tell stories. They came on shortly after that opening up with 'Sucker Train Blues'. Weiland came out with red pants, the usual get-up he wore at the previous shows. Slash came out ripping licks at lightening speed and smiling at the crowd. It was absolutely amazing to be so close to real rock star icons! The only draw back of being right up front is that you can't hear Scott at all. All you can hear is the thick heavy sound of the Les Paul, which I didn't mind at all. The other thing is that people quickly get excited and start to push like crazy. There was this 14 year old girl right in front of us and she was getting smashed! I saw her after the concert and she was holding her insides. Duff did happen to give her one of his picks, so she'll be okay. Anyway, they played the usual set-list, nothing really different, I just wished I had the cd so I could recognize some of the songs. The biggest crowd responses were obviously the GNR and STP covers. Looking back I would have probably liked to be farther back so I could actually listen to the songs, without having to keep my guard up the entire time. Anyway, I hope these guys can keep it together to crank out a couple of albums. I'm positive this band is one of the key players that is going to bring rock and roll back to all of us, since we've been without it for so long!