August 13, 2004 - Oslo, Norway - Middelalderparken

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General Information

Date: August 13, 2004
Location: Oslo, Norway
Venue: Middelalderparken; Bispegata 16 N- 0191, Oslo, Norway [ Venue website ]
Box Office Number: +47-40 00 46 92
Additional Info: VR played at Øyafestivalen which features many more bands at one of the biggest Norwegian summer festival.

Thanks to Magnus Kolås Johansen for the setlist.

Set List

• Sucker Train Blues
• Do It For The Kids
• Headspace
• Crackerman
• Big Machine
• Fall To Pieces
• Set Me Free
• Sex Type Thing
• It's So Easy
• Slither
• Bodies

Reviews (11) [ send in your own review/pictures of the Oslo show ]

Thanks to Lene: Wow! I love you!! You are so fuckin' cool!! I saw you in Oslo, Norway, and you are the best! You are better than GN'R! That's my opinion! Man, you're so cool!! Keep up the good work!!;)

Thanks to Metal Hammer Magazine: MAKE NO MISTAKE: the Scandinavians have got it sussed. While us welly-wielding Brits brave the knee-deep mud, inadvertenly smoke the dragon on bonfire-burnt plastic fumes and delay traumatizing portaloo visits until our kidneys threaten to exit our piss holes, the Norwegian's earmark a medieval park surrounded by pure sand and summon 80 degrees-plus heat-waves. With the Oslo Fjord to the south, the green Ekeberg Hill to the east and the sparkling city skyline to the west - you can even (get this!) swim from one stage to another! Plus, the ideal location of the three-day event means we don't suffer the peasant's penury of roughing it in tents. Result!

Inevitably though, the weekend's main attractation and headlining heroes are supergroup big gun's Velvet Revolver [9]. As 10,000 expectant fans scale the scattered ruins of the eleventh century Maria Church hoping for a religous experience - the appearance of one-time Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and his gang of former Guns N' Roses gods are the nearest to an apparition you could get as the Oslo sun sets seductively over the water. However, it's hellishly foot-to-the-floor from the off, putting pay to the facetious theories that these luminary legends are a bit past their sell-by date. Bare-chested Weiland (maybe now, at long last he will be rightly recognized as one of the finest rock vocalists of a generation) is a sex symbol sleaze-machine as he licentiously leans over the monitors and snakes across the stage. Backed by (complete whit his time-honored poodle mane and dangling cigarette posturing) Slash's vintage solos and legendary guitar licks, Duff McKagan's shit-hot boiling basslines, drummer Matt Sorum's bastard big beats and (ex-Wasted Youth guitarist) Dave Kushner's rampant riffs, choice cuts from dynamite debut 'Contraband' are every bit as explosive live as you'd hoped. Mind-blowing 'Headspace,' the lewd locomotion of 'Big Machine' and single 'Slither' spit venom while ballad 'Fall To Pieces' (a song inspired by Weiland's wife) is, as a stop-gap to the hard rock hedonism, beautifully emotive.

Predictably the most raucous reactions greet STP classic 'Crackerman' and 'Sex Type Thing' and of course GN'R's 'It's So Easy.' Tonight far from rock relics, Velvet Revolver have established themselves as cast-iron contemporary contenders. As the exuberant rock throngs wearily dimsount the Convent remains, word reaches us just hours later that nearby archaelogists have discovered ancient skeletons right next to the festival site. Looks like this all-star power pack really have woken the dead...

Thanks to John Smedstuen: Øya festivalen was the best concert I've ever seen! Every thing was perfect!! Rock on!!!

Thanks to Svein O: First of all, sorry about my English, not good at all. What an amazing night. Best concert I've ever seen. We started during the Gluecifer concert to get as close to the stage as possible. I ended up about 3meters from the stage..perfect view. A lot of Gn'R fans had showed up, and people with "old" Gn'R t-shirts were everywhere in the crowd. Even alot dressed like Axl(kinda stupid if you ask me, when you are at a Velvet Revolver show).

The area in front of the stage was totally "packed" with people, I guess there were around 9000 people, all very excited. Minutes before Velvet Revolver entered the scene, one of the crew guys came out, and put Slash's tophat on top of the marshall amp, the crowd were applauding. And then the guys came out, people went crazy. In the beginning(I think), Scott said that "We play music you can fuck to". They started with Sucker Train Blues...amazing. Every band member looked really good. Scott ran around the stage with his crazy moves and Slash rocked like usual. Matt looked really good too, and seemed to really enjoy, he even jumped over his drums (never seen Matt in such good mood during a show) and came to Scott's mic in the front of the stage, and spoked some words in Norwegian..something like"tusen takk"..

Slash also spoke a bit, I don't remember exactly but he said something like "It's been a while since last time..I really don't have much to say, I just want to stand here and look at all you crazy fuckers and all the girls with big tits" while he was laughing and smiling.

The best part of the show was "It's so easy", people went totally crazy. The extended versions of both Set me free and Slither were awesome. I've never heard they play Slither this way, it rocked. Sex Type Thing was also really cool. Very hard to pick out the best songs, cause I really enjoyed them all. Too bad they didn't play more than one (intesive) hour, but I guess they couldn't play any longer since it was at a festival.

Best night of my life, and I hope I get to see them again. Rock and roll is back!!! Hopefully I will post some pictures and videoclips from the show also..

Thanks to Espen Larsen: Velvet Revolver was the last band on the major scene at "Oya Festivalen", so it was a long time to wait at the festival. I didn't take any chances, so I found myself a very good place near the scene when "Savoy" started their show!(four hours before Velvet Revolver) And that was something I didn't regret for I wasn't the only one who wanted to be in the front row when Slash and company were ready to play!

When you go to a festival just to see one band (as I did), is most of the other stuff that is going on not so interesting, I was really thrilled when one of the crew-members came out on the stage with Slash's hat and lay it near the drum-set. The show was only a few minutes away..

And what a show. I almost went numb when I saw Slash and the rest of the band after the great introduction and the show was on it's way.

It was a great show. But as an old GnR fan I was a little bit disappointment that "Mr Brownstone" and "Used To Love Her" wasn't on the set-list for this show, but it was Velvet Revolver I came to see, and they delivered a great show! Slash is unbelievable.

P.S One thing that I wasn't so happily about was all the people that shouted for Guns N' Roses right before the show was about to begin. I know that it was from the younger part of the crowd, but there are not the thing to do anyway!..... Thanks!

Thanks to Magnus Økern: The show was incredible. It was clearly the festivals highlight. The audience was great. When they played the GN'R song "It's So Easy" everyone exploded. A lot of GN'R fans met up there, expecting to see a great show, and I think none was disapointed. They played some great songs, I especially liked "Do It For The Kids" and "Fall To Pieces". A simply superb performance!!

Thanks to Per Olav Heimstad: The sun had just set when Velvet Revolver entered the main stage at the Øya Festival, Oslo. Before them, Norway’s own Gluecifer had delivered a great rock ’n’ roll gig, before they gave Slash & co the task of ending the sold out evening.

A happy and excited audience was as ready as they could get. This outdoor festival is not the biggest one around, so I guess quite a few couldn’t believe their eyes when they first read that Velvet Revolver would be the major headliner this year. After all … there is something about Slash, Duff, Matt and Scott. They have enough past glories to refer to to sell concert tickets and albums from here to eternity. Unfortunately, their first album released as Velvet Revolver, Contraband, does not contain any song that is strong enough to be remembered as a classic like the ones the guys once wrote for Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots. Not one of the Contraband songs is better than any of your top ten Guns N’ Roses favorites. Not even 'Set Me Free,” as I back in my album review described as 'OK” has the needed charm to establish itself as anything close to memorable in the history of rock. So why then is it so cool to see them play live? Because everything about their appearance, presence, and playing is ROCK AND ROLL! EVERYTHING! They are all rock and roll icons from their toes to their top hats. Even the less known Dave Kushner on guitar proves he has something to add to this family of legends when he steals the spot light from Slash on the 'Set Me Free' guitar solo. Scott Weiland is not the best singer around (the former Guns N’ Roses guys have never dealt with great singers anyway), but what a front man he is! 36 years old and frightening skinny (That guy’s threat is not drugs..give the man some food!), he runs all over the stage and poses like there’s no second chance (…or third, to be precise). He uses a megaphone constantly, and commands every note to rock the crowd. Tracks like 'Do It For The Kids' and 'Headspace' are too poor in themselves to engage anyone, but when they are performed by Scott and his mates, there is no way the show could get boring. When the set breaks into STP’s 'Crackerman,' the roof would have been lifted if there was one … not to mention when the band some songs later performes 'It’s So Easy'. This one, the latter, was the only Guns N’ Roses song played this evening. The audience sure was hoping for more of them, but I don’t blame Velvet Revolver for moving away from easy solutions. They have to prove they are more than a cover band.

'Set Me Free' and 'Big Machine' were the highlights from their own album. 'Fall To Pieces' was good too, a much more enjoyable listening experience live than the quite shallow version on the album. So, it was great fun just to see them, even though their set had a lot of weaknesses songwise. The band appeared like they were enjoying it too. Good old Matt Sorum looked from time to time thrilled behind his drum kit. The other guys had a quite serious approach, but a smiling Slash found the time to talk some bullshit to the crowd in a break before 'It’s So Easy.” Anyway, more important, all of them delivered a show that was 100% rock and roll! Nothing short of it.

Thanks to Mika: Great show and performance! I wish Velvet Revolver all the luck in the future and hopefully they will achieve great success with this tour and future ones. My fav ones were Set Me Free, Slither and Sex Type Thing. I was missing Spectacle. They have only played it once live. I don't get it. In my opinion one of the strongest tracks on the album. But hey, I'm very, very pleased with the show anyway!

Thanks to Pauline: Wow! It was amazing to see those guys live. The show totally kicked off, and people was really wild! It was definetly an amazing experience! Slash is still the same guy as he was 15 years ago, which is great. Standing in the front row was also ass kickin'.

Though, the show was really short. I was a bit disappointed about that they left so fast, but I understand that they couldn't play longer, 'couse it was a festival after all.

Thanks to Nattguiden.no: Det var mye fløyel på Øya fredag. Men det var Velvet Revolver , det største trekkplasteret til Øyafestivalen, folk var kommet for å se. Foran Sjøsiden hvor Manna og Tungtvanns skulle spille, var det nærmest folketomt. Foran Enga derimot, var det stappfullt. Med ett av verdens feteste bandnavn, og en besetning det er til å gispe av, var det mange som hadde store forventinger. Dette er også en supergruppe, men langt mer rocka enn The National Bank. "We make music you can fuck to" skrek vokalist Scott Weiland fra megafonen sin, utkledd som halvveis shabby politimann. Velvet Revolver Revolver består av Stone Temple Pilots' vocalist Weiland, gitarist Dave Kushner og Slash, Duff McKagen og Matt Sorum - de tre sistnevnte fra Guns'n'Roses. Alle, utenom Axl Rose selv. Over èn time med heavy grungerock fikk vi. Weiland, sammen med Slash, hadde full kontroll på publikum. Noen STP-klassikere ble det også plass til. Alle var her, jeg tipper en 9000 mennesker, samtlige ga Velvet Revolver trampeklapp. For et show. Det vil sent glemmes.

Thanks to Jon-Petter Kaalaas: The whole thing kicked off with Sucker Train Blues, which is a great song and a cool opening song. This was the first time I have seen Velvet Revolver and former Guns N'Roses members and I was so psyched and I was impressed by how great they still are. Slash can still pull the riffs and solos like a god. Duff and Matt still got what it takes to play the rock N roll music. I was also looking forward to see Scott which moves like a snake around the scene and he is a fuckin awesome frontman and he also sang fuckin great. He IS as good live as on the album. The only thing that sucked, was the at the end of the show, when Scott's sound was like almost gone.

When it all comes down, it was an awesome concert which was worth the hours waiting infront of the stage listening to music which shouldn't be there and I hope they will be back soon. Because I can't wait seeing them again...