March 29, 2005 - Edmonton, Canada - Rexall Place

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General Information

Date: March 29, 2005
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Venue: Rexall Place ; 7424 118 Ave. N.W., Edmonton, AB T5B4M9 [ Venue website ]
Box Office Number: (780) 471-7210
Additional Info: Special Guests were Three Days Grace.

Thanks to Darren 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 Edmonton show ]

Thanks to Alexandra: AMAZING!!! Best concert of my life! Couldn't have been better. The guys are all super amazing and super hot! Seeing as I am the hugest fan of Guns N' Roses ever, I absolutly went insane when they played Mr. Brownstone, Used to Love Her and all of the other G n' R tunes! Fricken amazing show, best night of my life. I hope they come back soon. Rock on!

Thanks to Danica McCann: This show was absolutely mind blowing. I was on the floor, but even if you were in the nosebleed section, the big screens and excellent sound system at Rexall Centre helped. Velvet Revolver's versions of Mr. Brownstone, Used To Love Her and It's So Easy was amazing and Slash's solos were extremely smooth throughout the show. With Duff jumping of risers, Dave running around, Matt playing with such ferocity that he practically spread an aura of energy around him, Slash just being the cool and mind blowing Slash and Scott slithering around the stage, it was an amazing show.

Thanks to Adrian Aumais: This show was the best concert I've ever been to Slash's solo behind head was insane and Scott was crazy up on stage. Duff was great and so was Matt and Dave. This concert was the best concert I have ever been to and I don't think that well ever change. I was crowd surfin and moshin the whole show I hope they tour and come hear again.

Thanks to Alex: I thought the show was pretty sweet, I was a little disappointed that there was no pyro but all in all I thought it was a really good concer. I also found it funny that Scott had like three shirts on in the fist song and by the end of the second song he didn't have any on lol.

Thanks to Cliff Carter: Simply put....the venue was not at all large enough to contain the energy in the building. 15 years ago, I missed a chance to see Guns N Roses in Concert and this concert more than made up for it!! Three Days Grace was, to be honest, better live than I figured they would be...they did a great job of warming up the crowd for the big show. When Velvet Revolver was introduced....the crowd was deafening!! And the whole show was absolutely electric....from the very first song to the last note played, the crowd was almost a continuous roar. I would like to thank my local radio station 106.1 the Goat for the tickets to the concert, which I won...lol...

Thanks to Derek Labossiere: The show was the best concert I've ever been to and I'm sure it will stay that way. Scott was the man of the show he rocked the arena, Duff kick ass to he bounced around the stage pretty good for an old guy. Slash was amazing pulling of guitar solos behind his head and bring out the top hat during the encore. Velvet Revolver put on a wicked show and they blew away Three Days Grace.

Thanks to Brittny: This show blew me away! It was awesome when Scott was using his megaphone. Such a good show!!!!!!!!

Thanks to Destiny: Ok so here we are, I'm still a little deaf and my ears haven't stopped ringing yet so bear with me as I get into every last detail that I can possibly remember! But first I need coffee..... j/k as you can tell my excitement is still pretty high after last night.

Ok, so we get there about 6:30 the show doesn't actually start til something like 7:30 or at least 3 Days Grace doesn't hit the stage til 7:30, we get in the door, get our wristbands and head downstairs to the private area for people with floor tix, we get down there and our course they are doing pat downs, they say to me "Go thru please miss" and then its Jon's (my husband) turn "Sir, please stop and put up your hands" I was floored that they patted him down! Thinking about it now it's actually kinda funny, OK really its funny as hell... for those of you who know what Jon looks like you will know what I mean...

So we get on the floor and he asks me how close I dare to get, well of course I can't turn down a good dare... so I trundle all the way to the front... I mean he dared right? RIGHT! There weren't many people in yet, so we had a really nice spot pretty close to the barricades, but then he told me I was crazy (like duh! after 9 years he should know) and we ended up getting a spot about 20 feet away from the stage... I can tell you now though I am sooooo very glad we did, we were located right in front where they were filming and all the news cameras were the spot was excellent he has a good eye, we could see EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING!

At 7:30 3 Days Grace hits the stage, they open with (I hate) Everything about you and spin off from there playing all my favorite tunes. Home, Wake Up, and Just Like you, as well as a new release off their new album that comes out this year sometime, I can't remember the name, but it was REALLY good. they played about 6 or 7 tunes in total, the band was great! Of course not Velvet Revolver great, but when your opening for the "HOT" thing, your gonna do a good show. Anyway the sound was wicked, the band was full of energy and the crowd went nuts... but just wait we're almost to the reallllllllly good part. 3 Days gets off the stage around 8:30 so everyone of course piles outside to have a smoke, it was literally standing room only out in the smoking area, shoulder to shoulder, smokes being passed around, joints being passed around, beer flowing freely, we lasted out there for about 5 minutes, before having to go back in.

We get back in and wait, Velvet Revolver isn't supposed to hit the stage until about 9:30 or so... the most amazing part was watching the Velvet Revolver stage crew hook up and climb the riggings up into the lights... they manually adjusted them and then began swinging them around the arena, then they lowered the lights and continued to do that, the crowd went absolutely fucking wild screaming and yelling, it's getting closer to the time Velvet Revolver is supposed to come out and suddenly they move one of the spotlights to highlight a small piece of the stage, on that little right hand corner (looking at the stage) is 6 MASSIVE and when I say massive, I do mean MASSIVE amps, sitting in the middle on top of those amps is.... you guess.... ok I'll tell you, it was Slash's top hat, I can tell you I was never more psyched that spotting it at that very moment...

The lights go down and the arena goes FUCKING POSTAL, looking around I can tell you we were very nearly sold out, if we weren't sold out, honestly I didn't check this morning. So the MC introduces Velvet Revolver and the roof comes off the place, it was absolutly incredible (and this is before they even get on) Lighters are lit and people are screaming for them to come on, finally it happens..... they come out and the place erupts with not only the people but the band and the lights and those massive fucking amps, 2 trinatrons were lit up one on either side of the stage. So they launch into their first song, Sucker Train Blues I believe (I wasn't even really paying attention to the music) I was just in awe, with this great big shit eatin grin on my face.... every drum beat, every wail of the guitars and Scott singing just ripped right thru me, leaving me feeling like my entire body was vibrating. So they finish the first song and Scott shouts something to the effect of "Hey all you mother fuckers, we are Velvet Revolver and we play Rock n Fuckin Roll" and the plain background drops to show The words Rock n Fuckin roll, flanked by 2 almost nekkid chicks sitting with their legs spead.

They launch into the second song, again, my bad for not remembering which one, but by that time they were seriously soloing Slash and Scott of course was well on his way to being stripped, by the second song, his tie and hat were gone and his shirt was unbuttoned to his waist band (no he wasn't wearing those flashy silver pants like in the Slither video) the second song ends and Duff gets to speak, everyone goes silent for a second, he seemed kinda hard to hear, like he had a cold but he said something to the effect of "Thanks to you fuckers, we've been on tour since May so thanks a fucking lot!" The crowd went INSANE! They then launched into It's So Easy, every Gnr fan on site went crazy literally (and I was personally pleased to see it, especially after seeing all the little teeny girls that wouldnt know shit from shinola when it comes to GnR tunes, you know the ones I'm talking about the little girls in their fuck me skirts wanting to be groupies) they did ok with that one, but honestly Scott can't pull it off like well... you know who, then came Fall to Pieces after Scott asked the crowd if they were ready to slow it down just a little, it was beautiful live.

So finally, the moment I was waiting for (other than seeing Slash play live) they let him speak and he says something like "Hello Edmonton! Its good to fucking be here, it's been a long time since I was here last" he's wearing his top hat and of course everyone is going NUTS. Thay launch into Welcome to the Jungle and I gotta say, it was unfuckingbelieveable! They are going crazy on the stage putting on one hell of a show (I just wish I could remember the entire setlist)... this is getting really long. So at this point just about everyone on stage was shirtless (and I gotta say, I love the Cash tatoo on Slash's stomach). So on top of that they played Mr. Brownstone, Used to love her, all of which were good. Slither was wild live and so was Set Me Free (Set Me Free is much better live than on the CD) Illegal I was excellent as well... they played a couple of STP songs, but I'm not a big fan of STP so I can't tell you which ones they were. Other than quick bursts where they got off stage to have costume changes, they played pretty much until about 5 minutes after 11. All I can say it was wild and I was in total awe, the power these guys have live is undeniable.

Ok so here we go...

Gnr Material - I would give them an A (not so good on It's So easy)
Velvet Revolver Material - A+ of course its theirs and they are wicked with it
STP Material - honestly it's STP, who cares? I don't lol (not to be rude)
Sound -- A+! I'm still deaf so it must have been pretty damn good
Lights and Effects - A+ (their guys really knew how to do it right)
Audience - A+, of course we're all crazy

Overall Concert Performance - A+++++++++ Totally butt fucking crazy OUT OF CONTROL! I went to a fight and there ended up being a concert! (Hehe I say that because security must have hauled about a dozen drunk asses outta there last night)

I will definately be going to see them play again if they come, I'm totally and completely hooked!

Thanks for busting my concert cherry guys, you were my first!

Thanks to Jordan: Only one word can describe the show in Edmonton on the 29th, maybe two, F***IN AMAZING! My ears are still ringing from that! Slash, Duff, Dave, Matt and Scott rocked that stage like no tommorrow, killer show.

Thanks to Adam: Best show of the year!! Basically everything off Contraband except Loving the Alien and Spectacle and some G n' R and one STP song. The show was rock solid!!

Thanks to Jerome Bourchier AKA Anarchy Joe: How long was Edmonton waiting for this?

It has been over 10 years since Slash, Matt & Duff set foot in an Edmonton Arena. Dave has most likely not and Scott never had before for sure!

The anticipation of the crowd mulling in the lobby area of Rexall Place was electric. The age of fans gathered to watch the mighty rock band ranged from 8-year-olds with parents to packs of 15-year-old kids wearing they're older brothers GN'R t-shirts. There was also the early 20ish crowd, the 'knowing'... the ones who blinked their collective eyes and turned away from the generic garbage-rock that has been thrown at them and got bitten by the Velvet Revolver bug.

Then there was the older crowd. The one who grew up with the two bands they had loved, watched them rise to fame, fall to drug use and ultimetly fall to pieces...

Over ten thousands souls were ready to rock!

And after the opening band had finished their set, you could almost hear the ticking of the time bomb ready to blow...

Velver Revolver was about to rock the HELL out of the True North Strong and Free!!

And they did!

Big Bang Baby, they did!

They slapped the crowd in the face with Sucker Train Blues, showed them their Dirty Little Thing and by the time they filled my Headspace, they had the crowd jumping in time to the ryhthm. Set Me Free got them thumping, as well as Big Machine... and Scott Weiland had a trancendental key-board solo that blew apart their minds!! All of the Contraband songs were well recieved by the crowd, but nostalgia was met with an extra special embrace!

Crackerman brought hands to the air rocking to the beat while and "Roaming, roaming, roam..." could be heard from the crowd. Scott mastered the classic It's So Easy, and I Used To Love Her. Sex Type Thing was a special treat for die-hard STPers. Mr. Brownstone was kept in the back pocket and drew the biggest reaction as a second encore!

The band played unbelievably! The energy they created could have powered the Capital City of Alberta for the evening! Scott's voice was incredible as he blew apart Fall To Pieces. Slash's live performace surpassed anything layed down on vinyl, tape or digital rendering. Duff was solid and his voice was clear backing on the favorite Slither. Matt could be heard too and he didn't miss a beat. Dave was a machine and looked so super fucking cool as he rocked out bobbing his head! (Too bad his guitar sound was set on low!!)

Overall, there was not a dissapointed soul left when the lights came up! After the second encore, the crowd was visibly tired from the rock-thrashing that was layed upon them. We would have needed a rest to carry on...

But the boys of Velvet Revolver... they could have rocked all night!

Hope to see them again next year!!

Sooner than later!!!

Thanks to Robert Allen: In a word AMAZING! Velvet Revolver rolled into town Tuesday night and kicked our asses! I haven't been to such a high energy show in some time. Thank god for Velvet Revolver and their mission to bring back straight ahead Rock and Fucking Roll! This was my first chance to Slash live and he exceeded all my expectations. That man can play the guitar like no other. It was also my chance to see Scott and I must say he impressed the hell out of me. Great singer and performer. The band was tight, the stage show was spectacular with lots of strobes and a classic large lighted logo behind the band ala KISS. And they threw in a nice assortment of GnR and STP songs to fill the set. What more could you want in a rock Show!!

Three Days Grace provided the warmup which they did admirably if not predictably. They're an ok band with an unoriginal sound. Not awful though.

Great show! I hope you were one of the 10,000 that caught this one and I hope they come back again in the future once they have a bit more Velvet Revolver material under their belts.

Thanks to Ben: I've been to a number of shows put on by classic rock acts like Van Halen, Ozzy and Aerosmith and I have to say I've never been as excited about a show as I was this time. Now having said that I don't know what it was like up in the seats but on the floor I couldn't hear any of the vocals and practicly none of Slash's solos (which was very dissapointing because he was the main reason I went to this show). I realy have a question, does the band know what the sound guys are doing? Do they realize that people can't really hear music (when I say music I don't mean the damn bass and drums cause the sound is much more than that)? Now I'm sure they don't know because if Slash thought for a second that his fans couldn't hear the solos he's doing for them he'd probably be pissed! Other than that great show. My ears are ringing and I'm soar. (The sound engineers are screwing everybody over especially the band). Rock on Guys!!!

Thanks to Mike Ross from Edmonton Sun: Not content to play mere rock 'n' roll, Velvet Revolver plays "Rock & F---ing Roll." At least that's what the giant sign said at the band's concert in Rexall Place last night.

While rock 'n' roll is "a type of popular music originating in the 1950s, characterized by a heavy beat and simple melodies" - according to the Oxford Concise Dictionary - rock & f---ing roll is all that and more. Too much more. It is way too loud, excessive, bombastic, incoherent, obnoxious and possibly even dangerous. More than 10,000 fans came to revel in the stuff. That persistent ringing in your ears? Permanent hearing loss, people. It was a good gig.

Yes, and here we had a real motley crew on stage, dangerous guys whose collective history of substance abuse would kill 100 lesser rock bands 100 times over.

MONSTER

Perhaps I exaggerate, but remember that "excess" is the word of the day. Velvet Revolver is a Frankensteinian creation, a shambling monster of a rock band stitched together from the rotting corpses of dead rock bands. And like Frankenstein, Velvet Revolver always seemed on the verge of breaking its bonds, bursting through its cage, killing its master and slaughtering all the townspeople.

That's a feeling you just wouldn't get from plain old rock 'n' roll.

That Velvet Revolver consists of most of Guns 'N' Roses - including its second most colourful member Slash on lead guitar - drew the Guns 'N' Roses fans to the show. And posing and gyrating and shouting incoherently in front was Scott Weiland, the former singer of Stone Temple Pilots. Hard to know whether STP fans turned up. That band was twice booked to play Edmonton back in the '90s and twice cancelled for unspecified reasons, so as far as I know, this was Weiland's first visit to our fair city.

He did not disappoint.

As a frontman to "replace" Axl Rose - whose very name seems as taboo in Velvet Revolver circles as uttering the word "Macbeth" backstage at the Stratford Theatre Festival - Weiland was the epitome of a rock & f---ing roll singer.

He oozed charisma and flamboyance, shaking his entire leather-clad scarecrow body in a most lascivious manner.

In a game of rock striptease, each song saw him doff one item of clothing from his quasi military get-up. He was shirtless by the sixth song. Don't ask me what the song was. I assume it was all material from the band's only album so far, Contraband. I couldn't understand a damn word. It all sounded like "hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" at 130 decibels. Weiland also seemed fond of a bullhorn, which didn't clear up anything. Slash, meanwhile, did what Slash does - play a mean rock & f---ing roll guitar. In short order, he was kneeling in front of his stack o' Marshalls, adding yet another deafening layer to the already ear-splitting wall of rock.

Slash eventually addressed the crowd, after making sure he was in Edmonton. He bid us, "Let's hear it for Edmonton!" which is kind of a strange thing to say, and adding after the cheers, "It makes us feel real good." One editor at the Sun summed this guy up perfectly, "Slash is a great guitar player who likes to pretend he's stupid." It's a very rock 'n' roll thing to do ... sorry, rock & f---ing roll.

As Weiland reveled in the sheer pleasure of his own toxic charisma and the crowd went wild, the people on the floor packed like sardines, the evening continued with one rocker after another, each as incoherent and absurdly loud as the last. Weiland's lyrics tend to be deep, personal and cryptic, more like tortured poetry than rock lyrics. His performance of them, however, was the very definition of "in your face." Even with that blasted bullhorn in his face.

The most recognizable Velvet Revolver song, the one we've all been hearing on the radio, is Fall to Pieces, whose beginning sounds like a G'N'R outtake with a vocal a full octave lower than you expect it to be. No use pining for Axl, though. For a brief moment of audio and visual assault that a good rock & f---ing roll show can deliver, Guns 'N' Roses was forgotten. Let the healing begin.

FAMILIAR

Three Days Grace was the perfect opening act for this gig. Area rock fans have a certain familiarity with this band since they've been here about 100 times. They fulfilled all the opening band duties as prescribed in the Rock 'n' Roll Handbook - plug the headliner, ask the crowd if they were "ready for a rock show" when they clearly were, note in passing that Edmonton rocks harder than Calgary, and so on. And most importantly, they left no possibility that they would upstage Velvet Revolver. It's sad that a rock band can have such a generally solid sound yet be so boring that one longs for the set ending hit, in this case, I Hate Everything About You - the band reviews itself once again - and that "we'll be back" is perceived as a threat.

Thanks to Aaron: It was freakin' loud! It was powerful! It was AMAZING! Scott on the megaphone at times was different! Many Slash and Dave solos and Duff booming out bass lines with Matt going crazy on the drums with fills and rolls!

They played all of Contraband and some G n' R and some STP stuff too.

With lots of beer, drugs and boobs. I think this was the show of the year here in Edmonton. It was a life-changing event and I, proudly, was a part of it!