To the surprise of many in the audience, the lights go down at 8:55pm – somewhat early for any gig – never mind the former guitarist of a band who were infamously notorious for coming on stage late. Nevertheless, the lights dim, and the crowd erupt.

A strong yellow light gives the arena a meagre tint as the man himself appears on stage along with his band. However, as songs such as ‘You’re A Lie’ from Slash’s second solo album, Apocalyptic Love – the first with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators – and ‘Halo’ are followed by the classic Guns ‘N’ Roses track ‘Nightrain’, the crowd’s reaction seems somewhat muted. Something isn’t right. Every man, woman and child in the audience can see the effort the band are making, however, the sound isn’t reflecting their endeavours. Due to technical glitches (which have become something of a trend at the Arena recently) the sound that Slash et al were producing simply got lost in the atmosphere, losing its force and presence after arguably the first 10-15 rows of people.

The sound problems continued past the half way mark of the set, reducing the intensity of songs from new album World On Fire and G ‘N’ R classics such as ‘You Could Be Mine’, a pleasant surprise as the track hadn’t featured in Slash’s set at the Apollo two years earlier. As bassist Todd ‘Dammit’ Kerns takes lead vocals on ‘Doctor Alibi’ and Guns track ‘You’re Crazy’, the atmosphere improves slightly, though once again the unwelcome sight of mobile phones en masse is a hindrance.

I need to get this off my chest… It’s infuriating when you can hardly see the band on stage through the sea of mobile phones held aloft to record/capture the action on stage. A little message to those who watch the gigs through their phone screen: no one on your Facebook is actually that bothered about a two minute clip from the show. If they were that bothered, they would be at the gig themselves, so just leave it in your pocket. I suppose there’s some irony here, given that we’re in the ‘Phones4U’ Arena, but it’s annoying and needs to stop. (Rant over.)

As the show reached the final third, something clearly changed. Someone, somewhere must have been ordered to adjust the sound levels, and it made one hell of a difference. Classics such as ‘Mr. Brownstone’, a fifteen minute version of ‘Rocket Queen’, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and also a segment of Bad Company’s ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, which segues into Velvet Revolver track, ‘Slither’ make for a rousing finale. Set closer ‘Paradise City’ is another highlight, leaving the audience satisfied and the atmosphere much improved.  On reflection, this was an extremely strange gig, with the crowd not really moving for an hour or so, then going completely berserk during the last half an hour.

James Cummins

@CummyBear