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Meeting Slash once more!
In the spring of 2004, Velvet Revolver really hit the road for the
first time as a band and they started by touring mid-size venues in
North America. In Dallas they stopped at the Granada Theater on
Greenville Avenue, an old movie theater recently renovated into a very
fine concert room holding between 400 to 1000 people depending on the
type of show. For Velvet Revolver it was all general admission, no
seats, and the place sold out very quickly.
When the tickets went on sale we were afraid of not getting tickets so
I got up early and went waiting in line where they were selling them
while my friend was also trying to get some on the internet. Finally
we both got lucky and I ended up with more tickets than I needed, and
they did very well on eBay, so I ended up being paid to go to that
show!
In the afternoon on June 19 me and a couple of friends went there
early hoping to have a chance to meet not only Slash but also two
other members of GNR, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan. We were definitely
not the only ones who had that idea, there was a lot of fans there
hoping for the same thing, people from all around Texas, Oklahoma,
Arkansas, ... with albums and other thing to get autographed.
At around 4:00pm a hard to miss dark tour bus appeared on the street
and entered the parking. People were excited. After a couple of
minutes Duff, Matt and Dave kushner were seen outside in the restricted
area, having some food and talking. It did not take too long for Duff
to come meet the fans, followed by Matt Sorum. There was a lot of
people to talk to, a lot of tickets and albums and posters to sign and
a lot of pictures to take but they both took time to give everybody
what they wanted then they returned in the bus area and in the
backstage area.
Slash was the most wanted guy of course, but he did not come out
immediately. We could sometimes see him walking in and out of the club
but he did not do like Duff and Matt. Now the thing was that it was a
general admission show, so if you wanted to be close from the stage,
you had to get in line early. So we decided to to give up on trying to
meet Slash and went to have dinner and then started waiting in line.
It was still early so it was a long wait, and Texas is pretty hot
around those days! But some unexpected event made the long wait a
little more exciting...
Around 6:00pm or so, we detected some kind of excitement going on from
behind the club where the tour bus was. We went to see what was going
on and of course, that was him, Slash was there signing autographs and
taking pictures with the fans. This was more organized than with Duff
and Matt, Slash was behind some kind of barricade and all those who
wanted to meet him had to wait in line. So I had a chance to meet him
again, he gave me an autograph on my GNR shirt and took some pictures.
We did not spend too much time so the people behind us could also have
their chance...
Then we returned in line at the door (where we were, not at the back
completely!). We could hear the band doing the soundcheck very
clearly. And we started worring about getting a good "seat", there was
a LOT of people in front of us, maybe 100-150. We were sure that the
front row would be unavailable and we were wondering where we would
end up. Finally when they opened the doors, we got in as fast as we
could and tried to get close to the stage. Luckily, a lot of people
were kind of looking around, using the restrooms, buying drinks and
talking in the lobby so we could expect decent seats. We then
discovered that this place was divided into large sections of maybe
2-3 rows or people, the front section seemed pretty full so we just
rushed for the 2nd section which was a little more elevated than the
front section and still just a few feet away from the stage. But then
we realized "hey, there's still some room up there!" so we just went
in the front section and just after we got in there, the security
closed that section, nobody else was allowed! We were lucky.
The cool thing was that this section was not too crowded, we actually
had space to move, I'm glad it was not like the sections behind us
which seemed much more densly packed with people. There was an opening
band, I honestly don't remember much about them, I think it was some
punk rock band, not bad but nothing memorable. Then they started to
prepare the stage for VR. At some point one of the road crew guys came
to place Slash's top hat on top of his amp, the crowd went crazy just
seeing that hat! After a little wait, Velvet Revolver was ready to go
on stage!
The lights went down and the band got on stage, creating some instant
excitement in the room. The first song was really crazy, as soon as a
band member would get near us, everybody would rush toward the stage
trying to touch them! But it was not violent or anything, everybody
was just having a great time. Of course when Slash stepped in front of
us, it was pure madness! He was so close, everybody could touch his
boots and even his guitar!
The show was extremely intense. The crowd was super loud and excited
and it just boosted the band's energy even more. I will confess that I
prefer the Snakepit albums to the VR album but the way the music was
delivered, it's hard to beat! Scott Weiland impressed me as a
frontman; he has that really crazy look and really catches the crowd's
attention. During a STP cover he asked us to move a little to create
some room so he could get in the crowd! Then he climbed on the
barricade between the front section and the second section to sing
part of the song, the 2nd section people went ape-shit!
The cool thing is that we were on the "slash side" (right) so almost
every song he'd play a solo a few inches away from us. Slash gave me
his guitar pick after one of the songs, that was really nice and
exciting!
To summarize, it was one of the best rock show I've seen, it was a
huge privilege to be able to see them in such a small place so close.
It won't happen again anytime soon. The Granada Theater is such a cool
place, I regret I didn't bring my camera inside. They were not allowed
but nobody ever cared, the room was full of people taking pictures.
I've seen VR a few months later during a festival at the Smirnoff
Arena, I was sitting much further from the stage and it was a
completely different feeling, much less exciting, and also the band's
set was cut short which sucked. But the Granada show was perfect.
Here's what they played
Sucker Train Blues
Do It for the Kids
Headspace
Crackerman
Illegal I
It's So Easy
Fall To Pieces
Big Machine
Set Me Free
Mr. Brownstone
Used to Love Her
Slither
Sex Type Thing
Bodies
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