"Peter Andersson"

Slash's Snakepit Review - 12.9.00

Location: Stockholm, Sweden, Klubben Opening Act: John Norum Started: 9:45 (CET, 15min late) Length: ~1:30 Setlist: Life's Sweet Drug, Been There Lately, Just Like Anything, Shine, Mean Bone, Serial Killer, Back To The Moment, It's So Easy, The Alien, Landslide, Ain't Life Grand, Mr. Brownstone, Beggars & Hangers-On, Speed Parade I was too tired to write yesterday, but here it comes...

THE VENUE Klubben lies in a industry area the southern part of Stockholm. It has a balcony on all sides, except behind the stage. There was a bar and a booth for merchandise. The capacity is 600, and I would say it was between 550 and 600 when Snakepit came on. It was still not difficult to walk around, though.

THE SHOW Me, my brother and a friend went to Stockholm by car. It was a two hour drive. We went to the venue and checked out the surroundings. What must have been the Snakepit tour bus was parked behind the venue. No one was there so we left again. As it was pretty cold it was really not nice waiting two hours to get in... Anyway, once inside we bought some shirts and waited for the opening act. I was pretty surprised as they were only five minutes late. For those who don't recognize John Norum, he played lead guitar in Swedish 80's hair metal band Europe. They did six or seven songs (including Thin Lizzy's "Warrior" and "Suicide"). Overall they were pretty decent, altough their singer was abscent due to illness. Keri Kelli was standing on the side of the stage during their set. Time went by pretty quickly after they left and Snakepit came on 15 minutes after the announced time. LSD opened the set and it was awesome! After a few songs Rod talked about how he'd never seen so many beautiful women in his whole life as in Sweden. They did a small jam in the beginning of Mean Bone and Rod kept shouting "Can this motherfucker play, or what?". And yes, he was talking about Slash... "Serial Killer" was introduced by Rod saying it was about a friend of his who was doing time, becuase of some girl. The only song that wasn't greeted with cheers (wrong word, screams is better) was "Back To The Moment". But Snakepit "won" over the audience and by the end most of the crowd sang along. Then it got pretty crazy when "It's So Easy" started. People were jumping all over the place. I can't remember exactly when it was, but I think some time around this, Rod saw someone with a camera (NO, he didn't do an Axl). He asked the person if he could borrow it. The camera came up on stage, and Rod spend some time trying to figure out how to handle it. Finally Slash came up to him and together they managed to operate it. They took a few shots of the crowd. The crowd really got wilder after "It's So Easy" and the following four songs were the peak of the show; Alien (which I don't like non-live), Landslide, Grand and Brownstone. The only time Slash spoke was in the beginning of Brownstone. As he was his usual self, it was really hard to hear what he said. I think it something about this being a great crowd and so on. After that they got off the stage and people started screaming "Snakepit". It took like a minute or so before they came on. Rod brought a bottle of Jack and screamed that "this fucking ain't tea". By this time the crowd was a little bit more calm as it was awfully hot (which Rod pointed out several times). "Beggars & Hangers-On" was the first encore. They did a pretty good version of it. And then the second peak of the show, "Speed Parade". I really love that riff! Then it was over and we got back out in the cold. We didn't check the bus since we had to hurry in order not to get our car locked in overnight...

CLOTHES Slash wore leather pants, the top-hat, black boots and a red shirt with white print that read "Think Cully..." and then some word I didn't see. I think he took it off during the encores. Rod had a shirt, but as he took it off after maybe one song, I don't remember it. He had those black fly-glasses during LSD and a song in the middle of the set. His pants were really tight. Johnny (who Rod told us to welcome home during the introductions (he's from Sweden)) had a Jack shirt. I didn't see his pants. Around his neck he had a chain with a lock (like Sid Vicious and Duff). Keri had a Clash shirt. Couldn't see his pants either. I can't recall what Matt wore.

MERCHANDISE There was one black long-sleeve shirt with the snake on the front, and "Slash's Snakepit" and "Ain't Life Grand" printed on the arms. 250 SEK (~25 USD) A black t-shirt with the album cover on the front, and a really inaccurate tour schedule on the back. 220 SEK (~22 USD) An white t-shirt with some ugly small print on the front. 220 SEK (~22 USD) The tour book 70 SEK (~7 USD) A pair of panties. A badge. A baseball cap.