Slash's Snakepit Reviews (8.14, 8.15.00) Monday, August 14th. What a day! I had a contact with a DJ of a rock radio station and he told me, a few days before, that he would interview Slash and that I could go to the interview with him and meet Slash in the radio studio, the ultimate experience for a Slash fan! So my weeked was very exciting, i couldn't wait until the Monday and i did not sleep much! Finally Monday happened, the interview was planned for 2pm but i was there much earlier (around 12h30pm). I was wearing one of my rare Snakepit 1999 shirts. I went near the studio where the interview was supposed to take place and i met some guys of the radio station, i asked them if the interview was still at 2pm and they told me "NO"!! Thing changed and it was at 5pm and in the arena. They couldn't assure me i could go there for the interview and i had to wait 4 long hours, not knowing if i was waiting for something or for nothing! Just before 5pm the guys told me "go at the north-west entrance and the DJ who'll interview Slash will meet you there. soon". So i jumped in my car and went there. as soon as i saw that entrance, i saw 4 weirdos coming out of a big taxi. I immediatly recognized Rod Jackson, Johnny (the bassist) of Snakepit. I honked them and i showed them my index like if i was saying "Don't Move!!!! I'm coming". I stopped the car immediatly and went to see them, they were so cool, Rod Jackson seemed very happy to meet a fan and he shook my hand at least 4 times and we talked for 1-2 minutes, i shook the hand of the other guys too but... WHERE IS SLASH?? He was not there yet. Since the interview thing was becoming uncertain i asked Rod Jackson if he could let me get in the arena so i could meet Slash to sign my guitar. He said "well slash is coming soon, don't worry he'll sign it just stay here and he'll sign it." Then the security guy told me that my car was not supposed to be there and i had to go somewhere else. So i took the guitar out of the car and i went where i met Rod and i was waiting for Slash. During when i was waiting, the DJ showed up. He's called "Laurent Boulet" from CHOI 98,1 fm and i'd like to Thank him for all he did for me! He really did not have to do all this but since he knew i was a big fan he decided to help me. So me and the DJ were waiting for slash or his tour manager when suddently he got a phone call on his cellular phone, the interview was delayed again! 6pm!! (Some real torture was going on here!!) So i had to sit on the grass and i waited. At 6pm, nothing happened, i was giving up. But finally FINALLY, around 6h20pm, the tour manager showed up and he invited the DJ for the interview. They decided to change the location of the interview again: They'd do it in the tour bus of Slash. The DJ introduced me to Slash's tour manager but this guy was being a real dick! He said there's no way i could even get close to the bus!! The DJ and I tried to convince him but he did not care at all. He said that the DJ could bring my guitar but me i had to stay where i was (i.e. 500-600 feet away from the bus!). So i watched them walking away for like 15 seconds then i said "fuck! I'm not staying here I'll go near the bus to see what's going on" so i came near the bus, the tour manager was not happy and i told him to relax, i'd just wait there outside. The few windows of the bus are very dark and it's almost impossible to see through them but some shining things like a guitar, big earings and sunglasses were easily visible!! (So i saw Slash handling my guitar!). I also saw a nice girl with a cowboy hat near him, i guessed it could be his girlfriend Perla. When i had the impression that slash was looking outside, i was waving at him but i couldn't really tell if he was looking outside or not. But that was exciting cause he was in the bus and he was playing like 90 minutes later so i knew he was going to get out soon!! After a little while, The hot girl in the bus decided to come out and i was extremely surprised when i saw her walking straight in my direction! She came to see me and gave me a shirt of Slash's Snakepit 2000. She said she saw me with this '99 shirt and she said i needed a new one. I was going to buy one but i got it for free. When i saw her i recognized Perla like i have seen her on pictures before. I told her "You're Perla huh?" and she seemed very surprised and asked how I knew that stuff! I told her about how i knew that (from pics taken by Rocky in California after a snakepit 99 show) and i said thanks so much for the shirt and she said no problem and she returned in the bus. later the DJ got out too, with my guitar case and he gave it back to me, i opened it and i saw this wonderful Slash autograph on my Les Paul. He even did a cool skull drawing with a top hat like his and 2 bones behind it. Awesome. People around me were drooling! (I can't blame them!). But Slash was still in the bus, a few more fans arrived and waited for an autograph too. Finally Slash came out of the bus, i took a picture as soon as i saw him. He looked great! He did not have a ponytail, he had all his big hair that we like in his face! He was holding a bottle of Jack Daniel's and his Top Hat. (Difficult to imagine a more typical Slash!). Quickly many were around him with tickets to autograph, Slash said with his sweet voice something like "hey we'll have to do this real quick alright?" So since i was so lucky i let the other fans meet slash and i just took pictures (I also had to carry this embarassing heavy guitar case), just before slash left i touched his hand and I honestly don't remember what i said to him! I did the best I could to take good pictures of the other fans with Slash. I got their email and i'll give them the picture. I even realized that this cool girl waiting for slash was someone i knew on the internet and I didn't know about it! So after that i went to my car to put my guitar there and i went to my wonderful 3rd row seat. I was SOOOOOOOO close! I talked about slash with the guy near me a few minutes then Slash's Snakepit started to play! The first song: Life's sweet Drug was new to me but i liked it. Rod Jackson was very energetic and he was great. i was standing up but some people were sitting. But me and the people around me were really into it and Rod noticed that. He recognized me and pointed his finger at me! It was so cool (he did it again later!). Slash was of course brillant. Unfortunatly the band can't really control the sound (AC/DC control it) and Slash is not easy to hear cause the drums are too loud compared to him. It's such a feeling to see Slash playing in front of you! Slash was not looking at the crowd too much, he was mostly looking at his guitar or i saw him with his eyes closed often. I wish he looked at me! Then they played the great "Been There lately". After slash picked his Snakepit signature guitar to play some slide with wah wah on "Shine", a wonderful tune!!!!!!. they played 'just like anything' and then "Mean Bone". After that we heard those famous "boom boom boom bo-boom boom"... Mr. Brownstone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The crowd loved it and me too! Something really cool happened during that song. I knew that Jackson liked to imitate Axl's moves during "Brownstone" and i did the same in the 3rd row and he saw me and he pointed his finger at me and said "yeah!!" and he wanted me to keep doing it so everybody can see me doing like Axl, it was very exciting! Even some people around me did like Rod and pointed their finger at me. They closed the set with "Speed Parade". Slash started the set without his hat, he was wearing it for Shine. He got really excited and started banging his head real hard and the hat violently hit the stage. The big bodyguard went to get it but when slash wore it again, I noticed that the hat was damaged (Hey Slash, if your hat is damaged, i could accept it if you dont want to perform with that one anymore!). After a few songs slash decided to play shirtless. Rod kept his shirt only for like 2-3 minutes! Slash was headbanging so much sometimes! it was almost scary! Then AC/DC came on, I won't review their show here but they were amazing. After the show i tried to meet slash again, i wanted him to sign my top hat. I went near his bus but the bodyguard told me that tonight it would be impossible to meet slash. a few minutes later his bus left.. Tuesday, August 15th I saw the Montreal show the day after the Quebec City show. I did not have 3rd row tickets but seeing the show from the stands was not bad. I was with 2 fellow GNR fans before the show, we looked for Slash but we did not see him. But we found his bus (in some private underground well protected parking), i saw his bodyguard and his rythm guitarist: Kerry Kelly (we talked with him for a minute outside). During the afternoon I bought a new guitar because i dont want to play on my Slash autographed guitar anymore! his fingerprints are still on it! I found a wonderful Epiphone SG just like Angus Young's guitar for a very good price so i got it. The show was awesome, The crowd was very good but not as good as the night before. But during Mr. Brownstone people were going nuts! Even the beer selling guys were dancing and playing air guitar! It was so good to see. During the last song Rod Jackson jumped on the floor to ask to the people to get up and dance cause they were all sitting. He's great with the crowd. Slash moved alot and wore this top hat during all the show and he was shirtless. They played the same songs than the night before. Awesome show, the first song "Life's Sweet Drug" is now in my head all the time even if i heard it only twice! ACDC also did the same show as the night before, it was extremely rock n' roll! After the show we wanted to meet slash, we were hanging around this forbidden bus parking trying to see him. Suddently a bunch of slash-GNR fans joined us, they wanted to see the man too and they were really cool. we tried to get in but the arena parking employees didn't want us to be there and they immediatly asked us to return on the street. so we were walking around and trying to see slash. Suddently i heard some people walking down the stairs and i went to see who it was. for that I had to climb like 10 feet above the ground on some wire netting. I had my top hat on and a camera in my mouth and i was climbing (at this moment, my nickname "rat" was really appropriate!). We couldn't see anything if we were below 10 feet. So when i was finally able to see. I saw 3 people together, I saw a woman with a cowboy hat, i recognized Perla (Slash's girlfriend). i yelled "hey!!!" then i realized that Slash was with her + the bodyguard. I went nuts! I yelled "SLAAAAAAAASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" and they all looked at me! Slash said "hey!". The bodyguard recognized me and laughed and Perla recognized me too and she told slash who i was. Then i did a very complicated physical effort to be able to manipulate my camera with one hand and my mouth (I'm 10 feet above the parking like a monkey!) and Slash saw that i was tying to take a pic and he waved at me and smiled, so did Perla. I took 2 pictures and i hope they will be good. the other fans saw me all excited like that and some of them did like me: they climbed and yelled some words to slash. But we had to return on the ground quickly cause it was so hard for the hands to do that! And slash was leaving anyway. After that the parking employees became more arrogant. They even called the police to ask us to walk away. They never let us reach the tour bus and we were pretty sad when Slash's bus left the building and there was nothing we could do about it! we tried to ask the bus to stop but the driver did not stop and slash's snakepit slowly left the arena... But Slash gave 2 awesome shows here and I'll never forget those 2 days. I can't wait for the next tour. The really cool things are that the crowd seemed to like Slash alot, i saw many people buying Slash's shirts and i saw some real big fans like me so it's good to know we're not alone. --- Rattus the Rat, August 16th 2000