Slash’s Snakepit
Friday, April 9th, 1999 at 8:00 pm
Schooners Bar and Grill, Lancaster, CA
Show length: 2 hours, maybe a little more..
Lineup: Rod Jackson (lead vocals), Slash (lead and rhythm guitar, vocals), Ryan Roxie (lead and rhythm guitar, vocals), Johnny Griparik (bass, vocals), Matt Laug (drums), Teddy Andreadis (keyboards, vocals, percussion, harmonica), Bill Esparza (saxophone)
Set List (not in order, may be incomplete or incorrect):
Encore:
Schooner's is basically a restaurant/bar with a large area in the center for a dance floor and the stage to the right. The stage is raised from the floor and the monitors are placed on an extension of the stage in the front so there is more room for the band. This place was good because they had two levels so people can watch the show from above, and it also wrapped around to the back so the people sitting there could see the band from the back as well. This show wasn't as crowded as the others, probably because of the smaller floor area in front of the stage. The atmosphere was pretty good, and there were television monitors scattered around the place mounted to the ceiling so that people who didn't have a good view could look at those from time to time. They even had monitors facing the band so they could see what they looked like if they wanted to. Another good thing was that they had a small area on the side where some of the gear was stored so that it wouldn't clog the stage area for the performance. This time I saw an official photographer and also someone who was videotaping the show.
The opening bands were alright, the first one was a local band, and the second was a heavy metal group called Forlorn. Their songs were alright, but some big fans were really pumped up for these guys and were yelling and going crazy. Both of their sets were less than 45 minutes, and it was very smooth switch between the bands. The gear and pedals and microphones, etc didn't take as long as usual to set up, so the band was ready to start at about 10:30. They started with the horror movie music, with the lights dimmed while the band took their positions. After that it was pure rock n' roll and no turning back... the band was really tight and it seems like they're here to stay!
Rod announced near the beginning that it was Adam Day's (Slash's guitar tech) birthday, and told us to wish him a happy f$%^in' birthday! They also commended him for doing a lot of work, setting up most of the gear by himself. I saw him tape the setlists up, setup the guitar effects, keyboard, test and tune all of Slash's guitars, and more! From that, I could tell that it was going to be a great show, and indeed it was. I was standing near the center stage in the front. Usually there are so many people that it is difficult to get in there, but I came in before the crowd so I was pretty lucky.
The sound and lighting were MUCH better than the show at the Boogie. Let me tell you, that makes a huge difference on how you enjoy the show! This time I heard everyone clearly almost through the whole show. I could tell when Ryan was playing, and his solos were smooth and effective. His rhythm guitar was great especially during the jams and the slower parts when you could hear the separation more easily. Johnny's bass was clear too, and very nice when he played a little funk during the band intros. Slash's solos were as good as ever, and I heard some signature licks in there, which was nice to hear. Matt's drumming was great, although he didn't have a drum solo, he did stand out at certain times during the show. The vocals were great, and this time I could hear a lot of the lyrics, and also the background vocals pretty well. Slash joined in a few times on vocals too! Teddy's keyboards were also audible, and he seemed to be having a great time singing as well. Bill wailed on the sax and Slash played near him for some time, as well as Ryan.
The lighting setup was pretty nice since they had lights in front, facing the band and also some lights to the rear, all of different colors. As a result, we weren't blinded by the lighting and I could see quite well. The also had a spotlight which would go on different people when they were playing. I'd say the stage crew did a pretty good job overall this time!
Also the crowd wasn't as crazy, so I didn't have to fend off people or try to see above other people's heads. And the security didn't get in the way, but stopped anything from getting violent when the songs were at full speed..
This show was full of energy and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Ryan looked different, with his hair braided, but it was cool! Slash came out in his black leather pants, black leather cowboy boots, and a circus freak show shirt, and on the back it said FREAK in big bold letters.. and of course the signature top hat! On his belt , he had a cool little metal shark which i didn't notice at first.. and he had all kinds of bracelets and rings on. The others were wearing normal stuff, and you will be able to see more details when I have the pictures posted on my site.. Rod, Ryan and Johnny gave high fives to people, and Rod was commenting on some of the girls in the crowd! But there were no really drunk people who took their clothes off when he played Ain't Life Grand. Its a cool song, kinda sleazy and bluesy. Rod Jackson's voice is well suited to his new band, and its not just me, because people I have talked to at the show also liked the new material and new singer. A lot of people were seeing Snakepit and Slash for the first time, so they were really blown away! Rod's vocals were the best in Beggars and Hangers on, Mama Said, and especially Papa Was a Rollin' Stone.. He was kneeling while singing and it was almost like a prayer...soft and low.. Another highlight of the show was near the end, I think in Beggars and Hangers on, Slash broke a string while playing! Now that's a sign that he's into the show!!
My favorite songs were I Left My Soul, 99 Times, Rusted Heroes, Landslide, and Speed Parade. The other ones are good too, but I don't know the lyrics well. I also loved the encore.. it was amazing! My friend liked Ain't It Grand a lot and Beggars. Brownstone was killer, great solos and good energy.. I LOVED Speed Parade.. it was really heavy and has a great chorus which stuck with me. The solo at the end of Beggars was awesome too, worthy of a huge crowd in an arena. I also loved the jam where they did band introductions because you could hear how good Johnny and Ryan were when they layed on the funk groove! The introductions were pretty funny since they forgot Teddy until later even after Rod reminded Slash about it! They were having so much fun that Rod asked if they could stay there for the weekend! Johnny was introduced as Johnny Blackout, and Teddy was introduced as Teddy Zig-Zag before his harmonica solo in Knockin'. Slash made sure that Bill Esparza on the sax was introduced and he got a lot of applause too. Slash did some crazy slide playing at one point after Rusted Heroes, cool to see.. and he also made some cool effects by pressing the strings above the bridge and moving the guitar upside down and shaking it, and also pressing the body of the guitar, very fun to watch on stage. He didn't make any huge mistakes that I could see and played really fast at certain times without missing a beat. Ryan and Johnny bot have a lot of experience in other bands that I have seen before, so they were just having a good ol' time! Matt seems as good as many of the top drummers I've seen, lots of energy too! If you haven't seen Teddy before, you're missing out, he's a crazy guy and very talented, he's a welcome addition to any band, in my opinion.
I think this band would do a lot of great covers of blues and other rock songs, especially since Rod can really sing well! I was thinking of stuff like The Thrill is Gone, Born under a Bad Sign, Shake Your Moneymaker Crossroads, Nightprowler to name a few. Maybe some other Elmore James, Muddy Waters maybe even some Hendrix, Well it seems to me like they have a lot of room to grow, so it will be great to see what unfolds since this is such a talented lineup! Slash's Snakepit seems to be getting better as time goes on..
The end of the show was great.. Slash said about Mr Brownstone that "we're the only band that still plays this song.." and it was excellent.. and a great transition into Landslide too, a very rocking song as well. Knockin' on Heaven's Door was dedicated to Lisa who has to deal with Adam's coming home late after work..that was pretty cool. In Knockin', Ryan played the first solo which was great, and Slash played the second and after Teddy had a harmonica solo and Bill also played sax. Later, at the last solo, Slash and Co. were sitting down for it. It was a perfect end to the show, everyone loved it and was singing along to the choruses... Slash also said that they hope that the album would be out by the end of summer. The song Landslide is appropriate for Snakepit: "its like a landmine, stepping out of time, ready to explode.."
Afterwards I got to meet the band and they were really cool and appreciative that we enjoyed the show. I didn't get to talk to Rod since he left abruptly, but that's understandable since they were all tired. Slash was so cool since he always takes the time for his fans, and we all appreciate it a LOT! I talked to Slash for a bit and also his girlfriend and he signed the cd.. it was pretty shocking since they apparently recognized me when I told Slash my name was Ravi when I gave him the cd, i think they might have seen the webpage. I wanted to thank the band and Slash for taking their time to talk to the fans even though they must have been dead tired after playing.. Slash has been quite an inspiration for me starting to learn guitar over the last couple of years. Hopefully we will see them come back soon, and the new album should be really excellent! Its been a few days and I'm still thinking about it..!
Ravi
http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~ravi
Lancaster Pictures:
Slash’s Snakepit
Wednesday, April 6th, 1999 at 8:00 pm.
The Cowboy Boogie, Anaheim, CA
Show length: about 2 hours
Lineup: Rod Jackson (lead vocals), Slash (lead and rhythm guitar, vocals), Ryan Roxie (lead and rhythm guitar, vocals), Johnny Griparik (bass, vocals), Matt Laug (drums), Teddy Andreadis (keyboards, vocals, percussion, harmonica)
Set List (not in order, may be incomplete or incorrect):
Encore:
This was a great show, and if you saw it you would see how great of a performance Slash and Co. are able to pull off; a straight rock n' roll show. Its shows like these that make you glad you're a fan of good rock music rather than something else which has little energy or emotion behind it. I had a lot of fun despite some annoyances during the show. The opening bands were the best I have ever seen in any small club. Liquid Circus had a great bass player and Barely Legal was pretty cool too, a good mix of hip-hop/rap and rock if you like that kind of music. Their guitarist was pretty good too!
The Boogie is a pretty cool place since it has a lot of room for people both on and off the floor. The stage isn't that big so they didn't get to run around as much as they would have liked to. One thing I didn't like much is that they announced that anyone taping (audio or video) or taking pictures would be kicked out, and I think that's pretty unfair since the band doesn't mind that as far as I know. The stage setup was alright, but it seemed like it was hastily put together, and the good thing was that it didn't really slow down the setup of the gear for the band. I didn't really like the lighting here at all. This was because they had some rotating lights which blinded me and everyone else at random times, so I couldn't see the band as clearly as I would have liked to. Almost all the other shows I've seen at small clubs have dimmer lighting, with occasional spotlights, so it is easier to watch the band play.
The sound was overall pretty good, and very loud, which is a neccesity of course! I could hear Slash's guitar very well throughout the show, and Slash's solos were very good and weren't sloppy at all. His Marshall stack was positioned a little bit farther back than the opening bands, so that probably helped the sound, and the large speaker system array at the Boogie did a great job so that even people in the back near the bar would be able to hear the songs well. The Matt's drums were very solid and pretty loud, he had a LOT of energy to keep up throughout the show. He even did a cool drum solo after one of the songs while the rest of the band took a short break. Johnny's bass was solid and you could hear it quite well, and it went really well with the drums. Ryan Roxie's rhythm guitar was good, you could tell he was having a lot of fun. I don't know if it was something to do with where I was standing during the show, but at times I couldn't hear it too well. Also, during his solo on Knockin' it didn't sound as good as before, probably because of the system. Rod's vocals were really great, I think he has been improving over the course of the tour. Especially on Beggars and Papa was a Rolling Stone, in the slow and quiet parts he was awesome!!! I could tell that he has had some formal vocal training, and his natural vocal ability probably plays some part in it.
I'll have to say that if you're going to be drunk and start shoving people around, don't bother to come to the show. People threw beer bottles at the stage and were throwing beer at the band and it got all over the audience too. I think that if you are going to pay to see a show, then you should at least show some respect to the band and let them play! Drunk people starting mosh pits and trying to jump on stage isn't exactly safe for the band or the crowd, so next time I hope that stuff like this doesn't happen again. I don't think that the band would like it if someone got hurt. I didn't enjoy the show as much as I could have because part of the time I had to make sure I wouldn't get hit or knocked down by the crowd. Also, for some reason they announced that there would be no picture taking, video taping, or recording, otherwise you would be kicked out. I don't know why this was, because they don't usually care if you take photos at the show. They also told us to leave the area in the back where the band was going to come out.. damn!! talk about uptight security!!
The songs were great this time, especially since they played two new ones I had never heard before. I hope that in the future they can play some other good cover songs, maybe some obscure ones and some blues. I know that Rod and Slash would play and sing some MEAN blues tunes! Also, i'm sure that Ryan and Johnny know a lot of great songs, so it would be a lot of fun to hear some different stuff in there once in a while.
One of the new ones was called Shine, which was pretty good, and the other was called Rusted Again, i think. The lyrics were really great, and Slash played some slide on it with his brass slide, which he also used on Beggars. Slash said that "some of you might know this song from our album, It's Five O'Clock Somewhere.. it was our only song that could be considered a single... but it doesn't matter since we have another album coming out.." Rusted was a cool song, and Rod said that they had written it recently, in the last few weeks, and that it would probably be on the record. My other favorites were Speed Parade, I Left my Soul, 99 Times, and Papa; and of course Mr. Brownstone and Knockin'. Slash said it felt good to be playing in small places again, since its been quite a while, and he mentioned that the next time they played here, it would be in a different place, probably bigger. But clearly, from what he said, he liked playing in smaller places much better. He played this guitar solo at the end of Beggars I think, and it was sweet!! It was as good, if not better than before.. He's playing really well now, and the band is tight! I think the fact that Slash and the whole band was in a good mood helped them to play better.
Slash was smiling and interacting with the audience, and Johnny was smiling too. Unlike before, he looked like he was having a good time playing. Matt was far in the back, farther than usual i think, so I couldnt' see him real well until then end when he came out. Ryan was jamming, and he looked happy as usual.. he's a great performer on stage and he shook people's hands from time to time. Johnny even gave some high fives! Rod was pretty good, but he seemed a bit restrained this time, it was pretty cool to see him though, because he has a stage presence and looks and interacts with the fans a lot. This time Slash wore black leather pants and black cowboy boots, and a really cool shirt I had never seen before: Black Death Vodka on the front with the skull logo, and on the back it said Drink in Peace. I gotta find some places that sell cool shirts like that!! The others wore similar stuff as they did before, Ryan wore a cool black cowboy hat. Johnny addded a Bob Marley sticker to his bass, they all looked pretty cool. Teddy was there too, although Slash forgot to introduce him when they did the band introductions first.. he said they were happy to have him back since he couldn't make it to a couple of shows before. He did a great job on the backup vocals for all the songs, especially Only Women Bleed and Knockin'. He also had a really sweet harmonica solo in that song.. On that and also Ain't Life Grand we got to see Bill Esparza on the sax for some wailing solos and he got a lot of applause for it. Slash was cool to make sure that he was introduced and not forgotten.. Before the encore we were yelling , SLASH, SLASH, SLASH!! when they started their last songs, he said I haven't heard that sh#t before! It was really great to hear that song and everyone was singing along.. and the solo was just like I've heard on the album... wow! When I left I was pretty dazed and blown away.. I couldn't believe I had seen Snakepit!!
Ravi
http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~ravi
Slash’s Snakepit
Saturday, February 13th, 1999 at 8:00 pm.
Galaxy Theater, Santa Ana, CA
Show length: about 2 hours
Lineup: Rod Jackson (vocals, general mayhem), Slash (lead and rhythm guitar, vocals), Ryan Roxie (lead and rhythm guitar, vocals), Johnny Griparik (bass, vocals), Matt Laug (drums, vocals), Teddy Andreadis (keyboards, vocals, percussion, harmonica)
Set List (not in order, may be incomplete or incorrect):
There were three opening bands, but they weren’t really that good, so I’ll go on to the real show. I wonder who picks these guys anyway? The Galaxy Theater is a great little place, maybe 300 people or so, with dinner seating all around the stage in two levels in a semicircle formation. There were a lot more people there than I thought, and I guess it was a sold out show.
Well, after the long wait for guitar check and sound and light testing, the whole room went dark and they played music from a horror movie for a few minutes while the band members went up on stage. The lights came on, and the audience went crazy! Rod started out with a LOT of energy and was running around all over the place, encouraging the audience to sing along and go crazy. He ran around a lot, singing parts with all the band members and he reminded me a little of Lenny Kravitz, and I agreed with my friend that he was a bit similar to Steven Tyler in his singing and mannerisms. He also reminded me of Axl Rose a bit, the way he threw around the microphone stand. He wore a small hat, kinda like Izzy used to wear, and he had long dreads, looked pretty cool. I was really impressed by his singing, and I liked this new lineup overall more than the previous Snakepit. Although I liked Gilby and Matt, Ryan Roxie and Johnny Griparik were really awesome! Rod threw things into the audience and he would hold up a bottle of liquor and drink from in from time to time. He also spit out water into the crowd a few times, that kept us on our toes. Slash said that he was happy to be there, for their first show in southern California. You will be able to see more of what they looked like when the pictures come in. Slash and Johnny were both smoking during the show and they were sweating like crazy. With all the psyched fans, it sure was hot in there..
The stage setup was pretty good, it was a small stage though. The lighting was not bad and it served its purpose, and there were no extra special effects or anything like that. The sound was decent, but I've heard better. I thought there was too much bass drum , and the vocals and guitars could have been raised a little bit. But, i thought that the bass guitar wasn't prominent enough.
Johnny was headbanging away , and he was really into the show. He seemed to be having a better time than before, and he even sang some vocals with Rod. Ryan had a lot of fun too, but he didn’t move around as much as Johnny or Slash. At certain points he would do a solo on top of the monitors on stage. He had a really cool flashy cowboy hat, which matched his guitar. I think he used GMP guitars, but I didn’t get a good look at it. Slash of course, had a lot of great solos, and he would move around to different parts of the stage to get close to the audience, he seemed to love that. At one point he said that it was bad luck to steal his bandanas, so he threw his to the back of the stage. Teddy Andreadis was there playing keyboards, as cool as ever. He also sang and played the tambourines during the show. He seemed pretty happy since he loves jamming with different bands. He did a great honky tonk piano intro to one of the songs.
I loved Mama Said, Speed Train and Papa was a Rolling Stone. He introduced Mama Said as a Lenny Kravitz song that we might know, and since he wasn’t in town they would try to play it for us. My favorite had to be Mr. Brownstone! Slash introduced it as a song that "he hadn’t played in a long time, a blast from the past". He said that Snakpit did a pretty good version of it, and right he was! When I closed my eyes, I felt like I was somewhere else.. His solos were just like in Appetite, it was an amazing rendition, but still couldn’t beat the original. The audience went crazy during this one, and everyone was jumping up and down, and all the fans were singing along. At the end, Rod even showed his arm as if he was putting in the needle at the end. Before this a few people got on stage and dived off, it was a pretty wild crowd needless to say. Rod introduced the band, and he didn’t even say Slash’s name, since everyone was shouting it out. It was pretty cool, he introduced Adam Day as well, Slash’s guitar tech, who was working hard behind the scenes. During Beggars and Hangers On, Slash threw his slide to Adam a couple of times in the song. His slide playing was pretty good, as usual, but he didn’t get to show off since they didn’t do any blues cover tunes.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, which was an amazing version and different from other versions I’ve heard before. Before he played that he said "you guys are still out here?" There were four solos, the first was Ryan Roxie, which was very good! He’s a great guitarist, and I’m surprised that I haven’t heard more music from him. Rod did some great vocals on this one , and he didn’t forget any words, like some other people have in previous shows. He led the audience who sang along pretty well, and he even pointed the microphone into the audience. The second two solos were very good, sounded just like in the album with some variations in the end, man it was really great! During this section, i think, he played a note and extended it for about 45 seconds.. man, it was too good!! This last section, Slash took off his shirt, he was sweating like crazy.. you could see it on his hair. It was cool to see his slash tattoo, and his GNR one, and on his back he had the snakepit logo on there, and one of lips and a cigarette. it was cool because i never knew about those before.
After they extended it and Teddy Andreadis came out and busted out a harmonica solo, which was really great. Its rare these days to see him play, because usually he has other guys who play it while he plays keyboards, but he is as good as ever! Slash played his double necked, green, Guild guitar, it was pretty sweet. At the end of the song, he played the guitar upside down. Then the drummer came out and threw some sticks out into the crowd.
After he thanked everyone for coming out, and said that they had a good time, and were happy with the energetic crowd that showed up. I didn’t know what to expect, but I’d say the show was a lot better than I thought it would be, and I really liked the new material and the singer.
After the show we went outside, it was cool to hear some guys blasting AFD from their car ! A little while later, I saw this long white limo leaving the parking lot, and Snakepit left to party and get ready for the next show. I loved the new songs, and if the album was out this week, I would probably buy it right away. Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit for the album tour, but I know it will be worth it! So, everyone who wasn't able to see the show, DON'T WORRY! They'll be back sooner than you think.
Slash’s Snakepit
Monday, February 15th, 1999 at 8:00 pm.
Roxy Theatre, Hollywood, CA
Show length: about 2 hours
Lineup: Rod Jackson (vocals, general mayhem), Slash (lead and rhythm guitar, vocals), Ryan Roxie (lead and rhythm guitar, vocals), Johnny Griparik (bass, vocals), Matt Laug (drums, vocals), Teddy Andreadis (keyboards, vocals, percussion, harmonica)
Set List (not in order, may be incomplete or incorrect):
The openers were a lot more interesting this time, one was a death metal type band, and they were alright. Before Snakepit, came a band of little kids called Beyond Control, and they were funny to watch. The Roxy is a small venue, and I liked it a lot, and it had some seating for dinner as well. I liked the raised ceiling and the fog effects that they used for the opening bands. By around 10pm it was pretty packed, so luckily we were near to the front, but it seemed to take a while to set up for Snakepit, but it was worth the crowd, heat, dehydration that we experienced. Everyone I talked to were pretty impressed. Its really something else to see a band debut new music live, and I enjoyed it a lot because I love surprises!
They opened with the horror movie music, and this time all the band members had a great amount of energy, especially Rod. He’s fun to interact with because he gives high-fives and gets really involved with the crowd. He seems like he had a lot of caffeine or something before the show! Slash was in a much better mood than Saturday, and he looked like he was having a lot of fun there on stage and he smiled a lot. Ryan and Johnny were playing really well and running around as much as possible. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see the drummer, Matt too well, but he had a solid rhythm and great energy throughout the show.
The lighting and sound were a lot better at the Roxy, partly because it was a smaller place. I liked it a lot more too because there was a better chance to get closer to the stage. Small clubs are always fun to go to since you can see the band up close.
Slash said that the song Dryjack had a story that evolved after a while, about something under the table at the Rainbow. I guess its up to you to figure out what that means! Also toward the end, Slash said he was kind of apprehensive and nervous to play there since he hadn’t played there with his own band for 13 or 14 years. I guess he was impressed by the audience because he expected it to be quieter for some reason. He also was nice enough to reintroduce the band, and he praised the saxophone player too. Also, during Beggars and Hangers On, he talked about his album briefly and how some of us might recognize the song since it was their only single. On Ain’t Life Grand, Rod said it was a stripper song so, "FEEL FREE to take your clothes off!" After that, one crazy girl in the front took off her shirt and actually got on the stage a couple of times, and someone had to push her back down. No stage diving this time though. All during the show, people were trying to steal picks from Slash, and a few times he pretended to kick them, he was having a great time, I could tell. He had to tell people to stop stealing his picks after one of the songs, it was pretty funny. All through the show, they were throwing caps from water bottles, cigarette butts, and other stuff into the audience. But this time Rod didn’t get to run around the stage as much, since it was smaller, but it was easy for the others to stand up on the monitors and get in the spotlight.
Before the last song they stopped to talk a lot, when Slash was reminiscing about the last time he played there and saying hi to some people in the audience that he know, he apologized for saying the word fuck a lot, and after that he interjected it into everything he said. It was funny to see, especially when Rod bearhugged Slash and caught him by surprise!
Mr. Brownstone, had the most impact on the crowd, since everyone was singing along. Since they didn’t introduce the song, it was even cooler hearing the drum intro. The solos were right on, and I felt so amazing, that I can’t really describe it. The last little rant was sung by a girl up in front, I thought that was pretty cool.
A couple of the old fans who I met had a look on their face was just out of this world. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door was great.. a very long version with a saxophone and harmonica solo, and several guitar solos. The band actually sat down for a while to rest during the sax solo. It was really sweet, everyone was singing along, and Rod even put the microphone into the audience to let some people sing the chorus.
Just like the other night, Slash and the guys were on fire! It was an amazing experience, and I hope that he finished his album and comes back around for a tour so all the other people can see him! There weren’t too many low points of the show that I could think of, besides the long wait while they set up, and maybe the sound could have been improved. One of the things I was most impressed with was how tight the band was, It seemed to me that they have been together for quite a while. It was a such great feeling to see your favorite guitarist up close, I can’t really describe it well here. Also, it really reminded me why Slash inspired me to learn guitar in the first place.
Everyone seemed to like the new songs, and even my friend who doesn’t normally listen to hard rock or blues, enjoyed the show. Be sure to look out for the Snakepit coming to a place near you, they should be touring again later on this year after the album comes out. Slash's last comments to the crowd were ... "Good Fucking Night!"
Here is Clint's Review of the Roxy Show:
What a great show! I would've written my comments a little earlier, but I had a seven hour drive both ways to and from the show. I was pretty darned tired when I go back late yesterday afternoon, and then put it in an extremely hectic day at work - thus the reasoning for my tardy e-mail to my fellow list friends. Sorry to bore everyone with the inane details of my life!
The show was fantastic - best I've seen Slash post GN'R; then again it's getting more and more difficult to compare these intimate club gigs with huge arena and stadium shows six and seven years ago that I had mediocre seats for. The Roxy is a really small venue. The show was twenty-one and over. I'd guess it's capacity is 100-300 people. I had a couple of beers over at the Rainbow during the first opening band. I caught about half the second opening band's set - which didn't impress me much. The wunderkids (discovered by Dokken and great White) really ripped. I can't remember their name (Ravi, help me out, dude) but the guitar player was twelve (and not much bigger than his neon green B.C. Rich axe), their drummer was thirteen, and their singer/bass player didn't look much older than fifteen. They played some rippin' stuff - mostly punk tunes with a little more guitar soloing than you would expect from a typical punk band.
I managed to hook up with Ravi near the front of the stage right before Snakepit came on. It was a great spot. The entire band, with the exception of the drummer Matt Laug (not sure about spelling), worked the entire stage - which was very small by the way. Tons of interaction between the band and the crowd. That had to be the most enthusiastic club crowd I've been a part of. The new singer, Rod Jackson, and Slash were right in front of us a lot. It was fun hanging out with Ravi. It was nice shooting the breeze with someone who is into Guns as much as you are and who knows what's going on with the band. On top of all that, Ravi's a cool guy.
The whole band was great. The music ripped and they sounded extremely tight. I would classify the material as harder than previously advertised. I didn't get the impression that Slash is doing anything that much blusier than before. Rod Jackson has an outstanding voice and stage presence. He seems like he can handle any type of tune that Snakepit wants to do. He's got a bluesey kind of growl to his voice that impressed me. He can also wail on the high end as well. I don't think anyone will try and knock this guy as trying to sing like Axl as some have accused Eric Dover of. While I did personally like Eric Dover, I left this show much more impressed with Rod than I did the previous Snakepit show I saw on the last go around. He's definitely got his own, unique thing going. The guy is real tall and is definitely a great performer. I think everyone is really going to get into this guy.
I was really impressed with the band. They all kicked ass. I see why Slash has wanted to work with Ryan Roxie for so long. The dude's a killer guitar player as well as a great presence on stage. Johnny G. was great on bass. Matt Laug is a damn good drummer - I didn't miss Matt Sorum when i saw that show. As a matter of fact Slash said something about Laug keeping him from pulling his hair out or something to that effect. Teddy was on keyboards and backing vocals. Slash said something about him being an "unofficial member" of Snakepit. He played a cool harmonica solo during Knocking on Heaven's Door. Slash's band introductions were great. He was extremely complimentary and had something special to say about every band member. Slash's on-stage comments were filled with the color that you can always expect from him. He jokingly apologized at least once for using the f-bomb so much.
I didn't really notice any major discrepancies in the set-list from the previous shows on this tour. The only song I didn't see anyone mention from the previous shows on this tour their cover of "Papa was a Rolling Stone" with Slash laying down some sweet work on the wah-wah. Even if I hadn't heard anything through the mailing list about Slash thinking on a more long-term basis with this incarnation of Snakepit, there were many things that seem to bode extremely well for this group as a whole. Slash finally starting to play at least one track from GN'R tells me that he must be seriously considering the fact that he may never play that tune with Axl again. Brownstone, as I'm sure you can all imagine, brought the house down. It sounded great. The entire band also made an after-show appearance next door at The Rainbow that I checked out for a few minutes. They walked in (Slash walked right by me but was in a hurry to get to where the rest of the band was hanging out) and stood around in the restaurant where anyone could come up to them and talk with them. I thought that was really cool of them. I didn't try and mingle as it was getting pretty late and there was a pretty decent crowd in the restaurant where they were hanging out. Lemmy from Motorhead was in the bar and I shook his hand. He seemed like a really cool guy and nobody seemed to know who he was.
There was a huge amount of interaction between the entire band - especially between Slash and Rod Jackson. These guys all really seem like they're good friends having a helluva time playing together. Rod was sipping of a bottle of Jack Daniel's all night and by the end of the show, the whole band was passing it around. I also noticed that Johnny G., who didn't sing much on backing vocals, seemed to know all the words to the new tunes. All these guys are really into this thing. They've done a damn good job with the new songs. I can't wait to hear how the sound after they get them recorded.
more pictures to come soon... check back later
