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Events and Reports - L.A. Guns - Live at KB, Malmoe, Sweden - February 18th, 2004
Since L.A. Guns were spoiling their Swedish fans with 4 shows and none in Denmark - we traveled to Malmoe for a night out with one of the most classic bands on the Sunset strip scene.
The local band Bai Bang had the ungrateful opening task and they played to a bunch of people, who really didn't care. They had all odds against them, since the sound was awful. The vocals were drowned in the bad sound and it was quite impossible to tell the songs apart. Bai Bang named their Tour "Kick ass Tour 2004", but they didn't put much effort in their visual performance or heighten the excitement among in the crowd. The guitarist tried once or twice to get the people going, but otherwise it was pretty tame.
The venue was cool - before the show and in between sets, they had a DJ playing Hard Rock from the 80's. Just in the spirit of the approximately 200 people, who came to witness L.A. Guns.
The intro to Gary Glitter's Rock & Roll started and heavy smoke filled the stage. Sudden the psychedelic intro to Over the Edge cut off old Glitter and L.A. Guns took the stage. Great to finally see the boys and they were all smiling as they entered the stage. Over The Edge was an obvious opener followed by 2 kick ass songs representing singles off the first 2 albums. The chorus for Sex Action differed a little bit from the album version. Phil Lewis' vocals were quite weak on the first 2 songs, but by third song the soundman had improved Phil's vocals and they played a fantastic version of Never Enough. The new guitarist Stacey Blades did all the fills and played a great solo on this one. He fits the band perfectly and it was obvious that there was a good chemistry on stage between Phil and Stacey.
Bassist Adam Hamilton was more anonymous on stage. Adam Hamilton did play flawless and with his haircut, low hanging bass and punk attitude he reminded of Sid Vicious.
Unfortunately L.A. Guns lost their grip a bit after the bombastic start with the first track from the up-coming album, the bouncing Rock N Roll Outlaw featuring Stacey on slide guitar. Damage control was done with a brilliant version of Revolution, the only song form "Waking The Dead". It was sadly followed by another cover tune Foghat's I Just Wanna Make Love To You.
Phil got his acoustic guitar and started to strum the chords for Long Time Dead. He kept the acoustic for a splendid version of Beautiful and then started to fiddle on his own. He seemed a bit insecure when he started to play the melody line for Crystal Eyes, since there wasn't much recognition from the crowd. With all respect for Phil, I love his voice but he isn't a very good guitar player. Even though L.A. Guns only had one guitarist this time, the sound was full and Stacey did a great job. This evening Stacey Blades was on fire. Even Phil Lewis complimented his playing on stage with the words "This is your evening, Stacey. The company of a Swedish girl for the night would make it perfect, huh". The only time Stacey failed to impress me was on the solo for Crystal Eyes. I love the emotion of the original solo, which Stacey did not capture - he did his own interpretation.
At this point I thought the show run idle. Phil Lewis left the stage and the band kicked into Moby Dick. Another cover version! Steve Riley did a drum solo, which was good. I am not a fan of drum solos at all, but Steve Riley deserves a lot of credit for L.A. Guns powerful live performance. He is an amazing drummer and very valuable to L.A. Guns. He added an extra dimension to the songs with his solid foundation. Steve Riley and Stacey Blades both impressed with their musicianship. Phil returned on stage with a big smile as usual and they did an outtake of Whole Lotta Love.
Just when I was about to give up - L.A. Guns played fantastic powerful versions of One More Reason and Electric Gypsy in particular. Phil used the phrase "and the crowd goes wild" a few times and it worked, because everyone was screaming their lungs out when he did it.
The first encore was The Ballad of Jayne, where Phil aced the acoustic intro beautifully. The version was breathtaking and therefore I wondered why Phil sudden stopped the song half way. It wasn't planned since members looked at Phil, who signaled them to stop. Instead they played another cover tune Search and Destroy, where a L.A. Guns original certainly would have been preferred.
Phil Lewis' voice is marked by his many years in the business and most songs he sang in a lower key than on record. However, The Ballad of Jayne was in the original key as well as the last song - a ripping version of Rip and Tear with Phil and Stacey performing their best.
Phil Lewis is the natural link between the band and the crowd. Phil Lewis is great frontman and has magnetism. There was no doubt that Phil enjoyed himself and since the crowd gave a lot of feedback, it was a self-perpetuating process. The band simply used the energy for the crowd to deliver a convincing show driven by the joy of playing, which raised this to a great experience despite the objection against the many cover songs
Overall, L.A. Guns delivered the goods despite the setlist's composition with a dead point in the middle. Phil Lewis impressed with his showmanship plus his happy charming nature. After a slow start he sounded better and his voice is absolutely the thing I connect with L.A. Guns. Steve Riley was brilliant and along with Adam Hamilton, he is a big part of the solid foundation. I think Stacy Blades surprised everyone, so it was needles to discuss the names Tracii Guns or Brent Muscat.
One thing is for sure. I will be rocking in front of the stage next time L.A. Guns visit Europe. Off stage they were nice down to earth guys as well and this show was just One More Reason to love this band.
Setlist:
Over The Edge
Sex Action
Never Enough
Rock n Roll Outlaw
Revolution
I Just Wanna Make Love To You
Long Time Dead
Beautiful
Crystal Eyes
Moby Dick/Drum solo/Whole Lotta Love
One more Reason
Electric Gypsy
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Ballad of Jayne
Search and Destroy
Rip and Tear
| Click the pictures for a bigger version
All pictures taken by Martin Borg | Written by Michael
Friday, February 27, 2004 |
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RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by phryque (Anonymous) - Monday, March 15, 2004 | thanx man, also on behalf of the LAG community
good photo's too!
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| Comment by Liam (Anonymous) - Saturday, April 3, 2004 | I liked this artical alot cause it was all true, I was at the LA Guns gig in Malmö! I wonder if your site has any pictures from SKID ROW at Pumpehuset? I would be happy to hace them!!!
My email is:
kefflu@home.se
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| Comment by Michelle (Anonymous) - Monday, June 21, 2004 | Oh my God!!! I had sex with phil Lewis in 1987 and he was kind of old then! He must be almost 50!!!!
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| Comment by Stella (Anonymous) - Sunday, August 8, 2004 | That was a fantastic review, thanks! I have recently had a chance to see these boys play a few shows. I had a lot of the same impressions you did. Stacy Blades does seem to fit the band perfectly. I thought he was absolutly astonishing while playing. As for the guys, I have never met such curtious, nice, and fun, down to earth guys. Once again..thanks for sharing your review & pictures. VERY GOOD PICS!! :)
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| Comment by jenny (Anonymous) - Saturday, September 11, 2004 | Great article and pics-thanks so much. Im a uk fan and have been since they first started with tracci guns, phil lewis, mick cripps etc, and they still as excellent now. Rip the covers off is excellent-def recommend. Also saw them live this Feb at crewe, and going again this november....i so cant wait.
jenny (lewis!!)
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| Comment by *Maya* (Anonymous) - Wednesday, March 30, 2005 | thanx for the great articles and pics,I'm from Croatia and don't have any chances to se L.A. Guns or any similar bands live,so I must patiently wait online for your reviews... so sad,isn't it?! :-)
anyway,keep doing a good job! kiss
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| Comment by chris (Anonymous) - Friday, June 10, 2005 | this a good peice of writing
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| Comment by fuck master (Anonymous) - Friday, June 10, 2005 | this is a creative article, thanks la for all the peice be bitch
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| Comment by Rachael Willis (Anonymous) - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 | just wanted to say you guys kick some bajor hinny (lol) you guys rock im learing to play guitar and i can play yall's song the ballad of jayne and it rock like you guys hope yall come to atlanta keep rocking have a good one
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