I hadnıt seen Slash ‹ or any of the GnR guys ‹ in concert in more than a 
decade. During that drought I bought a Les Paul, made a habit of dressing 
like Slash on Halloween, and entertained the idea of making my sonıs middle 
name ³Slash² or ³Saul.² 
So, needless to say, I was excited to see Velvet Revolver on May 17 at 
Clevelandıs Tower City Ampitheatre, an outdoor venue. 
But first, I had to sit through the opening acts. Modern Day Zero was first. 
They did do a good cover of Whole Lotta Love by Zepplin. 
Hoobastank followed. About the only thing you need to know about this band 
is that their name makes my wife think of poop. When they played ³Reason² 
they gave off the impression that they were tired of playing it, or that 
they didnıt want to be identified by that song (think Cheap Trick and ³The 
Flame²). 
At any rate, Hoobastank was a curious choice as opener. I wish Silvertide 
was still on the tour. 
The standing room only crowd got loud when the lights went out and video 
screens on both sides of the stage played a promo for Robbie Knievelıs new 
reality show. Dirty Little Thing played during the promo. 
A minute or two later, VR took the dark stage. You could see Duff grab his 
base and stand on top of monitors at the front of the stage. When the lights 
went up, they roared into Sucker Train Blues. Scott walked on stage in his 
cop hat and a white leather jacket. The crowd really screamed for him. Heıs 
from the Cleveland area. 
Slash looked good. He started with a jacket, sleeve-less shirt and ripped 
leather pants, but, like Scott and Duff, was shirtless by the end of the 
show. And that was despite the sub-50 degree weather. 
I donıt know if this is something new, but I noticed a word tattoo across 
Slashıs abdomen, kind of like what Josh Todd and Tommy Lee have. I couldnıt 
read it, though. Looked like four letters. 
The band played everything off Contraband except for Headspace and Loving 
the Alien. They added in STPıs Crackerman and Sex Type Thing, and GNRıs Itıs 
so Easy and Mr. Brownstone. 
They tried a sing-a-long with an extended version of Sex Type Thing, trying 
to get the crowd to sing ³Here I come, I come, I come,² but it didnıt work 
too well. 
And the sound problems that everybody seemed to be noticing crept up. 
Scottıs synthesizer during the middle of Illegal i Song was hard to hear. 
And a dueling guitars ending to Set Me Free ended up being no contest 
because we couldnıt hear Daveıs guitar. There were also quite a few feedback 
moments. 
But there were more high points than low points. 
Scott told the crowd about the bandıs new song on the Fantastic Four 
soundtrack. I think everybody was anticipating them playing it, but they 
went into Fall to Pieces, which was excellent. 
They did Pink Floydıs Wish You Were Here to open the first encore. Slash had 
his tophat on. Then they went into You Got No Right, which is my favorite 
song off the album. A second encore included Mr. Brownstone, which got one 
of the best crowd reactions of the night. They ended with Slither. 
Afterward, Slash invited everybody back to the Motel 6. 
A couple more observations about the show: 
The t-shirts were reasonably priced at about 30 bucks. But more people 
seemed to be wearing the counterfeit shirts (10-15 bucks) being sold outside 
the show. That always ticks me off. 
Also, the crowd was pretty diverse. In some cases, it seemed parents who 
were fans of GnR had their kids with them, who were fans of VR. 
At one point, my buddy said we were officially part of the ³older² crowd 
because we had our jackets on. Meanwhile, half the band was shirtless. 
Of course, thatıs because they were working up a sweat.