Slash House of Blues Cleveland 9/19/12

Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators stormed into the House of Blues in Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday September 19th and blew the roof off the venue.  They provided 2 hours of guitar fueled, heavy rock and roll.  Axl is stuck in the past with a band he calls Guns and Roses.  Slash has moved forward and progressed into a talent worthy of filling larger venues. 

I feel Slash is one of the top 10 guitarists in the world alive today and he proved it in Cleveland.  When I heard him play his blues jam I knew that he belongs up at the top with Beck, Page, Warren Haynes, Joe Bonnamassa and the other great guitarists of our time.  The band slashed and burned through 2 hours and 21 songs of  Slash's greatest hits.  They played songs off of their new CD "Apocalyptic Love", songs from the bands Velvet Revolver and Snakepit, and Slash's solo work.  Oh yeah and they did some Guns and Roses tunes too.

Myles Kennedy did an outstanding job on vocals although the crowd at times almost drowned him out because they were singing so loud.  Some of the crowd favorites were "Night Train", "Civil War", "Sweet Child O Mine", "Slither", "Fall to Pieces" and "Paradise City".  Todd Kearns the bass player sang lead vocals on two songs "We're All Going To Die" and "Out to Get Me". 

Slash had his moments where he just let it all hang out on guitar like during the guitar solos in "Rocket Queen", "The Blues Jam", "Anastasia", "Sweet Child O Mine", "You're a Lie".  During "You're a Lie" Slash broke a string and just kept on playing, if you didn't see the string hanging you would not have known the difference.  The whole night was filled with great guitar solos but the ones mentioned were extremely good.

I would just like to say what a great song "Anastasia" is.  This should become a classic.

The band consisted of Slash on lead guitar, Myles Kennedy on vocals and some minor guitar work, Frank Sidaris on rhythm guitar, Todd Kearns on bass and Brent Fitz on drums.  A very capable band that Slash did not overshadow.  They played together as a band and not like a superstar with some backing flunkies.

Halo
Night Train
Ghost
Standing in the Sun
Back From Cali
Been There Lately
Civil War
Rocket Queen
No More Heroes
We're All Gonna Die
Out to Get Me
Bad Rain
Not For ME
Star Light
Blues Jam
Anastasia
Sweet Child O Mine
You're A Lie
Slither
Encore
Fall to Pieces
Paradise City

While leaving the stage before the encore Frank Sidaris held up a Bernie Kosar for President shirt.  During the encore confetti cannons on either side of the stage were set off.  The cannons must have been from a stadium concert, they shot so much confetti into the little HOB concert hall that you could not even see the stage. 

Over all a great show.  The music never stopped and it never really slowed down.  One great song after another.  Even the new music was good.  The energy was high and the talent on stage was wonderful.  I know friends of mine who poo poo Guns and Roses.  Axl was the joke, Slash is for real.

Speaking of jokes, Foxy Shazam is a joke I hope.  This warm up band was a cross between glam rock and punk.  They jumped and twirled and kicked and spit and groped themselves in some sort of parody of late 70's glam punk.  The music was bad, the singers philosophy on life was bad and the crowd seemed to stand and stare in disbelief.  A law student who was standing next to me said that he would rather be at the library studying than wasting his time watching Foxy Shazam.  He was glad I talked him to staying for Slash.

The Slash portion of the evening deserves 5 twirls.