Best way to describe Saturday night’s Coachella experience? Full of surprises and reunions.
Ice Cube mentioned months ago that he wanted to reunite NWA onstage at Coachella — and he delivered. He brought out MC Ren and DJ Yella to perform NWA’s hits “Straight Outta Compton” and “F–k tha Police.” Later, he brought out his son, O’Shea Jackson Jr. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Snoop Dogg appeared on a bicycle to perform songs as well.
Then, as if one major comeback wasn’t enough, one of the biggest rock reunions followed. “The Most Dangerous Band in the World,” Guns N’ Roses, was back.
Gunners fans, myself included, waited in front of the main stage for more than 12 hours in the blistering sun to secure the best seats in the house, and the waiting paid off.
The curly haired, top-hat wearing, Les Paul-wielding Slash shared the same stage with Axl Rose and bassist Duff McKagan for the first time in 23 years. The band, who actually showed up on time, wasted no time in breaking into the single that started their career, “It’s So Easy.”
It was a bit surreal seeing these rock legends together again, but damn, did they rock the festival.
While the band heavily relied on material from their classic records, “Appetite for Destruction” and both “Use Your Illusion,” they also played a few tracks of the only post-Slash Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy.”
The normally industrial-sounding title track “Better” was given a slight makeover, with Slash giving a blues influence to the sets. This is what this album was missing all these years, making it finally feel complete.
The band even performed the ultra-rare “Coma” from the first “Illusion” record, marking the seventh time it was performed live.
Rose sounded amazing for most of the concert, despite the times he struggled and had to use a falsetto instead of his trademarked, raspy vocals. One could see, despite the fact that he had to sit down on his “throne” (he broke his foot earlier this month at a warm-up show and uses a wheelchair), that he was saving his energy for moments that mattered most. When he wanted to, he wailed like a dying banshee.
Between songs, he was rolled out in a wheelchair by a sexy nurse for him to go backstage and change outfits.
“I guess being this f–ked up has its perks!” Rose said with a smile.
The crowd was blown away by all of the band members, but when Rose introduced Slash, the entire place went nuts. That was expected, but what happened next was unexpected.
“Since I can’t run around for you, we’re gonna bring out a friend, put a little life into things for us,” Rose said.
Many expected it to be former rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, but instead, AC/DC lead guitarist Angus Young stepped out, wearing his classic schoolboy uniform, to perform “Whole Lotta Rosie” and “Riff Raff,” giving the audience a teaser of what it will be like to see Axl front AC/DC on the remainder of their tour.
As amazing and unforgettable as this night was, it wasn’t perfect. While it is still awesome that Rose performed while injured, you can’t help but think about how clichéd it is to see an old rockstar perform like this (at least he wasn’t in an electric cart). Part of what makes Rose such a great frontman is seeing him running around stage whilst performing. But this allowed him to focus more on singing, thus giving a more powerful performance.
It was disappointing to not see Stradlin and drummer Steve Adler make appearances, but current rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus (who looks a lot like Izzy) and drummer Frank Ferrer both performed well.
The band’s “Not in This Lifetime …” summer tour is coming up. If the band can carry this amazing momentum after the tour, hopefully they can record another album. But last time the band performed in 2001 after a hiatus, it took an extra seven years for “Chinese Democracy” to be released.
Will history repeat itself? Who knows. But whatever happens, Coachella fans will always know they were given the performance of a lifetime.
@chris_ayers