I listened to a couple more songs.

They're starting to gel as a band. A couple songs have a raw energy that reminded me of the Hammerstein shows. So that's positive.

It's the first show where they've started to go off the beaten path so maybe that's a sign of things to come. The Jungle band jam was pretty cool. Melissa is using some effects to simulate Bumble's slide guitar on Chinese which I don't care for but was noticeable. Rocket Queen was interesting. Double Talkin was pretty good.

My last criticism on this show and probably the band at large is that it's still sloppy. If sober people playing poorly and/or simulating drunkards is your thing, have at it, but it bores me. The handoffs between Fortus and Slash are worse than Robin/Bucket on their worst day and Slash has plenty of moments where he defaults to noodling as a safety valve. Axl sounds like Kermit. The band has no discernible character of their own. Meh.

The video that came up after this one on auto-play was Axl's Serpico rant in 2002.

While it's clear Axl didn't do certain things well, he was trying to shoulder the entire operation which was an untenable position for him to be in. The old guys namely Slash and Duff in the meantime did as much legal obstruction as possible.

I think we've seen maybe the tip of the iceberg but I think that largely the truth is on Axl's side.

I don't care at this point. Jesus the whole thing is embarrassing.

I don't remember when #AFD30 and #Appetite30 started happening but it seemed pretty close to the show.

It would seem to indicate they'd do something given those hashtags. As in some announcement, picture, something.

But just because the Apollo show was happening close to the date, etc. is purely coincidence.

This was probably their way of recreating The Ritz show in contemporary times while passively avoiding talking about AFD so they can duck the Izzy question and any drama.

I'd be interested to know their contract situation.

It'd probably fall on LiveNation to do something about slumping tour profits before GN'R does something. Even if the tour tanked in the US, it'd make up for it on the international market. So, it don't really matter. I guess you'll find out for yourself...

I would say something like "knowing Axl, that shit would be iron clad" but the release of Chinese was such an embarrassing clusterfuck, one questions his business acumen. Okay, "knowing Duff, there's zero way that promotion, interviews, etc. are going to happen unless it's written into the contract".

New music will never be a bargaining chip for tour profits. Especially when that tour is selling well. Especially when the Chinese sessions are probably wrapped in red tape legal fuckery.

This was a great show. It's a shame we only got those 2 pro-shot videos of it.

The crowd was antagonistic from the tip and the band won them over.

Was this the show Axl yelled at Merck to book him some studio time / get a plane ticket to New York?