Guns N’ Roses are infamous for their late arrivals, and Sweden Rock Festival was no exception; 45 minutes it took Axl Rose to get from his private helicopter behind the stage to the front of the Festival Stage as the main act of the last day.
By this time, people had been waiting for a very long time, some no doubt for several hours, as shortly before the band entered the crowds patience let up, and instead of shouting for the band (which clearly wasn’t working) everyone started buh’ing instead. I wasn’t too comfortable with this, as one of the main reasons for me visiting Sweden Rock Festival this year was to see this band perform (I had never done so before, and felt it should be done at least once before I die), and I wasn’t sure if the crowd-reaction could cause Rose to cancel the show or not.
Luckily it didn’t, and when he finally entered the stage, all hard feelings seemed to be gone in a heartbeat.

The first song was from the new album I believe, at least it wasn’t one I recognized, but when the second song, Welcome To The Jungle rolled out of the speakers, everyone started singing along and partying. Throughout the gig there were several times when the new material was mixed in, but there was still room for almost all of the old classic hits.
With him, Rose had brought a very large band consisting of one drummer, bassist, two keyboard-players, and possibly inspired by Iron Maiden, he had no less than three guitarists on the stage as well!
I read at some point that Gene Simmons (Kiss) had said that when they were too old to continue, someone else would wear the make-up so the music could go on; it would seem that Guns N’ Roses are in on a similar idea. At least, it seemed to me that Darren Jay ‘DJ’ Ashba was to take the role of Slash, what with the sloppy attitude, the Les Paul guitar and the tophat. The only thing missing was the curls, and he would almost have been a spitting image of the old guitarist.
Well, look-alike contest or not, all three axe wielders of the band made a great effort at keeping the show lively and were performing their asses of, while the rest of the members, especially bassist Thomas ‘Tommy’ Eugene Stinson, kept a low profile and were more anonymous in their performance. Maybe this is just how the group dynamics have been worked out now, I don’t know, but a bit more action on their side wouldn’t have hurt, I think.

Axl Rose himself was just as you would remember him from the old days; the voice didn’t amount to anything really, but the time he spent on stage, he spent well, as he was running all over the place from side to side and all the way out on the long catwalk reaching into the crowd. A bit of a primadonna came up in him at one of these times, as the hat he was wearing got caught in the wind and blew off out into the crowd. Rose stopped teh show, and wouldn’t continue until the hat had been returned to him.
And yes, I wrote “the time he spent on stage” for a reason. See, there were several points throughout the entire gig, sometimes between every song even, that the frontman would run of behind the stage for god knows what reason, and leave it up to his musicians to carry on with the show. This of course gave our three guitarists ample opportunity to show off their skills with various guitar solos. One including the Pink Panther theme springs to mind, but I can’t remember which of the three played it (though I think it was Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal, the guy with the double neck guitar and the bank-robber mask), and there was also a Pink Floyd melody used as an intro before November Rain. They were all great musicians to be sure, but after a while it got a bit too much, and I would have preferred Mr. Rose to stay on the stage, and maybe squeeze a few more real songs in instead…

I can’t really complain though (I know a lot of people have). I mean, I got to see Guns N’ Roses, and that was the reason I went to the festival. I didn’t really know what to expect, so I couldn't be dissapointed as such, and when the grand finale came with several of the older songs, fireworks and confetti filled the air, and last but not least the whole band came out and took a bow. A smile could be seen on the face of Axl Rose, and I could tell that he had probably enjoyed this concert a lot, and frankly, when all comes down to it, so had I.
A good ending on the years’ first festival!

Setlist (incomplete):

Welcome To The Jungle
It’s So Easy
Live And Let Die (Wings cover)
You Could Be Mine
Sweet Child O’ Mine
November Rain
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
Nightrain
Paradise City