It was almost packed last night, so I would say maybe 12000 were in attendance, many also coming from neighboring countries – Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. The organization, as far as opening the gates, controlling and directing the people could’ve been better, but that’s not that important. The Hungarian warm-up band was supposed to hit the stage at 8:30 p.m. and play for about 30 minutes. They began at 8:45 and finished their set around 9:20. They were ok, altogether.

Then they started to clear the stage and set it up for Gn’R. At around 10 a guy came out and announced (in Hungarian, but I understand enough to pick up the gist) that they were having some “technical problems” and that we would have to wait another 20-25 minutes for them to fix it. This, of course, is never good and it provoked a series of booing and offensive chanting, quite expectedly. Since nothing was happening (but occasional guitar checks) until 11:30 the crowd was getting pretty anxious and even started throwing some plastic glasses on the stage. At that time I was already beginning to feel a little nervous, afraid that the concert might get cancelled or postponed (which, coming from Belgrade, could cause some trouble for me), cause everyone understand that “technical problems” can mean literally anything. And knowing that Lisbon didn’t go exactly as planned only fueled my fears… (allegedly, for some reason, Axl was in Milan and first came to Budapest at 10 last night, and then there were some problems with his oxygen tank and some other stuff…)

(The same thing basically happened the last (the first) time I saw them in 1992, except that it was at this huge stadium (Nep) just beside this Arena and there were 80000 people (and rained like hell). So there’s no comparison as far as the largeness of the concerts is concerned, but I’m positive we’ll get there again, and soon!)

But then, at 11:35, the lights went out and the intro started. They played it for 10 minutes and then the Arena exploded as the opening notes of the Jungle began to echo. And so, there they were, 2 meters away from where I was standing.

The set was somewhat changed, in as much as they only played three new songs (Better, Blues and Madagascar) which I thought was strange. On the other hand they did play some extended solos (Robin having 2, plus one with Richard) time for at least one of which could’ve been used for something else. But, ok, as it is pretty clear that Axl wants to present the members as much as possible and I think that’s good.

They played most of the Appetite and the usual ones from The Illusions. No Patience this time.

And now, to what everyone is most interested in… Being a die-hard fan (and I’m both the “diest” and the hardest you’ll find), you have to realize that supporting Axl doesn’t mean neglecting or denying what he’s done before, especially when he himself hasn’t closed the door to the old songs (on the contrary, most of the material they play is old), so I’m not gonna say that he sounded better than ever, cause I think he’s always been this good. Having said that, I really have to emphasize: he was truly amazing. It was unbelievable. He was in such great form (both vocally and physically) that I, and I think everyone else, was stunned. Honestly, I was a little worried after hearing and seeing Lisbon, but his performance last night in Budapest blew everyone away.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the audio cause the sound you get when recording on a cell phone is miserable, so I didn’t even bother. I’ll try to see if someone else who was there maybe has something. If you’re up for searching around – I recommend Out ta get me, Better (ending was fantastic!) and Heaven’s door (“It’s that Bon Jovi song”, said Axl laughing) if you have to choose. On most songs he tried even harder than necessary, as if he wanted everyone to see how good and comfortable he felt. It was obvious that he was enjoying himself and that’s what made this show great.

“Hungary… the age-old question: How you doin’?” was how he first addressed the crowd after Jungle, Easy and Brownstone. He made similar comments about downloading leaked songs from the net before Better and Madagascar.

The rest of the band sounded as good as always; I was explaining that to someone on the way back, saying that if they weren’t excellent musicians, they wouldn’t be there. It’s that simple. Brain and Tommy were not introduced (neither was Chris), though, which was a mistake on Axl’s part, cause there was no formal introduction of the whole band.

Richard’s solo was good, especially when he was joind by Robin (whose solo in turn I was much less impressed by), as was Dizzy’s on the piano (“It’s time for the ‘piano-moving song’”, as Axl introduced The Blues).

Ron is really a great technical guitar player, similar to Buckethead, and it looks as if he can do whatever he wants with the guitar (even that ridiculously shaped “bumblefoot” one), and it’s a good idea to have the crowd sing Don’t cry while he plays this half-solo, half-rhythm part.

There were also some cool fiery effects, but they don’t look as good on the cell-phone pictures, but here’s one anyway…

Needless to say, they ended the show with Paradise City and the confetti.

All in all, bottom line, without much philosophy: go see them if you can, cause last night I kept repeating “if there ever was any doubt to what my all-time favorite band is (there wasn’t actually, but that’s just what you say) – it’s now all gone! Once again – it really was that good and it’ll keep me inspired for weeks, I’m sure.

Dorian Hajdu,

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