Didn't see Charlie, but saw many trying to be him. Man, there were some "wastoids" there. Pretty entertaining at times, frustrating at others. Thought I was at a Dodgers/Angels game with all the fights. Life on the floor.
As for the show....The band, and of course Axl, overly over-exceeded my inept expectations 10 fold. He sounded amazing start to finish--and what some of us on this forum have noticed--the high-pitched, non-gritty alto of last year, and the semi-disaster in the Chicago stream--was replaced with a voice that would have you saying, "I'll pay double, triple, the ticket price to witness this band 'up close and personal.'" (While some lucky bastards paid late, and well under face value on the street.)
Axl killed every fucking song in the set, especially considering that it was a three hour show. Screw it, as far as I'm concerned, if Axl sang Jungle at 12:15 a.m., and then allowed 20 guys to do covers and perform solos while he chilled backstage for three hours, then reappeared at 3:30 a.m. to sing Paradise City, it would be a huge challenge. But nope...he sings like a God for 25 songs...at 50 years young! This may not be unprecedented (I guess), but you'd be hard pressed to find another.
In Phoenix and at The Forum, imo WTTJ and It's So Easy sounded great, just as it did at the Palladium. I thought that the first big moment last night (this morning) for "does he have it" was the higher pitch verse in Sorry...and he killed it! Everything just fell into place from there. This I Love was better imo than the CD track. Rocket Queen was killer, Nightrain epic, and Paradise City absolutely closed out a relatively perfect show.
The crowd on the floor seemed really into it. We camped out about 20 feet off front stage right haha. Bottom line, I would have regretted not going had I known how great he sounds now. "Take that one ta heart."
