2010.02.14 - Rose Bar, New York, NY, USA

Guns N’ Roses Played Another Secret New York Show, We Think

By Lane Brown

Did we just see what we think we saw? Last night our sisters at the Cut sneaked us into something called DeLeon Tequila’s Special Presentation of Nur Khan’s Famous Rose Bar Sessions, a top-secret Fashion Week—pegged concert at Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar by a group of musicians purporting to be Guns N’ Roses, at which a person bearing a similar description to this man sang several songs from Appetite for Destruction, the Lies EP, and Chinese Democracy (but only one from the Use Your Illusions and none, obviously, from The Spaghetti Incident?). Was it really Axl Rose? He wore a hat and sunglasses for most of the encore-less set, and his singing was barely audible, but his dancing, demeanor, and tardiness (the band took the stage at around 1:30 a.m.) made us pretty sure it was.

From where we were listening we could barely tell the vocals from the guitars, which certainly didn’t deter Fabrizio from the Strokes and Waris Ahluwalia from shoving past us to be nearer the unicorn on stage. In the rare moments when we could hear it, Axl’s voice did sound pretty terrific — but how could the guy who spent 15 years fussing over the overdubs on Democracy have been okay with such a poor mix? The speakers must have been working better in the back, where a booth-dwelling Mickey Rourke seemed to be enjoying himself. To the best of our recollection, here are the songs that Guns N’ Roses, or a reasonably convincing simulacrum thereof, played:

“You’re Crazy”
“Mr. Brownstone”
“Used to Love Her”
“Welcome to the Jungle”
“Street of Dreams”
“Sorry”
“It’s So Easy”
“Patience”
“Rocket Queen”
“Catcher in the Rye”
“My Michelle”
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
“Whole Lotta Rosie”
“Sweet Child o’ Mine”
“Nightrain”
“Paradise City”

Knife menace at Guns & Roses show

Chaos was narrowly averted at an intimate Guns N' Roses concert when a man with a knife was tackled by ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach.

The mystery man casually pulled out what appeared to be a switchblade knife as he walked into the packed and uber-exclusive "Nur Khan's Rose Bar Sessions" at the Gramercy Park Hotel on Sunday.

But Bach, who was standing near the door, immediately got the stranger thrown out of the bash, which was attended by a host of stars including Mickey Rourke.

A witness reports, "The man walked in while Guns N' Roses was onstage and pulled out a knife and flicked the blade out. Sebastian, who was standing on a banquette said: 'Nobody is getting anywhere near my man Axl Rose with a knife,' and went after him. Security then immediately threw him out. The man appeared to be drunk. It was dealt with so quickly that none of the other guests or the band were aware of it."

The private Valentine's Day concert was the hottest ticket in town, with a handpicked crowd including the Strokes' Fabrizio Moretti and Albert Hammond Jr., Ryan Phillippe, Zoe Kravitz, Josh Lucas, Yigal Azrouel and Sophia Bush, who all packed into the Rose Bar for the DeLeon Tequila-sponsored first of Khan's series of intimate concerts.

Guns N' Roses played for two hours for 150 guests, finishing up at 3 a.m. before moving the party upstairs with a group of model and rocker friends until 6 a.m.

When earlier asked by The Post's Brian Niemietz if long metal hair will come back in fashion, Bach said, "If it does, people better start now because it takes seven [bleep]ing years to get it this length." Flaunting his golden locks, Bach added, "And this isn't some Jessica [bleep]ing Simpson hair extensions -- this is the real deal." A rep for the Rose Bar declined to comment.

Guns N’ Roses Perform in a Tiny NYC Bar!

Axl Rose and Co. cover Bob Dylan for a star-studded crowd, including Mickey Rourke, the Strokes, and Adrian Grenier.

By William Goodman

“Happy Valentines Day,” Axl Rose said with a smirk Sunday night, addressing the 150 very beautiful, very lucky people who landed on the guest list for a private Guns N’ Roses concert at the Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar in New York City. Winking and referencing his band, he added: “We’re the morning-after pill!!!”

Charming. But celebs like Mickey Rourke, Adrian Grenier, Ryan Phillippe, Albert Hammond Jr. and Fab Moretti of the Strokes, Emily Haines of Metric, and Sebastian Bach didn’t come for holiday chivalry. They came for badass rock’n’roll — and they got it. Lots of it.

The late-night concert — an installment of Nur Khan’s Rose Bar Sessions, sponsored by Deleon Tequila, One Music, and SPIN — was a little piece of paradise city: Rose and his six-piece band unleashed a 90-minute, 16-song set spanning all their hits.

GNR performed in front of a fireplace covered in roses, with a black-and-red painting of a skull hanging above. The lights were dim, gorgeous women outnumbered the men 2 to 1, the booze was free, and the light fixture overhead, the singer noted, looked like the spiky thorns of a rosebush. It could have been a scene from a GNR music video.

The band opened with “You’re Crazy” and “Mr. Brownstone,” and proceeded to play acoustic versions of hits from Use Your Illusion, Lies EP, and their 1987 mega-hit Appetite for Destruction, including its eternally awesome lead single “Welcome to the Jungle.”

The 48-year-old frontman, wearing a brown velvet suit jacket and matching top hat over his red bandana, slithered and tossed the mic from hand to hand as he stretched his vocals on set standout “Nightrain.”

He slowed the tempo on super ballad “Patience,” as the lights overhead turned his gigantic diamond rings into miniature disco balls, and the crowd sang along and waved their lighters in the air (real ones — thanks, smokers!).

The band played only three tracks off their 15-years-in-the-making 2008 record Chinese Democracy: “Catcher in the Rye,” “Street of Dreams," and “Sorry.”

The sound, especially Rose’s vocals, was occasionally muddy, but the bandmembers — keyboardist Dizzy Reed, drummer Frank Ferrer, bassist (and former Replacement) Tommy Stinson, and three guitarists — the chain-smoking DJ Ashba (Yes, that’s his real name. No, he’s not an actual disc jockey), Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, and Richard Fortus — played admirably through the slog.

Overall, the show was a reminder that love ‘em or hate ‘em, Axl and GNR created some of the most quintessential rock songs of the ’80s and ’90s.

GNR’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” scored loudest crowd reaction of the night, with second place going to set-closer “Paradise City.”

On the latter, as Stinson sang backup, a very sweaty Rose ripped of his top hat, jacket, and sunglasses. In a red bandana, unbuttoned shirt, and blue jeans, he recalled the iconic Axl from the late ’80s — only 20 years older and 30 pounds heavier.

“It sounds really good,” commented one hardcore fan. “Hey, I can just close my eyes and pretend it’s 1987!”