2012.06.08 - Warsteiner HockyPark, Mönchengladbach, Germany

Date:
June 8, 2012.

Venue:
Warsteiner HockyPark.

Location:
Mönchengladbach, Germany.

Setlist:
01. Chinese Democracy
02. Welcome to the Jungle
03. It's So Easy
04. Mr. Brownstone
05. Sorry
06. Rocket Queen
07. Estranged
Richard Fortus solo
08. Live and Let Die
09. This I Love
10. Better
11. Shackler's Revenge
12. Motivation
Dizzy Reed solo - Baba O'Riley
13. Street of Dreams
14. You Could Be Mine
Dj Ashba solo - Ballad of Death
15. Sweet Child O' Mine
Another Brick in the Wall
Axl Rose piano solo
16. November Rain
17. Glad To Be Here
18. Don't Cry
19. Civil War
20. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
21. Nightrain
ENCORE
22. Paradise City

Notes:

Line-up:
Axl Rose (vocals), Richard Fortus (rhythm guitarist), Bumblefoot (lead guitarist), Dj Asbha (lead guitarist), Tommy Stinson (bass) and Frank Ferrer (drums), Dizzy Reed (keybards), Chris Pitman (synth).

Next concert: 2012.06.10.
Previous concert: 2012.06.05.

We always get shit openers...

Damn it! I wanted Thin Lizzy as well..

Fair enough, Rival Sons is not bad. Tomorrow 2nd show!

My Review:

I had a great night again. A friend of mine and I drove towards Mönchengladbach around 18:00. We had to go to the railway station first to pick up the keys of our sleep over adress in Düsseldorf. After getting a parking spot at the hockey stadium we found out that it was a BIG concert. Compared to Ahoy there were much more people. Probably also because it's the only German gig this tour. When we walked towards the entrance we saw a decent hardrock crowd, not these people like in Rotterdam, which seemed to be mainly greatest hits fans. We still had to find the guy who was going to sell us our tickets. By huge coincidence and luck, we found him right after entering the area just before the entrance. Again, cheap tickets for me. After a suiting German dinner of Bratwurst und Pommes and the first beers, we went on towards the entrance to the GA zone. There, my friend went to get some beers. That took like 45 minutes, because of slow staff and only one bar at that side of the stadium. Inside the stadium there was no bar at all, nor any other ways of getting drinks. Fortunately throughout the gig it got less crowded at the one bar, but still, having to go through the crowd all the time again for new beers was annoying. The set up of stage was great, at the long side of the stadium, so the view was very good, even if you were in the back. Rival Sons already finished their set before we got that first beer from that stupid bar. Surprisingly, this time they started at 20:00 sharp and finished a little before 21:00. GNR started at 21:50, very early in my book, but because Rival Sons started/finished on time it seemed like a while, so some Germans were complaining. The band was again in fine form. Axl sounded a bit better then in Rotterdam. Still, it is striking the hear the difference of his voice between WTTJ (very strong and raspy) to Rocket Queen (clean and a bit thin). Estranged was pretty good again. The set rolled on and we were having a great time, standing in the middle of the middle. The sound was quite good, especially for a open air venue. Funny enough, during November Rain it started to rain a little bit. People were amused, until during Don't cry it started to pour like hell. We started singing 'Don't you dry tonight'. . The rain lasted for about 2 songs and Axl mentioned something that he apologized for not moving much anymore, because he didn't went to fall on stage because of the rain. I can imagine that after his Moscow and UK incidents! Still, during KOHD it was dry again. To my disappointment, after Nightrain they went straight into Paradise City, no Maddy, no Patience, no band jams . I'm not sure why, because the rain had stopped already 30 minutes before the end of the show. Still, satisfied we got a final beer and went back to the car to get our sleeping bags and stuff, then onwards to find a shuttle bus, which went smooth. After some waiting and a 30 minutes train ride we arrived in Düsseldorf, getting some food and Bitburger at a gas station before going 'home'. The next day when we returned to the Hockey Stadium we found out that they locked the doors of the parking lot. So, after driving around for a while we found some dirt path for pedestrians, reachable by the sideway. Funny to ride of the hill there, onto the main road, seeing a German car looking at us and laughing.

+ Great venue: good sound, not too packed, good view, nice way of placing the stage
+ Band in fine form, Axl in decent form, bit better than Rotterdam
+ I'm starting to dig Bumble's So glad to be here
+ Again good shuttle buses to railway station

- 'Short' set (only 2,5 hours )
- Only 1 beer stand in the whole area were we could walk around
- Idiot staff of the aforementioned beer stand
- Still the solos of Tommy, Richard and DJ are either just too long or not very enjoyable or suiting

I couldn't find you in any of the pictures, Johan.

That's correct. We never got further than the mid area of the stadium. Otherwise it was too hard to sneak out once in while for new beers and the ocassional piss break .

It was still a good view, since the stage was on the long end of the stadium.