Stone supergroup

Velvet Revolver show supersedes drug problems, slow ticket sales

Ian Baxter

In the beginning, fan reaction for the Oct. 14 Velvet Revolver show was lacklustre in Winnipeg. Hearsay said somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1,500 to 2,500 seats were sold within the first month; for a venue like the MTS Centre this was anything but extraordinary. And for a supposed supergroup like Velvet Revolver — composed of Scott Weiland, former Stone Temple Pilots frontman, three-fourths of Guns N’ Roses in Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, and Dave Kushner of Wasted Youth — “It’s just hard to fucking sell tickets,” guitarist Slash told the Regina Leader-Post.

Despite all of this, the staying power of Velvet Revolver’s newest album Libertad — and their live show — could help them fill MTS Centre during the band’s next performance.

At first, you had to wonder if you were at the right show, playing before Revolver took the stage was N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton,” which puzzled the crowd. It wasn’t soon after, however, that we were greeted to “Sucker Train Blues” as the curtain dropped and the five were revealed to the crowd. And revealed in style: the set had one of most eye-catching lighting setups I’ve ever seen at a concert. Not only did they have two huge overhead mounts with more than 60 different lights, five monitors showing different subject-related imagery, over 15 blasting halogens in the back, and front lighting, but they even made use of the stripe around the arena! With all of the images being blasted past you it was easy to get lost in the moment.

As they played it was easy to see the influence drugs have had on all the artists on stage. Scott Weiland looked like he could be blown over with a gust of wind, and if it wasn’t for his signature hat and unmistakable sound, you wouldn’t know that was Slash on stage. Half the time, with Weiland’s hypnotic dance moves over the flashing lights in the background, I felt like I was watching a line squirm around.

That said, the performance was everything you could expect from a rock supergroup. Slash’s hands moved so fast you were hard-pressed to keep up, blowing through “Superhuman” and “Vaseline” right into a brief intermission.

The second act started with the band sitting on high chairs with Slash welding what looked to be his signature “Godzilla” 1999 Crossroads Double Neck Guitar and Matt Sorum on his second drum kit. We were sent into a much more mellow set with songs like “The Last Fight,” “Big Machine,” and Guns and Roses’ “Patience,” which Revolver often covers.

Coming back from the third short intermission, Revolver brought the crowd up to speed with the singles “She builds Quick Machines,” and “Fall to Pieces,” which had Slash break out into a huge five-minute solo towards the end. When everything was said and done, the crowd roared for an encore; after little delay, the night ended with a song from both Guns ’N Roses “It’s So Easy” and Stone Temple Pilots’ “Sex-Type Thing,” finally wrapping up with “Slither” — something we all saw coming.

Velvet Revolver looked like they would be an interlude on the rock circuit. Fans were perplexed at Slash joining in with Weiland, and it seemed like the debut album Contraband would be overshadowed by a split. This has not become the case, however, as Revolver has shown some serious staying power.