L.A Guns Concert Review
Malmö Sweden, February 18th, 2004
Review and Pictures By Anders Sandvall
Once again it was time for me to grab my stuff and head to KB to watch my old heroes,
L.A. Guns, perform. Finally they came to Sweden. The last time they were scheduled to do a
show here they cancelled, so I haven’t seen them since the beginning of the 90’s
when they were supporting Skid Row. These old glam/sleaze rock n’ roll heroes
seemed to be in good shape when they entered the stage and started off the show with,
“OVER THE EDGE.”
There weren't many people there that night, but it was more than when The Forsaken
played on the 15th. The crowd seemed to have high expectations, just like me, and they
followed the guys right from the start. The band looked a bit worn out but not too
exhausted. They looked like they were having a lot of fun on stage. They played for about
1 hour and 20 minutes and they delivered mainly new stuff.
After the first song they did some old songs like, “Sex Action” and
“Never Enough” before they played some newer material like,
“Rock’n’Roll Outlaw”, “Revolution” and “Foghat”.
There are only two members left from the original line up. Tonight the line up was:
Philip Lewis - lead vocals
Steve Riley - drums, background vocals
Adam Hamilton - bass, background vocals
Stacey Blades - guitar, background vocals
Philip shifted between electric guitar and acoustic so mainly they played with two
guitars during the show. He didn’t have much conversation between the songs. He
mostly said the usual stuff like, “It’s fun to be in Malmö” and asking if
the crowd had a good time. But when it was time for, “The Ballad of Jane” he
invited us to sing a long with him and the audience sang the first chorus alone. That was
also the song that got the biggest response from the crowd. But, in the middle of the song
he lost himself in the lyrics and ordered the band to start the next song immediately.
About 45 minutes into the show Mr.Riley did a shorter and not so impressive drum solo.
Then Mr. Hamilton got to do his one-person act but first in line came Mr.
Blades, and he
did a great feature performance backed up by the rest of the band. They didn’t have
much equipment onstage; just a backdrop with an American flag on it. So the band had a lot
of space to move around on, which three of them did, especially Mr. Lewis. It was a very
energetic band with who stood on stage last night and they sounded very powerful I think.
I’ll hope that it doesn’t take them 10 years for them to come to Sweden next
time.
Setlist
Over the Edge
Sex Action
Never Enough
Rock’n’Roll Outlaw
Revolution
Foghat
Long Time Dead
Beautiful
Crystal Eyes
ZEP (drum solo)
One More Reason
Electric Gypsy
Search and Destroy
The Ballad of Jane
Rip and Tear
As a support act this evening they had Bai Bang from Helsingborg Sweden. I saw them
last year when they were supporting Thin Lizzy, and I don’t really know what to think
about them. They sounded better this time, but maybe that depended on the fact that they
were more suitable as a support act to L.A. Guns compared to Thin Lizzy.
Just like the main act, Bai Bang plays glam/sleaze rock’n’roll, but it’s
a bit hard to say something about them because I haven’t heard any albums by them.
The crowd was pretty small when they entered and came just in time to see L.A. Guns
perform.
Bai Bang was not bad during the 30 minutes they played, but this night the headliner
act totally ran them over.
Setlist
Lay Down
Don’t Stop
Long Time Coming
Closer to You
Driving Me Crazy
Welcome to the Real World
Get Off
Insanity
X-Ray Specs
Thanks to Totte at KB for the help at the show.
Also thanks to Scandinavian Entertainment for the help, this time it went a lot easier
than it did on Thin Lizzy last year!