Guns N' Roses sounded like well-oiled machine at Sun Bowl Stadium: Review

Before Guns N' Roses took the stage at a packed Sun Bowl Stadium on a cool Wednesday night, an animated video of an old hot rod emblazoned with the "GnR" logo rumbled on three giant video screens.

But when the reunited trio of singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash, bass guitarist Duff McKagan began playing with the rest of the band, they turned up the heat and sounded more like a well-oiled race car.

The band blasted through two songs, "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone," from its 1987 debut, "Appetite for Destruction," after which front man Rose called the nearly sold-out stadium "boisterous."

From there, fans who paid anywhere from $35 to $250 for a ticket got their money's worth — and then some — as the band performed more than 30 songs — and more than a couple of covers — in just over three hours.

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With Rose looking much trimmer than he did just a few years ago, and with the rest of the band in tip-top shape, Guns N' Roses was still chugging away at full speed more than an hour into the show.

By then, fans had already heard rousing renditions of "Welcome to the Jungle," "Estranged," "Live and Let Die" (the first of many covers), "Rocket Queen" and "You Could Be Mine."

The band's current drummer, Frank "Thunderchucker" Ferrer, is nothing short of a beast behind the trap set. Without a doubt, his heavy hand and steady beat is the pacemaker for the 50-plus-year-old hearts of the group's core members.

After the first hour, throughout which the majority of the fans stayed on their feet, Slash proved why he is one of the best guitarists to ever strap on a Les Paul.

Slash's guitar solo led into the radio-favorite and still timely, "Civil War" — and into hour two.

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Stretching out its time on stage, the band took on an instrumental cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," a not-so-good version of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun," (in tribute to the recently departed Chris Cornell), and the coda to Derek and the Dominoes "Layla," with Slash doing his best Eric Clapton impersonation.

Fans were still cheering the band during hour two, with hits like "November Rain" and "Sweet Child O' Mine" getting the biggest, loudest roars and singalongs.

As the band rounded the two-and-a-half-hour mark, Axl growled through "Night Train," sounding just as fearsome as he had 30 years ago on its debut. While he may not be able to slink around the stage like he did then, he still ran from end to end of the 100-foot wide stage and rarely sounded winded.

Nearing three hours, the band left the stage, feigning the end of the concert before returning to perform "Don't Cry," "Patience," yet another cover of The Who's "The Seeker" and closer "Paradise City."

While the plethora of covers may have dragged the concert out a bit, it's easy to see that the Gunners were eager to give fans their money's worth. Now that the reunited iteration of this group has been on the road for nearly two years, it's clear that they are all about the music, rather than the spectacle.

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While GnR were notoriously late for shows in its '90s heyday, the band took the stage promptly, 30 minutes after openers ZZ Top warmed the crowd up with its Texas boogie.

With the band looking and sounding like a tight-knit group again, "It's So Easy" to see why it decided to stretch the tour into its second year and the concerts to just over three hours.

Dave Acosta may be reached at 546-6138; dacosta@elpasotimes.com; @Chuy_Vuitton on Twitter.