If you follow me on any of my fafillion social media accounts, then you’ll know I was in NY last weekend specifically for Governors Ball. Only three years old, the 3-day festival is still relatively new compared to Lollapalooza and Coachella, but as soon as I saw that the old-school band Guns N Roses was headlining, I knew I was going.
Truth be told, I am a leather mini-skirt wearing, hair-thrashing, hard rock white girl at heart, and I owe it all to my older cousins Steve and Ruther. I thank them for two things: 1) treating me their little brother, and 2) introducing me to the likes of Bon Jovi, Metallica, Van Halen, Skid Row, Warrant, and GUNS N MOTHERFUCKING ROSES. As a kid in elementary school that still had recess, I naturally wasn’t allowed to attend a GNR concert while they were in their prime. But as a grown ass adult with a love for bright lights, pyrotechnics and musicians, I was definitely going to make up for lost time.
I’ll have a Mixologi post written about my full Gov Ball experience, but I wanted to use my own blog to geek the fuck out over my GNR experience, because watching them perform is seriously up there next to the Giants winning the 2010 World Series as best days of my entire life. Yup, you heard me.
Though the band now is barely the band it was when they first debuted with Slash and Duff, not being able to hear Axl Rose’s screechy falsetto just wouldn’t have been the same. The fact that he could still hit those infamous high notes brought me to my “sha-na-na-na-knees” even though he seemingly struggled with low ballads like “Don’t Cry”. By the time they closed the set with “Paradise City,” I was in full-blown heavy metal heaven and didn’t want to attend another hip-hop concert ever again. Shit just wouldn’t even compare. I’m having a moment just rehashing the whole set right now.
Although Axl is barely recognizable today, his voice and the GNR legacy still is. Seeing thousands of people who probably weren’t even born when Appetite For Destruction came out, sing all the lyrics to “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” was for lack of betters words – FUCKING RIDICULOUS. I felt so grateful to have been able to witness such a legend perform on stage in the company of such good friends, that I almost cried that night! Uh yeah, I may or may not have been sober.
The good vibes carried on all the way back to the FDR when people got up to dance during the ferry ride. It was such an amazing experience that you just couldn’t appreciate unless you were there. But here are a few pictures that don’t do it any justice whatsoever. #gallery-15428-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-15428-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-15428-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-15428-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */