A confession. I don’t go to gigs. This makes it hard to do a ‘proper review’ as I don’t have musical taste. I own Hear’Say’s Pure and Simple single and have seen Mel C perform twice. Yes, twice. That would probably get me dragged out of a Guns N’ Roses concert in a headlock.
The most credible thing I’ve done is see Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall. Unfortunately the tickets I bought were not the best and we spent 90 minutes watching the back of Eric’s head sat in the circular hall.
This blog has featured a few stories about Gavin Felvus, the Cwmbran man who tours the world as Axl Rose. Just re-reading the first one reminded me that he a) has played to crowds of over 100,000 2) has been the VIP guest of Guns N’ Roses on four of their tours and 3) has performed live with four different members of Guns N’ Roses.
So you don’t need this secret Little Mix fan’s views on the sounds of Guns 2 Roses. Let’s just say he’s good. Very, very good.
Gavin returned to play the Six in Hand last Friday night just a few weeks after performing in Hollywood. Over 100 people enjoyed the show and there were people on the dance floor as soon as he started singing.
I smiled when he said this line to the crowd.
“This is Cwmbran…This is Paradise City!”
The dance floor filled up for this song and I must confess I was mouthing the words and nodding my head a little. I was rewarded when ‘Axl’ stretched his arm over to me and we touched knuckles.
He is a popular bloke. There was a lot of handshakes, kisses and slaps on the back before the show from people he knew.
Here is a one minute Audioboo recording of Sweet Child O’ Mine from Friday.
[gigya src=”http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf” flashvars=”mp3=http%3A%2F%2Faudioboo.fm%2Fboos%2F1287813-guns-2-roses-in-cwmbran-singing-sweet-child-o-mine.mp3%3Fsource%3Dwordpress&mp3Author=benblack&mp3LinkURL=http%3A%2F%2Faudioboo.fm%2Fboos%2F1287813-guns-2-roses-in-cwmbran-singing-sweet-child-o-mine&mp3Time=12.57pm+24+Mar+2013&mp3Title=Guns+2+Roses+in+Cwmbran+singing+Sweet+Child+o%27+Mine” width=”400″ height=”160″ allowFullScreen=”true” wmode=”transparent”]
Gavin closed the show by thanking some Cwmbran pubs including the Six in Hand pub and the Blinkin’ Owl for their karaoke nights many years ago where he spent a lot of time.
I had a cracking night. A proper fun friendly night watching lots of people with wide smiles on their faces. It could even have been my first proper rock ‘n’ roll experience as I was invited to go with the band for after-show drinks.
But life as the dad of a six-year-old got in the way as I had to be up early on Saturday for rugby training.
