"There's no denying that Guns N Roses are one of America's premier rock n roll bands & are definitely up there with Aerosmith & The Rolling Stones in terms of their longevity, their music & their appeal!"

4/25/09

Ram's Head Live

Baltimore, Maryland

by: Bob Suehs

Ok, so the title of this article might confuse some, BUT, the tribute part of the night was delivered by Appetite for Destruction, a Guns N Roses tribute band & the "fakes" part of the night was where Mr. & Mrs. Ashlee Simpson came in...with that being said, "Do You Know Where You Are?"..."You're in the Jungle Baby, You're Gonna Die!" a classic line from one of the most recognizable hard rocks songs of all time, "Welcome To The Jungle", the Guns N Roses anthem that everyone knows & loves...it's the song that cover/tribute band Appetite For Destruction used as their opener when they played in Baltimore on April 25, 2009 at Ram's Head Live & it was actually pretty funny, because we got to the show literally, as the show was just starting, & when they started playing "Welcome to the Jungle", the people outside who were waiting to get inside the venue, they immediately started to rush in as if the real GNR were taking the stage & even the venue staff were shimmying & singing along to the lyrics...there's no denying that Guns N Roses are one of America's premier rock n roll bands & are definitely up there with Aerosmith & The Rolling Stones in terms of their longevity, their music & their appeal!

Appetite For Destruction is a touring Guns N Roses tribute band that pays tribute to the band pretty damn well...they authenticate the sound, the feel, the vibe, & even the look of the band! Chad, the "AXL" of the band, sounds so much like AXL Rose that it's spooky! Chad did typical AXL moves & even changed outfits a a few times throughout the set...the first set saw him sporting a bandanna, kilt & black "Charlie Don't Surf" shirt while the 2nd set had him in a red "Charlie Don't Surf" shirt, then a white leather jacket ala the late 80's era of AXL. The guy playing the role of Slash has his sh*t down tight, the guitar licks were as close as you could get & the guy even had a real, extremely curly, crazy mop of hair ala Slash, while the Izzy Stradlin guitarist sported the "Live at the Ritz" performance look of Izzy. The Duff & Steven Adler members were solid players, but didn't quite pull off the looks for those 2 guys, but let's face it, Guns N Roses in their heyday was all about AXL & Slash & those 2 area's were more than amply covered!

The first set was my personal favorite..."Jungle" was the opener, & throughout the first set the band played "It's So Easy", "Out To Get Me", "Mr. Brownstone", there was an unplugged part that featured "Patience" & "You're Crazy" which had an opening of "Crazy Bitch" by Buckcherry which I thought was genius, & then there was a cool cover portion that saw them playing "Hair of the Dog" by Nazareth, "Live & Let Die" by Paul McCartney & "Attitude" by the Misfits which featured "Duff" singing vocals!

The 2ns set of the night was chock full of gems by GNR & the big surprise for me was to hear "14 Years" & it was sang by "izzy", "Sweet Child o' Mine" sounded amazing, "Rocket Queen" was my personal favorite from set #2, & the band closed with "Paradise City" & to be quite honest with you, "Paradise City" brought the f**king house down...what I realized at this show was, Guns N Roses might have came out in the late 80's, but the impact they made on the music world is still being felt today....the original line up, Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff & Adler...those 5 guys changed things, they made rock n roll fun, & Appetite For Destruction is a kick ass tribute to the band...they give you a good show, they play their asses off & they re-create the Guns N Roses Experience pretty freakin' well in all honesty! To check out play dates & more info on Appetite For Destruction, please go to: http://www.notquitegnr.com/

PETE WENTZ / ASHLEE SIMPSON

4/25/09

Mosaic

Baltimore, Maryland

Ok, so when the Guns N Roses tribute band Appetite for Destruction were finished we headed next door to the dance club Mosaic to check out the Pete Wentz DJ set...Pete Wentz is the guitarist for Fall Out Boy...he's best known as Mr. Ashlee Simpson, he's married to her & they have a kid together, & he's also known for taking nude photo's of himself & posting them on the internet for whatever reason...I'm not here to judge, I'll just give you the honest blow by blow of what happened when he showed up...Pete, Ashlee & a small posse of their peeps made their way into the club via the back door, Pete came in, NEVER once addressed the crowd, NEVER looked at the audience, after he hooked up his laptop, put on a pair of headphones & started to DJ, it was more like watching a weird paparazzi tv show...Pete seemed insecure or shy, he hid behind the dj booth, his head was never really too far above the mixing console, he wore a hat that covered a large percentage of his head, & he mostly just sat there, occasionally chatted with the guy next to him & got paid to...actually, I'm not sure why they had him there & I'll tell you what happened when he started to do his "mixing"...the dance floor was booming before he got there, the nights dj knew how to make that crowd move...when Pete Wentz started mixing his tunes, the crowd wasn't necessarily into it...probably the only song he really did right was "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, because the crowd seemed to love that, but playing "Wonderwall" by Oasis with NO house beats, NO added drums, it brought that fun vibe in an ALL dance music oriented club, to a screeching halt! What the hell were you thinking Pete...obviously you weren't!

Ashlee Simpson was there with Pete & she showed up unannounced, & the thing I heard some people saying was, "Who's taking care of her kid?" because her & Pete were out drinking & partying & they recently had a new born baby, so my joke of the night was that perhaps Joe, Ashlee's father & manager of Jessica Simpson, has Ashlee's baby & is trying to groom it to be a teen singing star in a few years, I mean, Ashlee & Jessica are basically done, so they need to keep the cash coming in some way, right?

Ok, so the DJ set last roughly a little over an hour, then Ashlee & Pete stood to the side of the DJ booth, made out infront of the entire crowd a little bit & then they did the biggest dick move of all time...there was maybe 5 or 6 "fans" there to meet Pete & instead of acknowledging them, stopping to sign an autograph, take a pic, or even JUST wave goodbye, the 2 pop culture diva's ran to their awaiting car & took off without even acknowledging their fans...I don't believe any person in the spotlight "owes" anyone anything, BUT, a simple acknowledgment, a small gesture to let the people who put them where they are know that they thank them....I could see if TMZ & all the paparazzi's were out, BUT, there were around 5 people there who even cared, so why pull the celebrity-dick move & ignore the people who put you where you are? For what it's worth too, Pete Wentz never even used the mic when he DJ'd, he hid behind the board, he came off like a little shy school girl who was too scared to face the crowd...being a DJ is all about being a ham, hamming it up, having fun, going crazy, & the house DJ in Mosaic is a kick ass DJ, in all honesty Mr. Wentz, you might wanna watch how real DJ's handle & work the crowd & on a personal note to both Ashlee, I remember interviewing Jason Daar, singer for the band NEUROSONIC a few years back & he wrote a song called "So Many People" which was all about Ashlee Simpson, so after her behavior on 4/25/09, I felt it was only fitting to dedicate that song to her & re-print the lyrics, just incase anyone's never heard the song:

NEUROSONIC - "So Many People"

Everything under the sun going to hell

In an episode of SNL

Busted on the TV,

You ugly girl, you cannot sing,

Can't even lip sync

Apparently money can even buy you dignity

Everyone will forget in a couple of days

It doesn't matter what they say in the press, I guess.

Am I the only one feeling the itch,

Because they're giving away the billboard awards to some phony little

(gasp)

So what would you know about how your song goes?

Just let that tape roll.

So many faces of so many people are covered in stupid

And all they wanna do is get in

I know that your parents are brother and sister

It's idiot season, let the hunting begin

Let the hunting begin

Let the hunting begin

Let the hunting begin!

Since practice wasn't on the list,

Clearly, talent doesn't exist.

Maybe Joe can buy you a set of bigger tits

Apologize to the world and admit that you were wrong

Who's dick did you have to suck to get that number one song?

So what would you know about how your song goes?

Just let that tape roll.

So many faces of so many people are covered in stupid

And all they wanna do is get in

I know that your parents are brother and sister

It's idiot season, let the hunting begin

Let the hunting begin

Let the hunting begin

Let the hunting begin!

Well who's this little cow who's got my elbow in her mouth

To keep the sound from coming out?

I'm sure your daddy's really proud

But he knows what we all know.

So many faces of so many people are covered in stupid

And all they wanna do is get in

I know that your parents are brother and sister

It's idiot season, let the hunting begin

I know that your parents are brother and sister

It's idiot season, let the hunting begin

So many faces of so many people are covered in stupid

And all they wanna do is get in

I know that your parents are brother and sister

It's idiot season, let the hunting begin

Tags: 4/25/09, Appetite for Destruction, Ashlee Simpson, bob suehs, Ram's Head Live