Guns N Roses – Fargodome – Fargo ND – August 11th 2021

Fargodome and Live Nation present Guns N Roses with special guests Mammoth WVH.

Review and photos by Kyle Hansen

In 1986 I was introduced to Guns n Roses by a friend. Live Like A Suicide. I have been hooked ever since.

Guns N Roses booked this gig a year ago but like everything else in the world last year it had to be delayed. So we marked the date and hoped to god this would be over and we could see them. As time drew closer we knew we were going!!

Mammoth WVH opened the show. Wolfie has made his own sound and feel in RNR. He is not copying his dad as he should’n’t. I love that he is doing his own thing. The new album is amazing. Is has great chorus’ and slick riffs. I was kind of hesitant to listen to it cause I’m a huge Van Halen fan. Mammoth plays for an hour each night and GNR goes on 30 minutes after. No more of this we wait until we are ready.

Guns is ferocious when they are on stage. Something clicks when Axl, Slash and Duff are together. You then add Dizzie Reed, he has been there forever, Richard Fortus, Frank Ferrer and Melissa Reese for an incredible band. The setlist has been closely the same for years, opening with It’s So Easy and the second song is always Mr. Brownstone. Axl sounds fantastic. He sounded weird for a while there in the 2000’s. Ever since the Las Vegas residency I saw in 2014 he has sounded fantastic. They then went into a two and a half hour in your face show. We were lucky enough to have pit tickets up front and it was so cool. First the stage was so low it made it a very personal show. They were almost eye to eye with ya. They did a few tunes of Chinese Democracy which sound great live, not sure why I don’t really like them on the album. They even snuck in Slither from Slash and Duff’s days in Velvet Revolver. Duff always does a punk cover and this tour he is doing I Wanna Be Your Dog from the Stooges . Of course all the hits are there Live and Let Die, Double Talkin Jive, Welcome to the Jungle, Estranged, Rocket Queen, a really cool slow version of Your Crazy, Rocket Queen, You Could Be Mine. During Civil War is Slash’s guitar solo. OH MAN incredible. I have seen them since 87 and being sober is the best thing that happened to this band. Slash’s solo is worth the ticket alone to see him play. Then they scale it down for an acoustic sit down on the drum set for a cover of Wichita Lineman from Jimmy Webb and Patience. Sweet Child O Mine, November Rain, Night Train was there to close out the set. The Encore was Madagascar, The Who’s The Seeker and Paradise City.

The stage has three huge screens behind it so no one missed a ting. It also has a number of really cool videos through out the show. Sometimes these can be really cheesy and not work. They do a fantastic job with each song. The band sounds fantastic, the setlisdt is amazing and they do not let you down. Go see Guns n Roses when they are near you.