Review: AXL ROSE's Delayed Return At INLAND INVASION Falls Flat

Ben Wener of The Orange County Register reports:

The harder-edged sixth staging of KROQ's Inland Invasion festival was supposed to be remembered for the highly anticipated but somewhat dubious return of headliner GUNS N' ROSES, marking oft-ridiculed, long-missing Axl Rose's first major performance near his adopted hometown of Los Angeles in nearly 15 years.

Instead, it's just as likely that the event will be remembered for the final 90 buzz-killing minutes before Axl and his technically proficient but still fake GNR emerged.

The 30,000-plus multitudes on hand Saturday at Hyundai Pavilion were well aware he was due on at 10, which already made the 40-minute gap of nothing that followed a surprisingly strong turn from a reconstituted ALICE IN CHAINS an irritation, considering how the rest of the fest arrived almost nonstop. Tack on an extra 50 minutes of downtime, filled with bone-chilling gusty winds and a loop of the same dozen songs KROQ had been playing for hours, and it's little wonder that trash was soon flying and fires on the lawn started blazing.

It was a long enough wait to make even never-say-die fans wonder if Axl would cause yet another riot by flaking at the last minute, as he had more than once when GNR attempted a quickly aborted North American tour four years ago. To say that everywhere you turned there was palpable, rapidly accelerating tension among ready-to-rumble types who had been downing giant beers all day is an understatement. A rumor that Axl wasn't even on the premises once ALICE finished its set didn't help.

Gratefully, just before 11 the seemingly impossible became a reality — and the crowd let out a deafening, cathartic cry as the teasing opening of "Welcome to the Jungle" rang out. Out of the darkness sprang the notorious one himself, wrapped in leather and leaning back to shriek with all his might: "Do you know where the (bleep) you are?"

It was undoubtedly a striking moment, exactly the jolt not-so-patient devotees were hoping for.

It was also the best moment in GNR's set.

Read the rest of the review at www.ocregister.com.