ATLANTA,None — It's been nearly 25 years since Guns N' Roses played Atlanta. On Wednesday night at Philips Arena, the frontman of the group, Axl Rose, brought a different Guns N' Roses to town.
The original incarnation of the band included Rose; guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin; Duff McKagan on the bass; and drummer Steven Adler. Gone is everyone but Rose. A number of musicians have floated through the band over the last decade with Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Chris Pitman, Richard Fortus, Rom Thal, Frank Ferrer and DJ Ashba part of the band today.
[ GALLERY: Guns N' Roses plays Philips Arena ]
Rose did reference the fact that the last time he played in Atlanta, in 1987, he was arrested at the concert. Guns N' Roses was slated to play in the Omni in the early 90s, but the show was canceled.
But once fans get over the fact that Slash won't be slamming back the guitar at the concert, it's a pretty incredible show for fans.
The band opened up to "Chinese Democracy" before moving right into "Welcome To The Jungle." In total, the band was slated to play 32 songs over three hours. The performance included several solos. Reed played "Baba O'Riley" on the piano and Rose played "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" on it, too. The hits from the earlier years were mixed in with some of the band's more recent songs. "Estranged," "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "November Rain" were a few of the fan favorites played in the regular portion of the show. The encore included both "Patience" and "Paradise City."
A number of stories have been reported that the band was making fans wait a long time before taking the stage. That wasn't the case Wednesday night in Atlanta. Guns N' Roses took the stage about a half hour after BuckCherry wrapped its opening set. Kellen Heller was on the bill, too.
TV stations weren't allowed to capture a lot of video footage at the concert, but here's a taste of the show.
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