Slash, Myles and the band have kicked off 2013 with another overseas tour including a brief stop in the UK where they played just two dates. We caught up with the band on the first of the two dates that followed last year’s sold out trek across the UK and some storming festival appearances too.

Opening up for Slash were The Treatment who looked pretty comfortable on the big stage of the Capital FM Arena. They play good time rock’n’roll/hair metal with swagger and enthusiasm. There’s an obvious comparison to be made with one of Slash’s old bands with The Treatment, but then anyone who puts on leather pants and fluffs up their locks has been compared to Guns’ for the last twenty years. The Treatment have the tunes to match their image however and from the opening blast through ‘Drink, Rock, Fight’ the band look confident enough to tackle arena sized venues easily.

Back in the Guns’n’Roses heyday, Slash was filling stadiums night after night but his bands since then have struggled to escape the theatres at best. With Myles Kennedy at his side however, Slash seems to be gaining frightening momentum again. Only a couple of years ago we had his self-titled album and the following string of Academy sized shows that were a great welcome back for the top-hatted one. Since then he’s hardly stopped, another album with solid line-up soon followed and the touring freight-train just seems to keep on rolling!

Opening up with ‘Halo’ from the latest album, followed by ‘Mean Bone’ from the Snakepit days and then then the first dip into the Guns’n’Roses catalogue with ‘Nightrain’; it’s clear that Slash is still intent on spreading the love from all corners of his archives. It seems to be a winning formula.

Bass man Todd Kerns takes over the vocal duties to recreate Lemmy’s growl on ‘Doctor Alibi’ and also handles ‘Crazy’ and ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ with ease while Myles takes a backseat to play guitar. It’s SLASH written on the t-shirts and the banner across the stage though, and Slash is what people get at these shows. As well as simply being treated to some of the most iconic guitar licks of our time; hearing ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’ live will always make the hairs on your neck stand up (no matter how many times you’ve heard it down the pub on a Friday night). There’s also plenty of extended guitar wizardry from Slash to mesmerize but without being over the top as there’s always another hit on the horizon to get people jumping again.

‘Anastasia’ and ‘You’re a Lie’ go down like old favourites before the last batch of true old favourites are unveiled. ‘Slither’ has been given a whole new lease of life under the command of Myles and sounds huge before ‘Paradise City’ cranks up the party one last time for the biggest sing-along of the night.

As ever the balance of old and new was just right in terms of the set list, but it’s great to see the new songs getting the reaction they deserve. It seems this band can do no wrong at the minute, and any preconceptions of nostalgia or tribute held by anyone unsure before the gig were swiftly erased. This is a band on fire.

Guns and…who?

Words and Pics by Rob W