I did not hear about this show until about a month after tickets had gone on sale but somehow was still able to score general admission floor tickets directly through Ticketmaster. Being a fan of Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots obviously made Velvet Revolver exciting on paper but this excitement was cemented the first time I heard Contraband. For some reason unbeknownst to me I missed out on seeing Velvet Revolver when they came to San Diego to support that album so I was not about to miss out again when they came back to support their new album Libertad that had been released just a couple months before this show. This was about as close as I was ever going to get to seeing Guns N’ Roses since I had never seen them and as a bonus a reunited Alice In Chains opened.

William DuVall had gotten even better in his lead singer role in the year that had passed since I last saw Alice In Chains. We were still two years away from Black Gives Way to Blue so we were treated to a very Dirt heavy setlist. Apparently I was not the only one ecstatic to hear these songs again live as evidenced by the entire crowd singing along to every word.

ALICE IN CHAINS SETLIST: Again, Grind, We Die Young, Them Bones, Dam That River, Rain When I Die, Down in a Hole, No Excuses, Angry Chair, Man in the Box, Would?, Rooster

Velvet Revolver was absolutely fantastic. There was a moment when Slash came about 10 feet in front of me and just ripped off the most effortless badass minute and a half solo I may have ever seen. The Velvet Revolver songs were amazing but seeing them perform three of my favorite GNR songs and three STP songs was equally amazing. A full on sitting on stools performance of “Patience” was goosebump inducing.

VELVET REVOLVER SETLIST: Let It Roll, She Mine, Sucker Train Blues, Do It For the Kids, Superhuman, Big Machine, Pills, Demons, Etc., Vaseline, The Last Fight, Interstate Love Song, Patience, Gravedancer, It’s So Easy, Get Out the Door, Fall to Pieces, She Builds Quick Machines, Set Me Free, Mr. Brownstone, Sex Type Thing, Slither