Live Review : Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators @ AO Arena, Manchester on April 2nd 2024

On the passing of Lemmy, Slash inherited the mantle of being the true living embodiment of rock 'n' roll. If you want to dress as a cool rocker you simply adorn yourself with a curly black wig and an oversized top hat and Saul Hudson’s your uncle you are instantly recognisable as a cool rock n’ roll dude. If you want to give your showstopping Oscar number a shot of scuzzy cool, then all you do is pick up the phone to Mr. Slash and instantaneously it has oodles of rock 'n' roll street cred. Our Slash has become a cultural phenomenon. An instantly recognisable persona that transcends the bands he is involved with and the shackles of his back catalogue. The arena is reassuringly full and it is obvious that its temporary inhabitants are here for the myth as opposed to the material.

The pairing of Slash with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators is a marriage of convenience that works for both parties. Myles gets to occupy the enviable position of fronting not one but two fully-functioning arena-bothering behemoths. Slash gets a bevy of compatriots with whom he manages to have an inordinate amount of chemistry. Watching Slash within the resurrected corpse of the current reanimated version of Guns ‘N Roses is like watching a man going through the motions with workmates that he can't stand the sight of. At no point does he get within 10 meters of Axl, or if he can help it, anyone else. Axl goes left, he goes right. Tonight is a very different story altogether. It is obvious that he enjoys and relishes playing with this bunch of musicians and the bond he has procured with Myles is absolutely paramount.

The energy frissons between the band. This is a bunch of musicians playing rock 'n' roll because they enjoy the sensation of playing rock n’ roll. It feels honest and grounded, with the interaction between members sincere and heartfelt. When they compliment and call each other out it feels like real camaraderie rather than stage managed bravado. The performance is top notch and we receive two hours and a quarter of quality musicianship topped with a sprinkling of show business pizzazz. A synthetically homogenised unit shouldn't click together with this much ease.

But there is a weak link. There is a chink in the armour ,that stops this evening from ever really boiling over, and that is the songs. It may seem counterintuitive to say so but there are not enough self-indulgent improvised moments tonight. When Slash does go all guitar hero on our arses (‘Starlight’ is the prime contender) it is magnificent. It is an utter joy to watch his fingers dance across the fretboard. The audience are in rapture, hearts in collective mouths as he does unholy things with his instrument. But those moments of rampant undulating ecstasy are in short supply. There is no big singalong moments this evening, no showstopping instances of communal ecstasy.

With four albums under his belt with Myles and the Conspirators, Slash has decided to curtail his reliance on material from other elements of his career. Two of the three visits to his 2010 solo record are for stuff recorded with Myles and there is one solitary raid on the Guns and Roses songbook for a track tucked away at the arse end of “Use Your Illusion I”. You can applaud his commitment to showcasing this chapter of his career but it means we are lacking a showpiece, a truly spontaneous moment.

The bits where it does start to become a bit raucous and rough around the edges is when Todd Kerns takes vocal. You forget that Guns N’ Roses were as much influenced by punk as they were by Aerosmith and the Stones. With the Todd-fronted versions of ‘Bad Apples’ and ‘Doctor Alibi’ that anarchistic punk attitude does float to the surface and everything feels a bit more unpredictable and chaotic. But then we are straight back into the more commercially inoffensive material of the recent solo albums. ‘April Fool’, ‘You’re a Lie’, ‘World on Fire’ and ‘Anastasia’ are not bad tracks, but they just don't have the musical girth to be tentpole moments for the entire set.

So Slash is still the greatest thing since sliced bread when it comes to noodling on the guitar and the band are tighter than a gnat’s bottom. There is certainly more enthusiasm and personal interaction at play than you ever will find in the current GN’R setup, but it just needs a P’aradise City’, ‘Night Train’ and even ‘Rocket Queen’ to push it all over the edge. Hell, even an upbeat cover would have hit the G-spot (the laid-back reimagining of ‘Rocketman’ is musically highly competent but rather maudlin in its delivery). The audience certainly revelled in being in the presence of a living legend for a couple of hours but secretly everybody must have wished for something that they could sing along to.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators