Velvet Revolver Unloads in Worcester
Zachary O’Steen

This past Tuesday, November 9^th, the Worcester Centrum Centre played host to the rock group Velvet Revolver.  The California based “Supergroup” is made up of former Stone Temple Pilots (STP) singer, Scott Weiland and former Guns and Roses band members Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, Dave Kushner and the infamous Slash.  This supergroup’s fan base is unique, in that it consists of the Guns & Roses fans of the 80’s and the followers of Scott Weiland and STP of the early 90’s, as well as those who may just be fans of Velvet Revolver.  No matter which who you came to see, you did not leave disappointed.  The set list reflected all three great groups.

Opening for the Velvet Revolver, on this frigid night, was the Exies, also a Californian band based out of Los Angeles.  As in most other concerts, the crowd did not seem to care for the opener; they were simply tolerated, while waiting for Velvet Revolver.  Once the wait was over, Velvet Revolver started the show with “Sucker Train Blues”, a song that starts suddenly with police car sirens.  This created an awe-inspiring entrance for the deserving band.  As Weiland takes the stage, he and his band members bust through four songs from Velvet Revolver’s debut album Contraband encompassing : “Sucker Train Blues”, “Do It for the Kids”, “Headspace”, and “Superhuman”.  STP’s “Crackerman”, a hit that Weiland had a few years back, followed those four rock songs.  Then the band sang three more songs from Contraband including “Illegal Song”, “Fall to Pieces”, and “Big Machine”.  On a serious note, Weiland stated before singing the bands new single “Fall to Pieces” that “This is the song that brought us together.”  This was in reference to the band’s hardships and tragedies endured by both Weiland and the Guns and Roses members due to previous substance abuse issues. 

Velvet Revolver continued the concert playing Guns and Roses’ “Its so Easy” and STP’s “Sex Type Thing”, before their own song “Set me Free”.  It was at that point that the band exited for the first time.  After about about after 3 minutes of applause yelling and screaming Velvet Revolver returned to play GNR hit “Used to Love Her”, and Aerosmith’s “No More No More”, before leaving.  The audience wanted more and they returned again and sang “Mr. Brownstone” by GNR, and their own first single “Slither”.

In all Velvet Revolver came through, if you came to see some old GNR classics sung live once again, you were more than pleased.  If you wanted to see the crazy dancing and wild eyed singer that is Scott Weiland, you were not disappointed, as many of the female yells displayed.  Without pyrotechnics and special effects, Velvet Revolver stuck to their guns, and gave a purely driven “Rock and Roll” performance.  What seemed most transparent and engaging was how Velvet Revolver came across, they were able to resurrect the old fire, in their, now classic hits from the past two decades, and spark that same fire in their newer rock and roll music.