He is the nicest guy EVER!!!! Here's what happened...
I met up with my friend Fiona at the bus station about 1pm on the Monday and we hung about and went shopping, for lunch etc and generallly killed time till about 5pm then we went for a drink in the Solid Rock Cafe cos we were bored with shopping. So about 6pm we head to the Cathouse and we stand outside. We're the first ones there but soon we're joined by this other guy. Fiona whispered to me (as subtle as a brick might I add!), "Jenna, that guy has a Metallica top on!!". Yes, I see that thanks Fiona, so I said to the guy "Nice top mate!" and we just start chatting to him who turned out to be called Alistair and he became our buddy for the night! So as we were chatting, people kept coming in and out of the Cathouse including the support band - Red Star Rebels. I keep looking round when the door opens just to see who's coming in and out. At one point the door opens and turn round to see Gilby and his crew walking out the door. My jaw hits the floor and I say to the guys, "OMG, that's Gilby!!!". We never said anything to him cos we were all so in shock and I had butterflies in my stomach for ages afterwards!! So finally we get in, I'm the very first person in so I make a beeline for front and centre, naturally!
About half an hour later the first act comes on - a guy called Doug Doppler. He was an instrumental guitarist who just played with a backing track. He was very talented but abused his whammy bar like Kirk Hammett abuses a wah pedal!! He got a bit boring after a while to be honest. There's only so much constant soloing I can take before it bores me. Next up was Still Life. They were ok as well - had a bit of a RHCP vibe, and the bass player acted like Flea, dancing all over the place! Fiona had told me alot about Red Star Rebels, so I was really looking to these guys. They had the image part down anyway, like a cross between 80's Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses!! The first song started with Meady, the lead guitarist, playing two guitars!! Now there's talent!!! The Cathouse is tiny so Blacky, the singer, was able to step off the stage on to the little step on the other side of the barrier. He was right in front of us when he was doing that!! At one point Meady was on the step right in front of us and I think if I'd not caught him, he would have fallen off it!!! We had our drinks sitting on those steps and the bastards kicked them all over!!!! Hehehe!! At last it was time for the main event and Gilby came on to a great cheer. He was excellent!!! He played stuff from all the bands he's been in which does include Guns N' Roses stuff! A few songs in he says "We've never played this song live before..." and the drummer starts the intro to Mr Brownstone!! At this point I'm going totally nuts cos that's one of my all time favourite Guns songs. So just after the intro, he stops, laughs and then starts to play Sweet Child O' Mine! It was excellent!! I never knew what a fantastic player Gilby is cos, of course, he was always overshadowed by Slash. They play Monkey Chow by Slash's Snakepit (which he wrote and played on) and then he asks if anyone here likes heavy metal. Of course, everyone screams yes and he says, "Good, cos I've got a heavy metal heart myself!" and they play Cure Me Or Kill Me which I love!!! They end with Tijuana Jail which is another cracking tune and someone keeps roaring for them to play Dead Flowers, so they willing oblige - sticking in a couple of verses of I Used To Love Her near the end!! Haha! So after the gig finishes me and Alastair go round and grab a setlist each and Fiona goes in search of a plectrum she saw on the floor (lucky git!!) and then we see the Rebels all standing around chatting to people. We go over to Jonny, rhythm guitarist, and she asks him to sign this picture from Classic Rock she brought. He seems well chuffed about this and we're chatting away to him, I shake his hand and tell him how much I enjoyed the gig and he says, "Thank you and thanks so much for rocking out!!!" I thought that was so sweet cos I wouldn't have bothered if they were shite!! Next we see the bass player, Dazzle. He is the image of Decade Of Decadence era Nikki Sixx so I HAVE to meet this guy!!!! We go over and Fiona gets her pic signed and we get a photo with him which turned out really well (it's on Fiona's camera so I can't post it). We spot Meady and go and speak to him and he signs the picture as well. Blacky is nowhere to be seen to Meady takes us backstage to try and find him - so we got backstage for about 10 seconds which was cool!! Hehe!! We still can't find him so we go to the merch booth to get a t-shirt and we we're waiting there and then all of a sudden Blacky comes out of the door. We grab him for an autograph and a chat and he was really cool!!! I said to him about booting my can of coke over and he said, "Oh my god, sorry about that, I guess I owe you 50p then.". I said it was only half full so really only 25p! He reaches into his pocket and says, "Here, take that!" and hands me 20p!!!!! Hahahaha!!! I never met the drummer, Steve, but Fiona did get him to sign her picture, so she got them all. As we're waiting at the merch booth, out comes Gilby and I'm surprisingly calm at this moment which is weird considering the incident outside the doors!!! A Richie Sambora lookalike is standing yapping to him for ages and eventually Gilby says to him, "Let's get these guys taken care of as well, ok." Alastair goes up and gets his setlist signed and a photo. I hand him a Guns era photo and he goes, "Woah, this is an old one!". He's not smiling in the photo so as he's signing it I say to him, "You need to smile more in photos cos you've got a gorgeous smile!" to which he flashes one of those million dollar smiles, says thanks and then laughs. I get a photo taken with him and he asks to see it, to see that it came out ok. It didn't (thank god for digital cameras!) so we get another pic together which is excellent!! I thought it was so sweet that he was interested in seeing the photo and making sure it was a good one!!! We exchange thank you's and I give him a hug, he hugs me back and gives me a kiss (I nearly die at this point cos I've loved this guy since he was in GNR!) but I give him a kiss back! He was the nicest guy I have ever, ever had the pleasure of meeting - famous or otherwise!!!!! Great gig, great guy, great support band - it was an all round good night and I will definately be going to see him again if he comes back to Scotland!!!
Some photos for you all!!
I met up with my friend Fiona at the bus station about 1pm on the Monday and we hung about and went shopping, for lunch etc and generallly killed time till about 5pm then we went for a drink in the Solid Rock Cafe cos we were bored with shopping. So about 6pm we head to the Cathouse and we stand outside. We're the first ones there but soon we're joined by this other guy. Fiona whispered to me (as subtle as a brick might I add!), "Jenna, that guy has a Metallica top on!!". Yes, I see that thanks Fiona, so I said to the guy "Nice top mate!" and we just start chatting to him who turned out to be called Alistair and he became our buddy for the night! So as we were chatting, people kept coming in and out of the Cathouse including the support band - Red Star Rebels. I keep looking round when the door opens just to see who's coming in and out. At one point the door opens and turn round to see Gilby and his crew walking out the door. My jaw hits the floor and I say to the guys, "OMG, that's Gilby!!!". We never said anything to him cos we were all so in shock and I had butterflies in my stomach for ages afterwards!! So finally we get in, I'm the very first person in so I make a beeline for front and centre, naturally!
Some photos for you all!!
