POP MUSIC REVIEW : Guns N’ Roses: The Shape of Things to Come

The silliest line in the endless series of Jim Morrison articles triggered by Oliver Stone’s recent Doors movie may have been the suggestion that the parallel to Morrison in today’s rock world is INXS’ Michael Hutchence.

So what if Hutchence also wears black a lot and pouts for the camera? There’s no hint of mystery, danger or tortured artistry about the Australian singer.

The contemporary rocker whose music does reflect those qualities is Axl Rose--a young man with a raw, unpredictable edge that helps fuse Guns N’ Roses’ records and concerts with such electricity.

And it was the chance to tap into that current that lured a full house to the Pantages Theatre on Saturday.

Like a similar show Thursday night in San Francisco, the concert was a warm-up for a Guns N’ Roses world tour that begins May 24 in East Troy, Wis., and will include a July 29 date at the Forum in Inglewood. Tickets for the Forum show go on sale Saturday.

Aside from the rare chance to see the hard-rock quintet in an intimate, 2,700-seat setting, the Pantages event also offered the first chance to sample more than half a dozen songs from the group’s long-awaited new albums. In an unprecedented move, the band is releasing two albums simultaneously this summer.

Not surprisingly, the concert had the informal, stop-start feel of an open rehearsal during the opening hour as the band members--including new drummer Matt Sorum--got the feel of working together again on stage after a long layoff from touring. In what might have been a rock first, a TelePrompTer-type device was available so Rose could refer to lyrics if needed during some of the new songs.

But about half way into the two-hour-plus set, things started coming together and Guns N’ Roses showed why it is not only the biggest selling hard-rock band to come from Los Angeles since Van Halen, but also perhaps the most compelling hard-rock big seller since the Doors.

It’s no accident that the group’s 1987 debut album, “Appetite for Destruction,” sold 12 million copies. Rose and the band frequently explore the same dark themes of Morrison, including fast-lane excesses and consequences. In the “Welcome to the Jungle” single, Rose warns, “You can taste the bright lights / But you won’t get them for free.”

Yet the songs, stripped of the sometimes poetic or philosophical trimmings of the Doors, have more of a consistently accessible edge--able to reach a wide cross-section of the pop market without sacrificing a convincing street edge. Rose is also a more consistent, engaging performer than the often moody, retreating Morrison.

The question hanging over the band for almost three years now wasn’t just whether it could come up with enough good material to keep the momentum going, but also whether the members could survive the widely reported personal tensions in the band.

Saturday’s show offered an answer to the first of these questions quickly. The band members--also including lead guitarist Slash, guitarist Izzy Stradlin and bassist Duff McKagan--appeared enthusiastic and relaxed, neither compelled to do something outrageous to reassert the group’s long-standing “bad boy” image nor wrap every song with overly dramatic emotion to give the show a false sense of occasion. For a group that has seen as much written about its image as its music, Guns N’ Roses was refreshingly down to earth.

All this pointed to confidence in the new material--and the confidence was justified. Instead of “Welcome to the Jungle II” or “Patience III,” Guns N’ Roses--at least in this sample--has mixed its aggressive and melancholy musical instincts in fresh ways.

The group’s songs from the new albums ranged from the rowdiness of “Bad Apple” and the snarl of “Bad Obsession” to the disarming “Don’t Cry,” which will be the first single from the new albums and served as an especially evocative encore number, sung with uncommon conviction by Rose.

The band also did some of the familiar numbers--including “Rocket Queen,” and “Sweet Child O’ Mind.” But it was the new songs that seemed to matter most to the band and those songs suggested Guns N’ Roses is for real.

To keep the $20 tickets out of the hands of brokers, who often sell tickets at five to 10 times face value, fans--who began lining up shortly after the show was announced at noon on radio--had to show photo IDs to buy vouchers. At show time, they were given two tickets after displaying the vouchers and photo ID. They then had to go directly into the theater, apparently eliminating the tickets getting to brokers.