Guns ‘N’ Roses Hyde Park: A Day of Pure Rock ‘n’ Roll – BST Hyde Park 2023 Review
What a day! We, along with 65,000 fans, gathered in Hyde Park for a day of pure rock n roll, as part of the BST season in London. With the Great Oak Stage welcoming Larkin Poe, The Darkness, The Pretenders and of course Guns ’N’ Roses, and two other stages hosting another eight acts, including Dirty Honey, James and the Cold Gun and The Foxies, there was something for everyone.
Larkin Poe

Larkin Poe opened the day for us on the Great Oak Stage – literally a stage ‘wrapped around’ a huge oak tree! This American roots rock band out of Nashville, Tennessee really warmed the crowd up, with the warm blues tones and harmonies of sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell, along with Megan’s incredible slide guitar creating the perfect atmosphere to start the day. Coming on to Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Spoonful’, their set started strong, and included a cover of Son House’s ‘Preaching’ Blues’ as well as several original songs, and finishing with their 2022’s ‘Bolt Cutters & The Family Name’ from their album Blood Harmony.
The Darkness

The Darkness took to the Great Oak Stage next, opening their set with ‘Growing On Me’, Justin Hawkins engaged the still growing crowd with his humour and French quips. A sign in the crowd read ‘don’t a prick, throw us your pick’ to which Hawkins lifted his hand and threw his plectrum…to side of stage. This witty banter continued throughout the nine-song set, which included “Heart Explodes’, Solid Gold’ and ‘Get Your Hands off My Woman’ – complete with firebombs. The musicianship of this band is undeniable, and the crowd made sure to let them know. They even convinced them to play a snippet of ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)’. The cheers and singing in unison carried right through to the closer which, of course, was ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ – prefaced by Hawkins instructing the crowd to bounce, stating: “I don’t make the rules but those are the rules”.
The Foxies

We then made our way to the Bird Cage stage to see The Foxies bring their feral energy to Hyde Park. Singer Julia Bullock gives new meaning to word frontman (or frontwoman in this case), her undeniable energy and powerful vocals drew in passers by from every which way. By the time they hit the third song ‘I Don’t Wanna Want It’, and Julia had asked everyone to take a few steps forward towards the stage (“It makes me feel loved”), they were in full flow and had drawn a sizeable crowd. The band – also out of Nashville Tennessee – exuded confidence and the pure essence of punk in their half hour set, no doubt earning them a lot of new fans. There is a clear and strong connection between Julia, drummer Jake and guitarist Rob (who was also in charge of the synth). They also have a bassist, Chris, who joins them for live performances, and who seems as much a part of the band as the core trio. This band are going to go far if their 9-song set was anything to go by.
I was lucky enough to catch with Julia, Rob and Jake after their amazing performance and ask them a few questions. As well as being first class musicians, they are also just lovely people!

The Pretenders

Unlike Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, Rock legend Chrissie Hynde was more than happy to throw her plectrum into the crowd! The Pretenders came onto the stage, accompanied by Bizet’s ‘Habanera: L’amour set un oiseau rebelle’, to an massive roar from their devoted fans and they did not disappoint. Chrissie Hynde’s vocals don’t seemed to have changed since 1978 and she remains an exceptional performer. Starting their set with ‘Losing My Sense of Taste’, we were treated to a career-spanning set loaded with hits. ‘Kid’, ‘Talk of the Town’, ‘Back on the Chain Gang’ and ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ had the crowd in fine voice. ‘I’ll Stand By You’ was beautiful and poignant, and they closed with ‘Mystery Achievement’ from 1979’s eponymous debut.
Dirty Honey

Over on the Rainbow Stage, LA rockers Dirty Honey captivated an eager crowd, kicking off their set with ‘Can’t Find the Breaks’. Singer Marc LaBelle encouraged their fans to sing along, presenting the microphone stand to them as if he were getting ready for battle. LaBelle, John Notto on guitar and bassist Justin Smollian pranced around the stage, locked in by the driving drums of Jaydon Bean, and invoking memories of a certain other LA rock band from the 1980s! There were certainly a lot of Dirty Honey fans there to watch their heroes and they sang along to the 10 song set, that included songs taken from both their debut studio album and the earlier-released self-titled EP.
Guns N Roses

What can we say about Guns N Roses? The headliner everyone in Hyde Park was waiting for were coming off the back off some pretty damning Glastonbury reviews and had something to prove.
And prove their worth they did!
A sea of G ’N’ R t-shirts, top hats and ginger wigs were huddled together, eagerly awaiting these legends to take to the stage.
An epic, london-themed graphic animation flitted across the giant screens and had the entire crowd watching in silence before Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagen, Frank Ferrer, Richard Fortus, Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese took to the stage and opened an epic three hour set with ‘It’s So Easy’ from 1987’s ‘Appetite For Destruction’. Axl was in fine voice, shimmying around the stage like a man half his age. Even a little trip didn’t deter his energy. Slash – every inch the guitar hero, complete with obligatory top hat and shades, showed us exactly why he’s so revered among guitar players. His riffs and solos were technically brilliant, but carried a warmth that came from the heart – and the blues. Duff – by far the coolest of the lot – stood still, legs apart, bass hung low and just oozed rock ’n’ roll. Rhythm guitarist Richard Fortis gave Slash a run for his money when he was let loose to solo – wielding his battered Gretsch Falcon like a weapon. The other original member – Dizzy Reed – provided texture with his keys, and shone on their version of ‘Live and Let Die’, one of several covers in the set: the other’s being ‘Slither’ (Velvet Revolver), ‘Down on the Farm’ (UK Subs – and another nod to being in the UK), ‘TV Eye’ (The Stooges – and which also saw Duff take the vocal duties), and of course Dylan’s ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’.
The rest of the mammoth set was just hit after hit after hit. We got pretty much all of ‘Appetite for Destruction’, a decent slice of ‘Use Your Illusion I and II’ and just the title track from ‘Chinese Democracy’.
Nobody was going to leave until the end, the huge crowd wanting to squeeze every drop from this incredible performance. The finale of ‘Nightrain’, ‘Don’t Cry’ and closer ‘Paradise City’ sent them off into the night happy and having witnessed something pretty special.
It even rained during ‘November Rain’.
How perfect was that?
GNR SET LIST
Setlist:
It’s So Easy
Bad Obsession
Chinese Democracy
Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
Mr. Brownstone
Welcome to the Jungle (Link Wray’s “Rumble” intro)
Reckless Life
Double Talkin’ Jive
Pretty Tied Up
Hard Skool
Absurd
Estranged
Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
Rocket Queen
Down on the Farm (UK Subs cover)
You Could Be Mine
T.V. Eye (The Stooges cover) (Duff on lead vocals)
Anything Goes
Civil War (Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” outro)
Slash Guitar Solo
Sweet Child o’ Mine
November Rain
Patience
Coma
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
Nightrain
Don’t Cry
Paradise City

Guns ‘N’ Roses Hyde Park: A Day of Pure Rock ‘n’ Roll – BST Hyde Park 2023 Review @ RockNews
Photos by Polly Swann and Guilherme Nunes Cunha Neto / @guilhermeneto
You can check out even more from Guns N’ Roses here.
https://www.gunsnroses.com
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