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When asked to name the greatest guitarists of our time, few people can deliver such a list without mentioning the man who goes simply by one name – Slash.  Not only is he a rock icon in his own right, but he was a member of one of the greatest bands to ever hit the stage, which is of course, Guns N’ Roses.

While the chances that the original GN’R lineup will ever share the stage again is slim to none, fans still have the good fortune of being able to go out and witness Slash’s instrumental genius.  Playing a good balance of his new material, as well as some good old favorites, Slash delivers a show that will leave everyone satisfied and amazed.  On a Saturday night in the Long Island, NY town of Huntington, Slash did just that.

Driving down the street towards the semi-new venue, The Paramount, fans lined the streets in their Guns N’ Roses t-shirts, ready to rock out.  Jimmy Webb, manager of the famous NYC punk rock boutique, Trash and Vaudeville, stands on the corner in his yellow and black zebra skinny jeans, smoking a cigarette.  It’s in the air – this is going to be a good night.

The lights go down promptly at 9 p.m. and the crowd is screaming with excitement and anticipation.  Onto the stage comes Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, opening the show with Halo off the new album, Apocalyptic Love.  The energy in the venue is electric as the show gets underway.  Up next is the GN’R tune, Nightrain.  Needless to say, if the crowd wasn’t already excited enough at this point, they were jumping out of their seats now and the show has only just begun.

Slash goes on to shred song after song, each time equally as awe-inspiring.  As expected, they play a decent amount of tracks from the new album, like Standing In The Sun, Not For Me, Shots Fired, Anastasia, and the lead single, You’re A Lie.  There are also a few from Slash’s previous self-titled album, like Ghost and Starlight.  However, strewn throughout the set are some special surprises, some completely unanticipated.  About five songs in, they play the Slash’s Snakepit song, Beggars & Hangers-On, which is a great tune and reminder of some of Slash’s earlier solo work.

Mid-show, they pull a few more GN’R songs out of the hat like My Michelle and Rocket Queen. Bassist Todd Kerns then lends his vocals to Doctor Alibi from the Slash album, as well as You’re Crazy which is yet another GN’R classic.  At this point, it becomes obvious that there’s a hidden star of the show – Kerns’ voice.

Kerns has been in the music scene for quite some, though many may not have heard of him.  He hails from Canada and first achieved success there, reaching gold status with his band, The Age of Electric.  He has performed with a long list of major artists since then, been in several other bands, as well as released a solo album back in 2004.  He is most recently known for being the lead vocalist in the band, Sin City Sinners, alongside Brent Muscat of Faster Pussycat.  This guy is a phenomenal vocalist and musician that everyone needs to know about.

The show starts to wind down with Sweet Child O’ Mine, as Kennedy holds the microphone out to the crowd for all to sing.  After the Velvet Revolver song, Slither, the band calls it a night and thanks the crowd before walking off stage, but everyone knows it’s not quite over.  After a few of minutes of cheering and chanting, the band comes back out for a two song encore, the first of which is another Velvet Revolver song, Fall to Pieces.  The second is, of course, Paradise City which no Slash show would be complete without.  The band comes together, arms around each other in front of the drums, and takes a well-deserved bow.Moving on… alongside an endless array of impressive guitar solos –just about one in every song – Slash also delivers an outstanding stand-alone blues solo, followed by none other than the Godfather Theme.  This is a big part of what most people came to see, which is Slash alone with his guitar, center stage, doing what he does best.

Not to go unmentioned are the vocals of Kennedy which are ever unflawed and amazing.  The range of his voice is astounding and he doesn’t miss a note.  Every now and then, you catch him glance over at Slash and see a smile spread across his face.  You can tell he’s having the time of his life, working alongside a guitar legend.

The entire band as a whole never failed to impress.  This is an extremely talented group of musicians, as one would expect from a band put together by Slash.  It’s clear that they love what they do and their energy is infectious.  They brought the crowd along for the ride for a full 2 hour set, leaving everyone with the feeling that they just witnessed something special… and they did.

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