POP MUSIC REVIEW : For Guns . . . No Night of Dreams

The “Axl watch” began in the audience even before the first band took the stage Sunday evening for the marathon Guns N’ Roses/Metallica concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“I’m betting that we don’t see his ass until midnight,” a Long Beach teen-ager said to his buddy as they checked out the T-shirts at a souvenir stand shortly before the show began at 6 p.m.

“Naw,” the friend wisecracked. “I betcha he’s mad because they didn’t let Ice-T play. He might not show up until dawn. “

As it turned out, Guns N’ Roses’ singer Axl Rose--whose reputation for late starts is based more on a few highly publicized incidents than on the facts--raced on stage, literally, at a surprisingly early 10:50 p.m.

And the rest of Guns N’ Roses, which is arguably the closest thing America has ever had to the combination of hard-rock songwriting accessibility and renegade independence of the Rolling Stones, appeared ready for an impassioned homecoming show before a crowd estimated at 35,000.

Opening with “Welcome to the Jungle,” the L.A. group’s late-’80s reflection on Hollywood decadence, the musicians moved about with a confidence that suggested this was to be one of the band’s great nights.

But it wasn’t to be. Guns and Metallica both turned in creditable sets, but fell victim in the end to a surprisingly subdued audience.

More than almost any other group, Guns N’ Roses seems to rise and fall on the mood of a single member.

If Rose is indifferent, the band can be indifferent. But if he’s into the show, the performance can be magical. On Sunday, he seemed eager--and it’s easy to see why.

When Guns N’ Roses last played the Coliseum in 1989, it was as support band for the Rolling Stones--and there was so much tension in the band that it almost self-destructed.

In a dramatic moment of confrontation that night, Rose said he was tired of people in the group “dancing with ‘Mr. Brownstone,’ ” a reference to a GNR song about drug dealers. The implication was that if it didn’t stop, he was through.

So, there was a sense of both triumph and survival as Guns returned to the Coliseum on Sunday with the seven-hour package.

When Guns followed “Welcome to the Jungle” with “Mr. Brownstone,” it seemed to be pointing to that earlier Coliseum stand.

While the audience responded enthusiastically at the start of the show, it was soon clear that the energy level was not keeping pace with the band’s--and audience energy is an essential element in hard rock, especially in a large setting.

When things didn’t improve, Rose literally called “timeout” on stage, then proceeded to declare that “a large number of you seem to be the most boring . . . crowd that we’ve played for so far on the face of the . . . Earth.”

It wasn’t so much one of Axl’s infamous tirades as a frustrated musician trying to speak frankly with his audience.

“Now, we can work together here,” he continued in even tones. “And we can continue to stay up here and try to kick some ass.

“But,” now speaking sarcastically, “if you’re t-i-r-e-d and it’s been a long night and tomorrow is going to be a hard day and you’re not really into it . . . well, we don’t have to be either. . . . ‘cause I’m gonna give what I receive.”

The audience responded with an enormous roar, but not the kind of emotional commitment that contributes to a memorable concert.

Rose wasn’t the first one Sunday to recognize the audience lethargy. Lemmy, the delightfully colorful lead singer of Motorhead, the day’s opening act, grumbled about it, as did Metallica’s James Hetfield.

Because Metallica’s fans are among the most zealous in rock, the relatively subdued reaction seemed to especially distract Hetfield, who is a more aggressive frontman on this leg of the tour because a hand injury forced him to turn over his guitar duties to Metal Church’s John Marshall.

The shift of duties has enabled Hetfield to show more character as a singer, but the adjustment cost the band some of the instrumental fury and unity that is the source of much of its power.

So why the laid-back crowd?

Much of the speculation backstage centered on the crowd’s feeling lost in a stadium so large it easily could have accommodated 70,000 people--an answer that led to another question. Why such a small crowd for a concert featuring two of the most popular and acclaimed bands in hard rock?

The guessing this time ranged from the economic hard times to the reluctance of some rock fans to attend a late-night event at the Coliseum in the aftermath of the L.A. riots.

Whatever the reason, it’s too bad, because Guns was electrifying in spots, though its set--mostly a “greatest hits” show that ended around 1 a.m.--would have benefited from a few surprise selections.

Hard rock’s “dream team” bill of Guns N’ Roses and Metallica tries it again Wednesday at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium (where Ice-T, the controversial rapper who was “vetoed” by the promoter from Sunday’s show, will replace Motorhead) and Saturday at the Rose Bowl. More than 50,000 fans are expected at both shows.