LAYN ROCKS presented by SLASH and Friends

Slash & Friends : LAYN Rocks Benefit Show
Date: 11/22/09
Place: The Avalon, Hollywood CA
Review by ~ Aniruddh 'Andrew' Bansal
Photos by ~ Ed Hannigan

LAYN's mission is to empower abused, neglected and
homeless adolescents to become self-sufficient.

They do this by providing street outreach, food, emergency shelter
and transitional living programs, with a professional,
caring staff in a nurturing and safe environment.

Founded in 1984, The Los Angeles Youth Network (LAYN) is a California non-profit organization whose mission is to end homelessness one kid at a time, by providing shelter, food and counseling for the abuse, neglected and abandoned. The goals for each child are to successfully complete the permanent transition away from street life to a safe and secure living environment and to fully participate in society.

Experience has shown that it may take from 3-5 years for the individual to successfully complete the transition off the street to stable and secure living environments. Thus, LAYN has implemented a 4-tier, comprehensive and coordinated system – a continuum of care – to offer chronic runaway and homeless youth a successful alternative to their present crisis. We provide a safe and therapeutic milieu through intervention and specialized support services.

FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN HELP TODAY

Show Review

This was a benefit gig for the Los Angeles Youth Network and was meant mainly to help out homeless kids. A whole bunch of musicians and celebrities turned up to support this noble cause and perform at the Avalon tonight.

The red carpet arrivals started at 6.30 PM as I stood in the press line, thrilled beyond belief at seeing so many celebrities from touching distance. I even managed to meet Ozzy and Slash and get their autographs and I can't even express how excited I was after doing just that!! The major names to walk the red carpet included Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, George Lopez, Slash and his wife Pirla, Juke Kartel, Tom Morello and Dave Navarro.

After that amazing experience, it was time to go inside the venue for the gig itself. The opening band Juke Cartel from Australia got things going at around 8.15 and warmed up the crowd pretty well with their half an hour long set. Then at 9, Pirla came out on stage to introduce the LAYN organization and tell a little bit about why this show was taking place tonight. It was nice to hear it when she said, 'None of these musicians performing tonight are even getting a penny from this. Its all going to the LAYN.' She walked away after announcing the name of the host for the night, none other than George Lopez!

George fired up the crowd quite a bit and cracked a couple of hilarious jokes. He concluded by making the most perfect statement of the night 'With all due respect to the AMA's, this is the place to be on a Sunday night.' We all went wild with anticipation when he introduced one of the most legendary guitar players Slash on to the stage!! As the title of this review suggests, he played with a lot of his friends tonight and you'll be amazed to read each of those names as I go on describing the gig from now on. Slash called on Dave Navarro to play on the other guitar, Chris Chaney on bass and Travis Barker on the drums. They kicked off the night with Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song. As Ozzy would say it, it was time to go fuckin' crazy!! They followed it up with Deep Purple's Space Truckin'. The night was about to get a whole lot better with each and every song in this breathtaking setlist!!

They continued with Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak with Tom Morello joining them on stage too. He did an awesome lead which was reminiscent of some of his work with bands like Rage Against The Machine, giving us a hip-hop rock feel to the night, for a few minutes at least. Another Zeppeling song Whole Lotta Love followed this one. During the early part of the set, it almost felt like a Led Zeppelin tribute gig! And well, no one was complaining about that, that's for sure. Slash brought out his famous double neck guitar to do a rendition of Zeppelin's Tangerine. I've been a Guns N Roses fan for quite a few years and they were one of the first rock bands I ever listened to. But I seriously never even imagined that I would see Slash perform, leave alone doing so many Led Zeppelin songs.

Andrew Stockdale joined them on stage to lay down vocals and guitar on the next song, an original song 'By The Sword' recorded for Slash's upcoming album. I liked what I heard. It was slow and heavy. Chester Bennington of Linkin Park fame was the vocalist for the next few songs, including Good Times Bad Times and Slither. I really liked his vocals on Good Times Bad Times. It suited his voice and style very well. I'm not a Linkin Park fan but I would definitely give this guy props for supporting a good cause and giving a solid performance tonight. He sung Paradise City next as they were joined by Duff McKagan and Steven Adler!

The next guest vocalist was Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction and he did three songs in this ultimate rockstar jam, including Mountain Song, Sympathy for the Devil and Jane Says. I wasn't as impressed by his performance as some of the other vocalists who had already played and who were about to play. Talking of that, the ever amazing Billy Idol hit the stage next and got the crowd really pumped up with the songs that he performed on. He did On The Street, Out To Get Me and Rebel Yell. I was singing every word for Rebel Yell and jumped so high that he even spotted me in the crowd and pointed at me!

The final part of the show was with the Ozzman himself, Ozzy Osbourne!! He graced this already blessed stage among shouts of 'Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!' and opened in his customary style 'you aren't crazy enough, I want you to go fuckin' crazy!' They proceeded to do four of the best rock songs in history, I Don't Know, Iron Man, Crazy Train and Paranoid. Needless to say, I loved every second of it, jumping and head banging till the very end. The crowd wasn't the best I've ever been a part of, in terms of participation in songs and the general energy. Most people didn't even move an inch to songs during which I can't even imagine myself standing or sitting so still. But props to them for spending their money for the homeless kids.

All in all, some of the best rock I've ever seen in my life. It was beyond exciting to see Slash do some of those Guns N Roses tunes as well as the other songs. Ozzy and Billy Idol truly 'rocked' the crowd, and so did Tom Morello, Duff, Steven Adler, Stockdale and Bennington. I hope to see 'Slash and Friends' again sometime soon as they may be decide to tour in support of the upcoming album. Three cheers to LAYN and three cheers to Slash!

Visit the LAYN website and make a difference today! http://www.layn.org

Here's the complete set list:

1. Immigrant Song
2. Space Truckin'
3. Jailbreak
4. Whole Lotta Love
5. Woman
6. Tangerine
7. By The Sword
8. Good Times Bad Times
9. Slither
10. Paradise City
11. Mountain Song
12. Sympathy For The Devil
13. Jane Says
14. On The Street
15. Out To Get Me
16. Rebel Yell
17. I Don't Know
18. Iron Man
19. Crazy Train
20. Paranoid