Slash Kicks Off Conspirators Tour at the Whisky A Go Go

After two years on the road with Guns N’ Roses, a tour Slash says was never planned, the guitarist’s attention is firmly, for the moment, back on his band of the last eight years, Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators. The group has a new album, “Living The Dream,” due out on September 21 and kicked off a tour on Thursday night at Los Angeles’ famed Whisky A Go Go before a packed-to-capacity crowd.

Seeing as Slash has been performing in stadiums in recent years, playing the small yet iconic Sunset Strip club served as a powerful reminder of his status as one of the last true rock guitar gods. In one respect, he kept that mystique firmly in place, wearing his trademark top-hat and sunglasses throughout the two-hour set and staying focused solely on his impressive fret work.

After eight years together Slash and Kennedy clearly have a musical bond and Slash, showing no rock star ego, let Kennedy and the band shine, with the singer also serving as a talkative MC. He dedicated “Doctor Alibi” to the late Lemmy Kilmister, who toiled many a night up the street at the Rainbow Bar and Grill. “The ghost that haunts Hollywood,” said Kennedy before introducing “Mind Your Manners.”

All told, the band played five new tracks — the aforementioned “Mind Your Manners,” “The Call Of The Wild,” “Driving Rain,” “My Antidote” and “Serve You Right” — focusing on the fastest, harder-edged tracks from the Conspirators’ catalog.

The rest of the set included material from his Slash’s first solo album anas well as the Conspirators’ World On Fire.” The night’s one GNR track, “Rocket Queen,” electrifed the venue as Kennedy more than held on his own on the higher octaves.

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