Handlebar and all, Axl Rose preaches the rock gospel. (Paul Bruinooge/ PatrickMcMullan)

In celebration of the long desired end of Fashion Week, DeLeon Tequila and Nur Khan hosted what would be the last of their fabled Electric Sessions last night at the Hiro Ballroom (which, for the record, is still open) with Guns n’ Roses.

The Observer plays the waiting game.

• Doors at 9 p.m., we pop in around 10:30 hoping to dodge most of the wait for what was rumored to be an 11 p.m. start time. Seems like a decent idea, right?
• 11:15 hits and we bump into a few friends who had just left the temporary palatial penthouse home of Axl Rose at The SoHo Grand Hotel: “Yeah man, we were just over there and literally 10 minutes ago they ordered a ton of room service.” This did not bode well for a packed house hungry for high school rock.
• We spot a glowing Sienna Miller holding court with boyfriend and baby daddy Tom Sturridge, and can’t help but think that dude should lock it down.
• Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis host an impeccably attractive table in the slightly grungy Hiro.
• Even Jared Leto seemed a bit confused as to where the rock band was hiding.
• Checking in with Tyler Winklevoss. We both immediately realize how bratty we feel when we grumble about waiting around for a free GnR show.
• Wanting to get the real school, we shoot Nur a text, who is quick to inform The Observer that Axl is in fact slated to go on at 12:15, and relief washes over us like an awesome wave.

Damon and a homeless dude people were freaking out about. (Paul Bruinooge/ PatrickMcMullan)

A bit more mulling about, and we see Nur take the stage.

• “Yo, shit, that’s Nur dude! They’re totally about to come on!” remarks a hyper observant party-goer.
• In the corner of our eye we spot Justin Timberlake and Matt Damon stopping to strike a pose in front of the camera. Both card-carrying members of the way-more-famous-than-you club.
• Ok, wait. Something’s happening – the lights are dimming, cigarettes ritualistically lighting up, the slow rolling “unnnghhhhhhhhhh” of a bass guitar being flicked on.
• There he is. Axl Rose himself. Handlebar moustache in full effect: “How are you tonight, fucktards!?!” he asks politely before launching into his first song, ‘You’re Crazy.’
• We notice a tweet from a colleague a few hordes of people away: “Holy shit, Axl Rose still has it.” And he did, in fact, still have it.
• Warm up out of the way, Axl takes the microphone to his lips, stares deep into each and everyone’s soul, and posits the question: “Do you know where you are?” We were in the jungle, baby.

- "The album credits list 14 studios," Jon Pareles, The New York Times, November 20, 2008.

- "Chinese Democracy's album credits reflect the epic slog that brought it into existence, listing 14 recording studios, five guitarists, and multiple 'digital editors'," Jody Rosen Slate, November 21, 2008.

- "Le livret de Chinese Democracy va le confirmer, le chanteur a travaillé dans 14 studios d'enregistrement avant de mettre la touche finale au disque. Une quinzaine de musiciens - dont Buckethead - et de techniciens y ont travaillé," Marc André Joanisse, Le Droit, November 21, 2008.

- "Now, with 14 studios and dozens of hired hands listed in the credits — none of whom, save Rose, were members of the group that released the phenomenal, 28-million-selling "Appetite for Destruction" in 1987 -- "Chinese Democracy" is finally here," Jim DeRogatis, The Chicago Sun-Times, November 23, 2008.

- "13 Millionen Dollar hat er sich die Aufnahmen für die 14 Songs kosten lassen, heißt es, 14 Studios haben ihn dabei beherbergt," Thomas Kramar, Die Presse, November 23, 2008.

- "The biggest shocker is that Chinese Democracy (* * * out of four) is here at all after 15 years, 14 studios and an estimated $13 million," Edna Gundersen, USA Today, November 23, 2008.

- "It sounds thin, a problem that contrasts with the Chinese Democracy back story – more than a decade in the making, recorded in 14 studios and costing in the millions," Mario Tarradell, The Dallas Morning News, November 24, 2008.

- "Recording for their latest album began in the early 1990s and it took 14 studios and an estimated $13 million to make the album what it is today," All Headline News, November 24, 2008.

- "Singer and songwriter Axl Rose, the band's sole remaining original member, and a cast of characters so voluminous it takes five pages in the CD's liner notes to credit, spent 14 years recording Chinese Democracy in 14 studios from Los Angeles to London," Howard Cohen, The Miami Herald, November 24, 2008.

- "I would love to imagine a solid lineup for Guns N’ Roses, this album credited 14 studios, spanned 15 years and still has remnants of ex-drummers and guitarist 'Buckethead'," Jason Smathers, The Badger Herald, November 24, 2008.

In related news, many of you may recall Chuck Klosterman’s “review” of Chinese Democracy two years ago—an April Fool’s Joke, and a good one at that. Well, yesterday, the AV Club published Klosterman’s real review, and it seems the guy likes the album even better the second time around. Klosterman is “impressed by how close Chinese Democracy comes to fulfilling the absurdly impossible expectation it self-generated.” Chuck even wishes Axl had indulged in a triple album (a possibility we’re sure the singer spent at least a couple years considering). Still, he (unlike many fans) is glad Slash never showed up. “What's cool about Chinese Democracy is that it truly does sound like a new enterprise…” It also sounds like the last “Old Media album.” Chinese Democracy is “the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file.”

Well, according to Fricke, it is all of those things and more… and yet the disc rocks. As The Frickster says, paraphrasing Axl’s approach, “Restraint is for suckers.” “Most of these songs also go through multiple U-turns in personality,” Fricke goes on. “As if Rose kept trying new approaches to a hook or a bridge and then decided, ‘What the hell, they're all cool.’” And yet, “If this is the Guns n' Roses that Rose kept hearing in his head all this time, it is obvious why two guitars, bass and drums were never going to be enough.” A single listen to the officially released title track, would seem to confirm Fricke’s diagnosis. Though we’re not so sure all that bombast makes for all that great a listen. I suppose we’ll have to wait till the 23rd...

In other GNR news, our old friend Kevin “Skwerl” Cogill—the 27-year-old who leaked nine-tracks from Chinese Democracy on his blog, Antiquiet, last June—has pleaded guilty to one count of copyright infringement, according to rolling stone.com. This reverses Cogill’s not-guilty plea from last month. At the time, the blogger faced three years in prison, and five if it had been proven that Cogill leaked the tracks for commercial gain. Instead, with the charges reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, the guy may only face a maximum of 12 months in prison, this on top of the six he’s already served. Back in June, before Cogill arrived in jail, he told rollingstone.com that, “if legal proceedings come my way, I’ll face them 100 percent. I’m not afraid of that. I did what I did, and I’ll face the music if I have to.” Guess a few months in jail will change anyone’s tune.

And there’s no word yet whether Cogill will be forced to reveal the source of the leak—info the FBI claimed was the real motive for their harassment of the blogger in the first place.

But what about Dr. Pepper? Aren’t we all due a free can of soda? “We're waiting to hear about Chinese Democracy just like all the other GNR fans," Dr. Pepper VP Tony Jacobs assures Billboard. "But if the rumors are true, we're putting the Dr. Pepper on ice."

Of course, should the world as we know it come crumbling down and Chinese Democracy does, in fact, see the light of day in November, Dr. Pepper would be forced to make good on their promise and hand out a can of soda to every boy and girl in the nation. That’s a lot of pop.

And speaking of fizzy beverages, the Flaming Lips are getting set to release another long-delayed, eagerly-anticipated project—their "fantastical and disturbing humanistic freakout,” Christmas on Mars. The sci-fi film, whose trailer can be viewed here, involves a predictable cast of characters: oxygen generators, gravity control pods, alien super-beings, and, of course, Christmas babies. The madness was conceived around the turn of the century, wrapped in 2005, and has been making the festival rounds throughout 2008. It finally comes out on DVD on November 11 along with a CD of the film’s soundtrack featuring lovable song-titles such as, “In Excelsior Vaginalistic,” “Space Bible With Volume Lumps,” and our personal favorite, “The Gleaming Armament of Marching Genitalia.” Radical. Manhattan's KGB Complex is screening the movie through the end of the month. Strap on your jet-packs, kids.

You know what Thanksgiving means for record companies? It’s almost Christmas. And these days, that means Gift Packs! You basically already know these as box sets, but that name has fallen out of favor and so it will soon fall out of favor with you, too! The box set, with its relatively high ticket price and its focus on the packaging of compact discs, is a format for affluent thirtysomethings and so today's Gift Pack! releases are age appropriate: The Beach Boys, Pat Benatar, Blondie, Blur, The Chemical Brothers, Coldplay, Crowded House, Grand Funk Railroad, Massive Attack, Poison. Nothing says Christmas quite like an egg-nog fueled sing-along of “Talk Dirty to Me.” Who needs Perry Como?

Speaking of hair metal, Sebastian Bach, the former lead singer of Skid Row with the long, shiny, golden hair, is back with his first studio album in eight years. Judging by the single, “(Love Is a) Bitchslap,” he’s still got it. Eew. Bonus: Axl Rose makes an appearance. “He sings on [“Bitchslap”], yes, and it's unbelievable—his voice is like a razor; it just really cuts,” Mr. Bach told Blabbermouth.net. The interviewer than noted that Mr. Bach’s fingers were crossed. I kid!

Amy Winehouse’s Frank will finally be available in the States. Before you run out and buy this one, remember this was the album that had people comparing her to Macy Gray, not Sharon Jones. (And while Ms. Winehouse has borrowed the Dap Kings, everyone knows who owns them.)

Notable mentions: U2’s Joshua Tree: Deluxe Edition (almost sounds like a Gift Pack for the "young-at-heart") and the Nine Inch Nails remix album, Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, which features contributions from Sam Fogarino of Interpol, The Knife’s Olaf Dreijer, and New Order’s Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert—otherwise known as people from bands that one can still tolerate, if only barely.