THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, April 11, 1995                TAG: 9504110058
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   43 lines

SLASH HASN'T CUT LOOSE FROM HIS GNR ROOTS

A FEW HUNDRED OF the faithful showed up Sunday night at Norfolk's Boathouse for a show by Slash's Snakepit, a side project led by the Guns N' Roses guitarist. Though sparsely attended, the gig did seem to whet the crowd members' appetites for GNR-style rock.

Very GNR-style. Singer Eric Dover spent the evening doing his best Axl Rose screech on songs - mostly from the Snakepit album ``It's Five O'Clock Somewhere'' - that frequently climaxed in pounding crescendos reminiscent of ``Sweet Child o' Mine'' and ``Welcome to the Jungle.'' Dover showed off a technically precise voice and a brattish self-regard but little of the rage Rose communicates so well.

And Slash was Slash. While often hiding behind a curtain, a waterfall, a veritable forest of hair, he still took his Les Paul into the front row's faces. He also initiated the kind of audience contact you just can't get in a stadium by bumming a cigarette from a fan. Comically, it bounced off his trademark top hat.

Slash reminded the room of his role in the creation of much of GNR's material with the intro to one tune, ``Neither Can I,'' which began with some of his archetypal lyrical ballad playing before giving way to a familiar spaghetti-Western-meets-the-blues stomp.

Second guitarist Gilby Clarke, formerly of Guns N' Roses, offered ``Cure Me anything representing the slightest variation in the formula - like another singer - was welcome.

Longtime Seattle grunge favorites Tad, promoting their new ``Infrared Ridinghood,'' opened with a short, tardy but effective set. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Slash and his Snakepit showed a style similar to his other group,

Guns N' Roses.

by CNB