1987.09.06 - Tucson Garden, Tucson, AR, USA

Guns ’n’ Roses to rock Tucson Garden

By Gene Armstrong
The Arizona Daily Star

Forgotten what rowdy, raunchy, irresponsible rock ’n’ roll is like, have you? It’s OK; happens to the best of us.

Never fear, friends, because Guns ’n’ Roses, a naughty rock quintet from Los Angeles, is coming to rescue Tucson from the end-of-summer doldrums with a gig Sunday at Tucson Garden. Naked Prey, possibly Tucson’s toughest rock band, also will appear. A band called Two Cities will open the show.

No matter how you feel about Guns ’n’ Roses, these five grimy, longhaired fellows will never bore you. A lot of folks hate them; I happen to love ’em.

The members of the band are known for fightin’ and cussin’ and foolin’ around and drinkin’ a lot. They’ve released two versions of their debut album on Geffen Records, “Appetite for Destruction,” with different covers. The first one depicts a woman in ripped clothes about to be raped by a mechanical monster that is supposed to represent industrialized society. That cover shocked a lot of people, so a tamer version was released.

The record is available in Tucson with either cover, although the explicit one may be difficult to find. And if the truth be known, the stuff I’ve heard from it is not bad. The group also has released a live, independent tape that is a killer.

Guns ’n’ Roses sounds like a cross between vintage Aerosmith, middle-period Led Zeppelin, and a filled paddy wagon crashing into a Hollywood beer joint. Sure, this band is the latest chunk of industry hype, but it’s worth a listen.

Concert is a shot of the 70s

REVIEW
Guns n’ Roses in concert Sunday night at Tucson Garden, with The Host and 2 Cities.

By M. Scot Skinner
The Arizona Daily Star

Like the rest of so-called pop culture these days, rock ’n’ roll is a continual guessing game: Which decade are we in tonight, honey? And why?

Yes, the ’90s are right around the corner, but in the music world so are the ’50s, ’60s and 70s. We were whipped back in time again Sunday night, when Guns n’ Roses came to the Tucson Garden and brought the letter and spirit of mid-70s rock with them.

Guns n’ Roses is a new screaming guitar band from Los Angeles that prides itself on its hypermasculine rebellious attitude. The band showed up way late on Sunday, bad-mouthed cops (always a good way to score points with a young crowd) and complained that they couldn’t drink alcohol on stage. Oh, and they cussed a lot too.

Guns n’ Roses has grand Aerosmith delusions, a fact that makes for better music than you might imagine. The raunchy band is wild and relentless and, believe it or not, more than a little enjoyable.

At his best, lead singer W. Axl Rose has a voice like a power drill in a concrete wall. He can outscreech Steven Tyler on occasion, and he still manages the odd rock ballad with decent-sounding dramatic flair. He shared the stage with Slash (guitar), Duff (bass), Izzy (guitar) and Steven (drums).

The glamorous bad boys waltzed onto the Tucson Garden stage at 11:55 p.m., and waltzed off less than an hour later. They opened with “It’s So Easy,” from their hard-living debut album on Geffen Records, “Appetite for Destruction,” and closed with “Mama Kin.”

in between somewhere was a knockabout cover of Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door,” dedicated to a friend who overdosed last month, and “Paradise City,” the most winning slice of craziness on the new album.

The gleeful retro-rock madness was preceded by a local rock band, The Host, and the terrible 2 Cities, from Phoenix and 2 awful 4 words.