16. JANUARY-JULY 1993: THE SKIN N' BONES TOUR; END OF AN ERA

The tour kept on rolling.





The next shows would be on January 12, 14 and 15 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. At the last show in Japan the band was joined onstage by Ronnie Wood for 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusions Tour Diary, unknown author and date].







The band then turned towards Australia. A description of the stage would be presented in Guns N' Roses Tour Special:



For the Australian shows Tattoo Rose would be the opener, and Peter Wells, the guitarist of Rose Tattoo, would look back at the shows in 2000:



Wells would also talk about GN'R members coming at their shows when they toured in USA:



The first show in Australia was at The Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney on January 30. As the name implies, this was a racetrack and it was expected that 70,000 to 80,000 would attend the show [The Sydney Morning Herald, January 29 and 30, 1993] and according to GN'R tour publicist Wendy Leister, it would be the largest concert in Australia [Australian Channel 5, January 30, 1993].





While in Australia, the band would go on a tour of the Great Barrier Reef [The Age, January 29, 1993] and before the first show Dizzy and Gilby would meet with five seriously ill children [The Sydney Morning Herald, February 8, 1993].

In 2011, Matt would tell a story from their stay in Australia (Matt got the year wrong):



The next show took place in Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne on February 1, with possibly an even larger crowd [Australian TV; February 1, 1993]. Due to heavy rain and urine the gig area became a "smelly swamp" and because of the conditions the show would later be referred to as the "worst concert ever staged in Australia" [9 News, September 7, 2016], which would later lead to an official inquiry [The Age, February 4, 1993].







Del James would mention their partying while in Australia:



After Melbourne the band continued to New Zealand for a February 6 show at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland.

Apparently, the plane flew into bad weather on the way to New Zealand:



The show in New Zealand was on Axl's birthday and the "crew arrived on stage with a cake and everyone in the audience sang to him" [Stuff, August 26, 2016]. Apparently, this show was not very good, with Steve Braunias from RAW writing:

_____________________________

In February, 1993, as the band was touring Australia, Slash would talk about staying at different hotels than Skid Row to avoid partying too hard:



After the tour was over, Slash was still not doing heroin but he was only "clean for the most part":



In March 1994, Slash would talk about drinking and mention that his wife, Renee, would occasionally complain about his drinking [Kerrang! March 12, 1994].

When asked if he still did drugs, he would answer:



But although he had stopped doing the drugs he did before, he was still doing the drinks he did before, and then some:



Looking back at the drinking at the time:





In 2002 Axl would suggest that one of the reasons Slash had been intoxicated at shows were to deal with the stress of large shows:

In January 1993, the band would release a VHS video single for Garden of Eden directed by Andy Morahan, called Garden of Eden: Strictly Limited Edition. The tape would include Garden of Eden, Dead Horse and Yesterdays (live from Las Vegas, USA; January 25, 1992).









The band had released a promotional single of Garden of Eden earlier.

__________________________________________



A lot of that tension came from Axl's unpredictable behavior which meant that his band mates never knew what was going to happen and whether a show would go smoothly or turn into a riot:




Matt would recount a story where he and Duff would brawl over who should not have to wake Axl up, probably because of fearing his mood:



When the journalist asked if they feared his mood:



Christopher Thorn, guitar player in Blind Melon, would mention how people around Axl were tip-toeing in his presence



The one that struggled the most with Axl's behavior seemed to have been Axl himself. It was obvious he was uncomfortable with some aspects of the touring [also see previous chapter about Axl and stage anxiety]:



And that it affected those around him. When asked what he would like to be better at:



One way for the band to deal with the messy situation was to downplay its severity, at least to the press. Like when Slash dismissed a question about why the band so frequently stopped shows [Countdown, May 1992].

For quite a while, the band's approach to Axl had been to leave him alone rather than confront him. As one band member, who probably asked to be anonymous, was quoted as saying to VOX journalist Nick Kent:

"Nowadays we just let Axl do pretty much what he feels, 'cos he'll only do it anyway" [VOX, October 1991].

Kent would also write that Axl had insisted on the 'Use Your Illusion' albums being so long, had insisted that Skid Row should open on their tour (despite band members despising them), calling for the resignation of Alan Niven, and what music would be played over the PA before the shows [VOX, October 1991]. Though it must be said that Kent was fed information from Izzy at a time when the relationship between Axl and Izzy was strained. For instance does the accusation that the band didn't like Skid Row implausible. Many articles would also imply that the label was afraid of Axl and his temper and behavior and would rather accommodate him than put the foot down. Simply put, "Axl runs the group" [VOX, October 1991]. For more information on how Axl came into a position where he could make decisions on his own, see previous chapters.



In July 1991, Matt, who was nicknamed "the Mediator" in the media [The Indianapolis Star, July 21, 1992], would praise Axl's stubborness:



Yet despite this, Matt had confronted Axl in the dressing room at the start of the tour, being unhappy with his behaviour [Malcolm Dome, July 9, 1991]:



And then in August 1991, Matt would be the one who attempted to confront Axl when he refused to return to stage at the Maimarkthalle in Mannheim:




And in late August, as the band visited England for their August 31 show at Wembley, it was rumored that unless Axl "continued to be difficult to work with", Matt would quit the band [Music Life, November 17, 1991]. See previous chapter on this.

Matt would later look back at this period:



Matt would also claim the other band members pussied out when it came to talking to Axl:





Izzy would claim that while he was in the band he was balancing factor between Axl and the rest of the band:



Izzy was also likely the band member who had the most problems with Axl's behavior and would on a couple of occasions talk about trying to get his band mates to do something about it:





In early 1992, it was Slash who would describe himself getting labelled a mediator in the band due to his closeness with Axl:



Later Slash would say he coped with Axl through his band mates:












Gilby would also explicitly say that it was Axl's band and that there was nothing he could do about Axl being late for concert starts or changing his behavior:





Gilby would also say he had no idea why Axl had been late:



And when asked why they didn't simply knock on his door:



As for what the band do when waiting for Axl:



In June 1993 Slash would be confronted with an interviewer who remarked that the live shows are better when Axl are in a good mood, to which Slash would say their strategy was just to not try to piss him off even more:



When asked if paying customers doesn't deserve that one at least tries to pretend to be happy:



In late 1993 Duff would claim the press exaggerated Axl:

In addition to having scaled back to a six-piece band again (dropping Ted Andreadis, the horn players and the backup singers), Axl would also drop the many costume changes that he had been doing for the shows the previous year.





The concerts would feature an acoustic set where the band played selected songs off a couch brought onto the stage. They would also be served beer by topless dancers and a pizza from a guy dressed in a Domino Pizza's uniform [Star Phoenix, March 29, 1993].



For the first dates of the Skin N' Bones tour the band had invited their good friend Brian May and his 'Brian May Band' to be the opener.



Talking about how it happened:



After the touring with Guns N' Roses, May would only have positive things to say about the band and how they had treated him and his band:

On February 23, 1993, at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, USA the band started its Skin N' Bones tour.

Axl would mention from stage that they hadn't planned the shows in detail:








The next show was on February 25 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center in Birmingham, Alabama. Here Axl would end the show early.

According to the Jefferson Civic Centre's assistant security director, Maureen Reagan:



Apparently, the monitor issues caused Axl to blow out his voice and as a result they would cancel the next shows [The Boston Globe, March 12, 1993].



The next three shows, in Cincinnati, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Providence, were cancelled [Hartford Courant, March 2, 1993], likely due to Axl having blown out his voice in Birmingham [The Boston Globe, March 12, 1993], due to Axl's emotional state after splitting with his long-time girlfriend Stephanie Seymore [The Atlanta Constitution, March 2, 1993; see next chapter], or due to "adverse weather conditions" [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

Even Gilby seemed a bit at a loss to what the actual reason was:

In late 1992 Axl would be asked if he was happy and answer from the perspective of his artistic ambitions:



This would obfuscate the personal problems Axl was going through in this period with Stephanie Seymour.

On March 1, 1993, Geffen Records released a statement saying that Stephanie Seymore and Axl was splitting [The Atlanta Constitution, March 2, 1993]. In the statement Axl would be quoted as saying, "It was fun; I wish Stephanie the best" [The Atlanta Constitution, March 2, 1993].

As implied by Beta Lebeis, former employee of Seymour and future manager to Guns N' Roses, the decision to end the relationship was Seymour's and Axl had been trying to save it:



It would also be reported that Axl was seeing another woman, but that they had not been romantically involved before the break-up with Seymore [The Daily Journal, March 5, 1993], and that this woman was from "a small Southern town and is (surprise) not a model" [Salt Lake Tribune, April 2, 1993].



Beta Lebeis would later claim Seymour had been unfaithful and that this was the cause of the break-up:



There had been rumours about Stephanie dating Charlie Sheen in 1992 [USA Today, June 8, 1992], but it is possible that Stephanie and Axl were having a break at this time. Interestingly, these rumours surfaced around the same time of the Paris, June 6, 1992, show, where Axl ranted against Warren Beatty. On June 9, the day after the USA Today article, Guns N' Roses cancelled a show in Manchester, England.



In August it would be reported that Axl and Stephanie were not on friendly terms. According to the Star-Gazette, Axl was considering suing Stephanie to receive gifts he had given her, and for "assault and mental and emotional abuse" [Star-Gazette, August 27, 1993]. In March, though, it had been reported that Axl had not asked Stephanie to return the "4.5-carat diamond-and-ruby ring" that he had given to her [People. March 22, 1993]. Allegedly, the threat to sue Stephanie came after she sent a "missives that she’ll publish a picture of herself with a black eye if he doesn’t stop asking" to have the gifts returned [Star-Gazette, August 27, 1993]. According to Axl, Stephanie had attacked him at a Christmas party, leading him to defend himself, and there were supposedly many witnesses [Star-Gazette, August 27, 1993]. Stephanie would claim Axl had "slapped and punched her and kicked her down a flight of stairs" and that in defense she "may have even...grabbed his testicles" [People Magazine, July 18, 1994].

After a short break with three cancelled shows followed shows on March 6 at New Haven Coliseum, in New Haven, March 8 at Cumberland Civic Center in Portland, March 9 at Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, March 12 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton and March 16 at Augusta Civic Center in Augusta.

The next show was on March 17 at Boston Garden in Boston. Before the show Duff would be interviewed by Boston Globe and talk about the massive touring they had done:



Duff would also talk about the Skin N' Bones tour:



And on their acoustic set:



Before the Boston show Slash would also talk about the differences to the sets on the Skin N Bones tour:



And about which songs that intimidate him:



And whether he was tired after two years of touring:



The Boston show was stopped and the band left the stage after someone threw a beer bottle onto the stage [Boston Globe, March 18, 1993]. This prompted the audience to chant "bullshit" [Boston Globe, March 18, 1993]. When the band returned after 10 minutes they started with "Attitude" with Slash uttering, "Not that this city needs any" [Boston Globe, March 18, 1993].

This was followed by shows on March 20 show at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, March 21 at the Fargo Dome in Fargo, and March 24 at Winnipeg Arena in Winnipeg.






After the show in Winnipeg, Duff would comment on going from a large production to a small:



Duff would also comment on a review of the Winnipeg show:



The next show happened on March 26 at Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon, Canada. After the show Slash, Matt and Dizzy would hang out at the local var Ryly's where Slash and Matt would jam with the local band Robin's Trip [The Star Phoenix, March 29, 1993].

Then followed shows on March 28 at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Canada, March 30 at British Columbia Place in Vancouver, Canada and April 1 at Portland Coliseum in Portland, USA.

Before the show in Vancouver, Gilby would be asked his thoughts on the Skin N' Bones tour:

As discussed in the chapters about GN'R and Metallica touring together in 1992, the band didn't see eye to eye on everything, or much. Right before the tour, Jason Newstead had said the following:



And when describing why there are no drama surrounding Metallica:



Especially James Hetfield ripped on Axl on a few occasions. One of these were Metallica's "A Year and A Half in the Life of Metallica" home video in which Hetfield made fun of Axl's tour rider:



Another was in an interview with Rolling Stone published on April 13, 1993:



In it, Hetfield would also comment on the tour rider dig:



And would criticize Axl for what happened in Montreal:





At the April 3, 1993 show at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, CA, USA, Axl would viciously lash back at Metallica:



Duff seems to have agreed with Axl because when confronted with Hetfield's comments to Rolling Stone magazine, he would reply:





Slash would later shed some light about the relationship between the two bands:



By early 1995, Slash was back at hanging out with Metallica and would say he was okay with them attacking Axl but not Guns N' Roses:



In 1996 Slash would even state that the problems between the band wasn't Metallica's fault:

Later in the April 3 show in Sacramento, after Axl had ranted against Metallica and at about 90 minutes into the show, Duff was hit by a water-filled plastic bottle and knocked unconscious [Sacramento Bee, April 5, 1993]. The band had to end the show while Duff received treatment [Sacramento Bee, April 5, 1993]. As the band left the stage, Axl would utter, "If you find the a-----, kill him" [Sacramento Bee, April 5, 1993].

RIP Magazine would later recount the incident:



In 2008, Duff would look back at his "worst rock & roll injury":

As 1993 came along it seems like the relationship between Axl and Slash was worsening:



In May Slash would respond to being asked if the Axl-Slash relationship was anything like the Lennon-McCartney phenomenon:



Later in the year Slash would claim the triumvirate of him, Duff and Axl had only grown tighter and tighter since Izzy left in late 1991:



In January 1994 they would do an interview on Rockline together, something they hadn't done in "a couple of years" [Rockline, January 3, 1994]. During the interview Slash and Axl would talk about writing songs over the phone together, and not working on the songs while being physically together until they started rehearsing them in the studio [Rockline, January 3, 1994].

The same month Slash would be asked "do you still say: "Hi Axl. Do you wanna go rent a video?" Are you friends, or is gotten to be business associates? Do you see so much of each other on the road, you don't wanna see each other?" and replied:



Slash is here talking about the entire band and not him and Axl, which is even more clear from what he says next:



In 2010, Slash would look back at the period:



In 2017, Arlett Vereecke, the band's publicist who was fired in 1992 and close friend with Slash, would talk about how Slash was agitated over the conflict in the band:



It is not clear if Vereecke here refers to the period before she was fired (prior to 1992) or afterwards when she still was close to Slash.

Despite Duff being knocked out by a bottle on last night's show, the band was on again on for April 4 for their show at Lawler Events Center in Reno, Nevada, April 7 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah and April 9 at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota.






For this last show Blind Melon had taken over opening duties after Brian May [Rapid City Journal, April 10, 1993].

The band's practice of encouraging girls to show their breasts on camera also continued, and, as usual, received quite a bit of controversy in local press:



After this show the band played April 10 in Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska and April 13 at The Palace Of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan.

According to Earl Gabbidon, Axl's security detail, Duff got into problems at the show at the Palace of Auburn Hills:

On April 15, 1993, the band was originally intended to return to the Omni in Atlanta for their first time since November 22, 1987, when Axl had famously stage-dived to fight security guards and the police.

For the return show, the concert promoters thought it would be a good idea if Axl was handed a key to the city, or at least an apology the mayor [The Atlanta Constitution, April 1, 1993; Herald and Review, March 3, 1993]. But "official city image protector", Joel Babbit disagreed:




But Axl didn't want to revisit Atlanta:



Regardless of the reasons, the city and venue was changed to Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, North Carolina.

Slash would mention this in his book:



Axl would also reference his previous concert in Atlanta from stage in 2011 when they did finish a show in Atlanta:



After Roanoke the band played a show on April 16 at Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

After a few days break the band then travelled to Mexico for five shows. The first show took place at Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara (April 21), then followed two shows at the Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico City (April 23 and 24.) and two shows at Estadio Universitario, Monterrey (April 27 and 28).

Roger Steven, guitarist in Blind Melon, would describe travelling with Guns N' Roses in Mexico:

After returning from Mexico the band had some downtime before travelling to Europe to continue the Skin N' Bones tour. At the very first day after their last show in Mexico, April 29, Gilby crashed on a motocross bike and broke a wrist while preparing for a celebrity race [The San Bernandino County, May 18, 1993]. The bike belonged to MTV's Riki Rachtman [MTV Headbanger's Ball, May 1993].



The injury required surgery and a metal plate and screws had to be inserted [The San Bernandino County, May 18, 1993].




When Gilby broke his arm, the rest of the band was still in Mexico, and Stephen Thompson, the band's chiropractor would remember asking Axl for his blessing to go work with Jon Bon Jovi:

Stephen Thaxton, the band's chiropractor would remember talking to Axl about joining the Bon Jovi tour as their chiropractor:

_________________________________________


In May it would be reported that Izzy had been asked to step in for Gilby for shows in "Israel, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom" later in May [The San Bernandino County, May 18, 1993].



It had been Slash's idea to call Izzy:



But it was Axl who picked up the phone and actually called Izzy:




Asked if he was freaked out when he heard Izzy would be stepping in to replace him, Gilby would respond:





Izzy would admit the main reason he did it was because of the money, and that he would use the situation as leverage to pressure the band for money:

On May 15, 1993, the Drunk Fux would be resurrected for a charity gig at the Hollywood Palladium [MTV, May 21, 1993]. The charity was to raise money for a popular local tour manager called Fred Saunders who had suffered massive injuries from a motorcycle accident [MTV, May 21, 1993]. For the occasion the Drunk Fux included Slash, Duff, Gilby (just singing due to his cast), Matt as well as Lemmy and others [MTV News, May 21, 1993].




The show raised $ 40,000 [MTV News, May 21, 1993].

In 2018, Duff would talk about trying to avoid his family during the Use Your Illusion touring because he knew they would see how far gone he was with his drinking:



Still, not easy enough to avoid because in October 1992, when doing a show in Seattle, Duff' family tried to have an intervention with him but he ran away:



Duff is wrong about the year, GN'R played the Kingdome in Seattle on October 6, 1992, not in 1993.

But maybe his family's concern affected Duff, because in September 1993, Duff would say he had quit drinking before the Tel Aviv show on May 22, 1993, and was going through detox as they flew to Israel [Rockline, September 1993]. In an interview from late June 1993 Duff would claim to continue to be sober [RIP Magazine, November 1993].



But when the band played in Barcelona, Spain, in early July, he would allegedly ask the interviewer for coke connections [Popular 1, September 1993; translated from Spanish].

And in 2011, he would state that his sobriety had only lasted for two weeks (although this could be about an attempt to sober up that took place in 1992):



It was his bloated face that had jerked him into the short stint of sobriety:





In 2018, he would comment on his appearances in this period:



Yet, when asked in September if he had quit drinking entirely, Duff would answer:



When confronted with the statement that he has put on weight [as a result of the drinking]:



In 2002 Duff would claim no one had said anything about him drinking himself to death and specifically how bloated he became:



Looking back at this period, Gilby and Matt would describe the state of Duff:




And Duff would reminisce:





In 2011, Duff would release the song 'Cocaine' and talk about how the song lyrics were about 1993:





In late 2004, Duff is quoted saying he was a heroin addict:



It seems clear that towards the end of Duff's time with intoxication, he started dabbling more with heroin to get the needed high:

After a few weeks break the band continued its tour. This time they would return to Europe and Slash would explain why:



For the first five shows Izzy was substituting Gilby who had suffered a broken wrist. Brian May was also back as the opener.

The first show took place on May 22, 1993 at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, Israel. During the show the band would play a rendition of the Jewish celebrations song "Hava Nagila" and Axl would wear a t-shirt saying, "Guns N' Moses" [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].





Curiously during a show in 2002, Axl would talk about how drugged out Izzy had been at shows resulting in his amps being turned down, and seemingly mention this show as an example:



There is no reason to believe that Izzy was under the influence while touring with Guns N' Roses in 1993, but many band members would claim he came unprepared for the tour and it is a possibility that he was so rusty they turned down his amps. It is also possible Axl mistakes this gig for another earlier in the band's history when Izzy was indeed using drugs.



While in Israel the band visited Jerusalem [MTV, May 1993].

Also while in Tel Aviv, Goldstein would tell a story about Axl wanting to do a show with U2 and Pearl Jam:




The next show took place on May 24 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece.







Before the show members of the crew would be interviewed about the show production and Tom Mayhue, described as Axl’s "on stage health consultant", would talk about Axl using a tent with a humidifier during the show to moisturize his throat:



Slash would also be asked if he playing in front of so many people frightened him:



And on how the tour has changed:



And the frustration of not being able to explore the places they visit:



Slash and Dizzy would also talk about how the idea of having an acoustic set came:








The next show was on May 26 at Inönü Stadyumu in Istanbul, Turkey.




During the show in Turkey, Axl would have to warn the audience:



Looking back at the show in Turkey:



They then headed to England for two shows on May 29 and 30 at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes. These would be the final shows with Izzy playing full sets. He would come back to play with various incarnations of Guns N' Roses later, but never for a full show.

For the second show at Milton Keynes Gilby had returned, although he didn't play and instead saw the show from backstage until he was called on to sing on 'Dead Flowers':







During the show, Ronnie Wood and Mike Michael Monroe would join the band on stage [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].





Dizzy would later remember these shows fondly:

_________________________________________


Slash was disappointed with Izzy's performances and what he would claim was a couldn't-care-less attitude:




Axl would lately corroborate on this when he mentioned they had to turn his amps down during shows:



This could be read as Axl implying that Izzy was back on drugs again, but this is likely a misunderstanding and Axl was talking about Izzy not remembering the songs or not playing them well enough.

Duff would also confirm that Izzy couldn't remember how to play all the song but that he was happy to have his friend back:






After Izzy played with the band for five shows in May 1993, when stepping in for an injured Gilby, Slash would admit it was nice to see the guy again, and discuss the resentment he had from how Izzy quit the band:



Matt and Duff would concur:









But Izzy was also not happy about the shows and would complain about the state of his bandmates:




And in November 1993 Slash would say scathing things about Izzy:



This interview was originally in Swedish and we don't have access to the original to verify the translation. It could also be that Slash felt he could open up more at the time to a more obscure Swedish magazine.

Izzy's opinions of his former band mates had also not changed after the five dates:




And Gilby would now confirm that Izzy had not enjoyed the experience of playing with the band:




After the five shows Axl would again start slamming Izzy from stage [Popular 1, September 1993], something Izzy would be asked to comment upon:



Izzy would also talk about the rumors that GN'R was falling apart:




And when asked if he would be writing with GN'R again:



Izzy would also be asked if Axl had changed since 1991:



When interviewed together in January 1994, Slash and Axl would echo this when answering the question on whether there was any truth to rumors that Izzy would write with them:







Axl would also imply that there had been a financial conflict between Izzy and the band caused by Izzy replacing Gilby for the five shows in May/June 1993:







In the January 1994 issue of Guitar Player Slash would again say scathing things about Izzy:



The explanation for Axl and Slash's again attacking Izzy from stage and in interviews might have been that Izzy demanded a large sum of money for playing the last show with the band:




It is not entirely clear if they had negotiated four shows and then Izzy demanded unexpectedly much money for a fifth show that became necessary, or if they had negotiated five shows and then he demanded unexpectedly much money for a potential sixth that didn't happen.

In June 1993 it would be reported that Axl had bought a mansion in Malibu, CA [Hard Rock (France), June 1993]. The mansion, a 700 m2 home of 5 bedrooms, faced the Pacific Ocean and cost $3.9 million [Hard Rock (France), June 1993].

In 2001, it would be reported that at his estate in Malibu, Axl had a mating couple of wolves, parrots, twelve snakes, and a tarantula [O Estado de S. Paulo, July 1, 2001].

At the same time, it would be reported that Axl had refused to star in commercial for the Lipton Tea brand [Hard Rock (France), June 1993] although he had earlier been described to be "philosophically intrigued" by the prospect of becoming an actor [Entertainment Weekly, September 28, 1992]. He would, though, consider singing on Frank Sinatra's new album, "Duets", but nothing came of this [Newsweek, September 5, 1993].

In an interview published in various magazines Axl would talk about collecting antique crucifixes, and looking for such at antique shops in South America [Hit Parader, June 1993; RAW 1993]. He would also mention trying to get back in skateboarding as a hobby:



In early 1994 Axl would be asked what he does in his spare time, and like Slash (see other chapter) say that business and personal life overlapped:

Gilby had his first baby in June 1993:




When asked if Slash is going to be the godfather:



As for what has changed since joining GN'R:

The first took place at June 2 at Praterstadion in Vienna, Austria. Gilby was now back in the band after his break due to a broken arm. He had flown out a hand specialist from the US to help him with his recovery and before, during and after the show, he packed his arm with ice to help reduce the swelling [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

before heading to Netherlands for two shows on June 5 and 6 at the Stadspark De Goffert in Nijmegen. After the first show, band members with their wives would go see a live sex show [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date]. The Cult opened for the second show, and Matt would join them on stage for their last song of the set [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

Then followed a June 8 show at Gentofte Stadion in Copenhagen, Denmark.





After the show Dizzy would spend the night playing pool at a new friend's bar before taking the owner and his wife Lisa, who was pregnant, our for breakfast in the morning [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

The next show was on June 10 at Valle Hovin in Oslo, Norway. While in Oslo Duff would visit a dentist to have a tooth removed:







The band then travelled to Sweden for a show on June 12 at Stockholms Stadion in Stockholm:



The next show as on June 16 show at Fussballstadion St. Jakob in Basel, Switzerland. For the Basel show, Blind Melon was back as the opener together with The Quireboys. And instead of the normal guy bringing the band pizza, it was a nude Shannon Hoon (the singer of Blind Melon) that came on stage.



He proceeded to play congas with the band, still stark naked, before exiting the show and being immediately arrested by police waiting on the side of the stage [Craig Duswalt, Welcome To My Jungle, BenBella Books, May 2014].







Before the show the band would rehearse a new song, but it was not playing at the show [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

The band then travelled to Weserstadion in Bremen, Germany for a show on June 18 and Müngersdorfer Stadion in Cologne, Germany on June 19.

The show in Bremen coincided with Dizzy's birthday and the band would sing Happy Birthday to him from the stage:



During this European leg tattoo artist Kevin Quinn would travel with the band:

In June 1993, the first two of three "the making of" videos would be released, trying to explain the stories behind the 'Don't Cry' (June 22, 1993), 'November Rain' (June 1993) and the forthcoming 'Estranged' video (1994), and documenting their filming.





Andy Morahan:




Looking back at the three videos:





With the music videos the band was accused of being indulgent:




Axl's band mates didn't always fully understand the videos and stories, nor appreciate the effort:














In fact, Slash had already in early 1989 indicated he wasn't very fond of making music videos:



Gilby would be asked why the other band members put up with Axl and his videos and answer that it was part of the "give and take" of being in a band:



The videos weren't only bad and band members would compliment the results:








I 1995, with Slash and Axl not being on the best of terns, Slash would express more negative feelings about the videos:





In February 1995, while doing promotion for the first Snakepit album and talking about the music video for the song Beggars and Hangers-On, Slash would jokingly quip:



And Duff would say they were all Axl's idea:



In 2004 Slash would talk about how the videos had separated the band:



Being asked what video he was most dubious about doing:



By 2006, Axl considered the videos to be "corny":



By 2010 and 2011, Slash and Doug still had no idea what the videos were about:




In 2011, Axl would talk about the impact of the videos and of MTV:

Dizzy continued to be a low-key member of the band, doing little press and generally operating under the radar. In mid-1993 he would do a rare interview and mention getting tired from the touring:



The band had also slowed down the partying:



For Dizzy's case, part of this could be the pregnancy of his wife Lisa and the expected fatherhood [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date]. They had become parents to the girl Skye in 1992.

The band then travelled tp Wildparkstadion in Karlsruhe, Germany for a show on June 22. Before this show Slash would record new music on his portable studio [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date]. For the show, the support act Suicidal Tendencies failed to show up because they were double booked and currently in Italy [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date]. Brian May played a longer set to compensate [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

Then followed Waldstadion in Frankfurt, Germany, on June 25 and Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany, on June 26. At the show in Munich Axl would borrow the jacket from a Red Cross worker and wear it for the remainder of the show [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

The band then travelled to Italy for two shows at Modena Stadio in Modena, Italy on June 29 and 30. After the first Modena show, as Axl was being brought back to his hotel with his entourage of Earl the bodyguard and Axl's two assistents, their limo was swarmed by fans who wanted to get to Axl. Despite "protocol" Axl decided to exit the limo and try to get into the hotel by himself. This led to a scuffle as Axl's entourage tried to free him from all the fans who wanted to grab and touch him. Axl's two assistants got in a fight with paparazzi who had bumped into Axl and knocked him over. The situation was resolved when a police man fired his gun in the air, causing everybody to pause long enough for Axl and his crew to quickly dart into the hotel [Craig Duswalt, Welcome To My Jungle, BenBella Books, May 2014.].

During the second show, three members of the band's security team brought out Axl's assistant, Robert Finkelstein, bound with his hands behind his back and his legs tied together [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date]. They dump him in front of the stage, where he remains throughout the entire acoustic set [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

The band then travelled to Spain for a show on July 5 at Estadi Olimpic in Barcelona. For this gig it was Del James who would don the pizza uniform, and then join the band on congas [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].



Then followed a show on July 6 at Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid. Matt and Duff would swap instruments for 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

Then to France for a show at Zenith de Nancy, Nancy (July 8), where Skid Row drummer Rob Affuso would be the designated pizza delivery boy and play with the band on congas [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

At the following show at the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon on July 9 tour manager Bill Greer playing congas on 'Used To Love Her' [Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion tour diary, unknown author and date].

The last two shows of this leg took place at the Werchter Festival Ground in Werchter on July 11 and back to France for a show at the Palais Omnisports de Bercy in Paris on July 13.

This concluded the European leg of the Skin N' Bones tour.

After the tour, Soul Asylum's guitarist Dan Murphy would look back at opening for Guns N' Roses: