1987.08.18 - Super Skate 7, Kitchener, Canada

Date:
August 18, 1987.

Venue:
Super Skate 7.

Location:
Kitchener, Canada.

Setlist:
01. It's So Easy
02. Anything Goes
03. Out To Get Me
04. Mr. Brownstone
05. Nightrain
06. Welcome To The Jungle
07. My Michelle
08. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
09. You're Crazy
10. Paradise City

Line-up:
Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitarist), Slash (lead guitarist), Duff McKagan (bass) and Steven Adler (drums).

Pictures:


Next concert: 1987.08.19.
Previous concert: 1987.08.17.

J.D. Yorke's Review:

Here we go...The infamous "Superskate" gig.
While on tour with The Cult as assistant Monitor Engineer (and as Guns
And Roses Main Monitor Guy), we happened to do a gig in Moncton Canada
at a roller skating rink called Superskate. Ordinarily, we were playing
large venues-hockey arenas and the like, but somehow tour management
thought it would be great for the band to do this gig. At first, we
figured we would only set up half the gear, but sound and lighting guys
being what they are (lunatic egomaniacs by-and-large), we wound up
setting up all of the PA and most of the lighting rig in this small
place. The PA itself was stacked right to the ceiling...literally. Guns
and Roses played first, put on a great show....everything was going
great. Any concerns about power consumption were pretty much allieviated
while GNR was playing...it seemed as if everything would be alright.
Two songs into the Cult set...the lights went out. Everything went out.
Except for some feeble emergency lights near the exit doors, everything
went dark and the crowd went ballistic. I immediately shut the Audio
distro down...if service returned, the resulting surge would blow the
mains. People were flipping out in the jammed venue. Ian and the boys
stood on stage for a few moments in complete confusion. I ran back to
the breaker room where all the tie ins for Power distribution had been
made. There was a lighting guy arguing with a house electrician because
they couldn't get the panel open to see what the hell had happened to
the dynamite stick sized fuses which had blown. I picked up a hammer,
actually more of a maul than a hammer and proceeded to bash the sh*t out
of the box handle. Two strikes and the box popped. Out on stage, Ian
walked out on his runway extention into the crowd. In a loud voice he
began talking to the crowd... keeping people cool and entertained while
we were scrambling to restore power to the venue. What else is there to
say? We got the system up, The Cult started the show from the begining,
redoing the first two songs, and adding in a bunch of extra
stuff...Doors cover tunes and the like. At one point Ian climbed the PA
stack (during Born To Be Wild) and disappered into the false ceiling
scattering ceiling tiles everywhere. I also remember almost getting hit
in the head by a wine bottle that Ian had took a slug out of and tossed
up behind the backdrop. As I was running from one side of the stage to
the other in order to stop the PA stacks from falling into the crowd,
the wine bottle exploded in front of me. I also remember a huge amount
of people on stage after the barracades collapsed, I remember pulling
security guys out of the pit as they were getting crushed by the fence
which had been pushed against the stage by the crowd. In 20 years of
touring, it's up there as one of the most bizarre gigs I can remember.
Anyone with pictures from the Electric Tour of Canada August 1987 please
let me know!

Hi. I find this concert on YouTube! Well... is very good audience record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12MeI282LwI

Setlist:
1. It's So Easy
2. Anything Goes
3. Out To Get Me
4. Mr. Brownstone
5. Night Train
6. Welcome To The Jungle
7. My Michelle
8. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
9. You're Crazy
10. Paradise City

Whisky wrote:Hi. I find this concert on YouTube! Well... is very good audience record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12MeI282LwI

Setlist:
1.  It's So Easy
2.  Anything Goes
3.  Out To Get Me
4.  Mr. Brownstone
5.  Night Train
6.  Welcome To The Jungle
7.  My Michelle
8.  Knockin' On Heaven's Door
9.  You're Crazy
10.  Paradise City

Excellent! I updated the origina post to include the setlist. Good job!!

thanks!

That time the Guns N' Roses Nightrain rolled through Waterloo



I like to imagine what it would have been like to see the band perform at Super Skate 7, writes Marshall Ward.

One of my favourite bands, Guns N’ Roses, is headed back on the road this summer with a global tour through the Middle East, Europe, and North America, with a stop at Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Sept. 3.

An audio bootleg recording of the band's one and only Waterloo show — back on Aug. 18, 1987 at Super Skate 7 — recently surfaced on YouTube, and I shared it with Gary Stewart, a veteran of the local live music scene who booked the show.

“It was a legendary rock and roll concert here in Waterloo,” said Stewart. “Lots of people still talk about that show.”

Stewart and his wife Sue owned and operated the Super Skate 7 roller skating rink, The Vid and The Twist dance clubs, The Flying Dog restaurant, and Revolution nightclub in Waterloo.

I was thrilled when Stewart, who I worked for back in the early ‘90s at The Twist, recently gave me the Geffen Records press kit for Guns N’ Roses when they opened for the Cult in the summer of 1987.

The release reads: “Rock and roll: it’s more than music. It’s a legendary lifestyle and no one’s living it to the hilt like Guns N’ Roses, the most intense, insolent and original new musical arrivals in much too long with their debut album, Appetite for Destruction.”

And though I was too young to attend the licensed show in Waterloo, I like to imagine what it would have been like to see the band perform songs like “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Nightrain,” and “Paradise City” just weeks after the release of “Appetite for Destruction.”

“Back then, with agents out of New York you could pick up a phone and call and if you had somewhat of a reputation for doing shows and being a reputable promoter, they would give you opportunities,” said Stewart.

“So we did a few smaller acts, and then we did the Cult on the Love tour. When they came back a year later, the agent threw us a bone and we got another Cult show with Guns N’ Roses opening up; nobody had heard of G N' R, and $2,000 is what we paid for G N' R. Axl Rose stole the show and G N' R were massive worldwide stars shortly after that.”

Stewart laughed when he talked about catering for the Cult and Guns N’ Roses: “When you do a show like that one, you’re usually serving breakfast, lunch and dinner for the crew and band — beef, chicken, prime rib — and we got Sue’s mom involved in doing the rider for the Cult and Guns N' Roses, and she wasn’t very impressed with G N’ R and didn’t like their manners too much.”

I told Stewart that I had heard Super Skate 7 lost all power during the Cult’s performance that night.

“About three songs in they hit their big aircraft landing lights and boom, the power went out,” he said.

“The building is black, we’ve got 2,000 people in the place, it’s a jam-packed show, so in a panic I’m making calls and we go into the power room and hit the breakers — it was a rock and roll moment!”

It was a rock and roll moment I wish I had experienced firsthand, but I was too young at the time.

Maybe it's ironic that, with Guns N' Roses touring again, I now feel a little old for rock and roll moments. My concertgoing days are mostly behind me, though I do find the prospect of seeing G N' R in Toronto this September tempting.

There really is nothing quite like a rock concert. As Stewart can attest, some of them get talked about for decades.

https://www.therecord.com/local-waterloo/opinion/2023/03/19/that-time-the-guns-n-roses-nightrain-rolled-through-waterloo.html