1987.12.30 - Perkins Palace, Pasadena, USA

From the Vaults
A classic concert from the past

Guns N' Roses
Perkins Palace, Pasadena
30 December, 1987

By Malcolm Dome

It's hard to imagine it now, but there was a time when Guns N' Roses weren't the biggest - and most controversial - band on the planet. There was a time when they were less than front-page news. Around Christmas '87, Axl and the guys were still several months off becoming stars of such magnitude that they eclipsed everything in their path.

Let's put this into perspective. 'Appetite For Destruction' - their debut album had just started to break into the American Top 100. The band had successfully completted a brief UK tour in September and were now starting to amass serious mileage in America. And they were well on the way to selling about half-a-million copies of the aforesaid album, which was about the summit of their ambitions back then - at least in private. So, to celebratte this modest yet significant success, the band arranged this show in Pasadena in an old theatre that had clearly seen better days but somehow fitted the Gunners' deshevelled rock'n'roll attitude.

It was something of a private party in many ways. Although there were close to a thousand fans packed into the venue the whole place had a family atmosphere. And there were some interesting - and interested - onlookers. For example, GN'R were being touted as the opening band on David Lee Roth's planned US tour in 88, so the former Van Halen front man sent down his tour manager to check out the whole deal (in the end, the Roth/Roses hook-up never happened for various reasons). And other local musos - 'local' as in Hollywood - made the trek tout to this Californian suburb, anxious to catch this special event. Because, make no mistake, there was a gathering belief in this part of the world that Guns N' Roses were about to head on out of sight. Here was a last opportunity for people to see the band up close and personal, because bigger things were on the horizon. Although the exact magnitude of their stellar exaltation was beyond anyone's wildest dreams, all of us privileged to be at this show knew we were witnessing something historic - a moment that would be frozen in time and memory.

The band themselves were in tremendous form, even taking the loss of drummer Steven Adler - he'd had a major argument with a lamppost and his left hand lost - in their stride, bringing Cinderella's Fred Coury in for the night. They added a horn section to proceedings on certain songs, and set about the business of rocking the place to its foundations. And while Slash and Izzy were firing out rhythm and lead guitar parts Axl led from the front with trademark arrogance and charisma at his command. Relaxed yet focused, he drove the band through a set that inevitably relied heavily on 'Appetite...' with a quite mesmerising cover of Bob Dylan's 'Knocking On Heaven's Door' providing extra weight and panache.

The whole evening was one of anticipation and expectation. And when the whole event - that was exactly what the show felt like - finished, the crowd simply wouldn't leave, swarming all over the stage to get autographs and mementos - anything not nailed down was in danger of removal.

Later that night, Slash summed it all up. "We've had a great year. And 1988 should be even better." Understatement of the 20th century?

Close.