1988.04.30 - Danville Civic Center, Danville, USA

Hard rocking Guns N' Roses shoots from hip

2 members of band from Lafayette

By STEVE VOYAK
Gannett News Service

Danville, Ill. - If you’re looking for gimmicks, makeup, Spandex pants or elaborate stage sets, don’t waste your time at a Guns N’ Roses concert.

But if you prefer straight-forward, hard-driving rock ’n’ roll, don’t miss this group, which includes two members from Lafayette — W. Axl Rose and Izzy Stadlin.

Guns N’ Roses, which has the No. 9 album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, headlines the first rock and roll concert in Danville in almost two years tonight at the David S. Palmer Civic Center.

The show starts at 8 p.m. with two warmup acts, UDO and Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction.

Tickets are $12.50, and all seating is general admission.

“It’s amazing playing these small towns,’’ lead guitarist Slash says. “There’s not a whole lot to do. It’s like these people are starved for this type of thing.

“And the people are so friendly. We left our door (at our hotel in Burlington, Iowa) cracked and people just kept walking into the room unannounced. I didn’t know what they were doing, but I am getting used to it.”

Guns N’ Roses opened a 10-city tour of the Midwest Tuesday backing its debut album, Appetite for Destruction, which already has gone platinum (1 million copies sold) for the Geffen label.

“It’s the first debut album to go Top 10 without a single since Led Zeppelin,” said Slash, who along with drummer Steven Adler is from the Los Angeles area.

The band credits its success to simplicity, relying almost solely on its music and energy.

“We are a bona fide street band,” Slash said. “We have been fighting the industry from the beginning. We aren’t afraid to say what we think, and we don’t let other people tell us what to do. We are blatantly sincere.

“I think the kids relate well to us because we are so honest. We mirror our roots. We realize everybody has a struggle, and I think people admire that.”