1988.09.08 - Concord Pavilion, Concord, USA

Aerosmith and Guns: Battle of the Bads

Mick LaSalle
Chronicle Staff Critic

You know how it is when you're out of school and into the world a few years. You don't hear about new rock bands right away but gradually notice certain names coming up with more frequency, until finally you ask and people tell you something like, "Oh, yeah. Guns n' Roses. They're good." They say it with a straight face.

So Thursday night Guns n' Roses opened for Aerosmith at the Concord Pavilion. The band was already onstage as I was walking to my seat and the lead singer was sharing a detail from his past. "I must have had a dozen psycho bitches from hell this tour," he said, and the crowd cheered. One young woman, inspired by these words, let out a joyous whoop and threw her arms around her boyfriend.

Guns n' Roses is made up of four sickly looking characters and a blond drummer, Steven Adler, who could probably pass a physical. Lead singer W. Axl Rose, who could have played junkies on "Baretta," fronts the band, dipping and swaying and singing in a schizophrenic voice that's low at times but goes, without warning, into a shrieking whine that makes you think there's a little man in his pants, squeezing.

The band hit No. 1 with its debut album from last year, "Appetite for Destruction" and has been getting increased MTV airplay with the single "Sweet Child of Mine." The song had me laughing the first time I heard it, but I guess it's meant to be taken seriously: "She has eyes of the bluest skies/As if they thought of rain."

Actually Guns n' Roses have gotten so popular in the last few months that it's hard to say which band was the main draw Thursday night. Plenty were there for Guns n' Roses, not Aerosmith.

But why? Sometimes you see something you don't like but can at least have a clue as to how someone could like it. But Thursday's concert seemed more like a practical joke - Rose up there in his "Eat the Worm" T-shirt and Nike shorts, pale as a corpse, squealing over a barrage of noise; Slash, the lead guitarist, walking around with his shirt off and a cigaret in his mouth, as if this was a new look he just thought up.

At one point Slash took the center stage microphone to get a few things off his chest: "All right, (f-word) Concord, man. What the (f-word) is happening? The (f-word) lights are so bad, I can't see past the first (f-word) four (f-word) rows." He went on to complain that because of pressure from "the neighbors" the band wasn't allowed to play at louder than 95 decibels, "about half what we usually play."

Guns n' Roses concluded their 45-minute appearance with "Welcome to the Jungle" ("You're in the jungle baby/You're gonna die") and "Sweet Child of Mine," left the stage and didn't come back for an encore, despite the pleas of the crowd. Maybe they felt put upon for having to play at 25 decibels lower than the maximum level humans can tolerate.

Aerosmith followed, and the big question, of course, was "Can they top it? Can they be worse than Guns n' Roses?" They gave it a grand stab.

Before Aerosmith went on, a plastic curtain was put up on all sides. The band took the stage, hidden behind this thing - it looked like a cheap pool cover -teasing the crowd with a few introductory chords. Then the pool cover came crashing down and revealed Steve Tyler, hopping down a series of ramps all the way to center stage, dressed in an Elvis jumpsuit, the kind that makes a man look like a big chicken. "Hey, it's a chilly out. Makes those nipples tight, hey?" Tyler observed.

By the end of the night it was hard to say who was the real Spinal Tap.