1991.05.09 - Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, USA

Del James wrote:Early that morning, 8:00 a.m. or so, Slash and Duff called the local rock radio station and announced that GN'R would be playing a one-off gig that night. Fans flocked to the venue, and within an hour all the tickets were sold. Among the early birds milling about on the street was none other than and incognito Izzy Stradlin, looking like of NWA or Public Enemy's homeboys with his dark shades, L.A. Raiders cap, and hooded sweat jacket up over his head.

"It was insane, man. All those kids that early in the morning," reflected Izzy in his tuning room, while a Bob Marley cassette blared away. "I can't wait till we finally go on."

After a well-received set from L.A. noise kings Dumpster, a four-piece whose sound and style bring to mind images of Fear, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Motorhead, the Warfield was buzzing with anticipation. Many of these loral GN'R diehards had been waiting over ten hours for this. Opening with "Pretty Tied Up," Guns N' Roses cruised though a two-hour set that was 80% new material. New tunes like "Bad Obsession," the brutal "Perfect Crime," "Dust N' Bones," "Live And Let Die," "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," "Yesterdays" and "Double Talkin' Jive" mixed perfectly with "Out Ta Get Me," "Mr. Brownstone," "It's So Easy," and "Welcome To The Jungle." Another highlight of the evening was when Slash broke out a guitar solo and into "Happy Birthday," while Axl dragged Doug Goldstein onstage. Red-faced and highly uncomfortable, Goldstein made it through the song before quickly exiting stage left. Another not-so-highlight occurred during "Paradise City," when Duff attempted a stage dive, and an overanxious security guard grabbed his legs as he was in mid-flight, causing him to eat it, face first. One of the gig's highest points was the haunting, set-ending song, which Axl introduced like this: "As the Stones would say, this song is about a girl who's just a memory. It's called "Estranged."

The fans, who had never heard most of these songs, were singing their lungs out by the second chorus.

It's real cool when people are singing songs they don't really know," Axl said later. "I work on communicating it to them, and they take the time to get into it. I like the intimacy, and I think the crowd likes the intimacy of us showing them out new songs."

Although highly intense energy-wise, the set suffered a bit from lack of cohesiveness. Certain tunes went down smooth as silk; others still needed to have the bugs worked out of them. But an off night or average gig for Guns is better than most other acts going. Besides, what d'ya want for their first show? As Slash explained to the crowd, part of the reason they chose to do the gig was that when GN'R was a club band, they'd play songs their fans had never heard before, and if the fans like what they heard, they'd be received well; so this was sort of a testing ground. He also went on to add that the Warfield was one of the few remaining venues that offered concertgoers a full bar, not just beer. What a guy!

Backstage after the show, Axl asked me what I thought of that night's performance.

"Honestly?" I responded.

"Yeah."

"It was a seven out of a possible ten."

He didn't really respond, but judging from the look on his face, I think he appreciated my honesty.

Harry Sumrall wrote:UNADVERTISED 'LIVE REHEARSAL' BODES WELL FOR UPCOMING SHORELINE SPECTACULAR - 'GUNS' PRACTICE MAKES PERFECTLY GREAT SHOW

Guns N' Roses is an odd group.

The ultra-metal quintet, which rampaged the charts in 1988 with its multi-platinum album "Appetite for Destruction," is scheduled to release not one but two new records of studio material, "Use Your Illusion I" and " . . . II." Odd.

And while it is one of the biggest groups in the country, it hasn't actually played in this country in three years. Odd.

And what does it do before heading out on its upcoming tour but play an unadvertised show at the Warfield Theater on Thursday, in what lead vocalist Axl Rose referred to as a "live rehearsal"? Very odd.

But oddest of all was the way it played at this show. This wasn't a performance as much as a brawl, with Rose and his companions storming and ranting onstage. The bulk of the material was new, so new that Rose sang to a TelePrompTer most of the time. And when he wasn't reading the words, he and his mates were hopping about and making in-jokes and dropping cues and acting like a group that had just dropped in from a garage.

In other words, it was a fine show indeed. One of a kind. Real nasty.

Yes, they did play a familiar song or two, such as "It's So Easy," and "Welcome to the Jungle," which they pounded into a fine powder with their crunching metal chords and slamming rhythms. But most of the rest, such as "Bad Obsession," were straight off the assembly line but just as ornery as the group's warhorses.

Along the way, they did a wonderfully mangled version of Paul McCartney's masterpiece James Bond theme "Live and Let Die," with Rose screeching the words. And guitarist Slash broke off a solo to play "Happy Birthday" as Rose pulled the group's new manager onstage.

What?

Along with the new manager and songs, the group also trotted out a new drummer, Matt Sorum, who was goosed with a timpani stick by bassist Duff "Rose" McKagan during a drum solo.

The capacity crowd loved the whole mess.

This wasn't the sleek, slick show that the group is certain to perform on its upcoming tour -- which makes its way to Shoreline Amphitheater on July 19. This was Guns N' Roses having some fun.

On "Civil War," Slash opened with a spare set of guitar phrases that were sloppy but thoroughly mesmerizing. His solo was ragged and raw but infused with intensity. Rose and the rest then slammed into the song with the same fervor. At the end of its nearly two-hour performance, Slash made a few remarks to the crowd in his usual manner, which is to say that every other word was a copulative adjective. "It's (bleep) great to be in (bleep) San Francisco . . . ," he said. And as he launched into the set's last song, he noted, "You'll know this one when you recognize it."

Right.

With that, he and the group slogged into a tremendous rendition of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." It had all the subtlety of a sledge, with Slash and guitarist Izzy Stradlin' strumming the song's elegiac chords with a jittery grandeur and Rose yelling the words. Guns N' Roses performed it the way all good rockers should: flat out, no holds barred, give a (bleep), and take no prisoners.

What? That was this show in a coconut shell. It shouldn't have added up, but it did. It shouldn't have been good, but it was. If the tour is as good as this rehearsal, everyone should be happy.

Guns N' Roses appears Friday, July 19, at 8 p.m. at Shoreline Amphitheater. Tickets, at $22.50 and $25, go on sale today at 10 a.m.

GUNS GO TO WAR'

It begins here: GUNS N' ROSES' return to the top flight with a low-key gig at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. The pressure is on. And with the much-anticipated 'Use Your Illusion' album(s) set for July 1 release and a Wembley Stadium gig looming on August 31, the big question on everyone's lips is: can W AXL ROSE & Co handle it? As STEFFAN CHIRAZI reports, things are already 'getting stranger by the minute'...

IT’S GETTING weird out there. When the dust settles and they write the next volume of rock history, Guns N’ Roses will head up chapter one. That much is way beyond dispute.

They did it this way, that way, arse-ways... and we-all-loved-them-for-it. Loved their irregularities. Loved their bravado. Enjoyed their f**k-you attitude and f**k-up glory anthems. Kissed the tarnished ground they f**kin’ walked on.

But, of course, things do change. They have to. Even if GN’R don’t realise it at this point, selling millions of albums and being the focus of the rock pigs’ attention for five years is bound to liter your molecular structure — unless you're a robot.

Yeah... Guns N' Roses have changed. And it’s getting stranger and stranger by the minute.

This low-key date at San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre was GN’R’s first in America for a long time. It was also, by Axl Rose’s confession, a rehearsal. A well-organised one, I might point out, with huge souvenir tickets for the fans adding to the sense of occasion.

Inside the Warfield there was a great air of anticipation... a feeling of being amongst the chosen few, the privileged ones.

I was offered a guest pass, but I paid 20 bucks out of my own pocket to gain entry to the show. That free ticket, you see, was only offered on the grounds that I wouldn’t actually review the show for the magazine I work for: Kerrang!. At least now, 20 honest bucks out, I could shit in peace and do my own thing without breaking any 'conditions’. 20 bucks for freedom ain’t so bad, pop pickers... I was happy to do it.

AND SO it was that the atmosphere grew and grew and grew again, the sense of 'the event' really buzzing right up in ya.

I was actually really f**king excited. I had come with the best of intentions, wanting to be absolutely cerebralised by a wild and crazy and superb Guns show. I was anxious to put the disappointment of Axl & Go’s Rock In Rio gig (see my review in ish 327) behind me. Tonight, I felt as enthusiastic as a spring lamb taking its first fresh leaps.

The support band came and went. Then... the wait.

People seemed happy enough for a while, drinking their ale and whooping in anticipation. The Queen album belting out of the PA finished and an AC/DC one came on.

“Excuse me? Could you tell me where the band is?" one guy asked after an hour's wait... and not one schmoe in the house had the foggiest. For one horrible moment the thought shot through my mind that maybe GN’R wouldn’t do it, that maybe practice was off for today.

But what the hell, the tension was building... and f**k me if I didn’t expect Guns N' Roses to give this whole damn house a mutual orgasm when they finally took to the stage.

As it was, ‘Pretty Tied Up' came thumping in — without the orgasm but marauding and moody nonetheless, driving a hard-paced riff right to the head. Axl was body-swaying and shakin' those hips in USA flag leather, wine-coloured rose leggings and Nine Inch Nails shirt. Slash was going for it, Duff looked energised and things were looking up-up-up.

The fight was on and Guns were putting in a storming opener.

THEN CAME ‘Bad Obsession', a song about heroin apparently written a year-and-half before ‘Mr Browrnstone'. I’d love to ask the band why they've resurrected this number, but by putting pen to paper for these pages I am probably damned to be treated as scum, trash and low-life for all eternity. Oh well... maybe one day GN’R’ll understand how pathetic all this political garbage really is in the bigger picture. Anyway, this song about heroin with a smidgeon of slide-style geetar and a slut-kicking cow bell-driven session kept the energy quota hovering at danger level.

About now I expected to hear an old song, just to break things up, but that wasn’t to be. Axl told everyone they were at rehearsal, that the band had been sweatin' their asses off without him for months now. Which is when it all started to hit home: chemistry is something you have to work together to achieve... and Guns' natural chemistry is becoming shakier by the day.

It’s nothing to do with who-likes-who and who-hates-who, it’s to do with the simple fact that this band don't rehearse together as five ornery guys on a regular basis. At this point, things started to look messy and less than cohesive...

But I have to give it to him: Slash was revved up and goin’ for it with his all, baying and booting his way into solos and parts like a man who’d given up on stressing and was going to cut loose whatever it took.

‘Dust ’N’ Bones' came up next, an off-beat concoction of love, anger, passion and desperation that maybe exemplified best what it is Guns N’ Roses are doing right now. A fine number, it was to be the most engaging moment of the show.

BUT THE atmosphere in the Warfield was starting to feel strange — and, onstage, things really were getting awfully odd. With Axl off in the wings, Slash, Duff and Matt Sorum engaged in a heavy jam. Then the frontman returned wearing cowboy hat and shades to signal the start of 'Civil War'. The crowd finally had familiar bait to chew on and they went crazy for it.

Slash straddle-hopped like a loosened-up loon, a man getting his jollies, and Duff seemed freed-up and mobile, too. ‘It’s So Easy’ followed, and things were getting electric again. ‘The Godfather' came up next and I still don’t really dig it, although the crowd seemed to enjoy the whole experience. Then ‘Dead Horse’ came meandering in like a cunning old ’70s Americana hit, Axl now wearing a black string vest, white bike shorts and his trademark headband.

This wasn’t the only time Guns gave the crowd a whiff of things they didn’t really know. Some Isley Brothers stuff was thrown in and ‘Bad Obsession' sounded similar to Talking Heads’ ‘Life During Wartime’... but what the hell, we’re all influenced by something or other, and I sure ain’t gonna hold it against them. Guns are only human, after all.

“This is a real ’70s kinda thing to do..." said Rose - and off went Sorum into a solo, to be joined by Duff and then Slash. Then Guns kicked into ‘Out Ta Get Me’, with Duff coming across more than ever like our old friend Sidney Vic.

Y’know, I have to say it, Duff was actually a redeeming factor. This punk with his Ramones shirt and jacket and his Sidney affectations looks like the sort of guy you really could trust. Like a naughty child, he stood on monitors and stomped around with heavy boots. The coolest guy onstage, the most 'f**k you’ guy of all.

NEXT, KEYBOARD player Dizzy Reed introduced ‘Live And Let Die’ on the old tinkler before the band kicked into a messy yet powerful version of the classic Wings tune.

‘Patience’ came up... and the crowd were losing theirs. It was getting boring, indulgent. I was dying for a piss and it seemed like this was the time to go find the john. The band sensed the house vibe, had what seemed like a quick conflab and blasted out a furious new headbangin’ thing called (I believe) ‘Locomotive’, which jolt-started the folks before another curious gap between songs opened up. No one quite knew what was being discussed, but one thing was certain: Axl wasn’t lying when he said it was a rehearsal.

‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door' came up to strut its stuff before the evening’s other curiosity, ‘Estranged’, came in with a piano/vocals intro that wound down into a melancholy riff of sadness and despair. A trippy tune with Axl seemingly lost in its waves and rolls; a dark scene from a sad movie. This should be Guns’ guaranteed hit cut.

By now it all really was feeling highly off-beat, and so it was that Guns suddenly pulled from their sleeve a few of the old hits to beat up on the audience once more. ‘Welcome To The Jungle', ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’... you know and love them all, so adjectives are unnecessary. The atmosphere, however, remained curious.

At the end of the show, I was once again confused. Taking Guns in the context of ‘just another good rock ’n’ roll band’, there were things I enjoyed immensely. But being ‘just another good rock ’n' roll band’ isn’t what Guns’ legacy dictates, it ain’t what the book reads like. Tonight was far from being ‘the world’s biggest, wildest extravaganza’. In truth, it was just spectacularly ordinary.

AND there onstage, by God, there seemed to be a band struggling desperately to gel, to hang on to that aforementioned ‘natural chemistry’... and really only managing it in flashes throughout their two hour set.

The fight is on for Guns N’ Roses. Not in terms of success, because they will sell out every damn date they book and every piece of recorded matter they release. No, the fight is on between them, the band, and the legend they’ve become. Right now, it’s battle they don’t seem equipped to win.

Tonight’s ‘rehearsal’ would’ve been better off held in Omaha, Nebraska. Instead, it was an ‘event’ in San Francisco that (by the time you read this) will have also taken place in Los Angeles and New York.

I wonder whether, by August 31 at Wembley Stadium, Guns will have it sorted out... or if the weirdness will be stronger than ever. At this point, flipping a coin would be the closest you’ll get to an answer.

As it says on the ticket: ‘Here now and going to hell'.

Maybe it’s more than just a cute rock ’n’ roll phrase.

Maybe they know something we don’t...

schizo wrote:Sure, it was a killer experience. We were in high school, rabid GNR fans. My buddy just happened to hear the announcement on the radio that morning, how GNR were playing the Warfield that night, and so he and another friend cut school to drive 22 miles north to S.F. to wait in line at the box office. They were lucky enough to make the cutoff and get 4 tix (2 per person). You had to show ID at the booth that night to pick up tickets and go straight into the venue, so it was scalper proof, fans only… a clever new system at that time designed by promoter Bill Graham.

I had not even learned about the show until my friend showed up to school late that morning and told me about the show and that we were going to GNR that night. My strict dad was not impressed with it being a school night, but relented and let me go. If he had known they’d go on 3 hours late and I’d get home at 3am, I never would’ve made the show, because he was not happy the following morning LOL.

Ticket pairs were distributed randomly at the box office that night, either assigned seats in the balcony or GA on the floor. Of course we all wanted GA to get up front. 2 of my buddies got GA tix and rushed down onto the floor. Another friend and I got balcony seats. So we stood in the lobby asking people if anyone wanted to switch, and fortunately we found a couple of older guys who were happy with seats and traded. We made it down and were maybe 3 people back. Dumpster played on time and was interesting, the vocals weren’t great but they had a few interesting songs and I bought a demo tape later that year through the mail.

After Dumpster finished, we figured maybe a half hour til GNR. An hour passed. Then another hour. The natives were restless, and chanting “Bullshit!” Finally, about 3 hours later, GNR came on and we muscled our way up to the barricade. They opened with Pretty Tied Up and Axl was about 4 feet away from me in that American flag jacket. Talk about a surreal moment! We were singing along to all the new songs as well, since we had a bootleg VHS of their Rio performance 4 months earlier. At one point Slash looked at me oddly because I was singing along to stuff I shouldn’t have heard before.

I seem to recall it being Slash’s birthday or something, and someone brought him a big bottle of Jack Daniel’s which he happily chugged on stage.

During Paradise City, Duff stagedived on us and my buddy grabbed his bracelet and tore it off, his souvenir for the night. The pit was pretty raucous during the AFD classics! I recall getting a handslap from Axl as well.

The shirts that night said “Here Now, Going To Hell”. After those 3 theater gigs, it changed to “Here Today, Gone To Hell”.

The audio for the gig is circulated, but there are only a couple of very short video clips which have surfaced. The full gig must have been filmed, I’m hopeful one day it will surface, as it was a killer night I was super lucky to experience.