1991.06.25 - Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, USA

Eddie Huffman wrote:Guns N' Roses coming to Winston-Salem

Guns N’ Roses, the volatile hard rock band that exploded onto the American music scene 30 years ago this summer, returns next week to a region where they played one of their most legendary concerts.

The band that created the classic rock staples “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City” and “November Rain” performs at BB&T Field Aug. 11. It will be the first major concert there in years, and the only Guns N’ Roses show this summer between Pennsylvania and Florida.

“That’s a show where most people would be going, ‘Oh, I’ve gotta go to Atlanta to see that,’ or ‘I’ve gotta go to D.C. to see that,’” said Brian Meyer, a Greensboro singer and longtime Guns N’ Roses fan. “And here it is in Winston.”

Guns N’ Roses—also known as GNR—play a mix of blistering metal and melodic, yearning rock ballads. Front man Axl Rose has a voice once described as “a power tool with attachments” by rock critic Robert Christgau. But he also has a hard time keeping his band together, and the current “Not in This Lifetime Tour” has reunited original members Slash and Duff McKagan with Rose for the first time in two decades.

The group has always had a strong appeal with young men and adolescent boys, and many of the band’s current fans weren’t born when the group played its earliest shows in the Piedmont. All of GNR’s previous appearances in the Triad were at the Greensboro Coliseum, where they opened for Motley Crue in 1987 and headlined in 1991 and 2006.

Meyer saw that 1987 performance before he heard their debut album and was leery of the hype that had GNR pegged as the new Aerosmith. Meyer sings for several tribute bands: Deconstruction, Alexis Machine and AC/DCeased, which combines zombies and AC/DC songs.

“At the time I was a huge Aerosmith fan and thought, ‘No way. This guy with the sprayed-up tall hair is not Steven Tyler. No way,’” Meyer said. “I went to see them with Motley Crue and they were pretty good, then ‘Appetite for Destruction’ came out and I was like, ‘Wow, this album’s great. Maybe I was wrong about these guys.’”

Patrick Collins saw the 2006 show, in which Rose was the only original member left in the band. Collins, a former Greensboro resident, is now an outpatient therapist who lives in Asheville. He had been obsessed with GNR as a teenager growing up in Maryland.

“Axl was the like the Mick Jagger of our generation,” Collins said.

The 2006 concert in Greensboro was solid but not spectacular, he said.

“It didn’t have the edge, but I wouldn’t say it was like a shell of the band,” Collins said. “You expected them to play Guns N’ Roses songs without the characters of Slash and Duff, and that whole energy and cohesion that they had. As long as you didn’t have your expectations high, and realized it was really ‘Axl Rose and Company,’ I think they pulled it off as well as they could.”

The concert that entered GNR lore was the 1991 show, an epic performance before the group splintered. The band came to Greensboro ahead of “Use Your Illusion” I and II, albums that were delayed in what would become a pattern for the band. Clay Howard saw back-to-back GNR shows in Charlotte and Raleigh that summer.

“Greensboro was like twice as long,” said Howard, a Kernersville resident and veteran front man for several area bands who now performs under his own name. “They were good shows, both of them. In Greensboro they played forever.”

He’s only exaggerating slightly: The band played for nearly four hours that night, taking the stage long after the opening band, Skid Row, finished its set. The crowd was as volatile as the band that night, with multiple fistfights breaking out during the lull between acts.

“That was back in the days when you could drink and smoke in the coliseum,” Meyer said. “Beers didn’t cost $9, and you go load up in the parking lot, then come in and see a show.”

He wondered what was happening backstage. The band had a reputation for heroin abuse and other extreme behavior. Original drummer Steven Adler had just been replaced by Matt Sorum. Izzy Stradlin, a founding member and rhythm guitarist who co-wrote the band’s biggest hits, would leave before the end of 1991.

“You didn’t know if somebody had OD’d in the back, or if there was a fight,” Meyer said.

Parke Puterbaugh, a veteran music journalist and author, gave the show a glowing review for the Greensboro News and Record.

“They are as electrifying as any band that has ever taken a stage,” he wrote at the time. “Quite simply, they are the heirs apparent to the rebellious rock and roll tradition of the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith — and to be honest, neither of those band has ever exuded the raw power and outright danger the Gunners summon at will.”

Tim Beeman of Winston-Salem also attended that 1991 show. He is a singer and host of multiple podcasts on The Less Desirables network. He remembers Rose promising a memorable show.

“He said, ‘We’re gonna make it up to you because we’re so late,’” Beeman said.

The band proceeded to deliver, playing songs from “Appetite” as well as every song from the then-unreleased “Use Your Illusion” I and II.

“Some of the new songs chugged along in the bluesy, boozy vein of ‘Exile on Main Street’-era Stones,” Puterbaugh wrote. “‘Bad Obsession’ featured a sinuous slide-guitar intro from Slash, while ‘Dust ’n Bones’ was sung by rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin while Rose shook a tambourine. Another new one, ‘Perfect Crime,’ was taken at a manically fast tempo; Axl Rose sang it as throttlingly hard as I’ve ever heard anyone sing.”

Beeman noted the stark contrast between the onstage personae of Slash and Rose.

Slash was “just so laid back about it,” Beeman said. “To borrow a youngster’s term now, he’s just chill. He would play his bluesy, soulful solos and let Axl run around like a chihuahua.”

Rose went through several outfit changes over the course of the show, taking the stage wearing only cycling shorts and Doc Marten boots along with his trademark head bandanna. He donned a kilt during another segment of the show, and sang some songs wearing a baseball catcher’s mask and chest protector. During the encore he wore a stopwatch around his neck.

“After the last note of the last song, he looked at the stopwatch and said, ‘Yeah,’” Meyer said. “He announced to the crowd, ‘That’s the longest we’ve ever played.”

The show’s instantly legendary status was confirmed the following day on “MTV News.” Beeman woke up to the report after a very late night at the Greensboro Coliseum. The news anchor noted that it was the first time GNR had played every song from both “Use Your Illusion” albums.

“Kurt Loder said, ‘Guns N’ Roses played an epic show in Greensboro, North Carolina, last night, blah blah blah blah blah,’” Beeman said. “I’m like, ‘Whoa, that’s us!’”

THEY'RE OFF THE STREETS, BUT IT'S STILL A HARD LIFE FOR GUNS N' ROSES

PARKE PUTERBAUGH
Special to the News & Record

Guns N' Roses' new album isn't out. Apparently, it isn't even finished. The latest projections are that it will not hit the stores until late July or early August.

What makes its nonappearance curious is that the band has already embarked on a marathon two-year tour. They are largely performing material from an LP no one has heard before. That in itself violates some basic etiquette of arena-rock tours, which says that in return for their 20-buck tickets, concertgoers expect to hear something familiar for a few hours.

Beyond that issue, the much-delayed project raises the question, just how much time does it take a hard-rock band to make a record?

In a genre in which "Sgt. Pepper''-caliber works are few and far between, it seems incredibly indulgent to spend years getting an album together, especially one with song titles like "Pretty Tied Up,'' "Bad Apples,'' "Coma'' and "Right Next Door to Hell.'' Guitarist Slash has said, "I think there's a swear word of some sort on every song.''

Guns N' Roses really has yet to produce a sequel to "Appetite for Destruction,'' their first album. That record, which sold 12 million copies worldwide, became the most successful debut album in rock history. Their next release was "G N' R Lies,'' but that was only a mini-album hashed together out of old live tapes and a handful of new acoustic numbers. It was more of a holding action than a full-fledged follow-up.

"Appetite for Destruction'' appeared in August 1987; if "Use Your Illusion'' surfaces this summer, four years will have passed between LPs - long enough to earn a college degree. But members of this band of misbehavers, only one of whom even has a high-school diploma, instead spent those years dodging arrest, uttering racial slurs, getting divorced, threatening to break up, destroying property and parading their drug and alcohol problems in public.

During last year's nationally televised American Music Awards ceremony, for instance, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan showed up to accept Guns N' Roses' awards in a state of near-catatonic drunkenness. Stumbling to the podium, Slash unleashed a torrent of swear words that triggered a national furor.

Meanwhile, some in the rock world have begun waxing skeptical about Guns N' Roses' ongoing bent for controversy and conspicuous lack of new music.

"Are (they) gonna keep putting off this album? Are (they) gonna take it somewhere?'' wondered Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, whose own debut album has gone Top Five and sold several million. "To be given that position, man, I'd use it to my fullest advantage.''

Peter Buck of R.E.M., which saw its latest album go to No. 1, summarily dismissed Guns N' Roses with the quip: "They're a Benny Hill parody of what a rock 'n' roll band should be.''

Still, the world is waiting with baited breath for the Gunners' (as fans call them) recorded return. An executive for the Tower Records chain hyperbolically prophesied to Rolling Stone: "There haven't been a lot of good, big rock records lately. Maybe this will be it. Maybe this will be the messiah that comes to save the record business.''

Though its members might seem outwardly degenerate, Guns N' Roses is dead serious about its music. Surprisingly, "Use Your Illusion'' has been held up not because the band has been lazy about getting down to business, but because they've labored almost obsessively on it.

Over the past few years, the group has recorded a staggering 38 songs - and they intend to release all of them. In an audacious move, "Use Your Illusion'' will be issued in two volumes, each packed with 75 minutes' worth of music, each released at the same time. In the old days of vinyl LPs, that would have filled a four-album boxed set. Such a weighty collection usually signals a career retrospective, not an ordinary release.

But then Guns N' Roses is no ordinary band.

Singer Axl Rose was a self-professed outcast who spent three months in jail at one point and was threatened with long-term incarceration as a "habitual criminal'' in his hometown of Lafayette, Ind. His real name is Bill Bailey; however, you can be sure no one is Lafayette was singing, "Won't you come home ... ?'' Indeed, he ran away to Los Angeles, where he hooked up with a friend from back home, guitarist Izzy Stradlin (born Jeff Isabelle).

Together with Slash (real name: Saul Hudson), the product of a radical, liberated Hollywood upbringing, Guns N' Roses began taking shape in 1985. The name combines two bands they had been members of: L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. They were rounded out by bassist McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. (Adler has since been kicked out because of drug problems.)

The group's early days were harrowing, as they subsisted in a state of near-homelessness on the cruel streets of Hollywood. "Welcome to the Jungle,'' from their first album, is a firsthand account of that scarifying milieu.

Because they came up from the streets, there was an unforced, brutal honesty about their music that set Guns N' Roses apart from the hordes of glam-metal haircut bands then making the rounds of the Sunset Boulevard clubs.

Major labels began sniffing around their shows; finally, Geffen Records signed them to a deal in March 1986.

The group will surely not be remembered as one of the "feelin' good'' bands of the era.

Slash, who carried around a debilitating heroin habit for some time, summed up the band's - and by extension, its audience's - outlook in a Rolling Stone cover story: "I'm not into 'life for life's sake.' '' Asked if the band could survive substance abuse and personality conflicts, he shot back, "It doesn't matter. What kind of priority is that?''

As grizzly and unrelenting a hard-rock album as has ever been made, "Appetite for Destruction'' carried Guns N' Roses to the top. It was voted one of the 100 best albums of the decade by Rolling Stone critics.
To its credit, the band managed to survive the fast-lane existence that attended its sudden fame. Lately, in fact, they've been looking and sounding stronger than ever.

What's more, tempestuous singer Axl Rose actually has sounded a little, well, mellow.

Talking about Guns N' Roses more focused, clear-headed and less anarchic stage manner on this tour, he told writer Kim Neely: "It's a nicer vibe. I think everybody leaves feeling good. You know, they might not have had the most heavy, violent rock 'n' roll time of their lives like they expected, but I think they leave feeling real good and happy about things.''

Now, if they would only turn loose that album.

***
Want to go?

Guns N' Roses, with opening act Skid Row, appears in concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Greensboro Coliseum. Reserved seat Tickets, at $23.50 apiece, are available at the coliseum box office and area Ticketmaster outlets. Call (919) 834-4000 for phone orders. Call 373-7474, for more information. A quiet room for parents will be provided.

HARD-ROCKERS PARTY NIGHT AWAY AT EAR-SHATTERING METAL JAM

PARKE PUTERBAUGH
Special to the News & Record

Guns n' Roses and Skid Row packed the Greensboro Coliseum with 10,000 hard-rock fans Tuesday night. One band was great, the other egregious.

Skid Row were the musical offenders, opening the show with an hour of ear-shattering, amelodic heavy metal. Their unironic name suits them to a T; they are the end of the road and the bottom of the barrel - musically speaking.

Bare-chested singer Sebastian Bach, who wore skintight leather pants and little else, must have set a house record for use of the adjectival form of a naughty expletive that begins with “f.'' The guitarists' long hair flapped to the flailing beat like calvary guidons during a charge.

Skid Row outdoes the legendary Spinal Tap in the decibels department. I wouldn't be surprised to learn their amps go to 12. When the hellish din died down between songs, Bach regaled the crowd with exhortations like, “Are you drinkin' alcohol tonight, mother------s?'' That query served to introduce a song titled “Get the F--- Out.''

Sweating and posing like a young, decadent Greek god, Bach strained his vocal cords to a stream of gruesomely tuneless songs about rebellion such as ``Youth Gone Wild'', throwing in the obligatory acoustic love ballad “I Remember You'' at the end. The crowd stood on their feet and screamed for more. Go explain.

More than an hour passed between Skid Row's exodus and Guns n' Roses' entrance. Halftime entertainment included several fistfights, one involving a chase around the arena, accompanied by cheering and chanting from the crowd. The intercom played old records by Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and the Sex Pistols. The crowd grew restless and edgy, and just at the point where the tension began peaking, Guns n' Roses exploded onstage.

They are as electrifying as any band that has ever taken a stage. Quite simply, they are the heirs apparent to the rebellious rock and roll tradition of the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith - and to be honest, neither of those band has ever exuded the raw power and outright danger the Gunners summon at will.

They opened with three of the most ferocious songs from their debut album – “Welcome to the Jungle,'' “Mr. Brownstone'' and “It's So Easy'' - before premiering some powerful new material from “Use Your Illusion,'' their forthcoming album. Singer Axl Rose, wearing a plaid kilt and a baseball catcher's padding, whirled around the stage in a blur, attacking each song with ferocious conviction.

Some of the new songs chugged along in the bluesy, boozy vein of Exile on Main St.-era Stones. “Bad Obsession'' featured a sinuous slide-guitar intro from Slash, while “Dust 'n Bones'' was sung by rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin while Rose shook a tambourine. Another new one, “Perfect Crime,'' was taken at a manically fast tempo; Axl Rose sang it as throttlingly hard as I've ever heard anyone sing.

The group takes real risks onstage; they jump off 5-foot risers in mid-solo, charge recklessly around the stage, and animate their music with an astonishing outpouring of energy.

As the deadline for this review loomed, well more an hour into the show, Guns n' Roses claimed they were just warming up. If the Greensboro Coliseum has melted down by morning, you'll know the reason why.

BAND ROCKS TILL MORNING

Guns N' Roses played the Greensboro Coliseum Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning, too.

In fact, by the time the California hard-rockers unplugged their amps, it was after 2 a.m.

“Three hours, 35 minutes and 19 seconds!'' lead singer Axl Rose crowed to the crowd of 10,000 at one point. “How about that, Greensboro?''

Guns N' Roses took the stage about 10 p.m. and was scheduled to play until midnight, according to Larry Bowman, the coliseum's operations manager. But it didn't turn out that way.

“The crowd seemed to be enjoying the event, and the band seemed to be enjoying the crowd,'' Bowman said.

No regulations prevent an act from continuing into the wee hours, but Bowman said he had never known of it happening before.

Blackstar wrote:Post show report in Greensboro News & Record, June 27, 1993:

BAND ROCKS TILL MORNING

Guns N' Roses played the Greensboro Coliseum Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning, too.

In fact, by the time the California hard-rockers unplugged their amps, it was after 2 a.m.

“Three hours, 35 minutes and 19 seconds!'' lead singer Axl Rose crowed to the crowd of 10,000 at one point. “How about that, Greensboro?''

Guns N' Roses took the stage about 10 p.m. and was scheduled to play until midnight, according to Larry Bowman, the coliseum's operations manager. But it didn't turn out that way.

“The crowd seemed to be enjoying the event, and the band seemed to be enjoying the crowd,'' Bowman said.

No regulations prevent an act from continuing into the wee hours, but Bowman said he had never known of it happening before.

Soulmonster wrote:
From 1993 or 1991?

Whisky wrote:According to various reviews we have of this show, here are some songs, so maybe the first 3 songs are in the right order:

- Welcome To The Jungle
- Mr. Brownstone
- It's So Easy
- Bad Obsession
- Dust N' Bones
- Perfect Crime

60 years of rocking out at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex

By Eddie Huffman

The Greensboro Coliseum Complex has seen a lot of history in its 60 years, including a campaign appearance by Richard Nixon in 1960, N.C. State’s national basketball championship in 1974, and an unprecedented five-night stand by country music superstar Garth Brooks in 2014. A “Holiday on Ice” show launched the Coliseum on Oct. 29, 1959, and in the succeeding six decades, it has presented ACC basketball tournaments, monster truck rallies, U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Carolina Cougars and UNCG basketball games, circuses, arena football games, and much more.

For years, the Coliseum was one of the largest arenas in the South. It’s a natural tour stop between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, and it remains a favored destination for music stars well into the 21st century. Here are memories of 25 unforgettable concerts that have rattled the Coliseum walls across more than half a century.

[...]

Guns N’ Roses — June 25, 1991

Reportedly one of the longest shows Guns N’ Roses ever played, with music powerful enough to justify its 3.5-hour length. The band played its biggest hits (“Sweet Child o’ Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Patience”) along with a broad sampling of songs from the long-delayed “Use Your Illusion” albums, which would finally hit stores 11 weeks after this concert. The show was also noteworthy for some brutal fistfights that broke out between fans before GnR hit the stage around 10 p.m., long after Skid Row wrapped up their opening set. Axl Rose modeled several memorable costume changes: At one point he appeared in a plaid kilt, another time wearing a baseball catcher’s mask and chest protector. For this night, at least, Slash was the greatest guitar player on earth.

[...]

Whisky wrote:Hey, we could update setlist from this. Read the comments

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/guns-n-roses/1991/greensboro-coliseum-greensboro-nc-43dcd3c3.html

Soulmonster wrote:

Whisky wrote:Hey, we could update setlist from this. Read the comments

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/guns-n-roses/1991/greensboro-coliseum-greensboro-nc-43dcd3c3.html

The problem with trusting Setlist.fm is that it is frequently messed with by trolls. In this case I don't think that's the problem, but more the time that has now passed since the show happened. "Axl_1992" added the full setlist about a year ago to setlist.fm but did not include Dust N' Bones and Perfect Crimes, two songs we have very good reason to believe were played since they were mentioned in a contemporary review (https://www.a-4-d.com/t1831-1991-06-25-greensboro-coliseum-greensboro-usa#14616). I tend to trust contemporary sources more than the memory of people 30 years later.

Whisky wrote:

Soulmonster wrote:

Whisky wrote:Hey, we could update setlist from this. Read the comments

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/guns-n-roses/1991/greensboro-coliseum-greensboro-nc-43dcd3c3.html

The problem with trusting Setlist.fm is that it is frequently messed with by trolls. In this case I don't think that's the problem, but more the time that has now passed since the show happened. "Axl_1992" added the full setlist about a year ago to setlist.fm but did not include Dust N' Bones and Perfect Crimes, two songs we have very good reason to believe were played since they were mentioned in a contemporary review (https://www.a-4-d.com/t1831-1991-06-25-greensboro-coliseum-greensboro-usa#14616). I tend to trust contemporary sources more than the memory of people 30 years later.

Ok, but if you read comment by Pacfanweb, he list many songs was played, like Lomotive and Coma.

Soulmonster wrote:

Whisky wrote:

Soulmonster wrote:

Whisky wrote:Hey, we could update setlist from this. Read the comments

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/guns-n-roses/1991/greensboro-coliseum-greensboro-nc-43dcd3c3.html

The problem with trusting Setlist.fm is that it is frequently messed with by trolls. In this case I don't think that's the problem, but more the time that has now passed since the show happened. "Axl_1992" added the full setlist about a year ago to setlist.fm but did not include Dust N' Bones and Perfect Crimes, two songs we have very good reason to believe were played since they were mentioned in a contemporary review (https://www.a-4-d.com/t1831-1991-06-25-greensboro-coliseum-greensboro-usa#14616). I tend to trust contemporary sources more than the memory of people 30 years later.

Ok, but if you read comment by Pacfanweb, he list many songs was played, like Lomotive and Coma.

Embarassing. I wasn't aware there were more comments.

I agree, Pacfanweb seems trustworthy so I have added those songs he was confident about. We can speculate on the order of songs, but it is probably not as setlist.fm lists it.

Whisky wrote:No problem man. Thanks for update this topic