1991.12.28 - Suncoast Dome, St. Petersburg, USA

Jay Kirschenmann wrote:
'GLORIFIED GARAGE BAND' TO STORM STAGE IN ST. PETE

From an L.A. bar band to a headlining act in a mere four years, Guns N' Roses is at the peak of its popularity, despite what happened in St. Louis earlier this year.

Lead singer Axl Rose, apparently mad at "lax security'' when someone in the crowd tried to take his picture, leaped into the crowd, scuffled with the fans and then left the concert. About 60 people were injured in the resulting riot.

A press release from the Florida Suncoast Dome, St. Petersburg, regarding the band's Saturday concert, prominently includes the warning: "Cameras and video recorders will NOT be permitted.''

No kidding: They wouldn't want to get Axl mad again. Perhaps overcompensating, the folks at Geffen Records sent The Bradenton Herald four sheets of 20 color slides and a stack of black and white pictures instead of the usual two or three pictures. (But someone should have told Slash, lead guitarist, that his pants were unbuttoned before all those expensive photo sessions began.)

Also earlier this year the band was 2 1/2 hours late to a Long Island concert. But, they're famous now. Stars. Here's where they came from, according to their record label:

The Gunners began in Hollywood in 1985. The "roses,'' singer W. Axl Rose and bassist Duff "Rose'' McKagan, teamed up with Slash, guitarist Izzy Stradlin and drummer Steven Adler to take the L.A. club circuit by storm.

It was fall 1986 when Guns N' Roses produced and released their four-song Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide on its own Uzi Suicide Record Company label. An alert Geffen Records executive watched the crowds, listened to the music and signed the band to a recording contract.

Appetite For Destruction followed in July 1987, and the band toured, opening for The Cult, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden and Aerosmith. The album broke into the Top 100 and then shot to No. 1, where it remained for five weeks. Three singles hit the Top 10: Sweet Child O' Mine (No. 1), Paradise City (No. 5) and Welcome To The Jungle (No. 7). The band also won the 1988 MTV Award as Best New Artist for their Welcome . . . video.

In November 1988 Guns N' Roses released G N' R Lies. When the album hit the No. 2 chart position, the band members became the only artists in the 1980s to have two albums simultaneously chart in the Top 5.

The single Patience earned a No. 4 chart spot, and the album was nominated for a Grammy Award. The band was lauded by Rolling Stone magazine's Annual Reader's Poll as the "Best New American Band,'' and the critic's poll for "Best Heavy Metal Band'' and "Best Male Singer.''

In 1989 the band appeared in concerts with The Rolling Stones, and Sweet Child O' Mine won both an American Music Award for Favorite Single, Pop/Rock, and the MTV award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Video.

The band contributed to two albums in 1990: Days Of Thunder, the sound track to the film of the same name, with a cover of Bob Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door, and Nobody's Child, the project to aid Romanian orphans, with the song Civil War.

The band reluctantly fired Adler in July after repeatedly trying to help him resolve the drug problems that hindered his drumming. His replacement: Matt Sorum, drummer for The Cult. Also, keyboardist Dizzy Reed, a friend from the early club days, was added in 1990 to give some additional color to the sound. In mid-November Stradlin was replaced by Gilby Clarke.

This summer Guns N' Roses kicked off their two-year world tour as headliners. The first leg encompassed 35 dates in the United States and Canada, almost all of which were sold out despite an ailing economy that was not as kind to other artists.

The band began the tour before recently simultaneously releasing its second and third studio albums, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. Why two albums?

"In addition to the new songs, we wanted to do some of the songs we couldn't do on the first album because of time and finances,'' Slash said in the Geffen Records release. "We wanted to clean the slate so on the next album we can start fresh.''

The albums contain Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door; Paul McCartney's Live And Let Die (now playing on MTV); and Get In The Ring, a song that lashes out at the press. The albums combine heavy metal rock on some tracks, and soft ballads with acoustic guitars on others. There's even some blues, as on Bad Obsession, with tasty harmonica licks.

Despite Axl's antics - like leaving the St. Louis concert in a big pout - the albums and live shows have gained good reviews. Slash says it's the fans who make the shows good.

"Sometimes people don't realize how important it is that we get our energy from the crowd,'' he said. "When we play, we're halfway there, but the crowd's the other half. I've always thought the crowd and us are one and the same. We're really a glorified garage band and we play as long as we can, just because we enjoy the music.''

A December "year in review'' story in Rolling Stone observed: "Guns N' Roses: violence and romance. If the band can continue to transform its obsessions into such terrible beauty, time will eventually burn away the chaos of the everyday, and the work itself will loom large, indeed.''

Mike Niewodowski wrote:GUNS N' ROSES ROCK OUT

The Guns N' Roses concert on Dec. 28 was a very memorable experience. The controversial band filled the Florida Suncoast Dome with a crowd of about 38,000.

Special guest Soundgarden entertained the crowd with tracks from their new album, Bad Motor Finger. The crowd was very receptive to the band.

Following Soundgarden, there was a long wait in which the fans became more and more excited with every passing minute. When the lights finally went down and the first chords of Welcome to the Jungle were struck, the crowd was livid with excitement.

Guns N' Roses thrilled St. Petersburg with hits such as You Could Be Mine, Mr. Brownstone and Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die. The concert was balanced with ballads such as Don't Cry, Patience and Estranged. Axl Rose, lead singer, displayed his talent on the piano during another ballad, November Rain.

Lead guitarist Slash had several solos, including a version of the theme from The Godfather. Another solo was very bluesy and opened up into a hard rock blues song, Bad Obsession.

Rose gave up the microphone to Duff McKagan for two songs. McKagan, bass guitarist of the band, sang a nameless song to a lo cal DJ, Austin Keyes, who apparently had offended him at an earlier time. The other song, So Fine, had backing vocals by Rose.

Rose lashed out at the press, saying, ``Now it's time for Axl's temper tantrum. You'll tell me you didn't get your money's worth if I don't.''

The band then launched into Double Talkin' Jive, which was dedicated to the press.

Izzy Stradlin, the band's old rhythm guitarist, has been replaced by Gilby Clark. This was Clark's first concert. Newcomer Matt Sorum, drummer, had a long solo that opened up the song Rocket Queen. A major highlight was Bob Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door. The entire 38,000 fans were screaming along to the chorus. Guns N' Roses finished the evening with Paradise City, a No. 1 hit from their first album, Appetite For Destruction.

Security was extra tight at the concert. Everyone had to go through metal detectors or be checked by a security guard before entering the dome. The floor and aisles were lined with guards. The only visible break in security was when an excited fan leaped onto the stage. He quickly was thrown back down into the crowd.

When rage becomes routine

The Guns N' Roses tour slams into town Saturday with two new members.

By Philip Booth

LIKE THE ROLLING Stones, a band whose spirit and music are invoked all over both big-selling “Use Your Illusion” albums, Guns N’ Roses got much early-career steam out of a career as bad boys of rock ’n’ roll.

First came the reports of heroin and hard living on the streets of Los Angeles and in Sunset Strip clubs.

Then arrived “Appetite for Destruction,” one of the most genuinely exciting hard-rock debuts of the last decade, thanks to the raw, vigorous "Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City” singles and the hit ballad “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” The sci-fi gore cover, featuring the aftermath of the rape of a human woman by an alien robot, was yanked after creating controversy that doubtless helped the album sell 13 million copies.

The “G N’ R Lies” EP, a collection of pre-“Appetite” tracks, continued the blatant sexism with the dark, comic “I Used to Love Her” and the much-maligned “One in a Million,” on which lovable lead singer Axl Rose demonstrated his hate for anyone — foreigners, minorities, homosexuals — unlike Axl.

Guns N’ Roses, who bring their much-awaited tour to the Florida Suncoast Dome in St. Petersburg on Saturday, began their 1991 concert trek with two new members in tow: Drummer Matt Sorum from the Cult replaced Steven Adler, who since has sued the band, and Dizzy Reed joined to play keyboards.

Minus an album to plug, the band kicked off a tour on Memorial Day weekend, with the band earning kudos for its powerful, unbridled performances and Axl earning bad marks for regular temper tantrums and delays of up to three hours.

In St Louis on July 2, Axl’s shenanigans — he stopped the show after jumping into the crowd to pick a fight with a concertgoer who was photographing the show — provoked a show-ending riot that yielded 60 injuries, $200,000 in damages to the venue and a growing pile of lawsuits.

The “Use Your Illusion” albums, which have sold 6 million copies since going on sale Sept. 17 at midnight, likely have turned the most talked about group of the past decade into a band destined for the history books.

The two 76-minute albums (which cost fans more than a double CD set would have) were unanimously praised as explosive, revealing documents of new rock royalty at its most creative peak.

The music is equal parts hard rock, bluesy Southern boogie and borrowings from Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and the Stones.

Axl grinds his ex (Erin Everly) on the delicately titled “Back Off Bitch,” “You Could Be Mine” and “You Ain’t the First,” addresses drug abuse on “Coma” and “Bad Obsession,” whines about the music writers who have inadvertently helped his career on the names-naming “Get in the Ring,” and turns to treacly love songs on “Don’t Cry” and “November Rain.”

There’s more, including the appealingly rocking “You Could Be Mine,” a hit single from the “Terminator 2” soundtrack: the surprisingly sensitive, piano-boosted “Estranged”; uneven covers of Bob Dylan's “Knockin' on Heaven’s Door” and Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die”; and bondage anthem “Pretty Tied Up.”

The career-fueling controversy, surrounding the exploits of a band which always seems to be on the verge of breaking up, haven’t let up: guitarist Izzy Stradlin, an integral part of the band since day one, has been replaced by Gilbey Clarke, of Kill for Thrills.

Negative reviews of New York shows (“the most surprising part of its set was how routine it seemed,” New York Times critic Jon Pareles wrote) prompted the band to cease providing tickets to reviewers.

So, for Saturday, count on a bracing, rampaging, maybe even inspired set from Rose, Slash, Stradlin, Clarke, Reed and bassist Duff McKagan. Dressed in black lingerie will be two backup singers and three horn players.

Expectations are high. It’s up to Axl.

Guns Ν’ Roses

WITH: Soundgarden

WHEN: Saturday at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Florida Suncoast Dome, St. Petersburg

TICKETS: $16.50 (plus service charge), available at TicketMaster outlets

Axl & friends make wait worthwhile

Guns Ν’ Roses turns out to be more than the sum of its parts

By PHILIP BOOTH
Tribune Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG — If rock ’n’ roll — the often maligned variety of popular music that made an encouraging comeback this year — needs a hero for the ’90s, then Axl Rose may be the guy for the job.

And Guns N’ Roses must be the band.

The Los Angeles hard rockers, who gave an emotional, often stunning 2 1/2-hour performance in front of a 34,000-strong Florida Suncoast Dome audience on Saturday night, have been fighting potentially damaging rumors on the concert trail.

Yes, Rose and buds didn’t take the stage until a full 80 minutes after the conclusion of a scintillating, dark-hued set by Seattle alternative act Soundgarden.

Yes, security was tighter than usual (metal detectors, a ban on alcohol and a general attitude of caution on the part of Suncoast Dome officials), thanks to fears spawned by a St. Louis riot that Rose has been blamed for provoking.

Yes, the band’s oversexed video crew persuaded a handful of attractive young women to doff their tops for the cameras, projecting the images onto three giant screens hanging above the stage.

And, also no surprise, Rose took time to blast the people who have helped make the Indiana native a household name (and face): rock reporters.

“Usually, this is the part of the show where Axl throws his tantrum, and I know you paid good money to see it,” he said, in a rare moment of self-effacement.

Seconds later, he reverted to his old short-memory self, giving “the press” the word for fornication. “They got nothing to do with this show tonight,” he explained.

But it was the music, and the band’s powerful, charismatic delivery, that made the show a legitimate rock event and ultimately will provide lasting power for a group of musicians who have more than once seemed on the verge of breaking up.

The show, reportedly conducted without the benefit of a set list, surged into motion with guitarist Slash’s first few chugging notes from “Welcome to the Jungle.”

A palpable rush of excitement could be felt as Rose — clad in bright-red tight shorts and jacket — ran onto the stage, belting out the bittersweet words to his fast-lane ode.

The warm-up continued with “Mr. Brownstone,” a rather overworked cover of Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” and Rose’s mini-tantrum.

After that, the band seldom interrupted its riveting forward motion, from the thrashing rhythms of “Double Talkin’ Jive” to the sprawling terrain of “Civil War”; from the acoustic-boosted grooves of "Patience” to bassist Duff McKagan’s new “Attitude,” rather venomously dedicated to a certain area hard-rock radio personality.

There was more, including high school hanky songs and future homecoming themes "Don’t Cry” and “November Rain,” urgent anthems “You Should Be Mine” (from the “Terminator 2” soundtrack) and “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and a gospel-boosted, sing-along version of Bob Dylan’s "Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

And for the encore: bashed-heart treatise “Estranged”; an R & B-anchored tune that featured the work of the scantily clad 976 horn section; and a churning finale of “Paradise City” with all 12 members of the band’s performing entourage.

Rose and his band mates, who last played the Tampa Bay area four years ago, have since tightened their attack and broadened their musical textures considerably.

Gone are drummer Steven Adler and guitarist Izzy Stradlin, replaced by Matt Sorum (the Cult) and Gil-bey Clarke, respectively. Dizzy Reed and another musician man the keyboards. Wearing perhaps fewer clothes than the horn women are two female backup singers.

More impressive than the time-perfect propulsion of Sorum or the honky-tonk spicings of Reed, though, were the multicolored explorations of Slash, the Keith Richards to Rose’s Mick Jagger.

Slash, who seems to be taking a more active leadership role in the band in the wake of Stradlin’s recent, hurried departure, filled his solo explorations and theme work with as many emotions as those evoked by Rose’s singing.

One segment had the guitar slinger move from semi-classical Latin shadings to bluesy wah wah declarations and a snippet of “Auld Lang Syne.” Later, Slash and Clarke teamed on a snippet of the Rolling Stones’ "Wild Horses,” and the two played dueling slide-guitar parts on “Bad Obsession.”

But soaring, effectively phrased melody lines, which served as foils to Rose’s always urgent vocals, represented Slash’s most effective work.

All of the Gunners, during their best moments, likewise proved to be players who haven’t abandoned resourceful band dynamics — listening, reacting, settling into the grooves, understanding the rules of tension and release, prone to combusting without warning — for empty motions.

And that’s a rarity.

Philip Booth is the Tribune’s pop music critic.

***

Caption: Axl Rose is as comfortable crooning a ballad as he is ripping off a hard rocker. His bandmates demonstrated equal versatility during Saturday’s concert at the Suncoast Dome.

Rock's big Guns on target

Superstar band Guns N’ Roses delivers a high-caliber performance at the Dome in St. Petersburg.

By ERIC SNIDER
Times Pop Music Critic

ST. PETERSBURG — You don't get to be the world's biggest rock ’n’ roll band for no reason. Guns Ν’ Roses proved they deserve the honor Saturday night at the Florida Sun-coast Dome by thrilling a crowd of more than 31,000 with a dynamic display.

The Gunners, fronted by singer Axl Rose and guitarist Slash, have that intangible element that transcends good songs and tight playing.

They generate waves of excitement. Despite superstar status, the group never seemed to go through the motions. In fact, Guns N’ Roses has no set song order. The show unfolds impromptu, which makes it feel loose.

The band started, appropriately, with Welcome to the Jungle, a high-energy romp. Rose bounded on stage clad in bright red hot pants — I guess you’d call them — and a matching jacket. He was a dervish from the outset, running the full expanse of the large stage, doing his trademark wiggling dance moves, jumping and generally carrying on. His voice was in strong form, ranging from full shriek to more reflective moments. He was, quite simply, a charismatic presence.

Slash’s guitar work was exemplary. Unlike many of today’s rockers who are slaves to technique, he played with soul — fiery at times, restrained at others. Once a rather stationary performer, he did his share of cavorting about the stage.

Guns N’ Roses ran through a variety of material, from the power ballad Don‘t Cry to the pell-mell punk of Double Talkin' Jive to a metallic cover of Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die.

The show was just hitting full stride when my deadline rolled around.

Intermission — the term is used loosely — has become an integral part of the Guns N’ Roses experience. Fans can expect to wait as much as two hours after the opening act finishes. Saturday night, it was 90 minutes.

During the break, video cameras scanned the crowd, projecting images over several large screens. They focused on attractive young women, who drew cheers if they made provocative gestures. All told, it was a clever ruse to kill time. And for most among the crowd, the hour and a half probably passed rather quickly.

Earlier, as 7 o’clock dissolved into 7:30, the crowd filed in, milled about. 7:35: Soundgarden, the heavy, heavy band from Seattle, hit the stage to general disinterest. But it didn't take long for the quartet to captivate the half-full Dome with mountains of guitars and the piercing vocals of frontman Chris Cornell.

At its best, Soundgarden plays lumbering, mid-tempo beats that come at you like an angry brontosaurus. Dark, menacing. Occasionally, the group would rip into a lightning thrash groove, changing the dynamics to the delight of the crowd.

Because Soundgarden has yet to crack into rock or Top 40 radio, most concert goers were unfamiliar with the songs. But the music’s bracing power had stong visceral effect.

The wiry Cornell was bare-chested for much of the set. He wore baggy shorts and military boots. His long, wavy hair draped over his face. As he strutted around the stage, flinging his locks and wailing, he seemed a cross between Jim Morrison and Robert Plant. Soundgarden played its set with the attitude of a headliner, which will serve the band well in the future.

No jungle

Dome prepared for rock, but show rolls smoothly

Guns N’ Roses fans have been unruly elsewhere, but the St. Petersburg concert proceeds with only a few scuffles.

By STEVE PERSALL
Times Correspondent

ST. PETERSBURG — Across the nation, Guns N' Roses fans have been known to bring an appetite for disruption to concerts.

But when the mercurial rock band touched down at the Florida Suncoast Dome on Saturday, a sellout crowd estimated at more than 31,000 people was hardly a challenge to the tight security measures.

Without a chance to party in the parking lots beforehand, concertgoers arrived in a festive, rowdy mood, much like any other rock concert crowd, said Dome official Bill Boggs. Aside from a minor incidents of scuffles and problems with intoxicated people during the early evening, nothing was added Saturday to the band’s history of inflammatory appearances.

A steady stream of unruly fans was escorted into the security detention area of the stadium, but this was a minor sampling of concertgoers, compared with the thousands of well-behaved fans inside the venue.

The relatively laid-back nature of the audience was evident from the time the parking lots opened at the stadium.

While Guns N’ Roses pounded through its 4 p.m. soundcheck to an empty arena, dozens of fans wandered outside the Dome. A few paused at gateways, where the muffled strains of Knockin' on Heaven's Door seeped through the walls.

At one gate stood a pair of black-shirted teen-age boys, typical of Guns Ν’ Roses followers who attended Saturday. Even though concert seating was reserved, Mark Gibson, 14, and Tim Arnold, 16, both of Tarpon Springs, were determined to be first in line.

Gibson and Arnold leaned on the chain-link gates and peered inside as longingly as prisoners looking at the outside world.

They had waited there since 9 a.m. — eight hours before the gates opened. Their only ride to the
concert was with a friend’s father, who worked as a concert lighting technician. Both considered the inconvenience worthwhile for a glimpse of their heroes.

“They kick butt, man,” Arnold said.

Just down the walkway, gate security supervisor Pat McCusker relayed last-minute instructions to more than a dozen Dome employees. Vigilance has become a priority at Guns Ν’ Roses shows since a St. Louis concert when a melee broke out involving lead singer Axl Rose.

“We're prepared,” McCusker said when the meeting broke up." (Dome officials) have a lot of contingency plans. The worst-case scenario is civil disorder.”

Security measures were obvious from the outset, with no tailgate parties allowed in the parking lots and hordes of police and private security personnel on hand. Anybody who was obviously intoxicated was denied entry. Bags were searched for contraband, and lines to get in grew as show time approached.

Tardy ticket buyers rushed to ticket windows for obstructed-view seats. Ticket hawkers from as far away as Cleveland appeared to be doing brisk business a few yards away.

Among the youthful crowd, one couple who arrived 30 minutes before show time stood out.

Peggy Morgan, 56, of St. Petersburg and James Rowley, 69, of Greenville, S.C., plunked down $39 for a pair of tickets in search of some unusual Saturday night fun.

“I don’t know much about Guns N’ Roses,” Morgan said. “But I do like rock 'n' roll — like to listen to it sometimes — even though it drives me out of my mind.”

Just as maddening to many concertgoers was a lengthy delay before the Gunners took the stage. After the opening act, Soundgarden, wrapped up its one-hour set, the audience socialized in mostly sober fashion because no beer was served at the show. Aisles and hallways were jammed with those wanting to see and be seen.

The crowd remained largely calm. Fans had waited until the last week of the year for the rock 'n' roll event of 1991. Few wanted to risk being booted out before Rose and his bandmates could issue their Welcome to the Jungle.