1992.01.13 - Erwin-Nutter Center, Dayton, USA

Guns Ν’ Roses fans arrive early for late show

Security up as Nutter Center braces for band

By Dave Larsen
DAYTON DAILY NEWS

Guns Ν’ Roses descended on Dayton this weekend, giving rise to a rash of “Slash sightings,” and an influx of rowdy rock fans.

The band, which played the first of a two-night stand at Wright State University’s Ervin J. Nutter Center on Monday, arrived in town Saturday, surprising shoppers with a stroll through the Dayton Mall, and treating the patrons of McGuffy’s House of Draft to an impromptu blues jam on Sunday night.

“The people that were here obviously got a much more intimate show than they’ll get at the arena,” said John Knauss, owner of McGuffy’s, a 400-seat club in Mad River Twp. “It was fascinating to watch the jaws drop.”

Despite the larger setting, 11,174 fans were anxiously awaiting Guns N’ Roses and opening act Sound-garden at the Nutter Center on Monday night.

“They’re phenomenal,” said GN’R fan Rusty Powers of Marietta, who was sitting in the first few rows in front of the stage. “They’re outrageous!”

“They’re a bad powerful group — ya’ can’t stop ’em,” said David Cole of Kings Mill, who arrived at the concert hall at 4 p.m. to be the first in line when the doors opened at 6:30. Cole and his three friends had camped out for tickets to the show when they went on sale Dec. 14 — and promptly sold out in 72 minutes.

Given Guns N’ Roses’ volatile nature — and the lingering memory of a riot that broke out at the band’s concert in St. Louis in July security at the Nutter Center was tighter than usual Monday night. In addition to the usual “pat down" endured before entering the arena, fans were also checked with metal detectors.

“Our preparedness is at a higher level,” said Tom Oddy, director of the Nutter Center. The metal detectors were used to check con-cert-goers for bottles, cans, cameras and video and audio recording devices, he said.

"Our staffing levels have to be up because it’s a very long show, too," Oddy added. In previous stops on this leg of the tour, Guns Ν' Roses has taken the stage around 11 p.m and played until 1:30 a.m„ stretching the show into the stage crew union’s “golden time.”

“Everyone understands that right up front,” Oddy said. "That’s not a problem." The overtime costs (which totaled $24,000 for one of the band’s shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden) are billed to the presenter, Cellar Door Concerts of Philadelphia “If it makes the difference to having a good show, a little bit of inconvenience is OK,” Oddy said The fans at the Nutter Center on Monday night were anticipating a VERY good show.

"They’re one of the best bands ever," said Jody Jenkins of Bellefontaine, who was seated at the front of the stage. "We’re going to rock our... off.”

“It's 100 percent pure adrenalin," said Diane Longstratt of Philadelphia, who has been following Ν' Roses from city to city with her companion Christopher Crist. The two have become friends with members of the band and had complimentary tickets and backstage passes waiting for them at the box office.

“They’re not rowdy, obnoxious people," Crist stressed. “They’re normal people. They’re all cool.” Shawn Sullivan of Huber Heights, a second year student at Harvard Law School in Cambridge. Mass., also follows the band and flew home for the concerts. Sullivan befriended GN’R bassist Duff McKagan after the latter told a Rolling Stone reporter that he would like to someday attend Harvard Law School.

We said. "Well, c’mon down, Duff, and we'll give you a tour of the campus," Sullivan recalled. The bassist took him up on his offer and repaid Sullivan with a V.I.P pass for the entire tour.

Not everyone in the audience was as devoted a follower of Guns N’ Roses, however. "I don’t like ’em," said Jason Robinson of Piqua, who was seated in the second row. "I'll stay for ’em, but I like Soundgarden.”

Late Guns Ν’ Roses concert start riles fans

By Dave Larsen
DAYTON DAILY NEWS

One of Guns Ν’ Roses biggest hits is a song titled Patience.

Patience, ironically, is what a large number of the rock band’s fans lost when its show scheduled for Monday night at Wright State University’s Ervin J. Nutter Center failed to start until 12:25 a.m. Tuesday.

It didn’t end until 3:05 a.m.

“There was no way that I was going to wait for (Guns N’ Roses) to come out,” said Cindy Wedding of Troy, who left the concert at midnight because she had to be to work at Stouder Hospital at 7 a.m. Tuesday. “Running till midnight would be one thing; not coming out until 12:45 or 1 a.m. is another.”

A crowd of about 20 people gathered outside the Nutter Center’s administrative office angrily demanding refunds after Slash, Guns N’ Roses’ guitarist, announced at 11:52 p.m. that the show would be delayed because of a technical problem with the band’s stage monitors.

The show had been scheduled to start “around 8 p.m.,” according to the tickets. Opening act Soundgarden played from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Despite Slash’s statement, no one was seen on stage or at the sound board attempting to correct the problem with the monitors, and several members of the Nutter Center’s support staff said that the band’s singer, Axl Rose, did not arrive at the venue until after midnight.

“The only thing that I do know is the same thing that everyone else knew,” said Andy E. Long, marketing director for the Nutter Center, on Tuesday. “Slash went on around 11:45, said that all the band members were there and that they were having some amp problems. It was the band’s decision to wait to go on, and the band’s decision to play for 2 1/2 hours.”

Guns N’ Roses has been starting its shows around 11 p.m. and playing until 1:30 a.m. on previous stops on this leg of the band’s tour.

A number of fans left the venue over the course of the performance Monday, but the majority of the audience of 11,174 stayed. Many younger fans formed long lines at the facility’s pay phones to alert , their parents that the show was running late.

“I answered phones from 1:30 to 3:30, and the minority of the phone calls I got were from parents who were trying to find out when the concert ended and why their kids weren’t home yet,” Long said. “And once they found out the concert was still going on, everybody was pretty much comforted.”

“I’ve been to a lot of shows and this is the first time I’ve ever been treated like this,” said a 39-year-old parent from Huber Heights who attended the concert with his 16-year-old son. He asked to remain anonymous because he missed work and his son missed school on Tuesday because they stayed for the duration of the concert. “We didn’t get to bed until 4 o’clock, and we had to get up at 6,” he said.

Rich Pacifico of Dayton, a junior at Butler High School in Vandalia, stayed for Monday night’s show, but attended school Tuesday be-
cause he had final exams. “It was kind of tiring, but it was worth it,” he said.

Pacifico also had tickets for Tuesday night’s performance by Guns N’ Roses at the Nutter Center, but said his parents would not allow him to go “because they think I might get home too late again.”

The Nutter Center did issue a small number of refunds before the band finally made its appearance for the Monday night show, but felt that Guns N’ Roses did fulfill its obligation to perform. Long pointed out that all of the advertising for the concert stated that the presenter would not guarantee what time the show would start or end.

“We have been very up front with that on everything we’ve been doing,” Long said. "Our policy at this point in time is not refunding the tickets after the fact.”

“That ticket is a contract," said Wedding, who left the concert without receiving a refund. “It
stated a specific date and a specific time. As far as I’m concerned, they were paid to show up, and they didn’t—not on that date.” Wedding contacted both the Nutter Center and the concert promoter, Cellar Door Concerts, on Tuesday. "They told me they would not give a refund,” she said.

“I will not go see (Guns N’ Roses) again, and I will not buy any more of their music,” Wedding added. “I think a public apology and refunds from the production company is in order.”

Long said the Nutter Center was working with the promoter and with the band’s management to try to influence Guns N’ Roses to start Tuesday night’s concert at an earlier hour. He was still expecting another late show, however, but said there would be a positive side to getting the band on stage before midnight.

Guns Ν’ Roses arrives late and doesn’t deliver

MUSIC REVIEW

By Dave Larsen
POP MUSIC CRITIC

Guns N’ Roses, blaming a technical problem when an attitude problem seemed the more likely cause, started its Monday night performance at Wright State University’s Ervin J. Nutter Center at 12:25 Tuesday morning.

The crowd grew increasingly unruly as the advertised “around 8 p.m.” showtime crept closer towards midnight. Slash, the band’s guitarist, announced that the main power amp on the stage monitor had blown.

“I didn’t build the... equipment — I just play through it,” he told the booing crowd of 11,174. But the remarks of singer Axl Rose, whom a Nutter Center official said did not arrive at the venue until after midnight, rang closer to the truth.

“You’ve got to realize that this is not a pleasant place for me to play,” said Rose, an Indiana native who explained that his step-father was from Dayton and that he had needed time to prepare himself mentally for the performance. But in asking the audience for its understanding, the singer failed to take into consideration that most of the fans had to be up for school or work a few hours after the show ended at 3:05 a m.

“Who cares?” yelled one concert-goer during Rose’s rambling tirade.

“Shut up and play a song!” shouted someone else. Another nearby GN’R fan remained silent, but that’s because he was fast asleep for most of the show, finally waking up during Matt Sorum’s 2 a.m. drum solo.

The ridiculously late start may have been forgiven if the ensuing show had been worth the wait, but
sadly, that was not the case. The 2-hour-and-40-minute set had its share of exceptional high points, but unlike the band’s outstanding performance in Columbus last June, Guns N’ Roses failed to maintain any sense of momentum.

The show started with a shout of “Good morning, Dayton!” as the band cranked into Welcome to the Jungle, with Rose hurling himself headlong over the network of ramps that spanned the stage and extended into the audience. For all of the singer’s manic energy, Slash was the more physically impressive of the two, leaping to the stage from a 10-foot-high platform while playing. But all was not well with GN’R, and after two more numbers, Mr Brownstone and It’s So Easy, Rose tossed his monitor over the side of the stage (giving credence to Slash’s earlier claims) and stormed off.

One of the band’s most powerful songs, Civil War, finally ignited the set, but the show ebbed again with a cover of the Misfits’ Attitude sung by bassist Duff McKagan. Live and Let Die resumed the intensity, but the musical juggernaut was repeatedly ground to a halt with meandering solos and intros, turning potentially breathtaking songs such as November Rain into drawn-out bores.

Guns N’ Roses, which expanded its lineup with a scantily clad female horn section and backup singers, occasionally delivered a much-needed shot in the arm, such as My Michelle, but by the time the band got to big hits such as Sweet Child O’ Mine, Rose’s raspy voice was shot to shreds.

An encore of Estranged and Paradise City, along with Slash’s apology for the late start, somewhat redeemed the show, but the highly anticipated concert was ultimately a debacle.

Guns Ν’ Roses better late than never

I am writing to complain about the Guns N’ Roses review Dave Larsen wrote (Jan. 15, “Guns N’ Roses arrives late and doesn’t deliver”).

It was full of quotes that were out of context and bull...! I find it very amusing that he failed to mention what Axl Rose said about the media and that the Midwest in general was a ... place to be because of it.

We should be happy that GNR came to Dayton at all; they didn’t have to. Axl was late, but better late than never.

Comparing Tuesday morning’s show to the one in Columbus is lame. The band is only human and will get tired of playing the same show wherever it goes. I happened to enjoy the solos and think that one should accept the band’s diverse talents instead of expecting it to play only the songs that made it into the Top-40. If you only want to listen to their hit songs, buy the ... albums!

I’d rather refer to Axl’s “rambling tirade” as a chat with the audience, and I doubt that anyone could have slept through most of the very loud concert, unless he were on drugs.

Overall, I’d say the concert kicked... and was more than up to my standards for GNR. But personally, I think the ... concert was a ... blowout and Larsen should ... chill out and give the whole ... story with his ... lame opinion.

I’ve always been a die-hard Guns N’ Roses fan, now more than ever.

MIKE SHEIDLER
Bellbrook

Band on major ego trip

Re the Guns N’ Roses concerts on Jan. 13 and 14:

By starting late both nights, the band showed an absolute lack of consideration for its audience.

It is nothing but an ego trip for these people to know that people will sit and wait for hours to see them. What makes Guns N’ Roses (band members) think that the next time they come to Dayton they will be welcomed by sold-out auditoriums? I hope people will get smart and never go to another Guns N’ Roses concert again.

Guns N’ Roses (members) aren’t artists or musicians; they are spoiled brats with big egos. I hope they are considerate enough not to come back!

BETSY LENORE CLARK
Dayton

The last time something like this happened at the Nutter Center was about 10 years ago, when metal band Guns N’ Roses didn’t go on stage until after midnight. [John] Siehl [Nutter Center director] remembers that bratty lead singer Axl Rose was in phone contact with his manager that night, saying he wasn’t ready to perform.

Guns N' Roses spent three nights hanging out at McGufly's House of Draft before the band's two-night stand at the Nutter Center in January 1992.

Axl Rose, Duff McKagan and Rose's then-girlfriend, model Stephanie Seymour, visited the club on Friday night and returned Saturday with the rest of the band. "Slash said, 'We'll be back tomorrow night to play,' " recalled owner John Knauss.

Knauss didn't believe the guitarist, but on Sunday the band members who ate, drank and mingled with fans at the bar gradually drifted in between 10 p.m. and midnight. "About 12 o'clock, Slash comes up and says, 'We're ready.'

"I said, 'For what?' And he said, 'We're gonna play.' "

The band, minus Rose, performed a 30-to 45-minute set of covers, along with a few GN'R hits. "They didn't really concentrate on the Guns N' Roses stuff," Knauss said. "It was more of a laid-back jam session to show people what they could do on somebody else's stuff."

Guns N' Roses skipped out on $179 bar tab, but Knauss didn't mind.

"We'll pay $179 for somebody like that to come in any time and play."