1992.01.21 - Target Center, Minneapolis, USA

Jerks? Geniuses? Either way, Guns N’ Roses rock it to the top

Pop/ Guns N’ Roses’ reputation built as much on antics as it is music

By Jon Bream/Staff Writer

Guns Ν’ Roses, America's biggest rock band of the '90s, is both revered and reviled. The band members are perceived as idols by some, idiots by others. Their music has made them heroes, their behavior has made them heels.

No matter how you view them, Guns N’ Roses' concerts Tuesday and Wednesday at Target Center will be the big events on this winter’s rock schedule. Yeah, U2 and John Mellencamp probably are coming here before the snow melts, but no act that travels the arena circuit can match Guns Ν' Roses for urgency, rebelliousness and over-the-edge spirit, all of which have been fundamental hallmarks of rock 'η' roll.

"They are hard-rocking head-bangers who draw from punk and blues and embody the proposition that adolescent energy, anger and attitude fuel the best rock 'η' roll," said the Washington Post.

GNR, a motley crew from Los Angeles, makes some of the best rock 'n' roll of recent years. And, as the band’s moniker suggests, these bad boys make loud, edgy, often dangerous music as well as lovely ballads such as "Sweet Child o’ Mine."

Successors to the Rolling Stones in sound, style, image and excess, Guns N’ Roses has risen quickly to the top of the rock pile. The sextet has sold more than 22 million records since the release of its 3-million-selling “Appetite for Destruction” in 1987. In September GNR issued two albums simulta-neously, and both of them still re-main in Billboard's Top 10 four months later.

As dazzling as their sales figures have been, the behavior of the Gunners has been just as eye-opening.

Or sickening. Here’s a sampling of the rap sheet on GNR:

■ The group wrote and recorded a song, “One in a Million," that offended blacks and gays, and a cou-ple of other tunes have enraged feminists.

■ Even though the Gunners have been notorious consumers of drugs and booze, they kicked out drummer Steven Adler in 1990 for refusing to clean up. He, in turn, has sued them claiming they encouraged his heroin use and fired him while he was trying to kick his addiction. The year before, while onstage in Los Angeles when opening for the Stones, lead singer Axl Rose chastised guitarist Slash for his heroin habit; the next day, onstage, Slash apologized.

■ Slash, who has played on records by Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson, said the F-word twice on live TV on the American Music Awards in 1990.

■ In July Guns Ν' Roses caused a riot at a concert in St. Louis after Rose got into a fight with a fan using a video camera. The band walked offstage and refused to return. About 75 people were injured.

■ At a “homecoming” performance in Indianapolis, Rose launched into a tirade about his parents and school, likening his youth in Lafayette, Ind., to being raised in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

■ One Gunner got arrested for urinating in the galley of an airplane.

■ The band showed up two hours late for a concert in New York City in December. When a New York Times review expressed disappointment about the performance, GNR’s press agent called the critic at the band’s behest and said the band would not go on for its next scheduled New York concert unless the critic would read his review aloud to the concertgoers. He declined.

GNR’s late starts are now common practice. Promoters for the Target Center concerts have changed the announced starting time from 7:30 to 9 p.m. That’s when the opening act, Soundgarden, should hit the stage. Don’t expect the Gunners to explode until, oh, maybe 11. Most arena concerts usually end by 11 p.m.

The lateness of the event means a considerable overtime bill for stagehands; in New York, Rose boasted from the stage that his tardiness was costing the band at least $24,000 in overtime fees.

Rose, 29, is easily the most volatile and combustible figure in rock ’n’ roll. At times he seems like a rebel without a cause or a clue. Yet he has managed to make an art of expressing the frustrations of dispossessed youth, creating, in a brief period of time, an unrivaled body of powerful songs about alienation, chemical addiction, love lost and found. Now if he could only learn to keep his foot out of his mouth.

Bad press/

Guns N’ Roses has been criticized because:

Their song “One in a Million” was offensive to blacks and gays; other tunes have enraged feminists.

They kicked out drummer Steven Adler in 1990 for refusing to quit using drugs.

He, in turn, has sued them claiming they encouraged his heroin use and fired him while he was trying to kick his addiction.

Guitar player Slash said the F-word twice on live TV on the 1990 American Music Awards.

A riot ensued at a July concert in St. Louis after Rose got into a fight with a fan using a video camera. The band walked offstage and refused to return. About 75 people were injured.

At a “homecoming” performance in Indianapolis, Rose launched into a tirade about his parents and school, likening his youth in Lafayette,

Ind., to being raised in Auschwitz.

A band member was arrested for urinating in the galley (kitchen) of an airplane.

When a New York Times review expressed disappointment about a two-hour-late start and the performance, the band said it would not go on for its next scheduled New York concert unless the critic would read his review aloud to the concertgoers. He declined.

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Guns Ν’ Roses
With; Soundgarden.

Where: Target Center, 600 1st Av. N., Minneapolis.

When: 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tickets: $20. Call 989-5151.

Rockin’ back
Guns N’ Roses gives a show with a taste of the old days

Concert/ A mellow, high-school crowd waits patiently for GNR

By Jon Bream
Staff Writer

It was like the old days — before rock concerts became an industry.

The old days when concerts were an event, not just another rote performance by a bunch of traveling businessmen out to make big bucks. The old days when concerts didn't start on time, when there were long waits between bands. Back then, in the 1960s and early '70s, concertgoers played with Frisbees and smoked marijuana to idle away the time. Tuesday night at the Guns N’ Roses concert at Target Center, the concertgoers played with Nerf footballs, sipped soda pop and smoked cigarettes.

They waited patiently and patiently. The opening act, Soundgarden, got onstage 40 minutes after the announced 9 p.m. starting time.

When the band starts depends how Axl Rose, lead singer of GNR, feels, according to Soundgarden road manager Dick Adams.

“The bottom line,” Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell said before going on, “is if you’re trying to incorporate regimen in rock ’n’ roll, you’ll end up with a paradox. It’s like putting a three-dimensional picture in a two-dimensional frame. Rock is supposed to be spontaneous.”

Onstage, Cornell told it straight to the crowd. “You’d better appreciate us. We may be the last band you’ll get to see for a while.”

Darcie Gorell, 23, Apple Valley, and her boyfriend, John Wallin, 27, did not mind the wait. “It’s OK,” shesaid. "We’ve lost all track of time. I don’t know what time it is.”

Regardless of what time the show would end, both Gorell and Wallin planned to be at work at 8 a.m. today.

Jay Petersen, 39, an optometrist from Mound, brought his 12-year-old son Erik to his first concert last night. Petersen vowed to be at work by 7 a.m. and Erik would be waiting for
the bus at 7:30. Petersen tolerated the wait.

“It’s the modern-day ambiance,” he said at intermission. “It’s blows against the empire. If we get the boys home at 3, it’ll put a crimp in school tomorrow. I’d rather have the band start earlier.”

Erik's mother suggested that he go to the concert. Dad approved. “I’m a rocker from way back,” he said. “Guns N’ Roses does a good set. They have lots of solid energy that a
veteran of early rock ’n’ roll can appreciate.”

Actually, the intermission lasted only an hour as GNR took the stage about 11:30 p.m. By then, the four parents sitting in Target Center’s “parents room” were well into their second movie of the night. “What About Bob” and “King Ralph” were the videos for the night.

Just before the end of intermission, a woman from Esko walked into the parents room to find out when the
concert might end so she could search for her 17-year-old son. When told 2 or 2:30, she rolled her eyes and said, “I could go back to Duluth.”

The crowd was pretty mellow, said a Target Center security supervisor. He said the staff had expected concertgoers to be a bit more unruly, like the crowd at Metallica concerts.

The GNR crowd of 16,000 was heavy on high schoolers. But the band has a wide appeal.
“I love their versatility — they can go from rock ’n’ roll to a ballad and back and never quit,” said Gail Jardine, a Ph.D. candidate in American studies at the University of Minnesota. “I really like Axl’s voice, especially his vibrato. It’s really good rock ’n’ roll; they work within the tradition of being on that renegade edge.”

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Caption: While the kids rocked, the parents waited. A room at the Target Center provided sanctuary and movie viewing for parents while their children attended the concert. At right, fans danced to Soundgarden, the warm-up band before Guns N’ Roses took the stage. After an hour long intermission, Guns Ν’ Roses finally appeared at 11:30 p.m. By then the parents were well into the second of their two movies, “What About Bob” and “King Ralph.” Guns Ν' Roses will perform again tonight at the Target Center.

For GNR, the wait is worth it

Band's full tilt performance runs 2 1/2 hours.

By Jon Bream/Staff Writer

A review
Guns Ν’ Roses
Where: Target Center, Minneapolis.

Review: A dynamic, edgy performance by Axl Rose — the most exciting figure in rock music — combined with Slash’s emotional and versatile guitar work made the 2 1/2-hour concert Tuesday highly rewarding, although it was uneven.

Axl Rose, despite all his foibles, is worth it. At least he was Tuesday night at the Target Center. The lead singer of Guns N' Roses is the most exciting figure in rock at the moment. Onstage he was volatile, combustible, manic and crazed. His psychic energy was working overtime. He was mesmerizing and unpredictable; you had no idea what he would do next, and neither did he. Moreover, he was an effective singer, part heavy-metal banshee, part lowdown bluesman.

On Tuesday night, it was easy to forget what a pain in the butt Axl has been to his neighbors, his ex-wife, his band mates, the media, his record label, concert security workers, his home state, and the world at large. On Tuesday night he wasn't doing Blunders N' Poses. He came to rock with his heart and soul, though he did have one outburst at a fan waving an offensive message, and he did indulge in more costume changes than Cher. His dynamic, edgy performance combined with Slash's emotional and versatile guitar work made the 2 1/2 hour concert highly rewarding, although it was uneven.

Guns N' Roses may be America's biggest rock band, but it certainly isn't the best. Often times Tuesday the arrangements lacked focus and the band- Axl, Slash, Duff, Dizzy, Gilby and Matt- lacked road-tested tightness. (The drummer and rhythm guitarist have signed on within the last year; three horn players, two backup singers and a second keyboardist have been added for this tour.) GNR's material is inconsistent, embracing classics ("Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child O' Mine") as well as clunkers, and their set was awkwardly paced.

Influenced by the Rolling Stones' music, style, image and excess, the Gunners showed a propensity for self-indulgence. They devoted a 15 minute segment to mindless solos by drummer Matt Sorum and Slash, and new rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke joined Slash for an ineffective instrumental rendition of the Stones' "Wild Horses." Throughout the concert, Axl had the disconcerting habit of leaving the stage every time Slash played a solo, usually to return wearing a different shirt, coat or hat.

Axl and Slash, GNR's chief songwriting team, make an odd couple. Onstage, Axl is a hyperkinetic exhibitionist with an endless array of outfits, Slash an introspective musician lost in his music and obscured by curls hanging in his face. At times Slash strutted around the stage striking rock-star poses, but compared to Axl- well the manic mouthpiece darted around the ramps and runways at full speed leaping over speakers, monitors and Sorum's drum kit. Even during tender ballads, Axl scurried around at full tilt boogie.

The exceptional work of the live video-camera operators provided wonderful closeups of Axl's crazed eyes and Slash's facile but not flashy fingers, as well as the playing of the other musicians. (All 16,000 people got to see close-ups of Slash's tattoos.) The movements onstage were spontaneous, but the camera people stayed right on top of the action.

One of the most striking images the cameras captured was Axl sitting at the grand piano. He had sliced his right hand in an accident last week in Dayton, Ohio, after which GNR canceled two concerts. The hand was bandaged Tuesday, and he had extra padding around his thumb, which he removed when he sat at the piano. Here was this wild man, wearing a football jersey emblazoned with "Mean Machine," his sweaty long hair stuck to his stubble-covered face, playing a classical flourish on a grand piano that gave way to the tender ballad "November Rain."

Axl, 29, seemed a master of the outrageous juxtaposition. One moment he was doing a singing impression of TV's Mr. Rogers, and the next moment was impersonating Arnold Schwarzenegegger in "Terminator 2." One minute he was crooning his eerie version of Paul McCartney's "Live And Let Die" and the next he stopped, berating a concertgoer holding a sign and then ordering a security guard to remove the man; the next minute Axl announced, "Pick a place Slash man," and the song continued. Among the highlights in the first of GNR's two Target Center concerts (the second was last night) were the opening salvo of "Welcome to the Jungle," "Mr. Brownstone" and "Bad Obsession"; the multidimensional "Civil War"; the powerful "Sweet Child O' Mine"; the moody medium tempo "Estranged," and the closing pop-rock crunch of "Paradise City," after which, at 2:05 AM, Axl tossed roses to the crowd.

Opening the concert was Sound-garden, a Seattle quartet that sounded best when Its rhythm section provided Led Zeppelin-like rumble and the guitarists offered untrippy psychedelia.