1993.03.06 - New Haven Coliseum, New Haven, USA

Guns N’ Roses tickets going on sale for March shows

By ROGER CATLIN
Courant Rock Critic

Tickets go on sale Friday at 4 p.m. for two Connecticut shows by Guns N’ Roses next March. The band is scheduled to play Saturday, March 6, at the New Haven Coliseum and Tuesday, March 9, at the Hartford Civic Center.

Showtime for the Los Angeles band notorious for going on late is also quite late for an arena show — 8:30 p.m. Opening both shows will be the Brian May Band, a group headed by the former Queen guitarist, whose first album is due out next month.

All tickets cost $25; there is a limit of eight per person.

Lines will form Friday at 11 a.m. at both venues; numbered bracelets will be distributed between 1 and 2 p.m.; lotteries will be held by 2 p.m. to determine placement in line. Tickets also will be available through Ticketmaster outlets and Ticketmaster phone charge (525-4500 in Hartford area, 624-0033 in New Haven area).

The two shows will represent the first dates ever for Guns N’ Roses in Connecticut, but not the first time a show for the band went on sale here.

A proposed show at Lake Compounce Festival Park in Bristol last summer was a quick sellout, but the park’s financial woes caused the June 15 date to be postponed to Sept. 28, when it was canceled altogether.

To date, not all of the 21,500 ticket-holders for that show have been reimbursed.

The cancellation in part led to the bankruptcy of Joseph Entertainment Group, which was co-owner and promoter of rock shows at Lake Compounce for three seasons. No concerts were held at the amusement park this year, which was closed all season except for Labor Day weekend.

Last November, state Consumer Protection Comissioner Gloria Schaffer appealed to Guns N’ Roses to allow free admission to Compounce ticketholders at the band’s nearby show at the Worcester Centrum last Dec. 1, but it did not occur.

The band had been holding two dates at the Hartford Civic Center last Dec. 5 and 6 as a sort of makeup date for Compounce, but sources said the band was reluctant to play Hartford because of pressure to admit tickets from a show for which it was never paid.

Schaffer could not be reached Tuesday.

Guns N’ Roses is currently touring South America.

Metallica, Guns N’ Roses lined up for new UMass arena

By ROGER CATLIN
Courant Rock Critic

[...]
The next big show at the Amherst arena? Metallica’s summer stadium co-headliners, Guns N’ Roses, in a tentatively scheduled show March 13.

New Haven had been on the itinerary for Metallica, but a planned February date has been ruled out because of routing problems. That means that the March Guns N’ Roses show will be the first rock show at the financially strapped coliseum since the Allman Brothers in August.

The Guns show in New Haven happens to be one of the few sellout dates among those in the region that went on sale last week. Tickets are still on sale for the other nearby Guns stops, March 4 at the Providence Civic Center and March 16 at the Boston Garden, where a second date is a possibility March 17, but has not been warranted by sales so far.

About 2,000 tickets also remain for the Guns N’ Roses show March 9 at the Civic Center. It was a first when tickets at both Connecticut venues went on sale simultaneously, culminating in about 20,000 tickets in the first 24 hours.

Of course, 20,000 was the number sold for the Guns’ planned debut last year at Lake Compounce Festival Park in Bristol, which never happened.

State Consumer Protection Commissioner Gloria Schaffer is still trying to get some satisfaction for those holding tickets to that show who were not refunded their money. But so far, she said she is being stonewalled by the promoter and the band’s management.

“I personally feel that Guns N’ Roses should have a sense of responsibility and loyalty and concern for their fans,” she said.

“Neither the band nor the promoter feel any responsibility for the disaster that happened at Lake Compounce,” counters promoter Jim Koplik. “It was nonpayment [by Lake Compounce] that caused this mess.”

And Schaffer, he maintains, “is the only one rasing the issue.”

If there are still ticket-holding fans who expect any compensation at this point, Sound Check would like to hear from them.
[...]

Guns N’ Roses up to old tricks

That sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach: It’s happening to Guns N’ Roses ticket holders again, because the bad boys of rock are at it again. The band has abruptly canceled all of this week’s shows on the road — from one last Friday in Cincinnati to shows Monday in Chapel Hill, N.C., Wednesday in Albany and Thursday in Providence. The cancellations were made Friday; the announcement wasn’t made until Monday for the later dates. The band is off the road and back in Los Angeles, according to spokesmen at Geffen Records.

Some tickets remain for Tuesday’s show at the Civic Center, which has not been canceled. But if you’re buying them, use a credit card; consumer-protection officials say refunds for canceled shows are easier with credit cards.

No reason was given for the cancellations; no makeup dates were given, either, although officials said all four shows would be made up.

The next unscathed show on the roster? Saturday’s sold-out show at the New Haven Coliseum, where Guns N’ Roses would be making its Connecticut debut.

Thousands of fans in the state are still smarting from the band’s proposed show in 1991, a sellout that was first postponed and then canceled at the last minute because of financial problems at Lake Compounce Festival Park in Bristol.

Some of the 21,500 fans from that no-show never received refunds.

Slam-bang evening with blazing Guns

By ROGER CATLIN
Courant Rock Critic

Three songs into their Connecticut debut at the New Haven Coliseum Saturday night, volatile lead singer W. Axl Rose wondered whether the crowd wasn’t still angry about the band’s 1991 cancellation.

Much later, at about a quarter to 1, guitarist Slash asked, “Have we over-stayed our welcome?”

It was rhetorical. It was a good night for the band, its first show since their new stripped-down Guns N’ Bones tour was halted because of sound problems. The band was so intent to do a good show that Axl even showed up for the sound check.

The problems were not all solved. Rose loudly complained more than once, and at the end of the show, shortly after 1, he threw his microphone all the way to the back of the hall to the sound man.

The main puzzlement to the band was: If the center-piece of the show is an acoustic set, how could it be so hard to hear themselves on stage? (A corollary question from the seats: If this is acoustic, how could it still be so loud?)

Besides donning acoustic guitars, the band had the inspired idea of bringing in a couch to further replicate the laid-back atmosphere when the songs were hatched (or Rose’s much-publicized analysis sessions).

The six-song, 40-minute acoustic set climaxed with the stirring electric coda to “November Rain,” long after Rose had already kicked a couple couch cushions into the audience (providing the strangest take-home fan souvenir yet).

Because the acoustic songs, mostly drawn from the acoustic “GNR Lies” EP, were grouped together, the other parts of the show seemed to rock especially hard — from the hitbound first 40 minutes to the rallying encores.

It made for as strong and single-minded a set as they have ever played on the East Coast. Rose’s shriek was especially full of conviction; it was tempting to think that songs of heartbreak may have been directly influenced by his reported breakup with model Stephanie Seymour (and the fact he dedicated “Estranged” to “someone I used to know”).

There was much to recommend the show, from a relatively short one-hour wait between bands to the absence of costume changes from Rose.

A sardonic humor throughout replaced his usual rants. They aped a “Freedom Rock” TV ad before the acoustic set and flipped a coin to decide between a drum and guitar solo (Slash won).

Putting a long acoustic set in a show at about midnight threatens to sap the remaining energy of the audience, but Guns is good enough to revive it fully by the end.

The Brian May Band opened with something completely different, melodic rock with harmonies and unmistakable guitar runs from the former lead guitarist of Queen, who didn’t mind throwing some tastes of his old band’s material (most notably, the headbanging movement from “Bohemian Rhapsody”).

Whether it was nostalgia or shared respect for one of Rose’s favorites, or just that they put on a good show, May got a rare opening set encore.

The song list for Guns N’ Roses Saturday included: “Welcome to the Jungle“Nightrain," “Live and Let Die, ’’ “The Garden, ” “So Fine,” “Attitude," “Double Talkin’ Jive," “You Could Be Mine, ” “You’re Crazy," “Used to Love Her," “Patience," “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” “November Rain," “Sweet Child O’ Mine" “Estranged, ” “Paradise City. ”

At the 10.500-seat New Haven (Conn.) Coliseum, security manager Dave Olson said 24 uniformed police officers along with building staff had to make only two arrests.

"From an event standpoint, it was a very, very good two hours. The crowd was well behaved and there were no altercations in the building,” Olson said.