1993.03.20 - Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, USA

Fans in ‘Paradise City’

Guns N’ Roses faithful camp out

By Darain Metz
The Press-Citizen

Some music fans have an appetite for destruction.

A forecast of 20-degree temperatures has little effect. Neither does the prospect of spending the night under the stars. Getting tickets for the heavy metal group Guns N' Roses is more important.

“I've been here since 4 a.m.,” Kevin Thornley, a University of Iowa student said. “I love their style and music.”

Thornely was one of nine people camped outside of the Iowa Memorial Union at 5 p.m. Friday. Tickets are being sold today, but Thornely and others wanted good seats for the March concert in Iowa City. Many brought sleeping bags, blankets and food.

Axl Rose was the name of the day.

“1 got here between three or four in the afternoon,” Steve Dembo of Iowa City said. “And I was thinking I'd be first. I couldn't believe there were people here already ... I've been a big fan for a while now. The whole band, the whole energy Axl and the group has is unbelievable.”

The weather was no problem.

“I'll only be a little colder than I already am.” Dembo said. “No big deal.

Guns N’ Roses first came to national prominence about four years ago when their album Appetite for Destruction became a top 40 hit with the song about “Paradise City” leading the way. Since then the group, and Rose in particular, have maintained a high profile in the music industry.

“I think they've got a great marketing strategy,” Jen Smith said. She is director of the Student Commission on Programming and Entertainment at UI. “They have a hard rock edge, but also get a lot of Top 40 airplay. They appeal to a large mass of people.”

Smith said the group is coming to Iowa to attract new fans as well as keep old ones.

“They haven't played in Iowa in about five years,” Smith said. “A name like Guns N' Roses, everybody knows.”

Tickets cost $25 and are available at 9 a.m. at the union, Younkers in the Old Capitol Mall and Hy-Vee stores in Coralville and on Hollywood Boulevard.

Sweet ticket o’ mine: Fans camp in cold for Guns N’ Roses show

‘If they whip their heads, their sweat will hit us,’ said one U of I student who got front-row-center seats.

By LESLIE YAZEL
Register Correspondent

Iowa City, la. — They waited outside 28 hours for a concert that probably will last four.

But the two University of Iowa freshmen from Park Ridge, Ill., say sitting on a beanbag chair in the snow for more than a day was a penance worth paying for a piece of Guns N’ Roses heaven.

Together, Kevin Thornley and Brian Garcea have 16 seats, front-row center, for the Guns N’ Roses show March 20 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“If they whip their heads, their sweat will hit us,” said Thornley, a fan humble enough to admit he would “lose all bodily function” if given the chance to meet lead singer Axl Rose or guitarist Slash.

The heavy-metal band first reached national prominence in 1988 with the hit single “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and more recently with the ballad “November Rain.” The group made headlines again when Rose was charged with inciting a riot at a St. Louis concert.

Thornley and Garcea settled into a snowy corner near the doors of the student union ticket office at 4 a.m. Friday. By Saturday morning, about 70 people had joined the campout. Others slept in their cars.

Sleeping bags, tents, Guns N’ Roses bootleg tapes and even a space heater were present, but one man apparently forgot socks. Friends
dropped off food and books for those in line, but it was still an ordeal.

“I drank a couple beers at lunch and had a shot before joining these two knuckleheads,” said Ron Sinco of Iowa City, who was third in line Friday afternoon.

Some parents in Park Ridge will be pleased to know that the die-hard fans at the front of the line did not miss class. Friends stopped by to fill in so they could eat or go to class providing a chance to get warm after waiting hours outside in December A handwritten list kept the line numbers in order.

Reactions from passers-by were so “annoying and stupid” that campers began keeping a list of the most common comments:

“Are you testing sleeping bags?” “Is this the Guns N’ Roses line?” “The show got canceled.”

"Can you get me tickets?”

At 7:30 a.m. Saturday the crowd — most of whom hadn’t slept — turned into a cranky mob when Stu-dent Commission on Programming and Entertainment officials wouldn’t let the half-frozen line of almost 200 into the building.

But when they realized that they would be purchasing tickets an hour before other Ticketmaster locations opened, a cheer went up.

The arrangement was part of a deal with Ticketmaster by SCOPE director and U of I senior Jen Smith to reward those who worship the band enough to risk frostbite.

“There were a few people that I was surprised made it through the night,” said Smith, of Stillwater, Minn.

Tickets, which cost $22.50 plus handling fees, were selling quickly, but remained available Saturday afternoon.

PARTY TIME FOR GUNS N' ROSES

They've proved they’re a great hard rock band. Now they're out to prove that they can be a likable bunch, too.

By PATRICK BEACH
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Austin. Texas — If Guns N Roses' latest  tour had a theme song, it might go: "Axl's world! Axl's world! Party time! Excellent!"

The tour, which comes to Iowa City's Carver Hawkeye Arena Saturday, is sort of a "Wayne’s World" fantasy as conceived and executed by convicted felons — a few rowdy friends, some booze, some babes and a great hard rock band.

Because when you take away the debauchery, the tirades, the tardiness, the arrests, riots, personnel problems, divorces, misogyny, overdoses and violence both explicit and implied, that's what remains — a great hard rock band.

But they've proved that already. What they're out to prove this time is that they can be a likable (not to mention punctual) bunch, too.

And darned if they don't just about do it. At the Austin show that kicked off the tour, Guns N' Roses repeatedly risked falling on its collective can in the interest of spontaneity, fun and danger. Vocalist and head loose cannon W. Axl Rose played guitar like a novice and good-naturedly cracked jokes about his ability, or lack thereof. The band also played tunes it had never played live before

Coming off last year’s titanic stadium tour with Metallica, the band ditched its horn section and backup singers and began looking for a way to further peel away the layers.

The result: About eight songs into the show here, the road crew hauled out a couch, a coffee table and some acoustic instruments.

"We’re gonna look like Tesla without the couch," Rose joked, referring to that band’s "Five Man Acoustical
Jam" album.

So here’s this band whose first album sold more copies than any other debut in history, whose legendary decadence would reduce them to caricature if they weren't so deadly serious about it, whose "Use Your Illusion I and II" albums are turning out singles a year and a half after their release, who are with out a doubt one of the biggest bands in the world — not to mention a fascinating study in deviant psychology

And here they are hanging out on a couch in front of 10,700 people, playing guitars and swilling Jack Daniel’s, acting relatively well, normal.

Appetite for destruction? Appetite for Domino's, more like. Drinks were served by a pair of clothing-impaired waitresses; a pizza guy (who was wearing a uniform) dropped by with a pie. It's like a basement party as done by a guerrilla theater group, with Guns N' Roses playing the role of the stereo.

"Everybody," says Roy Hamm, the band's chronically unflappable Geffen Records publicist, "is comparing it to ‘Wayne’s World.’ "

So, Welcome to the rec room.

It's pretty much a given that Guns N' Roses will open shows with "Welcome to the Jungle" and close with “Paradise City." What transpires over the two hours or so in between is anybody's guess, but you can’t help but be transfixed, especially by the volatile Rose. The guy rarely walks; he sprints, and with such speed that you expect him to hurl off the stage and into the crowd. Few singers can absorb and reflect a crowd’s energy, both negative and positive, with such fury.

And, of course, Rose, whose name is an anagram of "oral sex,” has a long history of focusing that fury on enemies real and perceived. The guy’s skin is about as thick as Roseanne and Tom Arnold’s. So early in the show here, he slammed former GN’R guitarist and songwriter Izzy Stradlin, random nonspecific Seattle bands, Spin magazine and other unfriendlies.

"Right now in somebody’s eyes, Axl Rose is throwing a tantrum,” Rose observed.

Well, he was. But as tantrums go, it was an entertaining one.

Rose’s energy and unpredictability make for shows that are far from technically perfect, and the band’s willingness to eschew such technical perfection is to be commended. There is much more to good rock ’n’ roll than hitting all the right notes and standing on spot X at the right time.

The acoustic set ended with a slow build-up from "Patience” to “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door" and "November Rain,” which featured Rose on piano.

"Don't worry; it only gets worse," Rose said, putting on an acoustic guitar for "Dead Horse."

“You can see why I don’t do that for a living," Rose said afterward.

While Rose may have a way to go before taking on Eric Clapton, he has grown considerably as a singer. The Edith Bunker screech — one of the most distinctive voices in rock whether you like it or not — is still there. But he’s exploring other less shrill sounds, and his voice here sounded seasoned and confident.

The band, anchored by drummer Matt Sorum, is coherent and engaged, which is surprising if tales of some members’ drug and alcohol habits are to be believed. Half-man, half-beast guitarist Slash is a narcoleptic Keith Richards to Rose’s Mick Jagger; bassist Duff McKagan has the charisma of a front man; guitarist Gilby Clarke even looks like Izzy; Dizzy Reed on keyboards provides welcome color.

While visually it may be very much the Axl Rose show, there's little doubt that Guns N Roses functions as a band, not a herd of backing musicians. The thrash-paced “Garden of Eden,” which the band somehow held together, proved that. So did the four-part vocal harmonies on "Patience.”

The band also attempted the elaborate and slightly psychedelic “The Garden,” from "Use You Illusion I."

Aside from a few oddball tracks aimed at keeping the band and hard-core fans engaged, it’s mostly a torrent of strong hits — "You Could Be Mine,” "Live and Let Die" and of course "Sweet Child O’ Mine.” All of them are tough enough to appeal to metal and hard rock purists yet just smooth enough to reach pop fans.

This may be a kinder, gentler Guns N Roses, but they’re not family fare yet. This is a band, after all, that has a clause in its contract rider requiring an assortment of pornographic magazines backstage. Some members continue to drink and take drugs at a pace that would terrify Led Zeppelin.

But barring some unforeseen catastrophe, none of that tabloid stuff will matter for a couple of hours this Saturday. Guns N’ Roses will hit the stage hard and deliver a bracing set — couch, coffee table and all.

Party on, Axl.

Brian May feels slightly on trial in opening act

By PATRICK BEACH
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Brian May opening for Guns N’ Roses is kind of like Chuck Berry opening for the Beach Boys.

Without the former, there probably wouldn’t have been a latter.

You can hear a lot of Queen, May’s old band, in Guns N’ Roses, especially in guitarist Slash. So having May open is the band’s way of thanking him.

“Guns N’ Roses did not need us to sell tickets," May said last week from a Toronto hotel room. “So you always feel slightly on trial.”

[...]

Because of the trials May has had in his life, does he ever offer angry young man W. Axl Rose any advice?

"I’ve had a lot of long conversations with Axl,” he said. "I have a great admiration for them all as a band and as individuals. But I have this fatherly feeling, particularly for Axl. Axl is hard to handle for a lot of people. That makes him vulnerable. He’s a very honest person. I feel a great love for the guy.”

And he’s sharing the stage with the guy, pouring it out night after night.

"Rock ’n roll actually does give you a way of screaming out and speaking from inside and finding humor and joy in life again,” said May, 45. "It’s a very physical thing, rock music. For me to get from total blackness to the light, it felt like a lifetime’s journey.”

And performing?

"It’s physically hard at the moment,” he said. "I’m screaming my lungs out and bashing away at this guitar, sweat running into my eyes, but I love it. This is where I feel, strangely enough, at home. And there’s still stuff to do.”

Worth the Wait

Crowd finds Axl eager to please in Iowa City

The ‘feel-good band of the ’90s,’ Guns N’ Roses produced more heat than anything else. The place felt like Nicaragua.

By PATRICK BEACH
REGISTER Staff Writer

Iowa City, la. — They were introduced as "the feel-good band of the '90s" but what Guns N’ Roses pro-
duced more than anything at Carver Hawkeye Arena Saturday night was heat.

It felt like Nicaragua in there. They were dumping water on fans packed in near the front of the stage and carrying out those who’d succumbed. It was that kind of night.

The band gave a volatile performance to match the unstable air mass. It was a two-hour demonstration of the benefits of mixing it up, considerably different from the first show of the Skin N’ Bones tour last month.

Mutual Admiration

For starters, Axl Rose and friends did not open with "Welcome to the Jungle” (that was the encore) and the band was not punctual. "It’s So Easy” was the opener and the band didn’t come out until almost 9:40 p.m., an hour and 35 minutes after opener Brian May had left the stage.

And so the fans waited. And waited. And were eventually rewarded for their patience.

Guns N’ Roses may not be the easiest bunch of boys to like, but the crowd appeared to like them plenty, and Rose seemed to like them back.

He took note of the chairless floor and commended concert organizers.

"So,” Rose said, "you people don’t like chairs, huh?” He went on to say such an arrangement was "a lot more fun to play.”

Nasty Stuff

Some sort of vibe was certainly working. "The Garden” and "Live and Let Die” were bracing. A cover of the Misfits’ "Attitude” was a surprise, and the band pulled out Rose Tattoo’s "Nice Boys,” which Guns N’ Roses covered on its first EP.

Some of the nasty stuff came out, too. There was "Mr. Brownstone,” the not exactly anti-, not exactly pro-heroin song, and "Used to Love Her,” which we won’t even get into if you haven't heard about it already.

Controversial? Rude? Offensive? Sure. But definitely rock ’n’ roll.

And definitely hot.

For the record, Rose wore a pair of sensible baggy black shorts. No Sansabelts were in sight.

Guns N’ Roses music loud, but crowd well-behaved

By Joanne Word
The Press-Citizen

Those that predicted Saturday’s Guns N’ Roses concert would be a rock ’n’ roll spectacle were right.

But it was not in the riotous, headline-grabbing manner of some of the band's previous concerts. The sold-out crowd at Carver-Hawkeye arena was, for the most part, well-behaved and so was the band.

The audience was on their feet, singing, dancing and shouting from the moment Guns N’ Roses took the stage until they left, just more than two hours later.

Axl and Slash played the crowd as well as they did their music. Two 10-by-20-foot video screens simultaneously broadcast the action as the musicians roamed all over the stage.

During the 90-minute wait between bands, the crowd — particularly the well-endowed females — were shown on screen.

The Brian May Band did its job well as an opening band. May, former guitarist for Queen, mixed in several of that group's tunes with the new. Overall, their performance was better than most opening acts. But the crowd was clearly hyped for the headliner.

Guns N’ Roses opened with It’s So Easy from their Appetite for Destruction album and kept rocking hard and loud for about an hour. Then came the acclaimed acoustic set, complete with thong-bikini and pasty-clad women serving the band drinks.

Acoustic, where Guns N’ Roses is concerned, does not mean quiet or polite. Unplugged, they still rock harder than most groups. Judging by the mass sing-along, the crowd didn't miss the electric wail.

The group saved most of their best-known tunes — You 're Crazy, / Used to Love Her... , Patience and Knocking on Heaven's Door for this set. Axl took to the piano for November Rain, rounding out the solos that showcased real talent from these heavy-metal musicians.

After the obligatory drum solo, it was back to rock as usual with You Could Be Mine and Sweet Child O' Mine. They were coaxed back for a encore of Welcome to the Jungle that ended with some confusion as Axl threw down his microphone and walked off stage.

Was he mad? Was he happy with the show? Who knows? This was, after all, a Guns N’ Roses concert.

Concert ‘not too bad’

Police keep fans in line during Guns N’ Roses

By Scott Hauser
The Press-Citizen

At least 35 people were cited for various violations by area police agencies after attending the Guns N’ Roses concert Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

But police said the sold-out concert was not as busy for them as they expected with police preparing for the influx of fans before the show began.

“Compared to some of the Concerts in the past, this one wasn’t too bad,” said Chief Mitch Jones of the. University of Iowa Department of Public Safety.

About 70 security officers patrolled the concert, charging five people with public intoxication. Another two people were charged with possession of marijuana, Jones said.

Jones said police were concerned about the band's reputation for disruptive behavior at their shows, but he said things went smoothly Saturday night.

Coralville Police Sgt. Dave Stoos said about 25 people were charged in Coralville on their way to and from the concert on charges such as public intoxication, open container violations and criminal mischief. . One person was charged with drunken driving.

Count

► Attendance at the sold-out Guns N’ Roses concert was 15.367.

► Capacity at Carver-Hawkeye Arena is 15,600, but a certain number of seats are reserved by tour management for sound mix, security and staging.

Security

► A total of more than 100 people were stopped or charged by area police in connection with the concert.