1993.03.26 - Saskatchewan Place, Saskatoon, Canada

Guns ’n’ Roses eyes SaskPlace

By Terry Craig
of The StarPhoenix

Batten down the hatches — Guns n’ Roses is headed to the Prairies and a Saskatoon date is under consideration.

The notorious Hollywood bad boys, whose concerts often resemble a battle scene, are looking at a March 26 date at SaskPlace. An official announcement that tickets will go on sale Saturday from all CBO outlets is expected this week.

This will not be a show for the faint of heart.

Led by the mercurial and temperamental Axl Rose, the Gunners crawled out of the Los Angeles club scene in 1987 with a multimillion-selling Appetite For Destruction disc. Last year’s double
epic, Use Your Illusion I and II, both of which have sold millions, set the stage for a world tour that has been rife with controversy and profits.

Kevin Donnelly of Nite Out Productions in Winnipeg, the concert promoter, last week enlisted city record stores as a depot for fans willing to put their name on a petition urging the band to play here.

Donnelly wants as many names as possible inked to show the band’s agent there is support for a Saskatoon concert.

“It’s still unconfirmed, but the offer is on the table, the routing works, everything is in place,” Donnelly said.

Edmonton and Vancouver shows have been announced. Tickets for those concerts are priced at $32.50.

Guns ’n’ Roses tickets on sale Saturday

It's official.

Guns n’ Roses will perform March 26 at SaskPlace. Tickets go on sale Saturday from all C BO outlets. A wristband policy went into effect when the show was announced Tuesday afternoon.

The concert will have a two-tiered pricing policy similar to that used at John Mellencamp and Sting shows. A number of tickets within an area defined as the gold circle will sell for $45, the remaining and majority of seats at SaskPlace are priced at $29.50.

The Brian May Band, featuring the funner guitarist for Queen, is the opening act.

The show begins at 8:30 p.m.

Terry Craig
Pop Scene

NOW THAT Guns ’n’ Roses has officially confirmed an appearance at SaskPlace, expect tougher than normal security procedures to surround the March 26 concert.

For some reason or another, likely because the band revels in its outlaw image, its fans feel they have been given the right to act out their rock ’n’ roll fantasy and act without care or consideration of others.

During the Gunner’s year-long tour, the band has been surrounded by controversy, much of it its own making. Riots in Montreal and St. Louis grabbed headlines around the world.

On the plus side, however, you’ve got to give the band’s management credit for seeing the profit possibilities in Saskatoon. Another superstar, Bruce Springsteen, whose decision to bypass both Manitoba and Saskatchewan, thus forcing his faithful to drive to Alberta, didn’t do his image any good here.

Service charge a whopper

By Terry Craig
of The StarPhoenix

You’ve got your wristband to buy Guns ’N’ Roses tickets, you approach the wicket, throw down your cash and are asked for an extra $3 for service charges.

What gives? Service charges for past shows haven’t topped $2.50.

In fact, Barenaked Ladies tickets are surcharged an extra $1, while service charges for Phantom of the Opera tickets are $2.50.

According to SaskPlace officials and the concert’s promoter, the $3 levy is one of the myriad financial aspects the promoter had to meet to attract an act of G ’N’ R’s calibre to the facility.

“The bottom line is it had to be done to make the show happen,” Kevin Donnelly of Nite Out Productions said Friday, "We had to increase the service charges so Saskatoon would get the date over Calgary, which has 5,000 more seats. It’s the cost of producing these kind of shows. ”

Will Antonishyn, business administrator at SaskPlace, agreed, noting the band’s management was “quite specific’’ in setting ticket pricing. If Saskatoon was to acquire the concert, there were “no ifs, ands or buts about ticket pricing and the service charge,” he said.

Service charges on tickets sold by the CBO flow into the city's coffers.

Since SaskPlace opened almost five years ago, service charges on concert tickets have held the line at $2, a figure Antonishyn said is below fair market value.

"We’ve been fighting to keep service charges down, the economy just doesn't have it,” Antonishyn said.

Concert venues in Alberta and Winnipeg normally charge a $3 service fee. Service charges in Winnipeg for the Guns ’N’ Roses concert increased to $4.

“In other cities the service charges fluctuate but Saskatoon has been able to keep a lid on it," Donnelly noted. “There was a $6 service charge for (Bruce) Springsteen in Calgary (in October).”

SaskPlace denies misallocation of Guns N’ Roses wristbands

By Dan Zakreski
of The StarPhoenix

There is “absolutely no truth" to rumors that individuals in Saskatoon were given wristbands to buy Guns N’ Roses tickets in advance of the public, says SaskPlace events manager Barbi Petersen.

"There's no way. The wristbands are sequentially numbered and controlled closely. There's no way it can be done," she said Tuesday.

Individuals called The Star-Phoenix claiming they knew people who were given wristbands on Dec. 4 — five days before they were available to the general public.

Petersen said two things may have fuelled the rumor.

The concert promoter held back tickets for the first three rows on the arena floor because of uncertainty about the location of the stage. The tickets likely will be made available once the location is determined.

Petersen said this does not mean these buyers will get front-row seats. The tickets will be for seats on the arena floor, with row four becoming the front row.

The other possibility is that ticket buyers don’t realize how widely the wristbands are distributed. In addition to SaskPlace, the Centennial Auditorium and Market Mall, they are available at centres across the province.

"Die-hard Guns N’ Roses fans with wristbands may be at the front of the line in Saskatoon, but this doesn't mean they’ll get front-row seats," she said.

The ticket offices are all connected by computer so, when they started selling, "these fans were competing with fans across the province,” she said.

About 1,500 tickets remain for the March 26 concert at SaskPlace. When they went on sale Saturday, more than 10,000 went right away.

Saskatoon must hate its kids

Recently, I heard a speaker say, "This country hates its children."

His comment was in the context of how we permit pornographers to flood the land with damaging materials which invariably end up in the hands of our nation’s youth.

At the time, I felt his comment was a bit overstated.

I stand corrected.

In recent issues of your paper, we have read stories decrying the increase of violence in our schools and the efforts being made to address the issue.

In the same papers, we can read about local concert promoters and reviewers drooling over the possibility of having Guns n’ Roses at SaskPlace, even though it will be necessary to "expect tougher-than-normal security'" because the band's concerts usually promote violence.

It is true, isn’t it? Saskatoon hates its children!

Let’s stop this hypocritical baloney! Either quit teaching kids to be violent or quit complaining that
they have learned what they’ve been taught!

Bob Vogt
Waldheim

Beer banned from Gunners’ March concert

Officials at Saskatchewan Place won't allow beer to flow into the stands when Guns N' Roses comes to town in March.

Since October people at most events have been able to take their suds to their seats but permission is granted on an event-by-event basis. SaskPlace general manager Ken Wood said Friday.

That permission isn't given if there is concern the right will be abused, he said.

Before this fall fans had to leave their seats and drink their beer in | designated areas.

"We have had absolutely no problem," said Wood.

The Saskatchewan Liquor Commission granted the facility permission to allow the beer to be brought back to the seats sometime in October, Wood said in an interview Friday.

GUNS N' ROSES

Concerts can be a riot

Guns N' Roses, rock’s current bad boys and million-selling record producers, have been on the road almost constantly since the 1991 release of their double discs, Use Your Illusion I and II.

In that time they have created headlines practically everywhere they've played. In St. Louis, on the first leg of its world tour, a riot began when the band’s leader, Axl Rose, jumped into the crowd after he spotted an unauthorized photographer. The band stomped off stage and the resulting uproar from disgruntled fans triggered a riot .Rose was fined $100,000 for inciting a riot. It was not uncommon for the band to take the stage four hours late, further adding to the unrest among rabid fans.

The band has never been a stranger to controversy. Its 1988 release, GN’R Lies, contained the song, One In a Million, which led to Rose defending racist and homophobic slurs.

In Montreal last September, when the band headlined a three-act bill with Metallica and Faith No More, another riot broke out. Again Axl Rose was at the centre of the storm. He cut short the band’s performance after less than an hour, blaming strained vocal chords.

Perhaps the Montreal concert was star-crossed, destined to go down in history as a violent outpouring by disenfranchised fans. Metallica, another strong fan favorite, had its show cut short when an explosive device injured guitarist-singer James Hetfield. When Rose pulled the plug a short time later, well, all hell broke loose at Olympic Stadium.

That was last summer and fall when the band was performing at huge soccer and football stadiums. It played 16 stadiums across the U.S. averaging 45,000 people at each show. The bottom line was second only the U2’s Zoo TV tour. According to Pollstar Magazine, the 16 G N' R shows grossed an average of $1.245 million.

At the same time record sales have soared. GN'R has sold more than 25 mil· lion copies, with Appetite for Destruction topping the 16-million mark worldwide. In North America alone, the double Use Your Illusion set has sold seven million copies.

This winter the band launched a small arena tour. The North American leg began last  week in Texas.

Canadian dates were announced last November, the first since the ill-fated Montreal concert . Prior to these, the Gunner's only tour of Canada consisted as an opening act for Iron Maiden in 1988. Saskatoon along with Hamilton, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver are venturing into the unknown. All five shows were sold out within hours.

According to early reports from Texas, the band delivers without dipping into disputable tactics of past performances. Gone are the lengthy delays before the band takes the stage.

A kinder, gentler Guns N’ Roses hardly, more responsible towards their fans, possibly. For this leg of the tour, which enters Canada March 11, the band is on time and the vituperative Rose has toned down his vitriol. The band even takes an acoustic turn and debuts several songs not previously performed live.

What more could you want?

GN'R changes faces

Only three members of Guns N’ Roses remain from the group that jumped onto the world stage in 1987. Drummer Steven Adler was fired, because, according to a band press release, his drug addiction was harmful to the group. He has since gone on and formed a group of his own, but has yet to release any recordings. He has been replaced by former Cult drummer Matt Sorum.

Guitarist Izzy Stradlin, perhaps the band's most prolific songwriter has also departed. Stradlin gave it all up just as the band was hitting its peak, immediately after the release of the Use Your Illusion recordings. Stradlin worked some of the early tour dates, but quit to form an outfit specializing in no frills rock ‘n’ roll. He has been replaced by Gilby Clarke.

The band added keyboardist Dizzy Reed prior to the recording of the Use Your Illusion sets.

DUFF MCKAGEN: birthplace: Seattle, Wash., Feb. 5, 1964.
The youngest of eight children started playing in bands as drummer and guitarist in and around Seattle. At 19, he moved to Los Angeles and switched to bass guitar.

SLASH: birthplace: Stoke on Trent, England, July 23, 1965.
Born Saul Hudson to a black American clothing designer and a white British father who designed album covers.

W. AXL Rose: birthplace: Lafayette, Indiana.
He was raised as Bill Bailey. He officially changed his name to W. Axl Rose in 1986. He left lndiana in 1980 for Los Angeles.

Sound reviews

By RYAN (Little Rock) Kerns

Appetite for Destruction
Man, what can you say about this album? Just think back to 1987 when this was the rankest. There was so much swearin', it wasn’t possible for our parents to accept it. That was the good part. The bad part started when the single Sweet Child O' Mine was released. This song was an invitation for all the bandwagon fans to jump aboard. Before you knew it, everyone and their Uncle Ted loved GN'R. That bothers me.

GN'R Lies
I think everyone was disappointed when they first listened to this album, especially considering Appetite for Destruction was so huge. Everyone expected them to come out witth this rank, cursing album, but instead they came out with this old live stuff that I had already heard on a bootleg on one side, and a bunch of acoustic material on the other. I thought it was a pretty lazy way to put out a second album. Then I started listening to it and started to really appreciate the songs and the band.

Use Your Illusion I and II
For some reason it took me quite a while to get into Illusion I. Maybe it was because of all the hype surrounding its release _ by the time it came out, I didn’t care anymore. After hearing Don’t Cry for the 100th time on Combat de Clips, I found myself tappin’ my toe along with the song. The next thing you know, I’d bought the bloomin' disc. And honestly, it's not bad. Pretty much all the singles that have been released were from this disc, with the exception of You Could Be Mine and Yesterday. I'm not saying this is the better of the two Illusion releases. Actually, they're pretty much the same. From Illusion II Civil War was previously released. So was Knockin' On Heaven’s Door, the sound track for the movie Day of Thunder, and You Could Be Mine for the movie, T2. (Unless you're a hermit, I'm sure you already knew that.) All in all, it's a good album.

GUNS N' ROSES TRIVIA TRIUMPH

• 1. What was W. Axl Rose's birth name?

• 2. What was Slash’s birth name?

• 3. When was Guns N' Roses founded?

• 4. Who were the original members of the band?

• 5. One original member of the band left to form his own band. What is its name?

• 6. What is the name of G N’ R’s own record label?

• 7. What year did G N’ R release its first recording? What was the title?

• 8. What former face-painted Kubicki-like rocker was considered for the producers job on G N’ R’s first album?

• 9. What was the title of the band's breakthrough single?

• 10. What was the title of the band's first major label album. What year was it released?

• 11. What Clint Eastwood movie did a GN’R song appear on the soundtrack? What was the song?

• 12. How long did it take before Appetite for Destruction cracked the Billboard Top 100 charts?

• 13. How many copies of Appetite for Destruction have been sold?

• 14. Why was drummer Steven Adler fired from the band? Who replaced him?

ANSWERS: 1. Bill Bailey 2. Saul Hudson 3. 1985 4. Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler. 5. Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds. 6. Uzi Suicide. 7. 1986, Live?!*:copyright:Like a Suicide. 8. Paul Stanley of Kiss, 9. Sweet Child O Mine. 10. Appetite for Destruction was released in July 1987.11. The movie was the Deadpool and the song was Welcome to the Jungle. 12. Ten months. 13. More than 10 million, the best selling debut album ever. 14. Adler had a drug problem and was replaced by former Cult drummer Matt Sorum.

Security high for Guns N’ Roses

Notoriety exceeds reality: promoter

By Terry Craig
of The StarPhoenix

Notoriety follows Guns N’ Roses like fleas follow dogs.

The hard-rock band has been at the centre of a firestorm of publicity since the major label release of their first album, Appetite For Destruction, almost seven years ago.

Led by the enigmatic W. Axl Rose, the band follows a credo established by the Rolling Stones, being the band parents love to hate.

But Kevin Donnelly of Nite Out Entertainment, promoter for Saturday’s appearance of the band at SaskPlace, downplayed the brouhaha surrounding the band.

“The reality is they play 250 shows a year and there have been only three incidents over the last couple of years,’’ he declared. “Their notoriety has exceeded the reality of the situation.’’

But that notoriety has authorities on full alert. When it was announced last December Guns N’ Roses would embark on an arena tour across North America, including a March 27 show at SaskPlace, event managers feared the worst.

Donnelly and SaskPlace event manager Barbi Petersen have expanded the security budget for the show but Donnelly said there will be nothing different from concerts of similar size and style.

"We’re taking the Metallica plan and expanding on it," he said of the security in place for last June's Metallica concert. Fans streaming into the building will undergo a bottle and weapons check, a procedure that has become normal for concerts at SaskPlace. Even at the most innocuous of concerts, ZZ Top, fans were subjected to a search.

Petersen said the building's parking lot will be closed until one hour before the doors open for the concert (7 p.m.) Security personnel will be placed around the perimeter of the property.

She defended the search at the door, explaining: "It’s well known that, if anything is thrown at the stage, Axl will leave. The pat-downs are standard for any show of this nature.”

Security people will be stationed in the numerous washrooms at SaskPlace to prevent any vandalism and, as at other heavy metal concerts, access to the arena floor will be stringently policed.

"To get to the arena level, a ticket will be checked many times before you get to your seat," Petersen said. "They will be hand-stamped and, without the ticket or hand-stamp, you don’t get on the floor."

Many of the security arrangements are recommended by the band’s own security team, hired to protect the multi-million-dollar enterprise. In fact, Bill Grier, head of security for the tour, appears on stage about 10 minutes before showtime to reiterate that if anything is thrown on stage, the band will walk off. The advice has been taken to heart, with only one incident on the tour.

The show itself will be a marathon. Opening act Brian May should appear on stage shortly after the 8:30 p.m. start time and play for an hour. It will take at least an hour to prepare for the headliners who are expected on stage about 10:30 p.m. and to run until almost 1 a.m.

Parents of fans can await their offspring in a special designated area until the snow’s conclusion. SaskPlace personnel will direct parents from the main box office to a room.

Since the Guns N’ Roses tour began in Texas Feb. 23, arena managers have breathed a sigh of relief at the incident-free, smooth-running shows.

In an informal survey of five buildings where the band played, it was reported the band and the crowd were well-behaved. There were no Rose-instigated riots, the shows went off without a hitch and four of the five buildings would have the band back “in a heart beat.”

Only in Birmingham, Ala., the second show of the tour, were there problems that caused Rose to storm off stage.

“Axl was on stage for 20 minutes and he got mad at their sound man, fired him and left the stage for 40 minutes while the band continued playing,” said the Jefferson Civic Centre's assistant security director, Maureen Reagan. Prior to Gun N’ Roses taking the stage, there was a 45-minute break between the headliner and the opening act.

"There was too long a break between acts and some kids instigated things,” she said without being specific. However, during the break a spotlight played over the crowd and some female fans lifted their shirts.

Unlike other venues surveyed, the 15,000-seat Jefferson Civic Centre was not sold out, a fact Reagan attributed to the popularity of country music in the area.

Reagan said 40 officers were brought into the building to handle security for the event.

At the Cumberland County Civic Centre in Portland, Maine, general manager Steve Rosenblatt said security was "slightly higher" than normal.

"There were no legal incidents," Rosenblatt said. "There were people escorted from the building; a couple of drunks and one for generally being obnoxious."

Rosenblatt added the extra security "because of the media focus. This was a high-profile event. We took extra steps that we normally do not take.”

Despite all the pre-concert concern, the show went off without a hitch, Rosenblatt said, adding: "We’d do it again in a heart beat."

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.

John Graham at the 16,800-seat Frank Erwin Centre at the University of Texas at Austin said staff at the building treated the show like any other heavy metal concert and had a plan in place to deal with any contingencies.

There were about 25 uniformed security people in the building for the show in addition to regular security staff.

"We had no more than for other shows or big basketball games," Graham said. "We put together a sizable list of things that might happen. We had a game plan and followed that plan. There were no incidents."

Copps Coliseum in Hamilton had the band in the building last Saturday and, according to coliseum representative Debra Vivian, the 18,000 fans were well behaved.

"Without question, we had more security because of the pre-publicity of Guns N’ Roses, but there were no problems,” Vivian said.

Guns N’ Roses: The notorious rockers invade SaskPlace at 8:30 p.m. Saturday with music from the band's first extended-play disc and its two Use Your Illusion discs. The band has dispensed with backup vocalists in the 26-stop Skin N’ Bones tour. Opening act is former Queen guitarist Brian May.

GN'R AXL-ENT

Your reviews

"Guns N’ Roses concert was excellent. Even the Brian May band was pretty good. It was just awesome." —Chris, 19

"I thought it was awesome because of the strobe lights and because Axl is so awesome." — Mike, 11

"It was great but would have been better if Axl had changed once at least." — Sharon

'The concert was excellent except if the jocks and preps want to come to the concert they'd better learn to appreciate the music, learn the words to the songs and give the band some reaction." — Kristi, 16

"Think Axl deserves a lot of credit for keeping his cool, especially during the song You Could Be Mine when the mike wasn’t working. Throughout the concert there was a lot of feedback from the mikes and he deserves credit because he didn't flip off and start a riot." — Kris, 16

"Thought the concert was wicked, it was just the best." — Jill, 15

***

Unplugging a pleasant surprise

By Kim McNairn
of Holy Cross High School

The most awaited concert of the year has come and gone, but the memories and ringing ears live on.

Guns N' Roses and the Brian May Band, featuring former Queen members, invaded SaskPlace on Saturday. The energy packed show began around 8:30 p.m and ran until the wee hours of the morning.

Unlike most opening acts who are inexperienced and quite young, the Brian May Band put on a show that was both exciting and moving. These guys could do a tour of their own The vocals and overall great sound reflected the experience that these musicians have.

Although most of the audiences’ attention was focused on the band, the backup singers did not go unnoticed. For the entire one-hour set they gyrated their bodies and pounced around with so much energy I thought they might collapse. The set ended with some old Queen favorites that brought the audience to its feet.

After an hour break, the time came. The lights dimmed and the audience roared. Guns N' Roses performed on the dark stage for one song before the lights came on and the band was in plain view.

Axl Rose ran around with his trademark youthfulness as Slash, with his unique hair, played the guitar. The band did not play strictly songs from the Use Your Illusion albums. The concert included a mix from all of the band's prior releases.

After an energetic portion of the show, a couch was brought to centre stage, at this point the band did its own little "Unplugged" session. It was intimate and unexpected, adding originality to the show. How many rock bands pull a couch onto the stage and go acoustic?

Following the “Unplugged" portion, Axl sat down at the piano and began the interlude to November Rain. The audience went crazy at this climax to the show.

The nearly-nude pizza girls incident, which I thought was sexist and lame, was the only negative aspect of the performance. After the encore Paradise City, the electric and exciting concert ended.

As my ears continue to ring... Saskatoon will remember this concert for a long time.

***

Worth the wait

By Melanie Predinchuk
of Bedford Road Collegiate

As all of Saskatoon is most certainly aware, the well-publicized Guns N' Roses concert went on as scheduled Saturday night. And despite fears to the contrary, both bands were even on time.

The Brian May Band, led by the former Queen member, opened the show. The band failed to excite the audience, save for a couple of old Queen songs. On the whole, the hour set was OK, but certainly not what I expected at such a major concert.

Guns N' Roses hit the stage around 10:30 and played nonstop until shortly after midnight. Needless to say, they were welcomed to SaskPlace with a roar and succeeded in keeping their fans pumped throughout the show.

Axl Rose demonstrated his skill on the piano and both Slash and Matt Sorum played some pretty mean solos. At one point a couch was brougnt on stage for the band to relax on and scantily-clad females refreshed the band's drinks.

Axl's interaction with the fans dissolved my preconception that is rude to his audiences. Except for one song which was started twice on Axl's behalf, there were no complications.

Contrary to all of the hype surrounding the concert, the fans and the band were well behaved, meaning there was no need for the many, many extra security guards on hand. The official bad boys of rock and roll proved to Saskatoon that they're not as bad as they're made out to be.

I've been hoping GN'R would come to Saskatoon since 1988 and I can now tell you it was worth the wait. It was excellent, an evening of raucous rock and roll that other bands will find tough to beat.

Backstage with Guns N’ Roses

Fans stood around in anticipation of some big moment

By Jodi Preston

Preston, a freelance writer, gives a view of the backstage party held after Saturday's Guns N' Roses concert.

My friend, Margaret Marissen, and I are both almost 30, but I admit I am a big Axl fan. However, the concert date arrived and I still didn’t have a ticket. Then 50 came on sale when the stage was moved back.

We arrived during intermission and found our seats through a sea of teens. There was a speaker right in front of us, blocking two-thirds of the stage, but we were close! The sound was horribly distorted from there, but we were close.

The lights went down, the crowd screamed and somebody in front of us threw up. That person left and we moved higher where we could see a bit better and began to rock.

We danced and danced. Even when I couldn’t tell what the song was, we danced. We thought the crowd was surprisingly motionless where we were. As a matter of fact, we must have been more energetic than most fans because someone grabbed my leg through the barrier railing. “This is for dancing so hard," he said and handed us two backstage passes.

What a moment! I thought I was going to blow up! We danced a hundred times harder when someone grabbed my leg again. Two more passes came through the fence. Wow! We laughed and danced. This was great. Frankly, we couldn’t see very much and the sound was pretty bad in our section but we were having a lot of fun. We looked out and saw someone we knew right in front of the stage motionless except for chewing gum to the rhythm. The crowd seemed a bit quiet to me.

Paradise City played as an encore and, unbelievably, two more passes came through the fence. The people behind us must have laughed. We thought about giving them a pair but didn’t.

The concert was over. The crowd didn't fight nearly hard enough for another encore and the lights came up. Someone came over to tell us to see security about the after-show party. As staff was trying to clear us out of the building, we took particular pride in saying we were going backstage.

A throng of blonds began to gather — tall ones, short ones and many provocatively dressed ones. They all had passes in their hands. We started to get the picture. Should we leave ? We looked at each other, never!

Guns N' Roses, he droned, has a different type of after-show. We are going to take you to the catering area where you will sit. There is nothing to eat or drink there. The band has a hospitality room that is too small to accommodate a large group. Maybe you will be invited to the hospitality room, maybe not. You may sit there for 24 hours and nothing will happen. If something happens, remember, no autographs are permitted. Do not pull out a pen or paper under any circumstances. Do not pull out a camera. Do not approach Axl. He will approach you if he wants to speak to you.

We all nodded in anticipation, rose and filed into the catering area where everyone sat in hope of step two.

We really were feeling silly when a guy from the crew caught our eye and made a subtle head and eyebrow motion. We got up and went after him, weaving in and out of cables toward the “Away Team” dressing room.

We landed in the centre of a room full of people. There was a long table of food, buckets of beer, big stereo speakers and a hundred little candles all over. Every seat was taken and we stood rather mortified in the middle of the room. I decided to check out the CD collection, a classic awkward party guest move. Margaret headed for the food. I noticed a seat behind the speakers so we grabbed it and sat back to survey the scene.

There was Duff with his wife, half asleep, head to head, and Slash strutting around in a very obscene T-shirt with his leather chaps tucked in to a very ugly pair of cowboy boots. Drummer Matt Sorum, who seemed very amiable, came over to introduce himself by kicking my boot. And there was Axl. He was sitting in an armchair drinking champagne, dressed in shorts with bare legs and feet. I wanted to tell him not to catch a cold but I knew I would have to wait until he spoke to me first. There were many girls of very dubious age and dress, including one sitting in the other armchair, also drinking champagne.

Then we realized it was a little quiet back here too. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something to happen. Girls stood around in anticipation of some big moment. Axl got up and left the room. Slock-talking entourage members made the rounds, trying to impress. We eavesdropped as Slash bragged and groupies talked about absolutely nothing worth writing about. We settled in to listen to the music, then the stereo was rolled out. Someone brought a boombox and put on Queen Live Killers. We started to rock once again and were having fun.

Axl reappeared and said: "Now I’m happy someone knows Queen" about me. I grinned like an idiot.

Two minutes later, the boom box was carried out and the roadies yelled: “We’re out of here!” A few girls trailed after the band but we politely declined an invitation to Edmonton, grabbed two pieces of celery and left.

The friendliest, funniest people were the crew, who worked on while everyone else went to the party.

And for all of you Axl fans, you’ll be happy to know he was nice, polite, shy and friendly — a true Rose among a room full of thorns.

Gunners impress band at Ryly’s

By Terry Craig
of The StarPhoenix

Little did the members of Robin’s Trip realize when they were booked into Ryly’s this week, it would be a booking they would never forget.

The Montreal hard rockers were pounding out a set Thursday night when into the club sauntered members of the Guns N’ Roses crew. Well, thought bassist Mark Newton, maybe we can impress them.

As the crew sat in a corner booth taking in the club’s atmosphere, the band launched into a steaming version of Mama Kin, an old Aerosmith chestnut, covered by Guns N’ Roses in its early days. When the set ended, the band was invited to join the crew at a party at another club, lasting until the small hours of Friday.

Obviously, Robins Trip made an impression on the crew because the next night, just as the band was ending its second set, a phalanx of beefy bodyguards and crew members surrounding drummer Matt Sorum, keyboardist Dizzy Reed and guitarist Slash entered the club.

Robins Trip was beckoned to the secluded table and reminisced about the rock ’n roll lifestyle.

Then events took an unexpected turn. "Slash asked if we minded if they got up on stage to jam,” Newton said. "That was wild, I just didn’t know what to expect. You’d think these guys would be conceited and arrogant, but they were on our turf and they acted like they knew it. You know, they got attitude coming out their ears but, one-on-one, they were great guys.”

There was some scrambling on stage by Trip’s roadie. The drum kit had to be changed from a left-handed player to accommodate Sorum. The guitarist’s Fender Strat was set up and, for the next 30 minutes, Slash and Sorum whaled away on a wild version of ZZ Top’s La Grange, a consummate boogie.

“The club was electric, it was jammed with people yelling and screaming,” Newton said of the pandemonium that greeted the superstars.

Newton and Sorum kept the pulsating rhythm loosely in check while Slash did his guitar heroics.

"He was great, laughing and winking, he was having a great time.” Newton said. "This is just like one of those things on Letterman, you know, the Brush with Greatness."

Perks come in many forms. A fat expense account. That business-lunch tax write-off. Limo rides to the airport.

A tumbler of Jack Daniel's with Slash has them all beat.

Bassist Mark Newton and the rest of Robin Trip shared shooters with Slash in Ryly's, the Saskatoon bar they were playing on a recent western tour.

Guns N' Roses was also playing a show there this past March, albeit in a place where you could fit a few thousand Ryly's, but roadies and sundry tour personnel caught Robin Trip in action one night and invited band members that Friday, the 26th.

“Slash is a great guy," Newton says, “Softspoken, and he's a little guy, maybe 5-8.”

So Slash “asked" if he could come up and jam, and naturally the band refused indignantly. Slash insisted, punches were thrown...

Actually, Slash happily joined the band for a run at La Grange and the place went berserk.

Do not expect him to show at Robin Trip's homecoming show at Club Soda tomorrow, but expect the band, which mixes covers of everything from Megadeth to Steve Miller in with its originals, to do just fine.

Guns N’ Roses more hype than high-performance

They weren’t so bad. They weren’t so rowdy. They weren’t so wild. They weren't so mean. They didn’t even throw any chairs.

Heck — Guns N' Roses didn't show up late or leave early — and they only said mother-you-know-what about eighty-six times!

Hype, not great music, sells bands. And it’s never been more evident than last Saturday night in Saskatoon (ed. note — you must have missed New Kids On The Block; congratulations).

Everybody was taken by the hype that surrounded the “big" show, when in fact all the 13,000 fans got was a completely predictable performance from a completely predictable group that — once you get past the hullaballoo — is basically a bad bar band on a big stage.

How predictable, you ask? After the guitar intro of “You Could Be Mine,” Axl Rose did a running jump off the drum riser, only to find that his mike wasn't working. He threw it down and signalled the band to stop.

He then got a new mike, went and stood on the exact same spot, did the exact same run and jump off the drum riser, grabbed the mike stand in the exact same manner.

And — most pathetic of all — the crowd cheered at the exact same time.

About the only part of the show that wasn’t predictable came before an acoustic set of slower tunes, like “Patience” and “Knockin’ On Heaven's Door.”

The lights went down, and when they came on again the entire band was slumped on a couch, with a few chairs gathered round and flanked by a grand piano.

After they did a couple of numbers, some topless (!) waitresses brought out a few trays of beer for the fellas (where was the Crown minister of Spandex?), and the pizza guy from Dominos showed up with a few pies.

It was pretty cool, but in questionable taste, considering the average age of the crowd. You have to figure that the parents of some of the younger fans weren’t too impressed.

Of course, all this just added to the H-Y-P-E.

This whole band is built on hype, hype and more hype. Even Sask Place got taken by the group's build-up. Security was beefed up as though they were expecting a European soccer game. You almost got the feeling that some of the lads were disappointed that the crowd was about as rowdy as a Paula Abdul audience.

They're were a lot of clean cut polite young men and women there, and quite a few parents. But for the most part it was a multitude of 13-to-16-year-olds who aren't real sure what they're listening to or why — youngsters who have been manipulated by hype and publicity stunts before they can even form an opinion about the music.

We asked six or seven teens why they liked the Gunners and not one could answer the question coherently. The average response was like a reflex — “You kiddin’? Guns N’ Roses rooolz!”

Another popular insight was: “Um... Idunno. I just like ’em."

One 37-year-old parent said that it “reminded her of the 70s and Woodstock”— quite the statement, considering that Woodstock was the defining musical event of the '60s.

Perhaps one 16-year-old summed it up best when he said he likes the Gunners because “they're a big band and everybody likes ’em and everybody knows about ’em.”

That type of response would lead you to believe that there were a lot of kids who walked out of Sask Place that deep down knew they just got taken for 33 bucks.

Oh — was it a review you wanted? Let’s just say The Gunners could learn a lot from concert opener Brian May, who has obviously learned a lot after 20 years of touring with Queen. As far as music and performing goes, May stole the show.

Hyped Guns N’ Roses fears really a riot

The big moment we’ve all been waiting for has come and gone. The Guns N' Roses concert came into Saskatoon on Saturday and I can assure you that it was a big success.

The concert went by without even one problem. I knew all along there wouldn’t be a riot, even though my parents were warning me about it. I think the media has hyped the problems a little too much. Because of it, my mom was pushing me to go to the Phantom of the Opera instead. Not in a 100 years! This was a concert I was waiting for since 1988.

GN’R put on a spectacular show that entertained everyone in the crowd. They got the audience involved in what they were doing. That’s probably one of the reasons for their concerts’ success. Coming to the concert, I was expecting a high-octane show and that’s exactly what I got.

Too many people in the past have criticized GN’R for their attitudes. A rock and roll band can’t be uptight like some of these new age musicians. GN’R lives for rock and roll and that’s what many people want.

Looking back, it was probably the best $32.50 I've ever spent. Seeing all the smiles on the fans' faces was enough for me. The audience was on its best behavior because this was a once in a lifetime showing. GN’R may not be back for a while, but it was something that I’ll never forget. I’m sure that the rest of Saskatoon won't forget it either.

C. Keith Aguilera

FRANSAD wrote:There is a flaw in the setlist nr. 8 is  My Michelle, nightrain wasn't played.
Feel free to remove this post after fixing it.