2022.11.29 - Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia

Guns N’ Roses have arrived – Have you spotted them?

The biggest international act to hit Adelaide since the pandemic began has touched down in Adelaide ahead of their Adelaide Oval show tonight. Have you snapped them?

Kara Jung and Kitty Barr

It’s been more than two and a half years since Adelaide Oval hosted a big international act, but Guns N’ Roses are here and ready to rock.

The legendary rock band arrived last night in a private jet just after 8.30pm and more than 40,000 fans are expected at the venue tonight.

The band is the biggest music act to rock the Adelaide Oval since the pandemic, and last played here in 2017 – you can read our review here.

Their crew – made up of more than 100 people – have been here for five days now setting up the stage.

Gates open at 4.30pm this afternoon.

Tickets are still available to see frontman Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and the band tonight from $69 to $242.40 through Ticketek Australia.

After arriving in Adelaide on Monday night, Axl Rose and his entourage dined at Fugazzi Bar and Dining Room on Leigh Street.

Drummer Frank Ferrer was also spotted at iconic East End clothing store Midwest Trader on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the big show.

And don’t worry about the state of the oval for next week’s day-night Test, Adelaide Oval CEO Nick Addison says the venue will be ready for the cricket.

“Every precaution is taken to ensure the ground and the pitch itself is protected,” he said.

Guns N Roses review: Slash burns bright as Gunners take Adelaide

It was loud and it was real. The biggest international act to hit Adelaide since Covid began transported fans back to their youth with a classic stadium rock show.

Matt Deighton

You know where you are? You’re in the jungle baby. You’re gonna diiiiieeeeee ….

It wasn’t quite the jungle, more the serene surrounds of Adelaide Oval on what, during any other non-El Nino year, would be a typically beautiful November night, but it didn’t really matter.

When Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose unleashed his signature high-pitched war cry the crowd was, in an instant, transported back to LA’s Sunset Strip of the late ‘80s, before Covid, before #MeToo, before autotune, into a fantastical and hedonistic land of drugs, booze, sleaze … and more drugs and booze.

The Gunners changed the game when they released Appetite for Destruction in 1987, the blues-based, duelling guitars of Slash and Izzy Stradlin and punk-infused back line of Duff McKagan and Steven Adler laying the perfect foundation for Axl Rose to launch his vocal onslaught; the most original and versatile of its kind since Robert Plant.
It put a full stop on the horrible, fabricated era of hair metal and laid the foundations for a far more authentic musical experience.

It wasn’t always perfect, but it was real.

But, they flew too close to the sun and, by 1996, were in pieces, heading off in solo directions or returning as shallow versions of their former selves having recorded a mere handful of studio albums (we won’t include the covers album Spaghetti Incident?, which was actually pretty damn good).

Few would have imagined that, three decades later, they’d be alive, let alone back together (minus, sadly, Stradlin and Adler, who have not joined the reboot), playing for three hours and 10 minutes straight and arriving on stage on the dot of 7pm. Yes. 7pm (history lesson: this has not always been the case).

Kicking off with It’s So Easy (definitely pre #MeToo) and then launching into Axl’s lament on his bandmates descending into heroin addiction, Mr Brownstone, the band soon branched out into the title track off Chinese Democracy and Slither, by GNR offshoot Velvet Revolver.

They’ve battled much during their careers – break ups, breakdowns and everything in between – and last night, at least during the early part, it was the sound system, which let off an annoying echo between the speakers at the front of the stage and those midway through, which made Better, off Chinese Democracy, almost indecipherable.

But it’s a minor quibble and was largely resolved, for this reviewer at least, by a quick shuffle a few rows back (one downside from last night was the empty seats throughout the stadium).

High points were aplenty but we’ll mention Civil War which with Slash playing Jimi Hendrix’s Machine Gun as the outro, the trading guitar solos of Slash and Richard Fortus (a genuine virtuoso) on Rocket Queen and, of course, the selection of pick-your-favourites – Sweet Child O’Mine, Don’t Cry, November Rain and Nightrain.

Not surprising, less successful were some of the newer songs, such as the aforementioned Better, Sorry and the aptly titled Absurd, although Hard Skool holds its own against the Stradlin era classics … but still saw an exodus of diehards to restock at the bar.

Memorable moments would lie in the eyes of the beholder, but the acoustic prelude of the Beatles’ Blackbird to Patience was majestic, the epic Coma remains one of their great unheralded classics, and there’s an argument to be had that you haven’t truly lived until your seen Paradise City in the flesh.

The Gunners worked hard and there was clearly no phoning it in. Axl, more at ease with the lower registers these days, was in high spirits, particularly when recalling his love for AC/DC and Rose Tattoo; Duff, who looks like he walked in off a cover shoot for Men’s Health was always the glue that held this band together and last night was no different as he locked in sync with drummer Frank Ferrer but it was clearly Slash’s night. If there was a Norm Smith Medal being handed out for best on ground, he would’ve won hands down.

Slash has always been the ace in the pack and his mastery of the instrument and effortless ability to fuse blues and hard rock with pretty much every genre of music is simply a sight to behold in a live setting. He seems to be able to just effortlessly play whatever comes into his head. Plus the bloke hasn’t aged in 30 years (admittedly it’s a little hard to tell under the top hat and Aviator sunnies)

After all this time and all the memories they’ve given us, it’s just great to see these blokes still together, playing the tunes that, for many of us, were the soundtracks to our childhoods.

As for last night, it wasn’t perfect but it was real, which made it pretty bloody great. And for me and the bunch of 50 somethings walking back to the train station, a nice taste of what it felt like to be 18 again.

‘Blood everywhere’ after woman struck by Axl Rose’s microphone at Guns N’ Roses’ Adelaide show

An Andrews Farm woman says she was left shocked and bleeding after the Guns N’ Roses front man’s final act of their Adelaide show.

Emily Olle

An Andrews Farm woman has been left far from Paradise City after Guns N’ Roses’ Adelaide show, suffering shocking injuries when lead singer Axl Rose flung his microphone into the crowd, hitting her in the face, she says.

Rebecca Howe says there was “blood everywhere” when the metal object smashed her in the nose following the megastars’ last song at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night.

“I was in Diamond Standing, so it wasn’t even right at the front, and it was the very last song, Take Me Down To Paradise City,” Ms Howe said.

“He took a bow and then he launched the microphone out to the crowd … and then bang, right on the bridge of my nose.”
Ms Howe said the offending microphone was scooped up by another fan while she tried to stem the bleeding, fearing her nose had been broken by the impact.

“There was this huge kerfuffle as this man tried to get the microphone … he held it up like a victory, ‘I got it, I got it’, while I was trying to keep my composure,” she said.

“An off-duty police officer pulled me to the side because I was in shock and hyperventilating, my mind went, ‘Oh my God, my face is caved in’.



“I had blood dripping down the front of me.”

The incident is not the first time Rose’s microphone-hurling act has landed the band in trouble.

In 2013, Perth man Darren Wright launched legal action to pay for $5000 in dental costs after a flying microphone damaged his two front teeth during Guns N’ Roses’ Australian tour opener.

While Ms Howe escaped serious injury, she said she is concerned for others’ safety as the band continues its run of shows across the country.

“It worries me, they’re going to Melbourne on the 3rd – what if he throws the microphone again into the crowd and something worse happens?” she said.

“What if it was a couple of inches to the right or left? I could have lost an eye … what if it hit me in the mouth and I broke my teeth? If my head was turned and it hit me in the temple, it could have killed me.”

A Guns N’ Roses tour spokesperson has been contacted for comment.

SA woman says she was injured during Guns N' Roses concert when Axl Rose threw his microphone

A South Australian woman has urged concert-goers to "duck for cover" when watching Guns N' Roses play their hit Paradise City, claiming she was hit in the face by Axl Rose's microphone.

The alleged incident happened during the US rock band's Adelaide leg of their Australian tour on Tuesday night.

Rebecca Howe was enjoying Axl Rose's performance of the hit when the frontman launched the microphone into the crowd at the end of the song.

"I was just putting out a warning for people, if Axl sings Paradise City get ready to duck for cover," she said.

Ms Howe suffered bruises on her face.

The woman said she wanted to share her warning, saying "my intentions were not to gain anything".

Another fan reportedly scooped up the microphone.

Karlee Dempster said she captured the moment the microphone was thrown into the energetic crowd but did not notice where it landed.

Adelaide Oval management has directed enquiries to a Guns N' Roses spokesperson, who the ABC has contacted for comment.

This was not the first time Rose's mic-launching stunt has ended in pain — in 2013, a Perth man was hit in the mouth by a microphone Rose threw.

Last week, Rose unleashed on Twitter about "intrusive" drones that he said were close to the stage during the Gold Coast show.

"Was a bit of a distraction as obviously someone thought it was just ok to be doing that but also it coming that close in front of the stage and then actually over n' on stage," he wrote on Twitter.

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose has responded after a woman was struck by his microphone at their Adelaide show

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose says he’ll stop his 30-year ritual of throwing his mic into the crowd to end the show after Rebecca Howe was struck in the face at Adelaide Oval.

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose has taken to Twitter to respond after an Andrews Farm woman was struck in the face by a microphone at the Guns N’ Roses show on Tuesday night.

Axl posted a statement to his Twitter account, saying after 30 years of throwing his microphone into the audience, he will “refrain” from doing so.

“It’s come to my attention that a fan may have been hurt at our show in Adelaide, Australia possibly being hit by the microphone at the end of the show when I traditionally toss the mic to the fans,” the statement reads.

“If true obviously we don’t want anyone getting hurt or to somehow in anyway hurt anyone at any of our show anywhere.
“Having tossed the mic at the end of our show for over 30 years we always felt it was a known part of the very end of our performance that fans wanted and were aware of to have an opportunity to catch the mic.

“Regardless in the interest of public safety from now on we’ll refrain from tossing the mic or anything to fans during or at our performances.

“Unfortunately there are those that for their own reasons chose to frame their reporting regarding this subject in a more negative n’ irresponsible out of nowhere light which couldn’t be farther from reality. We hope the public and of course fans get that sometimes happens.

“A BIG THANKS to everyone for understanding.”

Rebecca Howe says there was “blood everywhere” when the metal object smashed her in the nose following the megastars’ last song at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night.

“I was in Diamond Standing, so it wasn’t even right at the front, and it was the very last song, Take Me Down To Paradise City,” Ms Howe said.

“He took a bow and then he launched the microphone out to the crowd … and then bang, right on the bridge of my nose.”
Ms Howe said the offending microphone was scooped up by another fan while she tried to stem the bleeding, fearing her nose had been broken by the impact.

“There was this huge kerfuffle as this man tried to get the microphone … he held it up like a victory, ‘I got it, I got it’, while I was trying to keep my composure,” she said.

“An off-duty police officer pulled me to the side because I was in shock and hyperventilating, my mind went, ‘Oh my God, my face is caved in’.

“I had blood dripping down the front of me.”

The Killers, Jimmy Barnes and Axl Rose spotted dining at the same popular CBD restaurant this week

If it’s good enough for Axl Rose, Barnesy and now The Killers, this high-end Adelaide restaurant is good enough for us. Dinner, anyone?

Shashi Baltutis, Kara Jung and Kitty Barr

After touching down in Adelaide ahead of their Adelaide 500 shows, The Killers and Jimmy Barnes have been spotted dining at a popular CBD restaurant.

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose was also spotted at the restaurant, Fugazzi Bar and Dining Room on Leigh Street, earlier this week.

Diners’ mouths were left agape as legendary musician Axl Rose and his entourage took a seat at an up-market CBD restaurant.

Customers were treated to a glimpse of the rock icon as he enjoyed a late meal on Monday night at around 9.30 ahead of the blockbuster Guns N’ Roses concert.

“There were some big smiling faces,” Laura Sharrad who co-owns the restaurant with her husband Max, said of Rose’s impact on her customers.

Mr and Mrs Sharrad had just three hours to prepare for the music legend’s arrival.

“Someone called just before dinner service saying that someone very important is flying in so all the staff were very curious,” Mrs Sharrad said.

But Rose was not shy about eating with all the other customers in the restaurant.

“I prepared this beautiful private space and he was like ‘nah, I’ll just sit right in the middle of the restaurant’, which I think was really, really cool,” Mrs Sharrad said.

But not everyone was starstruck by Rose. “To be honest, none of the young kids really recognised him which was quite funny,” she said.

Rose began his meal with beluga caviar with waffles before chowed down on the $49 hand-rolled taglierini crab pasta (perhaps a nod to the name of their fourth album, The Spaghetti Incident?) with an unconventional pairing of french fries and tomato sauce.

His stay was relatively short as Rose had to rest before his concert the next night Mr Sharrad said. “As Axl was leaving he said that he loved everything and he was a very generous tipper,” he said.

Mr Sharrad was impressed with Rose’s choices from their restaurant menu. “He knows his food and he knows his wine,” he said. “If I was in his shoes I probably would have eaten something similar.”

Fugazzi is used to having celebrities at their tables as in the past they have served up fresh dishes for Nigella Lawson, Jimmy Barnes and Cate Blanchett.

Rose’s love of pasta is well documented, with a leaked online rider from the band’s late eighties glory days containing demands for no less than three separate pasta dishes – angel hair pasta, pasta primavera and an order of fettuccine alfredo.
While backstage details from this week’s tour are still top secret, the Gunners are known for being a demanding act.
Rider requests over the band’s 35-plus year career have included an assortment of adult magazines, Camel filter cigarettes and honey and lemon tea.

Before their 2017 Adelaide Oval concert Rose reportedly made a last-minute demand to have a separate dressing room constructed on the opposite side of the stage to his bandmates’ facilities. Adelaide production guru Peter Darwin told The Advertiser in 2020 that the request cost around $25,000. “Axl spent three minutes in that room, at the most,” Mr Darwin said.
“It was one of the very few gigs I’ve ever heard of where Axl was actually early. The car drove him to his dressing room, he went in, changed his jacket, then walked to the stage to play.”

Drummer Frank Ferrer was also spotted at iconic East End clothing store Midwest Trader on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the big show.

It had been more than two and a half years since Adelaide Oval hosted a big international act, but Guns N’ Roses were ready to rock.

The legendary rock band arrived Monday night in a private jet just after 8.30pm and were greeted by more than 40,000 fans at the venue on Tuesday night. Read Tuesday night’s review here.

The band is the biggest music act to rock the Adelaide Oval since the pandemic, and last played here in 2017 – you can read our 2017 review here. Their crew – made up of more than 100 people – were here for five days before the concert setting up the stage.