Does anyone have any info on these? Any stories? I'm a big GNR fan but it seems like they got a rather long opening set. From videos, it appears they had an hour and so I'm curious as to how that was perceived by non GNR fans. I can't imagine them appealing to that (and I don't mean this in a mean way) older sort of crowd. Doesn't seem like the same people going to Rolling Stones concerts were the primary target for Guns N Roses. But from the videos, it looks like the crowd response was pretty enthusiastic and that they got a very concertlike show, as opposed to a typical opening slot. It appears that full videos of their sets are up on their Youtube.

I saw them twice in L.A.
The first night they went thru their set with Axl somewhat behaving.
The second night he spent so much time badmouthing another member (not by name - could have been referring to Slash or Adler), that they couldn't complete their set. I remember Axl saying, "We ran out of time, we can only do either Sweet Child of mine or Paradice City, so what do you want to hear?" The crowd cheared louder for Paradice, so that's what they played.

Very interesting. Was that the second night in a row or the ones the next week. It looks like all the sets are up so that would be pretty interesting to watch.

Just checked the videos. It was the 22nd. And yes, he does do the voting thing. So good memory lol.

A bit like when I saw The Stones at the Cirkus and The Hellacopters supported them, really good and kind of a relief after seeing the shitty Hives twice. I wouldn't have complained if Guns opened. But Toots were the best!! ANd Charlatans!!! And Primal Scream!!!

Wasn't sure of the second date.The first show was opening night October 18. I went to 2 of the four shows.

From the videos, it looks they even left and got an encore with Paradise City. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to have seen that bill, but I think of my dad would could have easily gone to one of these shows with mom and they definitely wouldn't have liked that music I'm guessing. Seems like the crowd is really on board though and an hour for an opener seems pretty good compared to the usual not more than 45 minutes standard. Any stories from a Stones fan perspective. From the video, I forgot the Stones would have even been going on because it almost seems like a short GNR show.

I saw two of the L.A. shows. The first one was the infamous one where Axl bitched about band members doing heroin. It's hard to get good sound in a place like that so I would put my fingers in my ears so I could only hear the notes being played by the guitars. I was quite impressed. They did blow away the Stones that first night.

I went to the final night and the crowd was a little mystified by Axl. I think that's the night he wore the buttless chaps. Some of the crowd thought maybe he was gay and this was his coming out party. The Stones blew them away that night. I pitied the other GNR members, having to put up with such an a-hole like Axl, who was belittling them on stage.

Wish I had the bootleg T-shirt to that one.

Axl is an acquired taste. Problem is, its hard to do GNR without him. Its hard to do it without any of the other members either, but he's sort of irreplaceable. I understand not liking him and the voice can definitely get on people's nerves. I guess I just have a high tolerance for it. And he's quite a character which most of the time I can't defend. But when he's on, he's on, and thats when that band was the best. Just don't see them as the "older" Rolling Stones type concert opener is all. It'd be a hell of a bill though for me as a huge fan of both.

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24FPS
I saw two of the L.A. shows. The first one was the infamous one where Axl bitched about band members doing heroin. It's hard to get good sound in a place like that so I would put my fingers in my ears so I could only hear the notes being played by the guitars. I was quite impressed. They did blow away the Stones that first night.

I went to the final night and the crowd was a little mystified by Axl. I think that's the night he wore the buttless chaps. Some of the crowd thought maybe he was gay and this was his coming out party. The Stones blew them away that night. I pitied the other GNR members, having to put up with such an a-hole like Axl, who was belittling them on stage.

Wish I had the bootleg T-shirt to that one.

I have the bootleg T shirt. Didn't Axl threaten to walk off the stage at the 1st or 2nd show? I think the butless chaps was the third show but it may have been the 4th as I was at the 3rd and 4th. Didn't he do a lap around the entire track that night in the chaps? He was surrounded by body guards, of course.

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RollingFreak
Axl is an acquired taste. Problem is, its hard to do GNR without him.

Doesn't seem like a problem to me, as I could easily live without GNR. I went to one of the shows late, hoping to avoid the cartoon vulgarity that was GNR, but unfortunately I caught the end of the set. As for the Stones, it was probably one of the most forgettable shows I have seen them do. That place was just too damn big.

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RollingFreak
Does anyone have any info on these? Any stories? I'm a big GNR fan but it seems like they got a rather long opening set. From videos, it appears they had an hour and so I'm curious as to how that was perceived by non GNR fans. I can't imagine them appealing to that (and I don't mean this in a mean way) older sort of crowd. Doesn't seem like the same people going to Rolling Stones concerts were the primary target for Guns N Roses. But from the videos, it looks like the crowd response was pretty enthusiastic and that they got a very concertlike show, as opposed to a typical opening slot. It appears that full videos of their sets are up on their Youtube.

It wasn't so much that GnR opened for the Stones, it was more like they where both on the bill. Remember, in '89 GnR where starting to become the biggest band in the world. Concerning the appeal of GnR: in '89 the Stones attracted a much younger audience than today, and the audience of '89 of course now is 23 years older as well.

Mathijs

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Mathijs

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RollingFreak
Does anyone have any info on these? Any stories? I'm a big GNR fan but it seems like they got a rather long opening set. From videos, it appears they had an hour and so I'm curious as to how that was perceived by non GNR fans. I can't imagine them appealing to that (and I don't mean this in a mean way) older sort of crowd. Doesn't seem like the same people going to Rolling Stones concerts were the primary target for Guns N Roses. But from the videos, it looks like the crowd response was pretty enthusiastic and that they got a very concertlike show, as opposed to a typical opening slot. It appears that full videos of their sets are up on their Youtube.

It wasn't so much that GnR opened for the Stones, it was more like they where both on the bill. Remember, in '89 GnR where starting to become the biggest band in the world. Concerning the appeal of GnR: in '89 the Stones attracted a much younger audience than today, and the audience of '89 of course now is 23 years older as well.

Mathijs

Exactly/ I knew a whole group of girls, who went only to see GnR; paid the whole price and barely even stayed for the Stones.

G n R were a great band back in the late 80s. Just reading Slash's autobiog right now and it seems that they were in an incredibly creative place, despite the opiate abuse.

btw, does anyone know if there are any more decent live shows out there from this period? I have the 1hr Live at The Ritz show, which is pretty good.

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Mathijs

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RollingFreak
Does anyone have any info on these? Any stories? I'm a big GNR fan but it seems like they got a rather long opening set. From videos, it appears they had an hour and so I'm curious as to how that was perceived by non GNR fans. I can't imagine them appealing to that (and I don't mean this in a mean way) older sort of crowd. Doesn't seem like the same people going to Rolling Stones concerts were the primary target for Guns N Roses. But from the videos, it looks like the crowd response was pretty enthusiastic and that they got a very concertlike show, as opposed to a typical opening slot. It appears that full videos of their sets are up on their Youtube.

It wasn't so much that GnR opened for the Stones, it was more like they where both on the bill. Remember, in '89 GnR where starting to become the biggest band in the world. Concerning the appeal of GnR: in '89 the Stones attracted a much younger audience than today, and the audience of '89 of course now is 23 years older as well.

Mathijs

This is ridiculous. They indeed OPENED for the Stones and in fact the Stones blew them out of the water.

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Father Ted
btw, does anyone know if there are any more decent live shows out there from this period? I have the 1hr Live at The Ritz show, which is pretty good.

I don't know if you'll find better than that. Thats considered one of their absolute best shows of their career.

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mickscarey

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Mathijs

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RollingFreak
Does anyone have any info on these? Any stories? I'm a big GNR fan but it seems like they got a rather long opening set. From videos, it appears they had an hour and so I'm curious as to how that was perceived by non GNR fans. I can't imagine them appealing to that (and I don't mean this in a mean way) older sort of crowd. Doesn't seem like the same people going to Rolling Stones concerts were the primary target for Guns N Roses. But from the videos, it looks like the crowd response was pretty enthusiastic and that they got a very concertlike show, as opposed to a typical opening slot. It appears that full videos of their sets are up on their Youtube.

It wasn't so much that GnR opened for the Stones, it was more like they where both on the bill. Remember, in '89 GnR where starting to become the biggest band in the world. Concerning the appeal of GnR: in '89 the Stones attracted a much younger audience than today, and the audience of '89 of course now is 23 years older as well.

Mathijs

This is ridiculous. They indeed OPENED for the Stones and in fact the Stones blew them out of the water.

But that was not how the shows where promoted. It was promoted as being a double bill.

Mathijs

I was there, I think the 3rd night just after the previous show where Axl melted down and Mick apparently went to his dressign room and balled him out. It was my very first Stones show (seen 32 more since then) and I'll never forget the last G&R encore song was 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' where Axl walked around the entire running track in the coliseum and towards the end with the music still going he said.."You think we're good?...in about 20 minutes you gonna see the greatest rock and roll band in the world" and the place went nuts. Axl definitely paid his respects. I thought G&R was good but Stones better

Sh*t. I went to three shows that year and all I saw was Living Colour.

I saw two of these shows as well.

Just to clarify, Living Colour was the OPENER for all four.
Gn'R broke up on stage, basically, on the first night. Axl just railed Slash for using heroin.

The night that Axl ran around the Olympic track surrounding the infield, he looked pretty @#$%&' cool doing it. What most people don't know is that he FELL OFF the stage, and that's why he was in the crowd in the first place!

Also, the story that Mick or Keith went into the dressing room to straighten them out at some point during the run of shows is an urban legend. Slash said that in those days, no one told them shit. Including The Rolling Stones.

They played 80 mins. They were the biggest rock band in the world at the time. At that point, your older rock fan wasn't a well-heeled senior citizen but instead mid 30's to early 40's. Not old at all.

They were very well-recieved by a majority of the crowd. They were responsible for selling tens of thousands of tickets so they should have had more than 45 mins. Appetite had sold millions of copies since their last LA shows in Sep 88. Their original fee was $400,000 for Oct 21&22 then when Oct 18&19 were added, they recieved $600,000.

Regardless of "tour gross" and hype, these shows still remain the biggest Los Angeles rock event of my concert going life.

I remember these being the worst sounding Stones shows I ever went to.
The opening bands were WAY TOO LOUD to enjoy at all. I was 40 rows back on Keiths side and couldn't recognize the songs until 30 or 40 seconds in. I thoought it might've been the venue, but it was just as bad in Oakland. Living Colour were awful there, and I was having trouble with the songs there too. Charlie's kick drum was the loudest thing going in Oakland. Still had young ears then but the sound was really bad to me....[writer's opinions]

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Munichhilton
I remember these being the worst sounding Stones shows I ever went to.
The opening bands were WAY TOO LOUD to enjoy at all. I was 40 rows back on Keiths side and couldn't recognize the songs until 30 or 40 seconds in. I thoought it might've been the venue, but it was just as bad in Oakland. Living Colour were awful there, and I was having trouble with the songs there too. Charlie's kick drum was the loudest thing going in Oakland. Still had young ears then but the sound was really bad to me....[writer's opinions]

Must have been a location issue, I was about 50 rows up to the side about the 30 to 40 yard line (stage side) both shows, and the sound was great from those locations. I think outdoor sound has come a long way in the last 20 years.

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BluzDude

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Munichhilton
I remember these being the worst sounding Stones shows I ever went to.
The opening bands were WAY TOO LOUD to enjoy at all. I was 40 rows back on Keiths side and couldn't recognize the songs until 30 or 40 seconds in. I thoought it might've been the venue, but it was just as bad in Oakland. Living Colour were awful there, and I was having trouble with the songs there too. Charlie's kick drum was the loudest thing going in Oakland. Still had young ears then but the sound was really bad to me....[writer's opinions]

Must have been a location issue, I was about 50 rows up to the side about the 30 to 40 yard line (stage side) both shows, and the sound was great from those locations. I think outdoor sound has come a long way in the last 20 years.

I agree. The audience recordings I've heard all sound decent enough.
I guess it would have been better to have worse seats.

I remember Axl falling off the stage. One of my friends laughed so hard I thought he was going to pass out. We had to move because some GnR fans were threatening us with bodily harm. BTW The Stones were great that night.

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Dan
They played 80 mins. They were the biggest rock band in the world at the time. At that point, your older rock fan wasn't a well-heeled senior citizen but instead mid 30's to early 40's. Not old at all.

They were very well-recieved by a majority of the crowd. They were responsible for selling tens of thousands of tickets so they should have had more than 45 mins. Appetite had sold millions of copies since their last LA shows in Sep 88. Their original fee was $400,000 for Oct 21&22 then when Oct 18&19 were added, they recieved $600,000.

Regardless of "tour gross" and hype, these shows still remain the biggest Los Angeles rock event of my concert going life.

They were not needed to sell seats on that tour. Shea Stadium sold out SIX shows in minutes.

I was there also. Great concert.

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mickscarey

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Dan
They played 80 mins. They were the biggest rock band in the world at the time. At that point, your older rock fan wasn't a well-heeled senior citizen but instead mid 30's to early 40's. Not old at all.

They were very well-recieved by a majority of the crowd. They were responsible for selling tens of thousands of tickets so they should have had more than 45 mins. Appetite had sold millions of copies since their last LA shows in Sep 88. Their original fee was $400,000 for Oct 21&22 then when Oct 18&19 were added, they recieved $600,000.

Regardless of "tour gross" and hype, these shows still remain the biggest Los Angeles rock event of my concert going life.

They were not needed to sell seats on that tour. Shea Stadium sold out SIX shows in minutes.

It's more that at that time the Stones tried to prove that they where more than a nostalgia act by inviting the hottest bands of the day to open for them or share the bill with them.

Mathijs

The opening acts are usually chosen based on the market itself.

In certain markets, The Stones don't need another big band to help them sell tickets. If your town never gets a "popular" opening act, it's because they don't need any help selling tickets there.

LA is a huge market.
There's no way that The Stones would have sold out 4 shows at the Colesium without Gn'R.

Just a choice by them to generate huge interest and sales.