Old Timers That Saw GN'R In '91 Before The Illusions Was Out

[Swedish]

Some users here started talking about what they tought of the then yet to be released Illusions songs when they saw GN'R live on the UYI Tour before the albums dropped!

So if you remember what your thoughts were and how you felt about the songs back then please share!

[paranoyd androyd]

i was extremely lucky to see them in San Francisco at the tiny Warfield theatre in early '91 i believe - definitely before UYI was released

this was a surprise show that was announced on the local rock station the night before and i think MTV picked up the news. tickets were only sold at the box office and the line wasn't allowed to start until 6am or something

anyway, remember the show being about half AFD material and the Illusion stuff was kinda mixed with the crowd. pretty sure they played Civil War and i know they played Live and Let Die and Heavens Door, crowd went nuts for those

[Italian girl]

*.* wow

[trqster]

Oldtimer here! Never saw them live before '92 but the mojo of the band after AFD and Lies was released was amazing. They seemed to be the real mccoy, a band composed of tight 5 bad to the bone rocker bros. A true privilege to have lived those magical times.

Everything changed after UYI of course with the band's popularity explosion and Axl's grandiose vision for the band...

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

never saw them live, but 88-94 was the golden age of rock n roll, GNR was the real deal, not easy to describe how big they were.

[AmyL]

I  never saw them live before 93 but was a huge fan. I couldn't wait for the Illusions to come out. I had the bootlegs and played them over and over. I was blown away by how good it sounded when they finally came out. Played them over and over. wore them out!

[wasted]

Wembley 91

Perfect Crime was awesome

Live n Let Die "thanks for being real professional" Axl was late. 

Dust n Bones - Kind of cool to see Izzy sing. 

Estranged - didn't really get it. But made me interested to hear the records. 

They must have played YCBM and DC but I don't remember. I had the tapes of both singles on the coach. 

 

[dalsh327]

Whoever took the video was probably in my section. 

[fabrph5]

I saw them in  88 or 89, cant remember.  It was before I heard any UYI songs.  I remember them playing" get in the ring" though.  It was a great show

Edited March 1, 2016 by fabrph5

[tomc102968]

I was at the nassua coliseum if thats the show that started at midnight at axl rants were great that night.  The 1 thing i remember is when they started playing november rain the girl next to me and i looked at each other and said "Axl plays piano?" 

[Italian girl]

out of like for today, but I love all your posts here!!! 

[GoBucky]

Saw the two Alpine Valley shows to open the tour when I was almost 16 y/o. It was insanity! The parking lots were out of control and I saw stuff I've never seen before. The anticipation at the shows was incredible with them being the openers, and Axl having a house down the road. We didn't know half the songs, but that didn't matter. The shows were incredible! 

[Ace Nova]

I saw them live in Philadelphia 91 a few months before Illusions were released.  Skid Row opened for them.  I was 14 years old..awesome show.

I remember hearing and liking Civil War from the first time I heard it that night.  Slash's Godfather intro also stuck in my mind...it was awesome. 

[Len Cnut]

I was 10 years old (though still a massive fan) when they played their last gig so i didn't really have a decent shot, would've LOVED it though, like absolutely loved it, they were the centre of my universe in them days.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Len B'stard
your mums saggy tits

[blackieloveless]

 saw them in Toronto with skid row before the illusions dropped and izzy was still around luckily for me , the next show I saw was the Montreal riot without izzy , it was hard to get a feel for what the illusions were about to be live .

[DIST]

I envy you..all of you.  

[yourcrazy]

I saw them in June 91, just a few months before the illusions came out.  At that point it seemed like it was taking forever for them to get released (some things never change).  I already had a cassette of the bootlegs and had just about worn it out, so I was anticipating new music.  I also was fortunate enough to see them with Metallica in Pittsburgh in 92, before that whole thing imploded.  It was unbelievable how big the band became at that point.  In only a years time, they were now the biggest band in the world.  The hype and excitement was off the charts and almost out of control.  That was a time when rock was raw and alive, nothing quite like it today.  Still the best concert I have ever been to hands down.  

[tsinindy]

I posted this in the Deer Creek CD thread...but wanted to copy it in here for those that may not have seen it.  I'll try to add more thoughts in as the goes along.  But another thing I wanted to mention is I had this awesome huge double-sized poster that hung my dorm room wall for the two years I stayed in a dorm in college (89-91) and then on the wall at the house and apartment me and some buddies stayed at for my last two years of college.  It was black with the bullet logo in the middle and across the "Guns n Roses" and "Appetite for Destruction" on the bottom in red AFD style font. I loved that poster, it was my prized possession. 

 

 

Well the whole experience for these two shows was mesmerizing for me.  At the time I was a huge fan, but I had never seen them before.  They were supposed to open for Iron Maiden at a show I went to in June of 1988, but they pulled out at the last minute as the album was hitting and they began to headline or do bigger shows.  So, we got Megadeth as an opener for that show.

Anyway, for the first show the night before.  This show was in May and the UYI albums weren't even out yet (they were coming out a bit later in that summer).  At this point in time we'd heard Civil War and YCBM on the radio and etc., but really nothing else from those albums.  So, for the first show half the tunes they played you had basically never heard before.  Keep in mind, this was pre-internet days.  So, there no videos on YouTube of the earlier shows at Alpine Valley or rumors of setlists really or things of that nature.  So, you went into a show fairly unaware of what to expect.

I remember that first show very vividly.  Oddly enough I was fairly tanked for that show.  I had lawn tix and went with a bunch of buddies from college.  GnR took that stage just before 11:00 (show time for them was to be 9:00 or 9:30).  They literally showed a whole movie before they started on the screens at the venue.  Then, GnR comes out and opens with a song you'd never heard before (Perfect Crime) and I was just....mesmerized.  The stage presence of Axl and Slash and Duff and Izzy was just perfect.  

One of the odd things to me was the piano and keys being involved.  There was none of that on AFD...so you could tell they were moving in a different direction.  They played Estranged the first night and it was totally captivating.  

For the second night, I did not have tickets.  I was in college at the time (in Bloomingon, IN at IU about an hour and 1/2 away from the venue, which I literally live five minutes away from now).  We got home at about 4:30 in the morning.  I was supposed to work at NOON and called in sick.  After that I tried to get some buddies to go up with me for show two, but no one was really interested.  So, I said fuck it and drove back up to Indy myself for night two and scalped an upper level pavillion ticket outside the venue at about 9:00 for $50.   I had to see the show.

November Rain immediately followed Rocket Queen on night two and the night two version of Rocket Queen was very loose, sloppy, but extremely raw and powerful.  There was the chic from the crowd came up on stage and it was all bizarre in a way really.  I think that was all being abosrbed when they played November Rain and I recall at the time saying something about it being new or whatever, but I wasn't totally paying attention because hell half the songs they played were "new".  But, it was very powerful and moving...it was an epic, you knew the minute it played.  I prefered Estranged at the time and still do really.  I dunno, that probably doesn't give you the info you wanted because I don't have a lot of specific memories of that specific song or many of the songs, but more general images and memories of the experience and the performances overall.

[parisrocks]

Saw them open for Aerosmith on July 30th, 1998.  Can hardly remember any of it.  I was 8 years old.  :-)

[JONEZY]

Saw them in St. Louis, July 1991, the Riverport Riot.  Remember liking the new(unheard) songs, but waiting for some more songs from Appetite in the show.  Looked like it was about to happen when they started "Rocket Queen" but then Axl got pissed and left.  Then all hell broke loose.  ie: You're leaving now?  What the hell?

Took forever to get home. Didn't get much sleep that night but still made it to work in the morning.

[Evil Doer]

had tickets to the lake compounce show in 91 which was cancelled.  had a few friends go to the show at saratoga in 91' where the "get in the ring" chant was recorded.  

[thunderram]

I missed an opportunity to see them in '88 opening for Aerosmith. Always regretted that. But I did see them a few months before UYI came out in July 1991 @ Mountain View, CA while Izzy was still in the lineup. Skid Row opened for them.

They opened w/ Perfect Crime, which I had not heard previously. Going into the show, I had heard Live and Let Die, You Could be Mine, Civil War, but not many others. So it was definitely a different experience not knowing all the songs. It just made me anticipate the new albums even more. I remember going to a midnight release at Warehouse Records on Sept. 16/17th 1991. Lots of people did the same. You certainly never see anything like that happen anymore.

I also saw them on later tours, such as w/ Metallica at Oakland Colosseum in Aug. 1992 and the April 1993 Sacramento, CA show that was shorted due to Duff getting hit w/ a bottle, but none of them were the same as that 1st ULI show when the albums had yet to release and Izzy was still touring.

Edited March 1, 2016 by thunderram

[janrichmond]

I saw them  at Wembley 91, it was amazing,a mix of Appetite and the then unheard Illusions.The new stuff went down really well

It turned out to be Izzys last show (except for when he later stood in for Gilby when Gilby broke his wrist.

Ialso saw them the following year at Wembley again with all extras-Teddy,Dizzy and horns etc- 91 was better than 92!

Wembly 91 is on you tube.

[BKinNYC]

I saw them in June of '91, on the first night in Toronto. We were tailgating super early before the show, and Slash almost ran into us on his BMX, which he used to ride around before every show. We all laughed and he said "see you guys later," and took off. 

The best part about the concert was that at one point Axl was asking the front row "what song titles you want to hear," so people were blindly throwing out titles they heard of like "Back off Bitch," and they would play them.

Before playing NR, Axl told everyone it was 11 o'clock, and the last trains were leaving in a little while, but they still were going to play. 

I've seen Gn'R about 15 times, and that was the one I'll never forget. Amazing.  

 

[ericy210]

12 hours ago, dalsh327 said:

Whoever took the video was probably in my section. 

Is that where "get in the ring" crowd noise was recorded, or was that Saratoga?  My cousin was there.

i saw the Skin n Bones tour in 1993 and feel lucky to see them stripped back down.  I told my parents I was staying at a friends house when in reality we drove 10 hours to see them in Iowa.  We were on the floor, all folding chairs.  During Brian May everyone passed/threw them to the back of the floor into a huge pile, which Axl thought was hilarious.