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Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 1993


Maarten

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9 hours ago, Maarten said:

Hello everyone,

New member here. My name is Maarten Prinsen and I'm a 33-year old guy from the Netherlands. I've been a fan for about 24 years now and can vividly remember my first Guns n' Roses show. On Saturday the 5th of June 1993, my uncle and aunt took me to see them at the Goffertpark in Nijmegen. It's an open field and the weather was perfect that day. We arrived at the park and I remember being scared of the big guard dogs in cages that surrounded the area. Some "cool kids" were hitting against the cages and the dogs were showing their teeth and barking like crazy. Luckily I didn't get eaten. There were a lot of people wearing long blonde wigs to create Duff-like hair, but, needless to say, they failed miserably and I thought they were transvestites (don't mean this in a derogatory way to real transvestites). Once inside the park I saw the merchandise stand, but as a small boy I wasn't able to buy any of the kickass tourshirts or posters. Even though I'd loved to have one of those beautiful skull designs. I'm still trying to obtain those shirts as of now. They also sold tour booklets, but back then I didn't think they were cool. The wisdom of a child...(sarcasm)

We walked through the park and a lot of people were already loud and intoxicated (remember, this ís the Netherlands and in the 90's a lot was still possible). It was very crowded, so we had to settle for a place in the middle of the field. I couldn't see a thing except for a few big rockers' butts. Luckily my uncle lifted me up every once in a while so I could sit on his shoulders. I didn't know or care for the opening band, because all I wanted to hear was Axl's great voice, Slash's awesome riffs, Duff's deep bass and Matt's faster-than-the-speed-of-light drumming. I had no clue who the rhythm guitar player was back then (sorry Gilby, as a ten year old, I was a bit short-sighted). It seemed like a really long time before the tv-screens on both sides of the stage started showing the name of my all-time favorite band (Guns n' Roses of course, just want to make that clear). People had even climbed in stadium lights to see the show and some rowdy teens had started a bonfire. A helicopter flew over the park and it was rumored that my heroes were in it. The tension grew and the whole field was buzzing as a result. I sensed a mysterious smell in the air (see what I did here, I made a tacky lyric reference, sorry). At a later age I found out it was a combination of weed and beer. The sun was beginning to set and finally the first guitar riffs could be heard. Unfortunately, I can't remember the setlist, but that can be found here: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/guns-n-roses/1993/goffertpark-nijmegen-netherlands-2bd67c96.html

I was wondering who that strange looking bearded fellow on Axl's shirt was, but, after reading Vincent Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter", things are much clearer now. The show was about an hour-and-a-half long and I clapped my hands as rhythmic as possible to the beat of the songs. Singing wasn't an option, except for the words "Paradise City" and "Knocking on Heaven's Door", as I was young and we didn't get English classes at school. After the show they showed a bizarre cartoon that I'm still trying to find these days. It's basically a guy that somehow manages to cut of all his limbs and in the end there's just his head left. It was bloody and I loved it. When we went back home, my hair was soaked in beer and the smell of cigarettes oozed from my clothing. I also fell asleep in the back of the car, but I couldn't give a rat's a$$ about all of that, because I was the only kid at school that had seen the most dangerous band alive in real life. My status went through the roof which, to a small boy, means the world. I knew then and there I wanted to drink, smoke, get tattoos and become a badass. I do like my Jack Daniel's and brown rum every now and then, got tattoos, never smoked and eventually didn't grow up to be a badass. I do however still love Guns n' Roses passionately and hope they'll tour Europe once again. And maybe, if I play my cards right, someone from this messageboard, is willing to pick me up a t-shirt (for which I will pay of course) at one of the US shows. Wouldn't that be something...

Thanks for your precious time, my fellow fans. Keep on rockin' n' f'n rollin'!

Here are a few pics, one of the stage and one of the ticket I still have.

 

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

 

As a bonus, here's some footage (not mine and you've all see it probably, but still): 

 

very cool experience! nice post, hope to see more from you :)

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Fun read! As a Dutchman it's always nice to read the experiences of a fellow countryman. Too bad I was only 1 and a half years old back when the concert was held. Hope to catch my heroes when they come to Europe, but tickets will probably be very expensive. Welcome to the forum Maarten!

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"After the show they showed a bizarre cartoon that I'm still trying to find these days. It's basically a guy that somehow manages to cut of all his limbs and in the end there's just his head left. It was bloody and I loved it."

That's "Lupo, The Butcher", see it here:
 

 

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