rockphantom

3 hours ago, quikspade said:

That’s an impressive list of artists.  My daughter is the youngest at 11, but she will rock LALD, Brownstone, Sympathy, Michelle along with the radio favorites. We’ve been here 8 years (thank you Air Force) and it’s been a blast. I went in 2017 with a friend from Colorado but my kids weren’t quite ready for “the big stage” as my daughter calls it.

Taking your 11 year old to the GNR show is a very cool thing to do.
I was 11 the first time I heard Appetite during the fall of 1989 (I was a little late to the party).

Soon after hearing AFD for the first time, GNR became my favorite band.

Have fun tomorrow night!

5 hours ago, quikspade said:

Taking the family to see GNR. Kind of a bucket list for three generations to go together.

That's great! Have a blast!

I should clarify. My family is from SA. However, we don't live there anymore.

I thought it would have been neat to see the remnants of GN'R, in the town where my parents met, and where my grandparents are buried.

I have many good memories in San Antonio. When I lived in Austin, my friends and I went down to San Antonio to attend MANY rock shows.

Iron Maiden, Van Halen,  Heaven and Hell (Sabbath with Dio), The Stones, Judas Priest, KISS, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Tesla, you name it, we saw them in San Antonio...

Is anyone from the forum going to this show?

My family is from San Antonio, but I won't be travelling from DFW to the Alamo city in the middle of the week, for the GNR gig...

What are the odds that COVID has hit the GNR camp?

Ideally, both Steven and Matt would have rejoined GNR in 2016, and shared drumming duties during shows. If this has happened, today we'd be saying, Frank WHO?!?! 

I choose Matt.

After hearing Matt shake the Astrodome in Houston on the Metallica tour with the timpani intro to Mr. Brownstone, he cemented his position as THE drummer for GNR in my mind.

On 6/2/2023 at 4:11 PM, Steve J from UK GUNS said:

Yeah but a lot of the other shows with Metallica were longer than that one. 

This was the show (Orlando Citrus Bowl) where Axl did the interview for the MTV Live & Loud GNR & Metallica special - same tshirt.

 

I wanted to clarify that the MTV Live and Loud special was filmed in Houston 2 night later. 

41 minutes ago, mystery said:

Don't they have almost all the UYI tour in this quality? People have wanted shows like this for years and they kind of obliged with the Ritz but there's tons of shows that were pro-shot and vaulted.

GNR Inc could easily license the UYI pro-shot archive to one of the streaming services and make easy money.
It doesn't seem like there is much market for official live DVDs/BDs anymore, with everything appearing on Youtube for free.

I'm currently watching the infamous Saskatoon '93 pro-shot and reminiscing about how unique/loose the Skin N' Bones tour was.

With the 1991-1992 portion of the UYI tour covered by the recent UYI Super Deluxe Edition, I am hoping that 1993 will be recognized in someway via an official release.
I don't believe a TSI Super Deluxe Edition would have much appeal, or enough material to justify such a release, so why not represent 1993 with 3 complete live recordings from the Skin N' Bones tour?

Here is what I would I like to see in a 1993 Live GNR box set:

Austin, Texas February 23, 1993 Pro-Shot + 2CD - A simply amazing show and the very first Skin N' Bones show.

An Izzy show from May of 1993 Pro-shot + 2CD - Which one of these gigs were the best? Please enlighten me!

The FINAL show of the "Golden Era" - Buenos Aires, Argentina  July 17, 1993 uncut and in Pro-Shot HD + 2CD.

Yes, we have all seen the final gig in Buenos Aires.
However, it would definitely need to be included in a hypothetical 1993 live box set.
Being that this show was filmed for broadcast on Argentinian TV it may be possible to produce a Blu-Ray from the archival footage of this gig.

What would YOU like to see included in a Skin N' Bones box set?

I'm really enjoying the sound quality/performance of the Vegas '92 show. It's a shame this stellar live recording was locked away for 30 years. It would have made perfect sense to release the Vegas '92 soundboard as an official 3CD + Sympathy For The Devil as a bonus track in December of 1994 as a stopgap between TSI and the "next album" that never came. Oh well. Better late than never!

Ain't It Fun!

I recall hearing this tune for the first time during Halloween 1993, on the radio, as my family was driving through San Antonio, TX and not knowing who the band was, but thinking it was a great song.

I discovered it was GNR when I heard TSI for the first time 3 weeks later. 

Live and Let Die was a lot of fun during the UYI era but it bores me now.

Nice Boys was a great cover as well.

3 minutes ago, mystery said:

Your point about this not being a "true" band is interesting because it reminds me of stories of Bruce Springsteen and Prince who wouldn't put up with shoddy musicianship.

Prince one time noticed a single bad note from one of his guys and just glared at him for the rest of that performance.

It shows that Guns isn't really a tight unit if you have Frank doing this and Slash doing what he wants for Chinese Democracy songs.

I haven't considered GNR to be a true band since the end of the UYI era. At this stage, it's the "Guns N' Roses Las Vegas Revue" featuring Axl, Slash, and Duff of Guns N' Roses. 

59 minutes ago, Powderfinger said:

You saw the last real GNR gig in 91, if I recall correctly. I saw peak Axl in 92. 
I think that makes it harder to listen to him now than if we had gotten into them in the last 20 years. 
 

I accept Axl’s vocals are shitty for lots of reasons, I get it, but what’s keeping me away is Frank. I can’t even enjoy the music the way it was and could be played. The mix of Axl’s vocals and Franks Drumming is why I’m not bothered. 

Frank is a major issue for me too. The reunion would have been so much better with Steven and/or Matt. I know the GNR catalog inside and out, after hearing these 30+ year old songs tens of thousands of times over the decades. 
It's very easy to spot Frank's mistakes on the NITL live recordings. His most well-known fuck-up was when he fumbled the end of Nightrain on the Harlem Apollo SXM live broadcast. Frank has improved since April 2016. However, he is still a bar band level drummer supporting a stadium level live rock production (I don't consider GNR to be a true band these days). Sure, Steven and Matt may have aggravating personalities gauging from what we've heard/read over the years, but they were both integral parts of GNR's Golden Era, and should have been given a chance to redeem themselves by sharing drumming duties during the Reunion Era. 

On the flip side, In 2016, I heard that the 4 "additional musicians" supporting A/S/D each receive a salary of $50,000 per WEEK while on tour. Can anyone confirm/deny this?

If this is true, I don't blame Frank for sticking around. Only a complete FOOL would give up that kind of income. 
I bet if Frank quit the band, that Brian Mantia would be offered the drum stool, just to further stick it to Steven and Matt. 

1 hour ago, Evil Doer said:

I was fortunate enough attend the Skin N' Bones tour, Hartford 1993.  To this day probably the best show I've ever been to.  

Do you have the audience shot DVD of that show?
Such a nice souvenir to have!

Worst thing for me is GNR's "War on Fans".

What I mean by this, is punishing fans for freely trading live recordings that were never and likely never will be made available officially.

In addition, I have the following gripes:

Axl's mickey voice is EXTREMELY annoying to me.
The predictable setlists also turn me off. 


The fact that Frank is on drums when both Steven and Matt are available.
I don't have anything against Frank as a human being, but he can't compete with what Steven and Matt could bring to the band.
I always imagined a "reunion" being a celebration of the golden era, and that the original five, plus Matt, Dizzy, and Gilby would have a part to play at EVERY show.
Instead, we ended up with Slash and Duff joining Axl's GNR "Las Vegas style revue" band. The spirit of the Golden Era of GNR has been long dead.
At such high ticket prices, fans are owed a more complete reunion, IMHO!

I am glad that a version of GNR featuring A/S/D is touring for those who are interested.
I won't shame fans that are still into what is on offer in 2023. However, I have checked out and won't be interested in seeing GNR ever again unless MAJOR changes are made.

Peace and respect to ALL fans of any age or era!
In the grand scheme of things, Guns are JUST a rock band, and not worth arguing over with strangers on the internet.
Life is too short! 

4 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

@rockphantom

Great review, thank you! Would you be okay if I copied over to the relevant show thread at A4D ((16) 1993.02.23 - Frank Erwin Center, Austin, USA (a-4-d.com)) and credited you? t is good to have such reviews saved for posterity.

Sure, I don't mind at all.

Thanks for the Austin '93 pix! Just curious, are you 100% sure the Austin pix are from that gig? Where did you find them? 

14 minutes ago, Spike Killer said:

I don't like that wording.  

Thank you for sharing your memories of the show.  Countless tens (hundreds) of thousands went to the Illusion concerts.  It's really cool to hear from folks that went and left with positive memories.

You're welcome. The Austin '93 GNR gig made a major impression on me as a teenager. I just finished listening to the audio recording of this amazing concert, and can't believe I was lucky enough to be there in person 30 years ago! What I wouldn't do for an official release of this stellar performance in Austin...

21 minutes ago, Stay.Of.Execution said:

Music was just a different thing back then in general. Younger people who got into the band later don't know how big this band was. It's unlikely anything you see now in music. Everyone wanted to be a part of what GNR brought and everybody listened to them. I miss those times

You are very right! This is why I checked out of GNR-land after the band fell apart in the mid-90s. I bought into the reunion hype in 2016 and checked back in. I'd checked out again after the pitiful Austin 2019-10-11 performance and here we are. I am happy with my memories and live recordings from the Golden Era. The current incarnation of GN'R doesn't interest me at all...

23 minutes ago, Stay.Of.Execution said:

Cologne 93

I was 10 years old and went with my neighbors. Had tickets in the stands. I remember buying two shirts from that show (which I still have) and Axl yelling at a fan during dtj to go fuck himself. It was epic, GNR was a different beast back then

Very cool. It must have been wild to be a 10 year old at a GNR show. Guns were a totally different animal back then. Comparing the Golden Era to the NITL Cash Grab Era is like comparing apples to oranges. Two very different bands.

2 hours ago, Stay.Of.Execution said:

My first GNR show was during the Skin N Bones Tour. Good times

Which show did you attend? Let's hear all about it! 

37 minutes ago, Ratam said:

Great review!! 👏

Thank you! Believe it or not, I still dream about the Austin '93 show on occasion.  Naturally, I cannot control my dreams, but my subconscious still has fond memories of this legendary concert! 

35 minutes ago, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

I saw the pre sale tickets for San Antonio are only $84 for the 100 sections. If it was a weekend I probably could have gone, but during the week with school isn't a good deal for me. Dammit.

The Alamodome is HUGE and has horrible acoustics. I caught the Stones in 1994 and Motley Crue in 2015 at the Alamodome, awful sound, and even worse sight lines unless you are in the sections very close to stage. Don't sweat it, you won't be missing anything you didn't see in 2016. 

I miss the pre-internet days. During the "Golden Era", the only other GNR fans I knew were kids at my school. We didn't have to deal with possessive people who have an issue with fans freely sharing live recordings, and in-turn take the fun out of being a GNR fan.