MTV master of Ritz 88 now on Youtube

[Damn_Smooth]

Slash fucks up nearly every single song there is on this show. If I was too stupid to know that there were way better shows out there I might agree with his blind fanboys that he plays better now than ever. If only every other show they did didn't exist.

His technique is great now, but he seemed to be inspired most of the time in the old days. Now...not so much. Less. Way less.

The Ritz wasn't even a really good show. It was good. There are so many better Guns shows, but I like it anyway.

Even when Slash fucks up and sloppy, it still sounds cool, inspired and fuckin' rocks.

This show sucked for Slash, there are no ifs ands or buts about it. He sounded like shit and Axl completely carried it. Still a great show for the rest of the band but the drugs took their toll on Slash here. I'd be hard pressed to find a worse show from Slash until he quit the band.

Axl only sounded good on a few songs here. His voice was weak. I agree about Slash in this show, just saying if I went to a show like that, Slash's playing wouldn't bother me, cause it still sounds exciting. Much like Axl when he gives a passable performance like he gave in this show.

I was mainly talking about the contrast of a sloppy Slash in his prime, to now, a sober Slash with really good technique but lacking in other departments, more important ones.

Sloppy Slash is better than technical ( ) Slash, I'll agree with you there. Axl's performance is way more impressive to me because I know for a fact that no matter how good I get at singing I'll never be that good. I could probably fuck up the guitars like Slash in less than a year if I set my mind to it though.

Oh totally. I believe in you when it comes to fucking up like a junkie.

Slash is not a technical guitar player, I just meant now he is more accurate and just as fast as he was in his prime and he learned a few new tricks too. Rusty he is not. Just uninspired and unmotivated to create something truly great and fresh.

What Slash can do with his guitar when he's on fire is just as impressive to me as a great Axl performance. In old Guns Slash made his guitar sing and make all sorts of cool sounds like only he could.

That he did. I wouldn't ever think I could play as good as a junkie considering that the junkie in question is the absolutely best player in history in my opinion, but I think I might be able to match him in this show. Never in a million years could I match him on an average Guns show though. Hell, I probably couldn't even match the horseshit he's done since he walked out on Guns.

[Flayer]

Out of breath and could have used some more rasp. At least Axl seems to be in a good mood though.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Flayer

[DR DOOM]

I couldn't give a rat's ass about the imperfections of this concert ( and I agree it isn't Slash's shining hour), it still kicks ass and it's Guns N Fuckin Roses man.

[DieselDaisy]

Slash is an animal on that show.

[Rovim]

Slash is an animal on that show.

A sloppy animal.

[stella]

I still like the uncut version of this better, the one that has all the songs (Mama Kin and Knockin' on Heaven's Door) in the right places and has all of Axl's snarky commentary. The part before "Rocket Queen" where he's actually standing there asking everyone what they want to play, and listening for suggestions, is awesome.

What's ironic is that I remember at the time the band didn't like this gig at all. There was one interview where Duff referred to it as "frightful." And yet it's pure magic and it's the embodiment of what the band was.

Is that uncut version on YouTube as well?

It's been so long since I've seen this that it might be cool to watch both.

'tis.

For some reason the "fuck off" in It's So Easy is still blipped - did they just expect that and turn down the mics? - and there's one tiny bit of banter missing from Rocket Queen that I remember but this is the most complete one I've found.

Knockin' on Heaven's Door in this show is just so special IMHO. I always hated that MTV's special relegated it to the credits. It shows such amazing rapport between Axl and the audience, and whatever one says about Slash's playing on the rest of this, I love his solo there.

Edited March 1, 2015 by stella

[ludurigan]

Censored and Uncesored versions has different footages during at least on of the "bips" in Out Ta Get Me!

Like Buda made with the three cam versions of the 2nd nigth of Rock In Rio II, I decided to put together the both versions of Out Ta Get Me from Ritz. Wow! It has more differences that I thought!

The rare and uncommon version is from sharonsummer. In this version you can listen the "Fuck Off" very loud in It's So Easy!

wow, thanks

[IncitingChaos]

Someone said that Axl sounded bad here so now I'm pissed!

He sounded amazing! Sure on My Michelle he struggles to finish words but he's out of breath from the amazing performance he was giving. My favorite is WTTJ. His vocals are perfect! It's not overly raspy or low. It's nearly album perfect in terms of what tone and vocal level he hits. The whole show is one of Axl's best vocal spots. He nails it. I love his 88 voice.

[ludurigan]

i have watched this video more times than i can remember

it still amazes me how good this is

unbelievable

no band could ever touch this

i cant find words to describe it

this is rock n roll insanity

[ludurigan]

Someone said that Axl sounded bad here so now I'm pissed!

He sounded amazing! Sure on My Michelle he struggles to finish words but he's out of breath from the amazing performance he was giving. My favorite is WTTJ. His vocals are perfect! It's not overly raspy or low. It's nearly album perfect in terms of what tone and vocal level he hits. The whole show is one of Axl's best vocal spots. He nails it. I love his 88 voice.

man, i understand you

i read that and I said WHAT?

this is the best recorded live show of the best band that ever existed on planet earth just...

it just fucking rocks man

[nico_france]

When he presents Slash, Axl calls him by the traditional "half man, half beast...". Now, sadly he would say 100% beast

[TheDemocracyRose]

They look wasted and drunk. But hell Axl sounds angry and raw. Lengendary but not the best performance of all time by GNR.

[Flayer]

Someone said that Axl sounded bad here so now I'm pissed!

He sounded amazing! Sure on My Michelle he struggles to finish words but he's out of breath from the amazing performance he was giving. My favorite is WTTJ. His vocals are perfect! It's not overly raspy or low. It's nearly album perfect in terms of what tone and vocal level he hits. The whole show is one of Axl's best vocal spots. He nails it. I love his 88 voice.

Was just being an asshole there. Lot of Axl's vocals from this show really do sound bad to me (save a few like Brownstone, Nightrain, Paradise City) but in terms of putting on a show, everyone was on fire. Incredible energy.

[dalsh327]

Are there any "flawless" AFD era shows? This was one of the bigger rooms they played, usually they were in the 200 capacity clubs. When they were playing the LA clubs, they were doing 2 sets a night at times.

If they had to use the venue's mixing guy, it could have sounded really bad to really awesome.

I also think they were making sure they were going to put out a great performance for people at home to watch and that might have taken away from the playing. That's for them to say though.

Interesting to see there were different edits.

[TheSeeker]

I made a mistake in saying this is as close to perfect as can be - VHS has a limitation of 240p resolution.

So the actual master has 480p quality, which was transferred to the VHS in the OP at 240p quality. So the actual master has double the resolution of what we have available.

We should start an email campaign to Eagle Rock - they're good at tracking down old video sources and re-releasing shows:

http://www.eagle-rock.com/

[stella]

Are there any "flawless" AFD era shows? This was one of the bigger rooms they played, usually they were in the 200 capacity clubs. When they were playing the LA clubs, they were doing 2 sets a night at times.

If they had to use the venue's mixing guy, it could have sounded really bad to really awesome.

I also think they were making sure they were going to put out a great performance for people at home to watch and that might have taken away from the playing. That's for them to say though.

Interesting to see there were different edits.

There are a bunch of different comments on the unedited version of the show where Axl and Slash are both commenting on things that seem to be related to technical issues - Slash says his mic was turned off; Axl's asking a "monitor man" to get out of the way. So technical issues or miscommunication between the band and the venue's tech staff could certainly have been a thing here.

Another point: this gig was February 2, 1988. As per GnR On Tour, they were at the Limelight on January 31 and Axl says that they only found out about it when they got off the plane. So if they'd just flown in from LA, hadn't really done a lot of flying around before then and hadn't really had much time to adjust to the time difference or rest, they might have been exhausted.

[Sixes]

Are there any "flawless" AFD era shows? This was one of the bigger rooms they played, usually they were in the 200 capacity clubs. When they were playing the LA clubs, they were doing 2 sets a night at times.

If they had to use the venue's mixing guy, it could have sounded really bad to really awesome.

I also think they were making sure they were going to put out a great performance for people at home to watch and that might have taken away from the playing. That's for them to say though.

Interesting to see there were different edits.

There are a bunch of different comments on the unedited version of the show where Axl and Slash are both commenting on things that seem to be related to technical issues - Slash says his mic was turned off; Axl's asking a "monitor man" to get out of the way. So technical issues or miscommunication between the band and the venue's tech staff could certainly have been a thing here.

Another point: this gig was February 2, 1988. As per GnR On Tour, they were at the Limelight on January 31 and Axl says that they only found out about it when they got off the plane. So if they'd just flown in from LA, hadn't really done a lot of flying around before then and hadn't really had much time to adjust to the time difference or rest, they might have been exhausted.

good to see Axl was all about the excuses back then too....INTEGRITY

[stella]

Are there any "flawless" AFD era shows? This was one of the bigger rooms they played, usually they were in the 200 capacity clubs. When they were playing the LA clubs, they were doing 2 sets a night at times.

If they had to use the venue's mixing guy, it could have sounded really bad to really awesome.

I also think they were making sure they were going to put out a great performance for people at home to watch and that might have taken away from the playing. That's for them to say though.

Interesting to see there were different edits.

There are a bunch of different comments on the unedited version of the show where Axl and Slash are both commenting on things that seem to be related to technical issues - Slash says his mic was turned off; Axl's asking a "monitor man" to get out of the way. So technical issues or miscommunication between the band and the venue's tech staff could certainly have been a thing here.

Another point: this gig was February 2, 1988. As per GnR On Tour, they were at the Limelight on January 31 and Axl says that they only found out about it when they got off the plane. So if they'd just flown in from LA, hadn't really done a lot of flying around before then and hadn't really had much time to adjust to the time difference or rest, they might have been exhausted.

good to see Axl was all about the excuses back then too....INTEGRITY

Um, nobody made excuses for the gig. In the middle of the show Axl fully acknowledges that they're sloppy. As mentioned, there was an interview where Duff even used it as an example as a terrible gig (the original quote was something like "we still have frightful gigs, like that last Ritz show").

Commeting on the tech stuff DURING the show doesn't seem like an excuse to me - it seems like a way to try to fix tech problems, and both Slash AND Axl did it. So was Slash making excuses too? It's an issue that a lot of bands have, when they're up and coming, they don't have their own tech and they're dealing with the venue's system and staff that may or may not be good and may or may not know how to work with their sound.

And Axl's comments AFTER the show were that he was unhappy with the way all of the instruments and mics were cutting out and that he couldn't hear himself, and those seems like legit complaints to me. He also fully acknowledged that he and the band could have been better, and he seemed upset that it wasn't their best show. I think those are fair comments. I'm not going to support anything and everything Axl says and does, but the comments from the Ritz make it seem as though he was honestly disappointed and frustrated that the tech made it harder for him and the band to do their jobs.

Edited March 1, 2015 by stella

[Sixes]

meh...excuses, excuses, excuses

always somebody else's fault and that they don't know what they're doing

INTEGRITY

Edited March 1, 2015 by Sixes

[stella]

That's so fucking stupid in this context that I can't even fathom where it would come from. INTEGRITY was doing the whole set regardless, and still trying to do whatever they could to give the audience a good show, despite the tech problems.

Edited March 1, 2015 by stella

[Sixes]

That's so fucking stupid in this context that I can't even fathom where it would come from. INTEGRITY was doing the whole set regardless, and still trying to do whatever they could to give the audience a good show, despite the tech problems.

no, you're stupid

INTEGRITY

Edited March 1, 2015 by Sixes

[stella]

I said that your statement was stupid, and it is. Not you. But since you can't tell the difference between criticizing actions and ad hominem attacks and can't respond to actual discussion points, perhaps it does apply. Not wasting any more time on this.

Edited March 1, 2015 by stella

[Sixes]

I said that your statement was stupid, and it is. Not you. But since you can't tell the difference between criticizing actions and ad hominem attacks and can't respond to actual discussion points, perhaps it does apply to you as well. Not wasting any more time on this.

My statement stands. As does my opinion.

Because I have integrity.

[Sixes]

Someone said that Axl sounded bad here so now I'm pissed!

He sounded amazing! Sure on My Michelle he struggles to finish words but he's out of breath from the amazing performance he was giving. My favorite is WTTJ. His vocals are perfect! It's not overly raspy or low. It's nearly album perfect in terms of what tone and vocal level he hits. The whole show is one of Axl's best vocal spots. He nails it. I love his 88 voice.

Was just being an asshole there. Lot of Axl's vocals from this show really do sound bad to me (save a few like Brownstone, Nightrain, Paradise City) but in terms of putting on a show, everyone was on fire. Incredible energy.

Therein lies the difference between Axl then and Axl now. His voice was shot for most of the Ritz show (and a huge chunk of the UYI tour) yet he was able to power thru it and still have it sound good. Nowadays, he just doesn't have the strength in his voice

[classicrawker]

Hmmm...wonder if this new bootleg is the same video source?

http://www.giginjapan.com/guns-n-roses-ritz-88-definitive-edition/

And while I think the 88 Ritz show is better than critics give it credit the 87 Guns Ritz show I attended blows it away IMHO.

Edited March 1, 2015 by classicrawker