Use Your Illusion Tour

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Use Your Illusion Tour
Tour by Guns N' Roses
Dates May 24, 1991 - July 17, 1993
Legs 8
Shows 192

The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by the rock band Guns N' Roses which ran from May 24, 1991 to July 17, 1993. It was not only the band's longest tour, but one of the longest concert tours in rock history, consisting of 192 shows in 27 countries.[1] It was also a source of much infamy for the band, due to riots, late starts, cancellations and outspoken rantings by lead singer Axl Rose.

Contents

[edit] History

The Use Your Illusion Tour was a promotional tour for the albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, although due to the scale of the tour, the term "promotional tour" is perhaps a trivialization. The tour started on May 24, 1991, approximately when the long-awaited follow-up to Appetite for Destruction was to be released, and ended over two years later. The release date of the album, or albums, since there were now two of them, was pushed back to September but the tour began as originally scheduled. The tour marked a high point in the popularity of Guns N' Roses, with a total of over 7 million[2] fans attending, and accompanied by high worldwide album sales.

Live recordings from the tour would later be issued as a two video/DVD set, Use Your Illusion I and II, featuring footage from a 1992 concert in Tokyo, Japan and would also provide content for the 2-disc set Live Era: '87-'93. The tour also provided a large volume of footage for music videos, including the popular "You Could Be Mine" and "Estranged". Also, at one time, footage of much of the tour was to be released as a documentary, titled The Perfect Crime. The footage consisted of Guns N' Roses' time on the road, and it is thought to have had concert footage, and information about the riots and other major events of the tour. Nothing has been said as to why it was never released. It was never spoken about after the tour, almost as if forgotten. Nothing seems to point to any release of this in the future.

The conduct of the band, and particularly Axl Rose, during the Use Your Illusion Tour generated negative press, notably from the magazines Spin, Kerrang!, Circus, and Hit Parader. These magazines were mentioned in the song "Get in the Ring" where Axl Rose attacked writers who had written negative articles dealing with Roses' attitude.

The shows were all varied, as a set list was never chosen by the band. They did, however, usually open with "Welcome to the Jungle", "It's So Easy" or "Nightrain" and closed with "Paradise City". The shows were noted to be exciting to watch and each show featured many guitar solos from Slash and a drum solo from drummer Matt Sorum, usually 6 minutes in length.

The Use Your Illusion Tour was massive not just in the number and size of performances, but also in its technical aspects and the size of the crew. A total of 80 working personnel traveled with the band during the tour. The trade magazine Performance named the tour crew "Crew of the Year" for 1991.

[edit] Schedule

[edit] North America & Europe leg Get In The Ring Motherfucker

[edit] The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

[edit] European leg

[edit] North America stadium tour with Metallica

[edit] South American leg

[edit] Asia & Oceanic leg

[edit] North America leg Skin N' Bones

[edit] European leg Get In The Ring Motherfucker - Round II

[edit] South American Second leg

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Main band members

  • Axl Rose – vocals, piano, acoustic guitar (1991-1993)
  • Slash – guitar, acoustic guitar (1991-1993)
  • Izzy Stradlin – guitar, backing vocals (1991-Few shows in 1993)
  • Gilby Clarke - guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals (1991-1993)
  • Duff McKagan – bass, backing vocals (1991-1993)
  • Matt Sorum – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1991-1993)
  • Dizzy Reed – piano, organ, percussion, backing vocals (1991-1993)

[edit] Additional musicians

  • Teddy Andreadis – keyboards, backing vocals, harmonica, percussion (1992-1993)
  • Roberta Freeman – backing vocals (1992-1993)
  • Tracey Amos – backing vocals (1992-1993)
  • Cece Worrall – horns (1992-1993)
  • Anne King – horns (1992-1993)
  • Lisa Maxwell – horns (1992-1993)

[edit] Notable events

In Philadelphia during 1991, Axl Rose had erupted, after a fan had gotten into a fight with Guns N' Roses' photographer Robert John when the fan kicked the camera out of his hands. Axl cursed out the fan, and challenged him to a fight. After the fan was ejected from the concert, the show continued.

On Tuesday, July 2, 1991, at a show at the Riverport Amphitheatre in St. Louis, Missouri, Axl spotted a spectator illegally recording the concert with a video camera, and jumped into the audience after him. After returning to the stage, Axl replied: "Well, thanks to the lame ass security, I'm going home!" then slammed the mic on the stage, sparking the infamous Riverport riot. Axl then stormed off the stage; some people thought when he slammed the mic, because of the noise, that he shot someone. Slash told them, "He just slammed the mic down. We're outta here." The band followed. The band was looking to come back out and finish the show, but as the police and security were trying to calm down the audience, a riot broke out. The footage was captured by Robert John who was documenting the entire tour. Sixty fans were injured. The band lost most of their equipment and Axl was charged with inciting a riot. He was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

On July 29, 1991, the day the Illusion albums were finished being mixed, Guns N' Roses played the longest show of the tour and their longest show ever at the L.A. Forum. It lasted three and a half hours.[3]

On November 7th, 1991, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the band and on December 5th, replacement rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke made his debut in Worcester. It was the first show after the release of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II.

On April 13 and 14, 1992, two concerts had to be canceled when a warrant was issued for Axl's arrest due to the St. Louis show.

On April 20, 1992, the band performed at the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, an effort for AIDS Awareness in London. Guns were a controversial addition to the lineup as many in the gay community were still angry over Axl using a gay slur during the song "One In A Million." The band opened with "Paradise City" and closed with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." During the famous "Paradise City" opening, Axl points at a group of protesters in the audience and yells "SHOVE IT!" He had planned to address the controversy between songs, but was asked not to by the band as it would pull the spotlight from Queen and Freddie Mercury. As Slash concluded a short cover of the Alice Cooper song "Only Women Bleed," bassist Duff McKagan can be seen keeping an eye on Axl who approaches the front of the stage. When Slash finishes the song, pauses, then strums the beginning of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," Duff walks over to Axl and shakes his hand as an act of appreciation. Uncharacteristically quiet, Axl refrains from addressing the audience at all during the concert. Later in the show, Slash joined Joe Elliott of Def Leppard and the surviving members of Queen for "Tie Your Mother Down." Axl sings "We Will Rock You" and finishes "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Elton John with Queen. The show was broadcast live around the world via satellite, gathering the largest audience for a music concert in history.

On August 8, 1992, in Montreal, Quebec during the GNR-Metallica Stadium Tour portion, Metallica frontman/guitarist James Hetfield's left arm was badly burned due to misunderstanding about some new pyrotechnics added to Metallica's set. Metallica was forced to end their set early. However, Rose refused to begin before Guns N' Roses' scheduled time leaving fans to wait hours before Guns N' Roses finally took the stage. A few songs into the very late Guns N' Roses' set, Axl stormed off stage due to vocal issues, sparking a huge riot that spilled into the streets.

On November 25, 1992, the band performed in Caracas, Venezuela, in front of a crowd of 45,000. Just two days later, the Venezuela Air Force launched a failed military coup, making it impossible for half of the bands crew and all of their equipment to leave the country.[citation needed]

On November 30, 1992, the band performed for the first time in Bogotá, Colombia. When they started to play "November Rain", a soft rain fell over the city and stopped right after they finished the song. (Axl later stated this was a special moment for him because November Rain was #1 in Colombia for 60 weeks.) Axl stated that the band were at risk of electrocution and must stop to dry the stage. The band moved backstage and returned to finish with "Don't Cry" and "Paradise City".

On December 5 and 6 the band performed for the first time in Argentina surrounded by rumors, threats, and controversy. Rose unexpectedly appeared the night before to their first show giving an exclusive interview to Marcelo Tinelli on his show wearing the Argentina national football team shirt. The night after Axl Rose opened the show performing "Welcome to the Jungle" wearing the shirt again.[citation needed]

On July 17, 1993 the band performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina at River Plate Stadium in front of 80,000 people. It was their last show with most of the original lineup (Axl Rose, Slash, Duff Mackagan, Matt Sorum, Gilby Clarke and Dizzy Reed). The tour was renamed the "Skin and Bones Tour" for the last couple of legs and was a variation of the Use Your Illusion Tour which included an unplugged performance in a living room set. A highlight of the night was Cozy Powell dressed as a Domino's Pizza delivery boy playing drums with Matt Sorum.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 372
  2. ^ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 372
  3. ^ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 342
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Guns N' Roses
Axl Rose · Dizzy Reed · Robin Finck · Tommy Stinson · Chris Pitman · Bryan Mantia · Richard Fortus · Bumblefoot · Frank Ferrer
Ole Beich · Rob Gardner · Tracii Guns · Steven Adler · Izzy Stradlin · Gilby Clarke · Slash · Matt Sorum · Duff McKagan · Josh Freese · Paul Tobias · Buckethead
Studio albums & EPs
Live & compilations
Singles
Videos
Tours
Early Tours (1986 - 1988) · Appetite for Destruction Tour (1988 - 1989) · Use Your Illusion Tour/Stadium Tour w/Metallica (1991 - 1993) · Chinese Democracy Tour (2001 - Present)
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