Guns N’ Roses

Guns N’ Roses 8/19/21

It had been nearly five years to the day since my first and only time seeing Guns N’ Roses. Quite frankly I am in shock they are still going strong with touring but I guess that eventual retirement is not going to pay for itself. Keith and I long ago realized the fleeting nature of being able to see one of your all-time favorite bands and made the decision to make the trek to L.A. on a “school night.”

Banc of California stadium is a soccer stadium adjacent to USC’s campus that neither of us had ever been to. It only holds 22,000 people, which is a relatively small place for a band that was regularly playing places three times this size in its heyday. I do not know if it was due to the type of crowd GNR attracts or the fact that USC is in a sketchy area but there was a noticeable police presence. By the time we made our way in from our hotel in Koreatown with a faulty air conditioner and fire alarm opener Wolfgang Van Halen (Eddie’s son) was finishing up his last song. I was a little bummed that we missed him but I was also a little buzzed by this time. We tried to find our proper seats but nobody that worked there could point us in the right direction. They did not know where our seats were, only that our seats were not wherever they were. The problem was our seats were in “Field Club A” but every section just had a number associated with it. Very confusing to say the least and to this day I still do not know where our actual seats were supposed to be. After a failed attempt at getting onto the floor we just posted up at some empty seats at the end of one of the rows.

Just like the last time I saw GNR they opened with “It’s So Easy” and that was just fine by me. The funny thing is that whenever I play Appetite For Destruction I always skip over “Welcome to the Jungle” and start there too.  The 1-2 punch of “Mr. Brownstone” was pure ecstasy but nothing compared to the later 1-2 punch of “You’re Crazy” and “Rocket Queen.” Seeing Axl sing Velvet Revolver’s “Slither” was cool but just was not the same as seeing Scott Weiland do it. Everyone gives Axl shit about becoming “Fat Axl” but at this show another entity was born: “Hat Axl.” Once they were done playing one of my all time favorites, “Double Talkin’ Jive” Axl put on a hat and shifted into another gear. Other highlights for me were the epic “Civil War” and just the way Slash stretched out on the songs in general. The way he played Link Wray’s “Rumble” and an epic 10 minute-ish solo would have been enough to cement his place on the Mt. Rushmore of guitarists. At one point Duff took over lead vocals for a gritty but spot on version of the Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Keyboardist Dizzy Reed from the height of their fame even made an appearance at one point.

All in all this was not a band phoning it in to collect a payday. This was a band that seemed hell bent on reminding the world how great they still are and having a good time doing it. Mission accomplished.

SETLIST: It’s So Easy, Mr. Brownstone, Chinese Democracy, Slither, Double Talkin’ Jive, Welcome to the Jungle (with Link Wray’s “Rumble” for intro), Better, Estranged, Live and Let Die, You’re Crazy, Rocket Queen, You Could Be Mine, I Wanna Be Your Dog, Absurd, Civil War, Sweet Child O’Mine, November Rain, Wichita Lineman, Patience, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Nightrain, Madagascar, Don’t Cry, The Seeker, Paradise City

Coronavirus Concert Casualties

Concert Plans

Gatherings of 250 people became officially banned in San Diego as of March 13th, 2020. Nationwide lockdown followed shortly after. The list of concerts below are the ones I intended to attend that have been impacted (so far):

  • 3/13/20 Local H @ Belly Up – RESCHEDULED to 10/10/20 – Local H was set to open for Soul Asylum in support of their album Lifers that was about to drop on 4/10/20 Local-H-Lifers

UPDATE 4/24: Local H decided to let fans on their Facebook page vote on an entire album from their catalog for them to play live from their “bunker” in Chicago. The album that received the most votes was Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles? and they livestreamed their performance on both Facebook and YouTube. I would have paid good money to see this live so this was quite a treat as the first livestream concert I ever watched. The picture quality was better on Facebook but the sound was better on YouTube.HHH

  • 3/28/20 Rage Against the Machine @ Pan American Center, Las Cruces, NM – POSTPONED – Before Rage announced a full tour there were originally only five shows scheduled: El Paso, TX, Las Cruces, NM, Phoenix, AZ and as the headliner for both weekends of Coachella. I had no interest in going to Coachella due to the expense and “scene” that I am very much not a part of so Phoenix was the logical choice due knowing people that live there and distance but New Mexico was on a Saturday. That was enough reason for a group of us to decide that a trip was in order. Rage

UPDATE 5/1: The rescheduled tour dates have arrived and it looks like I will not be seeing Rage Against the Machine until May 2021!

  • 4/4/20 Loudermilk @ The Uptown Theatre, Richland, WA – POSTPONED – This was to be the first time I had been “home” in over nine years and with The Ladybird Unition set to open it was going to be like I was 17 years old all over again.Loudermilk Postponed
  • 4/13/20 Pearl Jam @ Viejas Arena (SDSU) – POSTPONED – Pearl Jam was one of the first bands that decided to halt their tour. This was to be only my second time seeing Pearl Jam and ironically at the same place that I saw them the first time. This tour was slated in support of the new album Gigaton released on 3/27/20.
  • 4/24/20 The Darkness @ Observatory – POSTPONED – The Darkness was set to tour for their newest effort Easter Is Cancelled, which turned out to be a prophetic title.Easter Is Cancelled

UPDATE 5/15: CANCELLED – Well Poop2

  • 5/8/20 The Rolling Stones @SDCCU Stadium – POSTPONED – This was to be the second time I had the pleasure of seeing the Stones. As a bonus this was going to be the opening night of the tour within walking distance of my place on a Friday…
  • 5/22/20 System of a Down, Korn, Faith No More and Helmet @ Banc of California Stadium – POSTPONED – This was a one-off concert in L.A. that had such high demand that a second show was added.

SOAD

UPDATE 5/22: RESCHEDULED – This event will now happen on the same date in 2021 as if this year never happened at all.SKFH

  • 6/10 Styx @ San Diego County Fair – CANCELLED – This was set to be my second time seeing Styx but the show and better yet the entire county fair for 2020 was cancelled.SDFair
  • 7/12 The Black Keys @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – CANCELLED – This was to be my third time seeing these Ohio natives. Good thing I was able to see the beginning of the “Let’s Rock” tour back in November.Screen Shot 2020-05-19 at 6.41.20 PM
  • 7/19 Incubus and 311 @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – CANCELLED – Two bands that I like on the same bill is always a treat. I guess this would instead fall under the category of trick.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 9.04.27 PM
  • 7/23 Motley Crue @ Petco Park – ??? – On May 1st Motley Crue released a statement saying “Our goal is to have an official update to everyone by June 1 outlining exactly how we will proceed.” All signs are pointing towards an inevitable postponement/cancellation.

UPDATE 6/1: POSTPONED – Shocking!Motley

  • 7/24 Weezer/Green Day @ Petco Park – POSTPONED – What was to be a rare concert on a Friday night is no more…until 2021

     

  • 7/30 Ministry @ House of Blues San Diego – RESCHEDULED – There is a website called bandsintown.com that I am on the email list for and this was how I learned that the Ministry show got rescheduled to April 29, 2021. Hopefully Uncle Al is still around.Ministry Postponed
  • 8/1 Primus and Wolfmother @ Open Air Theatre – POSTPONED – This was going to be a unique show with Primus undertaking the task of replicating Rush’s 1977 classic album A Farewell To Kings. I was also looking forward to seeing the entire Wolfmother performance after the last one got cut short.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 8.43.25 PM
  • 8/8 Guns N’ Roses @ Sofi Stadium – POSTPONED – This was going to be my second time seeing GNR and first time visiting the new gazillion dollar monolith stadium in L.A. where the Rams and Chargers will play.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 8.56.33 PM
  • 9/1 Disturbed @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – POSTPONED – This tour was to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the debut album The Sickness, which now seems like an even more apt title.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 9.11.54 PM
  • 10/9-10/11 Aftershock Festival @ Discovery Park, Sacramento – CANCELLED – See you in 2021!

Aftershock Cancelled

  • 11/1 Aaron Lewis and Sully Erna @ Del Mar Fairgrounds – CANCELLED – Just when I thought I was going to get some sort of live music even this got cancelled… 

Guns N’ Roses 8/22/16

gnr

My first memory of Guns N’ Roses is listening to Appetite for Destruction in my fifth grade class. Our teacher used to let us kids bring in a cassette to listen to on Fridays and a kid named Ken brought it in (I think he borrowed it from his older sister). Back around the same time my parents used to take advantage of deals through companies BMG or Columbia House where they would buy one album and get twelve for free. They ended up ordering Appetite for Destruction and I ended up stealing it from their collection. Before Nirvana came along GNR was one of only a handful of bands I even cared about and they were pretty much at the top of that small handful.

Fast forward to my freshman year in high school right about the time the Use Your Illusion albums came out when GNR was touring with Faith No More and Metallica. I remember this being the first concert ever wanting to see but I was still too young to drive and did not really have any older friends that could drive or money for that matter. One of the hottest girls in our school was a senior when I was a freshman and I can still see her walking down the hall in the t-shirt she had gotten from wherever she saw the tour. Within a few years GNR as the world knew them broke up and long story short I never got to see GNR…until now. So after many years of feuding Axl, Slash and Duff set aside their differences to do a tour…a very lucrative tour.

So it was announced that GNR was to play Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego as the last stop of a very limited tour. Even though the show was on a Monday this was still super convenient to me since I live within walking distance of Qualcomm Stadium. So I randomly get a text from my buddy one Saturday letting me know that there is a presale for tickets but you must purchase a fan club membership for $49 to get in on that action. All telling it ended up being $250 for two tickets that I thought at the time were actually fairly good seats on the floor level. Once my friend Larry living abroad caught wind he shot me a message saying something along the lines of “get me a ticket or I’ll fucking kill you.” I thought worst-case scenario I could sell the other ticket if I needed to but it ended up being a nightmare. Since I thought both my tickets were spoken for I had Bob purchase two tickets as well. Larry ended up not coming and now we had two extra tickets to get rid of in a very saturated market. At the end of the day we ended up selling Bob’s two tickets to friends of ours for $40 each and kept mine to use as they were the better of two pairs…but they turned out to be Club level, not floor.

After waiting for what seemed like forever Bob and I walked out of the nearby Liquor Store with a sandwich in hand and headed over to the parking lot to tailgate. There were a handful of people we were supposed to meet up with but I had went swimming with my non-waterproof phone the weekend before so…we just finished our beer and sandwiches and went in to see openers The Cult. We sat down and after a minute I realized that we had accidentally gotten into the Plaza level seating. About this time we saw several people walking over a gate to get onto the field level so we figured why not? Now we only had one security guard to get through to get onto the floor. Easier said than done. Even if we could figure out a way down to the floor everyone down there was wearing a bright yellow plastic wristband. Right about this time a guy just went right over the port-o-potty roof and onto the floor. We thought this was going to be our only way down but all the lights were still bright so we decided to wait until GNR actually started playing. We did not need to wait long. About three songs in the security guard at the end of our row abandoned post and we booked it. We tried to just blend in at the back of everyone standing on the floor and apparently were successful because we never got kicked out. Some of my favorites were “It’s So Easy,” “Double Talkin’ Jive,” “Civil War,” “Coma,” and “November Rain.” Axl’s near constant wardrobe changes were comical but GNR was firing on all cylinders and clocked in at just under three hours, which officially makes this the longest performance I have ever seen. Badass.