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Use Your Illusion Tour

 
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Use Your Illusion Tour
World tour by Guns N' Roses
Supporting album Use Your Illusion I
Use Your Illusion II
Start date May 24, 1991
End date July 17, 1993
Legs 9
Shows 192
Guns N' Roses tour chronology
Use Your Illusion Tour
(1991 - 1993)		 Chinese Democracy Tour
(2001 - 2010)

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

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 G N' R Lies 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[1] 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 "Dead Horse" and their popular cover of Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die". 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. Slash mentioned in his biography that the Axl is in control of the footage, and that Slash would be interested in viewing it, as he thought it captured some killer moments from the tour.

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 Rose's 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 would shortly after one another play Mr. Brownstone or Live and Let Die, 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.

Schedule

North America & Europe leg

USA, Mexico & Japan leg

European leg

North America stadium tour with Metallica

See also: GNR-Metallica_Stadium_Tour

South American leg

Asia & Oceanic leg

North America leg Skin N' Bones

European leg

South American Second leg

Personnel

Main band members

  • Axl Rose – lead vocals, piano (1991-1993)
  • Slash – lead guitar (1991-1993)
  • Gilby Clarke – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1991-1993)
  • Duff McKagan – bass, backing vocals (1991-1993)
  • Matt Sorum – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1991-1993)
  • Dizzy Reed – piano, organ, synthesizer (1991-1993)

Additional musicians

  • Teddy Andreadis – keyboards, backing vocals, harmonica, percussion (1992-1993)
  • Roberta Freeman – backing vocals (1992-1993)
  • Traci Amos – backing vocals (1992-1993)
  • Diane Jones – backing vocals (1992 South American shows, replacing Traci Amos)
  • Cece Worrall – horns (1992-1993)
  • Anne King – horns (1992-1993)
  • Lisa Maxwell – horns (1992-1993)

Notable events

On June 13, 1991, during the show in Philadelphia, Axl Rose 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.

At the June 10, 1991 show, at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Axl requested that the crowd shout "Get In The Ring!" over and over again, as it was being recorded for the new album. This chanting appears to have been used in the closing of the song by the same name on Use Your Illusion II.

On Tuesday, July 2, 1991, at a show at the Riverport Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights, 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 his mic on the floor. 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.[2]

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 band's 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] The December 5 show, though, was interrupted twice because fans were throwing stuff on stage, "think[ing] that [throwing stuff on the stage] would relate to a better show." The second time, Rose encouraged audience members to "beat the fucking shit out of" anyone throwing stuff on the stage.

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 McKagan, Matt Sorum, Dizzy Reed and Gilby Clarke). The tour was renamed the "Skin N' 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.

Supporting Acts

Songs Played

From Appetite for Destruction: - Welcome To The Jungle - It's So Easy - Nightrain - Out ta Get Me - Mr. Brownstone - Paradise City - My Michelle - Sweet Child o' Mine - You're Crazy - Rocket Queen

From G N' R Lies: - Nice Boys - Move to the City - Mama Kin/Train Kept A Rollin' (with Aerosmith) - Patience - Used to Love Her - You're Crazy

From Use Your Illusion I: - Right Next Door To Hell - Dust N' Bones - Live and Let Die - Don't Cry (Original) - Perfect Crime - You Ain't the First - Bad Obsession - Back off Bitch - Double Talkin' Jive - November Rain - The Garden - Garden Of Eden - Bad Apples - Dead Horse - Coma

From Use Your Illusion II: - Civil War - 14 Years - Yesterdays - Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Breakdown - Pretty Tied Up - Locomotive - So Fine - Estranged - You Could Be Mine - Don't Cry (Alt. Lyrics)

Other commonly performed songs: - Attitude (Misfits cover) - It's Alright (Black Sabbath cover) - Dust In The Wind (Todd Rundgren cover) - Theme From The Godfather (Nino Rota cover) - Wild Horses (Rolling Stones cover) - Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones cover) - Imagine (John Lennon cover) - It Tastes Good, Don't It? (Unreleased original) - I Was Only Joking (Rod Stewart cover) - Only Women Bleed (Alice Cooper cover) - Mother (Pink Floyd cover)

External links

References

  1. ^ a b Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 372
  2. ^ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 342
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Guns N' Roses
Axl Rose · Dizzy Reed · Tommy Stinson · Chris Pitman · Richard Fortus · Bumblefoot · Frank Ferrer · DJ Ashba
Ole Beich · Rob Gardner · Tracii Guns · Steven Adler · Izzy Stradlin · Gilby Clarke · Matt Sorum · Slash · Duff McKagan · Josh Freese · Paul Tobias · Buckethead · Robin Finck · Bryan Mantia
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Use Your Illusion Tour · Chinese Democracy Tour
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