By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
May 26, 1991
EAST TROY, Wis. — Guns N’ Roses, kicking off its first-ever headlining tour Friday night at Alpine Valley, negated the oft-repeated and seemingly true tale that today’s musicians have forgotten what rock ‘n’ roll is all about.
Three years after its debut LP “Appetite for Destruction” clawed its way to the top of the album charts, the controversial Los Angeles band gave an aggressive, testosterone-laced performance before an almost sold-out crowd of 40,000 fans, showing that while its members’ tumultuous private lives and business idiosyncrasies are the stuff that keeps gossip columnists in business, their music contains all the elements that make rock ‘n’ roll vital.
They kicked the show off with “Right Next Door to Hell,” a rocking new song from their upcoming LP. Dressed in olive green velour short-shorts, a black umpire protective vest and a plethora of tattoos, vocalist Axl Rose didn’t seem restricted by the cast he wore on his left leg.
After thanking the Wisconsin doctors who mended his injury, Rose said, “If I didn’t do the show tonight, you would’ve heard about how I OD’d ’cause I was so depressed.” The remark was a jab at the media’s focus on the band’s drug use, which the group insists was blown out of proportion.
While drugs played a big part in the Gunners’ past, the musicians looked alert and energetic on stage. Rose’s voice sometimes suffered from the venue’s muddled acoustics, but physically he was in prime form, even with his injury. Rose sashayed around on stage, punctuating his trademark dance moves with hip undulations aimed at some young women in the front rows. Dressed in black, the other Gunners concentrated on their instruments and let Rose handle the public relations.
In a move that few groups would try, the band is touring without a new album to promote. The Gunners’ set was divided between songs from “Appetite”; “GN’R Lies,” their 1988 followup that combined four new acoustic songs with old recordings from their independent releases, and their well-guarded upcoming LPs, “Use Your Illusion I” and “Use Your Illusion II,” which are slated to be released simultaneously in mid-July. To date, the band has sold 19 million records worldwide.
Some of the group’s strongest renditions Friday night were of songs from “Illusion.” “Pretty Tied Up” started off with guitarist Slash playing an eerie version of the theme to “The Godfather.” Just as the audience was getting lulled by the song’s sweet sounds, Rose launched into a barrage of words that basically espoused the joys of “unusual” sex. The sped-up guitar work on “Double Talkin’ Jive” was featured more prominently than the lyrics, which the band reportedly wrote about journalists who misquoted the musicians.
Guns N’ Roses’ songs are based around a reality that has little to do with picket fences, 2.5 kids or owning Volvos. But while a few of Guns N’ Roses’ songs have been dissected and highly publicized for the ugly sentiments they spew out (murdering a girlfriend in “Used to Love Her”; racism and homophoboic paranoia in “One in a Million”), the majority of the band’s songs have little to do with sexism and racism. “Paradise City” is their yearning for nirvana, “Mr. Brownstone” is their ode to a friend who succumbed to heroin addiction, and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is their love ballad.
To many of their fans, the lyrics are incidental anyway. Their music, particularly live, is based more around Slash’s slicing guitar playing and Rose’s chameleon-like vocal style rather than specific lyrics that are difficult to make out, unless you’re a fan who already has memorized the words.
Of all the musicians, Slash displayed the most natural raw talent, displaying a cool style that was equally adept at racing madly through riffs as strumming gentle chords. The rhythm section of bassist Duff McKagan and new drummer (and ex-Cult member) Matt Storum was tight, playing easily off each other. Rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin and unofficial sixth member and keyboardist Dizzy Reed augmented the band’s lineup with understated playing that while not particularly memorable was nonetheless instrumental.
At Alpine, Guns N’ Roses proved they had what it took. They weren’t shooting blanks.
