Guns N’ Roses: Not In this Lifetime Tour
Let me just say, I drove 10 ½ hours to get home to photograph “Guns N’ Roses”. I was on vacation in Cleveland Ohio visiting the Rock-N- Roll Hall of Fame when I got the news Tuesday night that I was approved to shoot still photography. I was so excited I hit the road that evening and headed home to get prepared to photograph the legendary “Guns N’ Roses”. I remember back in the day setting on the couch watching MTV and the music video, for the Appetite for Destruction Track “Welcome to the Jungle” came on. This was 1987. All I could think is this is amazing. I was ecstatic and couldn’t get enough.
Now it’s time. I’m escorted out to the sound board where I will only get 3 songs to photograph the band. The stadium is packed. There are 3 jumbo tv screens showing the “Guns N’ Roses” band logo while we wait for the band to perform. The lights go out, here we go. Everyone is on their feet. They came out playing “It’s So Easy” then went straight into “Mr. Brownstone”. Everyone is still on their feet screaming and singing. The audience is loving this. Frontman “Axl Rose” is sporting a short haircut, black t-shirt with a flannel shirt tied around his waist. The same look he’s always had just with short hair. As the band performs, I notice they are having some technical difficulties. Realize it’s the beginning of their tour so they have to get the bugs worked out. Early on in the set their road crew had to come out with staple guns and fix the carpet that was out on the stage runway. Not quite sure what the problem was but the show went on. As the band played songs like “Live and Let Die” and “You Could Be Mine”. “Duff Mckagan” sang “Attitude”. I was shocked, I didn’t know he could sing like that. As the night goes on, “Slash” plays “Civil War” on his double neck guitar. He also plays a 6 min long cover of Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” which went right into “Sweet Child o’ Mine”. The band also played a “Pink Floyd “cover “Wichita Lineman” which was all instrumental. The jumbo tv screen set the mood for each song played as it changed throughout the performance. I was shocked to see the band had pyro’s and fire throughout the night. I think of them as a no-frills band just a hard rocking one. The lights go down and then turn purple and then you see “Axl” playing “November Rain”. I notice the seat he is sitting on while playing the piano is a motorcycle. It’s the tank, seat and back tire. How cool is that. The night is winding down as the band comes out for their 4 song Encore. After “Axl” sang “Madagascar” He told the audience he was having technical difficulties during the song, he said it made it sound like the chipmunks in his earpiece and it was really hard to sing and not laugh the whole time. There was a lot of technical issues throughout the evening, hopefully it will all get worked out. I didn’t really care I was just honored to be able to attend the show. The last song of the evening was “Paradise City”. It ended with confetti canons going off with red, white and blue raining down on everyone in the pit.
The night has ended, and the band had played for almost 3 hours with a total of 26 songs. What and tremendous evening. Everyone left the stadium felling fantastic and how could they not. They just experienced a once in a lifetime event. If Guns N’ Roses is coming to your town do not miss out. You won’t be disappointed I promise.
Guns N’ Roses
