Use Your Illusion Tour

Use Your Illusion Tour

Tour by Guns N' Roses
File:Use Your Illusion.jpg
Legs	8
No. of 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. 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.

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, shortly after Use Your Illusion I was recorded, but a few months before Use Your Illusion II. The tour marked a high point in the popularity of Guns N' Roses, with a total of over 7 million 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. Axl's response to this bad press is documented in the song "Get in the Ring".

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 solo from former drummer Matt Sorum.

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

Main article: Schedule on Use Your Illusion Tour

Notable events

In Philadelphia during 1991, Axl Rose had erupted, after a fan had got into a fight with one of Guns N' Roses' photographers. 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 bootlegging 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. Axl then stormed off the stage; the rest of 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. 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.

In November, 1991, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the band.

On April 13 and 14, 1992, two concerts had to be cancelled 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. Late in the show, certain members of the band (notably Axl Rose and Slash) joined music legends like Elton John and the remaining members of Queen for a few classic songs. The show was broadcast live around the world via satellite, gathering the largest audience for a music concert in history.

On August 8, 1992, at a show in Montreal, Quebec, 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 the band to leave the country with all of their equipment.

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.) Following this, 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 performed for the first time in Argentina surrounded by rumors, threats, and controversy. Rose unxepectedly appeared the night before to their first show giving an exclusive interview to Marcelo Tinelli on his show wearing the Argentinean football team shirt. The night after Axl Rose opened the show performing "Welcome to the Jungle" wearing that shirt again.

On July 17, 1993 the Band Performed in Buenos Aires Argentina, their last show with their original formation (Axl Rose, Slash, Duff Mackagan, Matt Sorum, Gilby Clarke and Dizzy Reed). The show was named "Skin and Bones" and was a variation of Use Your Illusion Tour including an unplugged performance in a living room set in River Plate Stadium in front of 80,000 people. The highlight of that part was the Domino Pizza Delivery Boy that ended up playing drums with Matt Sorum.

External links

• In depth info and tour diary
• The cause of the riot
• The riot itself
• {http://www.heavymetalnation.com/Guns%20N%20Roses%20-%202nd%20July%201991%20Riverport%20Amphitheatre,%20St%20Louis,%20Missouri%20Bootleg%20DVD%20-%20Review%20By%20Frantic%20Canadian.htm Review of Riot Concert Bootleg DVD]