use your illusion tour poster

• Скидки дня
• Справка и помощь
• Адрес доставки Идет загрузка... Ошибка: повторите попытку ОК
• Продажи
• Список отслеживания Развернуть список отслеживаемых товаров Идет загрузка... Войдите в систему , чтобы просмотреть свои сведения о пользователе
• Краткий обзор
• Недавно просмотренные
• Ставки/предложения
• Список отслеживания
• История покупок
• Купить опять
• Объявления о товарах
• Сохраненные запросы поиска
• Сохраненные продавцы
• Сообщения
• Уведомление
• Развернуть корзину Идет загрузка... Произошла ошибка. Чтобы узнать подробнее, посмотрите корзину.

Oops! Looks like we're having trouble connecting to our server.

Refresh your browser window to try again.

GUNS N ROSES Use Your Illusion 1992 World Tour: London Wembley Stadium Poster Print

£ 4.99 – £ 19.99

Guns N Roses  Use Your Illusion 1992 World Tour: London Wembley Stadium poster. You can also find many tour posters from different venues and cities around the world and album & single releases. The Guns N Roses Use Your Illusion 1992 World Tour: London Wembley Stadium tour poster and prints are available in 3 sizes.

All our prints are high-quality, professionally printed photographs on 260gsm gloss paper of premium quality.

Click here for more Guns ‘N’ Roses posters

• Click here to view size guides

You may also like...

30 SECONDS TO MARS This Is War Poster Print

5 FINGER DEATH PUNCH Got Your Six Poster Print

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER Sounds Good Feels Good Poster Print

30 SECONDS TO MARS A Beautiful Life Poster Print

Your cart is empty

Have an account?

Log in to check out faster.

Use Your Illusion Guns N Roses Poster 61cm x 91.5cm (24" x 36")

Couldn't load pickup availability

This iconic poster combines artwork from Guns N Roses' Use Your Illusion albums and the same artwork used during the bands history making two year long tour starting in 1991, which saw them visit 27 countries worldwide. The often controversial hard rock band known for their huge hits 'November Rain' and 'Sweet Child O' Mine' were inducted into the Hard Rock Hall of Fame in 2012, so hang a piece of rock history on your wall with this amazing poster.

• Size (W x H): 61cm x 91.5cm (24" x 36")
• Product Type: Poster
• Product code: LP2098

Customer Reviews

Brilliant quality love to see Bruce Springsteen and u2 ones

My son loved it

great quality for a very fair price

Good quality prints on good quality paper. Well packaged. Timely delivery.

Was pleased with the poster, exactly what I thought I was getting.

Related Categories

• Guns 'n' Roses
• Maxi Posters

Our customers love us! See all our reviews on Trustpilot.com . Got a question? We'll be happy to help!

Subscribe to our newsletter

The popartuk guarantee: 100% satisfaction or your money back.

We're so confident you'll love your purchase, if for any reason you are not 100% satisfied we will be happy to exchange your goods or give you a full refund - guaranteed!

• Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
• Opens in a new window.

• Australian and New Zealand Artists
• American and Canadian Artists
• British and European Artists
• Festival & Events
• Customer Feedback
• Gift Vouchers

Guns N’ Roses ‘Use Your Illusion’ In Store Poster 1991

$ 29.99

Ships From Melbourne, Australia

Description

• Reviews (0)
• Shipping & Delivery

This High Quality Guns N’ Roses ‘Use Your Illusion’ In Store Poster 1991 is available in different sizes and is certain to liven up even the blankest of walls. What an awesome gift for that special person who seems to have everything! Printed on High Quality 230gsm Matte Finish Fine Art Paper, it will look fantastic hanging on a man cave, office, bar or living room wall. So sit back, enjoy the memories and let your band posters do the entertaining!

Additional information

There are no reviews yet.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name  *

Email  *

Your review  *

Best Selling Concert Posters

Midnight Oil ‘JJJ Capitol Theatre, Sydney’ 1982

Farm (aka Midnight Oil) ‘Orange Police Boys Club’ Orange 1975

Heaven ‘Last Days On Earth’ Tour Poster 1982

Midnight Oil ‘Resist’ Tour Poster 2022

‘Sylvania Hotel’ Sydney, Australia 1979 Promo Poster

Divinyls ‘Charmhaven Hotel’ Australia 1983

Men At Work ‘Greek Theatre’ Los Angeles, USA 1983

Dire Straits ‘In Concert’ In Store Poster 1979

Bob Dylan / Van Morrison ‘Concord Pavilion’ CA USA 1998

Marvin Gaye ‘Forum’ Manchester, USA 1974

The Playroom ‘Promo Flyer’ Gold Coast, Australia 1980

Weird Al Yankovic ‘VIC Theater’ Chicago, USA 1984

Aerosmith ‘Entertainment Centre’ Brisbane, Australia 1990

T Rex / Marc Bolan ‘Australian Tour’ 1973

Buddy Holly ‘Surf Ballroom’ Clear Lake, USA 1959

Christina Aguilera ‘Rolling Stone Magazine’ Promo Poster 2002

Paul McCartney / Wings Australian Tour 1975

Paul McCartney / Wings ‘Rockshow’ Movie Poster 1980

Dragon ‘Rain’ In Store Poster 1983

Michael Hutchence ‘Dogs In Space’ Movie Poster 1986

Silverchair ‘Festival Hall’ Brisbane, Australia 1996

Soundgarden / You Am I ‘Festival Hall’ Brisbane, Australia 1997

The Eagles ‘In Store Poster’ Australia 1976

The Angels (Angel City) ‘2SM Music Chart’ In Store Poster 1978

Midnight Oil ‘Complete Collection’ In Store Poster 1980

Midnight Oil ‘Bird Noises’ Tour Poster 1980

Divinyls ‘Desperate’ Selina’s, Australia 1983

Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ In Store Poster 1973

Frank Zappa ‘200 Motels’ Movie Poster 1971

Duran Duran ‘Rio’ In Store Poster 1982

Creedence Clearwater Revival ‘Frankfurt’ Germany 1971

Bob Dylan ‘Don’t Look Back’ Movie Poster 1967

The Church ‘Unguarded Moment’ In Store Poster 1981

Diesel ‘Yarraville Club’ Melbourne, Australia 2020

The Dandy Warhols ’25th Anniversary’ Australian Tour 2019

Dire Straits ‘Brothers In Arms’ In Store Poster 1985

Deep Purple ‘Festival Hall’ Melbourne, Australia 1975

Dire Straits ‘Money For Nothing’ In Store Poster 1985

Cold Chisel ‘Chequers’ Sydney, Australia 1980

Australian Crawl / XTC ‘Bombay Rock’ Melbourne, Australia 1980

The Rolling Stones ‘Tattoo You’ In Store Poster 1981

Elvis Presley ‘Aloha From Hawaii’ Promo 1973

Madonna ‘Nude’ In Store Promo 1993

Beastie Boys ‘Australian Tour’ 1990

Renee Geyer ‘Farewell Australasian Tour’ 1976

Bruce Springsteen ‘Born To Run’ In Store Poster 1975

Rage Against The Machine ‘World Tour’ Poster 2020

Rage Against The Machine ‘In Store’ Promo Poster

Tool ‘Australian Tour’ 2020

Janet Jackson ‘Joy Of Sex’ Rolling Stone Front Cover 1993

Queen ‘Fat Bottom Girls’ In Store Poster 1978

U2 ‘Joshua Tree’ Australian Tour 2019

The Simpsons ‘Abbey Road’ Rolling Stone Front Cover 2002

The Simpsons ‘Nevermind’ Rolling Stone Front Cover 2002

The Simpsons ‘Born In The USA’ Rolling Stone Front Cover 2002

Steely Dan ‘All American Tour’ 1974

Iron Maiden ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ Australian Tour 2020

Van Halen ‘Panama’ In Store Poster 1984

Van Halen ‘Debut Album’ In Store Poster 1978

Metallica ‘Master Of Puppets’ In Store Poster 1986

Marilyn Manson ‘Mechanical Animals’ In Store Poster 1998

Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Stadium Arcadium’ In Store Poster 2006

The Vapors ‘Turning Japanese’ In Store Poster 1980

Icehouse ‘Electric Blue’ In Store Poster 1987

Cheap Trick ‘The Palladium’ New York, USA 1978

Status Quo ‘Hello’ In Store Poster 1973

Status Quo ‘Australian Tour’ 1975

Mental As Anything ‘Egypt’ In Store Poster 1980

Spinal Tap ‘Shark Sandwich’ Tour 1980

The Cult ‘Electric’ Australian Tour 2013

AC/DC / The Angels (Angel City) ‘Back In Black’ Australian Tour 1981

Stone Temple Pilots / Cheap Trick ‘Supercharged’ 1997

Woodstock Festival Poster, New York, USA 1969

Flowers ‘Icehouse’ In Store Poster 1980

Jimi Hendrix ‘KB Hallen’ Copenhagen, Denmark 1970

Black Sabbath ‘Never Say Die’ In Store Poster 1978

Nine Inch Nails / Queens Of The Stone Age ‘Australian Tour’ 2014

Michael Hutchence ‘Mystify’ Movie Poster 2019

Beastie Boys ‘Hello Nasty’ In Store Poster 1998

Joy Division ‘Unknown Pleasures’ In Store Poster 1979

The Stone Roses ‘I Dont Wanna Be Adored’ In Store Poster 1989

Pink Floyd ‘Paramount Theatre’ Seattle, USA 1971

Billy Joel ‘Californian Tour’ USA 1973

Pearl Jam ‘Alive’ In Store Poster 1991

Iron Maiden ‘Number of the Beast’ In Store Poster 1982

Promises ‘Rocky Magazine’ Poster, Germany 1978

Soundgarden / You Am I ‘Grand Olympic Auditorium’ Los Angeles, USA 1994

Lou Reed ‘Return of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Animal’ Australia 1977

David Bowie ‘Diamond Dogs’ In Store Poster 1974

The B-52’s ‘Rock Lobster’ In Store Poster 1980

Bryan Adams ‘Reckless’ In Store Poster 1984

Metallica ‘Worldwired’ Australian Tour 2019

Midnight Oil ‘Bombay Rock’ Melbourne, Australia 1979

Rose Tattoo ‘Live from Boggo Rd’ In Store Poster 1993

Oasis ‘Australian Tour’ 1998

Red Hot Chili Peppers / Nirvana / Pearl Jam ‘Cow Palace’ USA 1991

The Jam ‘In The City’ In Store Poster 1977

Fleetwood Mac ‘Australian Tour’ In Store Poster 1977

Boys Next Door ‘Door Door’ In Store Poster 1979

U2 ‘Under A Blood Red Sky’ In Store Poster 1983

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ‘Myer Music Bowl’ Melbourne, Australia 2003

Cold Chisel ‘Last Stand’ Movie Poster 1983

Elvis Presley ‘Viva Las Vegas’ 1964

The Killers ‘Hot Fuss’ In Store Poster 2004

The Black Crowes ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ In Store Poster 1990

AC/DC ‘For Those About To Rock’ In Store Poster 1981

Meatloaf ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ In Store Poster 1977

Kraftwerk ‘Man Machine’ Stuttgart, Germany 1981

Muse ‘Rose Garden Arena’ Portland, USA 2010

Radiohead ‘Greek Theatre’ Los Angeles, USA 2006

Joan Jett ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll On Tour’ California, USA 1982

The Doors ‘LA Woman’ In Store Poster 1971

The Black Keys ‘Hangout Festival’ Alabama, USA 2011

Australian Crawl ‘Thongs and T Shirts’ Australian Tour 1982

Paul Kelly ‘Gossip’ In Store Poster 1986

XTC ‘English Settlement’ In Store Poster 1982

Led Zeppelin ‘USA Tour’ 1977

Red Hot Chili Peppers / Silverchair ‘Corestates’ Philadelphia, USA 1996

Supertramp ‘Breakfast in America’ In Store Poster 1978

Divinyls ‘Desperate’ In Store Poster 1983

Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ Australian Tour 1992

Pearl Jam ‘Myer Music Bowl’ Melbourne, Australia 1995

KISS ‘Attack of the Phantoms’ Movie Poster 1978

Guns N’ Roses ‘Australian Tour’ 1993

Madonna ‘True Blue’ In Store Poster 1986

Pink Floyd ‘The Wall’ Movie Poster 1982

Bruce Springsteen ‘Bottom Line’ In Store Poster 1975

Van Halen ‘1984’ In Store Poster

The Police ‘Regatta de Blanc’ In Store Poster 1980

Queen ‘A Night At The Opera’ Australian Tour 1976

Jet / Eskimo Joe / Little Birdy ‘Adelaide Entertainment Centre’ Adelaide, Australia 2007

The B-52’s ‘Australian Tour’ 1980

Dragon ‘O Zambezi’ In Store Poster 1978

Fat Freddy’s Drop ‘Blackbird Summer Detour’ New Zealand 2013

Abba ‘Australian Tour’ In Store 1977

Foo Fighters ‘Acoustic Concert’ Sydney, Australia 2006

Wolfmother / Dungen / Tucker B’s ‘Australian Tour’ 2006

Billy Thorpe / Spectrum / Chain / Blackfeather ‘Sunbury Music Festival’ Sunbury, Australia 1972

Prince ‘Purple Rain’ Movie Poster 1984

Hilltop Hoods ‘Drinking from the Sun’ In Store Poster 2012

Cheap Trick / Mi-Sex ‘Australian Tour’ 1979

Alice Cooper ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ Australian Tour 1977

Our guarantee.

Customer satisfaction is our utmost priority. If you're not happy with the quality of your poster, return it to us within 7 days & we'll exchange it for another of your choice.

CREDIT CARDS

All Credit Cards ie Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, Diners Club etc are welcome! All Credit Cards are securely processed through the Paypal 'Guest Option' at Checkout.

PRESENTATION QUALITY

All Posters, whether Framed or Unframed, feature a White Border & Black Keyline around the image. If any variation to this is required, please just let us know.

SHIPPING COSTS

FLAT RATE SHIPPING of $15.00 within Australia. International Shoppers Please Note: Website & Cart displays your local currency - Checkout is in Australian Dollars. See FAQ's .

"We provide people all over the world a great selection of very cool Classic Rock Band Memorabilia that represents the best of both worlds.... quality and affordability!"

Search for products on our site

Use your illusion.

• Appetite For Destruction
• GN'R x Funko
• GN'R x Legacy Motor Club / Erik Jones
• Accessories
• Last Chance
• Create account

November Rain Women's Cropped White T-Shirt

November Rain Black Hoodie

USE YOUR ILLUSION WHITE HOODIE

RITZ THEATRE BLACK T-SHIRT

RITZ THEATRE WHITE T-SHIRT

USE YOUR ILLUSION I & II Super Deluxe 12LP + Blu-Ray

USE YOUR ILLUSION I & II Super Deluxe 7CD + Blu-Ray

USE YOUR ILLUSION I - 2LP (180G)

USE YOUR ILLUSION II - 2LP (180G)

USE YOUR ILLUSION I - 2CD Deluxe Edition

USE YOUR ILLUSION II - 2CD Deluxe Edition

USE YOUR ILLUSION I - CD

USE YOUR ILLUSION II - CD

Use Your Illusion I T-Shirt

Use Your Illusion II T-Shirt

30th Anniversary Use Your Illusion T-Shirt

30th Anniversary Use Your Illusion Logo Hoodie

30th Anniversary Use Your Illusion Blue Longsleeve

30th Anniversary Use Your Illusion Glossy Mug

30th Anniversary Use Your Illusion Crewneck

30th Anniversary Use Your Illusion Yellow Longsleeve

THERE'S A HEAVEN JOGGERS II

Use Your Illusion I Puzzle

Use Your Illusion II Puzzle

GNR Girl Use Your Illusion T-Shirt

Use Your Illusion Black Longsleeve

Use Your Illusion Blue Onesie

Use Your Illusion II - World Tour: 1992 Live in Japan DVD

• Home & Kitchen
• Posters & Prints

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

POSTER STOP ONLINE Guns N' Roses - Music Poster/Print (Use Your Illusion I & II) (Size 24" x 36")

Black Poster Hanger - 24"

Clear Poster Hanger - 24"

Black Aluminum Frame - 24" x 36"

Brushed Champagne Aluminum Frame - 24" x 36"

Metallic Blue Plastic Frame - 24" x 36"

Orbit Blue Aluminum Frame - 24" x 36"

Red Plastic Frame - 24" x 36"

Shiny Copper Aluminum Frame - 24" x 36"

Silver Aluminum Frame - 24" x 36"

Tesa Poster Strips

Purchase options and add-ons

About this item.

Music Poster

• Use Your Illusion
• Size: 24" x 36"
• Ships rolled in sturdy cardboard tube

Additional Details

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Product information

Warranty & support, product description, looking for specific info, customer reviews.

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Reviews with images

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Guns N' Roses: No shows and bomb scares on the chaotic Use Your Illusion Tour

Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion tour was one of the most volatile and mysterious to ever hit Europe. Classic Rock got the full inside story

Axl Rose has had enough. It’s June 3, 1992 and we’re in Hannover at the Niedersachsen Stadium. He’s sitting on the drum riser, a sweaty, seething 60,000 strong stadium rock crowd swarming in front of him.

The band tore on to stage (on time, for the first time on their massive Use Your Illusion tour), ripped through three songs, but now something’s not right. The petulant singer doesn’t say one word to the assembled throng, and he’s sitting down. Not the usual behaviour for a man who ordinarily races around like a maniac.

Slash, Duff, Matt and Gilby all share confused glances. They’re running around, doing their best to cover up, galloping around the stage. The monitors are checked. The Teleprompter is checked. And rechecked. Nothing’s wrong. Except the singer’s behaviour. It’s all really strange.

Axl, meanwhile, doesn’t move. Then he does. He just wanders to the front of the stage, climbs into the security pit, looks at the audience, then returns to the drum riser and sits down again. And then starts to sing. But not for long…

Blame Bob Dylan. If he hadn’t written Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door , GN’R would never have covered it, and Axl wouldn’t have berated the edgy Hannover crowd for not singing loudly enough. And then perhaps he wouldn’t have introduced Sweet Child O’ Mine as “a song about getting fucked up the ass by a coke bottle”. But that’s exactly what he does. And then he storms off.

Incidents like these characterised Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion tour. It wasn’t an isolated episode, either. It would get weirder. GN’R were suffering from a media backlash after the massive success of Appetite For Destruction . And Axl was getting more and more paranoid. The GN’R on the Illusion tour wasn’t the same one we’d seen storm the Marquee in ’87 or stun the Donington crowd in ’88.

Think about it, a 12-piece Guns N’ Roses? It doesn’t make sense does it? Even now, when Gun N’ Roses means whatever Axl Rose wants it to mean, he’ll be stretching credulity if he walks on stage at this year’s Download Festival with a dozen musicians in his band.

Classic Rock Newsletter

Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!

But the Guns N’ Roses that assembled in Dublin in mid-May 1992 for the start of a 20-date European tour consisted of 12 musicians. It was the culmination of the band’s transition from hedonistic heroes to stadium rockers.

It had been a traumatic adjustment costing two of the original members: drummer Steven Adler was fired from the band at the end of 1990 because, unlike the others, he did not cure his heroin addiction. A year later guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit because he could no longer cope with a “cleaned-up” Guns N’ Roses – even though he too had cleaned up.

They had been replaced by former Cult drummer Matt Sorum, who had experience of playing big gigs, and guitarist Gilby Clarke who did not have big show experience but had played in various Los Angeles bands like Candy and Kill For Thrills and came out of the same gritty club circuit that had spawned GN’R, Mötley Crüe, Quiet Riot and the rest.

To this reconstituted band had been added keyboard player Dizzy Reed, a female brass trio, a couple of backing singers (also girls) and Ted Andreakis who was billed as an “emulator” but also played harmonica and keyboards.

It was Slash who had been mainly responsible for putting together the Guns N’ Roses big band. “Around the time Gilby joined I was looking for some horn players to fill out songs like November Rain and get them to sound a bit more like the record,” he said in a TV interview.

“Axl really got into that idea too. I didn’t want anything corny like three guys in tuxedos all moving in unison, so I got some chicks to do it. But that hasn’t changed the way we play,” he added. “It’s as chaotic as it’s always been.”

Pressed about tensions within the band Slash replied, “This band’s always been tense because, you know, this isn’t like a day job. Most bands these days could go out and do their show in their sleep. We go out there all stirred up. We care about every show we do, so if something happens during a particular show then yeah, it can get pretty tense. The way we treat it is to go out and do the best show we possibly can. It’s not pre-meditated, we just go for it.”

Anyone thinking that a 12-piece band couldn’t “just go for it” was reckoning without Guns N’ Roses attitude. For a start there was no set list. The opening number wasn’t decided until a minute or two before they hit the stage. That kind of spontaneity might be fine and dandy in a small club packed with adoring fans but in front of 50,000-100,000 people? Not to mention the lighting guy controlling 900 lights and half a dozen guys operating follow-spotlights precariously perched above the stage, each waiting for instructions.

And then there was the erratic behaviour of Axl Rose. You couldn’t predict what time he and the band would come on stage – although you could generally guarantee that it wouldn’t be within 30 minutes of the scheduled time. You couldn’t predict what he’d do when he got there either: what he’d say or how he’d react to the music, the audience, anything…

No wonder the road crew were always fully focussed as showtime-plus-30 approached. Most bands leave nothing to chance when he comes to stadium shows – even The Rolling Stones have used backing tapes. But Guns N’ Roses deliberately put their stadium shows on a knife edge. That meant the shows could be stunning. By the same token they could also be shambolic. But then Guns N’ Roses knew no other way.

Not that the critics saw it that way. To them, the band they’d championed had sold out. Even worse, they’d become hugely popular. “Just another stadium act, up there with the fatted turkeys,” according to Melody Maker . “A saddening musical mess,” said Kerrang! .

But then Guns N’ Roses had gone to war with the press and the ‘build-‘em-up, slag-‘em-off’ mentality. Demanding copy approval was guaranteed to rile any journalist, but it was another part of the Guns N’ Roses attitude. They’d spelt it out on Get In The Ring on their Use Your Illusion II album. For the crowds who flocked to see them, however, the air of excitement in the (frequently extended) build-up to the show told its own story.

Security, or Axl’s paranoia, had reached ridiculous heights. He wanted control. He demanded complete control. Legal documents flew about backstage – disclaimers, gag orders, the lot. And these weren’t just for those nearest and dearest to the band. No one escaped unscathed. Not the crew, not the caterers, not the bus drivers, not the support band and their associates. No-one. Nearly a decade and a half later, people who were on the tour only agreed to speak with Classic Rock under the shield of strict anonymity, such was the fear of the wrath of God instilled in them. But it’s time to break the silence.

The Use Your Illusion tour had started in May 1991, four months before the Use Your Illusion albums were released. It would carry on for the next 28 months with 128 shows in 27 countries in front of seven million people.

For the first few weeks the shows ran smoothly, apart from the late starts, but at St Louis, Missouri in early July Axl yelled at security to remove a camera from a fan near the stage and when nothing happened he leapt into the crowd to deal with the offender himself. The resulting riot left 50 people injured and Axl facing assault charges.

Another riot was narrowly avoided a week later in Englewood, Colorado when Axl took exception to a heckler. And later that same month at Inglewood, California police sensibly tore up a traffic ticket they’d issued after Axl’s limousine made an illegal left turn outside the Forum and he threatened to cancel the show with 19,000 people already inside.

In contrast, their Wembley Stadium at the end of August under a baking sun was a relatively restrained affair, although the jobsworths at Brent Council had done their best by demanding that the band desist from swearing on stage. That resulted in posters around London proclaiming ‘Guns N’ Fucking Roses. Wembley Fucking Stadium. Sold Fucking Out’. The language from the stage was equally blunt.

But the joke had worn too thin for Izzy Stradlin who had already taken to travelling separately from the rest of the group. By the time the two separate Use Your Illusion albums were released in September he’d gone AWOL, failing to show up for video shoots. A few weeks later it was confirmed that he was leaving.

Slash made the call to Gilby Clarke. “I knew Gilby before Guns N’ Roses even started,” he explained. “He was playing in the same clubs that Hollywood Rose [Axl’s pre-GN’R group] and bands I was in played at. But I hadn’t seen him in all those years.

“His name was brought up by a couple of people and I thought ‘Yeah’. In fact he was the only person we auditioned. I brought him into the studio with us and we jammed and it worked, just like that.”

Clarke confirmed that story while admitting that he’d surreptitiously put himself in the frame.

“I’d heard rumours that something was up,” he said. “And I’d called a friend of mine who’d worked with the band and said, ‘If these guys are looking for someone then put my name in the pot’. And one day I got home and there was the call.”

But wasn’t he concerned that he could be joining a band on the brink of destruction? “Yeah, but that’s the credit you have to give this band: all the things they’ve been through and still to be doing all this. For the first week I was coming in every day and not knowing if I was coming back tomorrow. I just had to put everything else to one side and concentrate on learning 40-odd songs.”

The 12-piece Guns N’ Roses made their debut at Worcester, Massachusetts, in early December followed by three nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden. They flew to Japan for three shows that were filmed for a video and made their first foray into South America with a concert in Mexico City at the start of April.

Later that month they flew over for the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium, an unusual move firstly because the band were not best known for playing tribute shows of any description, and secondly because the gay community had taken umbrage with Axl’s less than sympathetic lyrics on the One In A Million song from the GN’R Lies album.

But this was not about sexual preference, it was about Queen. As Slash explained, “We grew up with Queen. They were one of the main bands we were into at the start. So when they asked us to play we jumped at the chance. Then we had this whole gay activist thing going against us but we just decided to do it anyway.”

The band played Paradise City and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door before Axl duetted with Elton John on a version of Bohemian Rhapsody that was one of the highlights of the show and then got to front Queen for We Will Rock You . Axl, Slash and Duff then joined in the grand finale, We Are The Champions .

So it was a relatively relaxed-looking band that arrived in Dublin to start the European tour. Axl even managed a smile for the photographer who was brave enough to greet him at the airport.

Faith No More, who’d been frequently named as one of Guns N’ Roses’ favourite bands, were the chosen support band on the tour, along with Soundgarden. “The band felt almost honoured to be asked and it was seen as a great opportunity to play to a whole load of people in Europe,” a member of their road crew (let’s call him Mr X) told Classic Rock .

“But it didn’t really work out that way. Most of the kids had just come to see Guns N’ Roses and didn’t pay any attention to us. And for the amount of time that we were out there we didn’t really play that many gigs. We always seemed to be hanging around, waiting a couple of days or more for the next gig.

“I remember being told that some of the band were still in a fragile condition. But that didn’t surprise me with everything they’d been through in the last couple of years. And then losing Steven Adler and Izzy – that must have been hard for them.

“Slash was fine, though. Thriving on it. He carried a bottle of Jack Daniel’s with him wherever he went. It was his medication. But he was always nice and friendly whenever you came across him.

“Duff was on vodka and I think he was finding it harder. That’s why he had his girlfriend, Linda, with him on the tour. They got engaged midway through the tour and they were really sweet together.

“But we scarcely saw Axl. In fact I don’t think many people saw Axl when he wasn’t on stage. He was closeted away and there was this whole entourage looking after him. He had a personal assistant. And the personal assistant had an assistant. There was also a chiropractor and a hypnotherapist. And then there was his sister, Amy. There were a lot of people around him.”

If Axl was incommunicado, Slash and Duff were happy to talk to the media. And they weren’t hiding behind phrases like “musical differences” when it came to the departure of Steven and Izzy.

“Steven Adler just kept on lying,” Duff explained. “He kept saying he’d given up. I’d already been round to his dealer’s house and threatened to kill him if he sold Steven any more drugs. And one night I went round to Steven’s house and pressed the redial button on his phone. And guess where it went? So that was that.”

Izzy’s departure had also rankled, but in a very different way. “He went too hardcore I think,” said Duff. “He couldn’t just have a couple of beers. He couldn’t be around it at all and that was sad. God bless him, that’s all I’ve got to say.”

It was an 11-piece band that showed up for a two-hour sound check the day before the opening date of the tour at Slane Castle, a picturesque spot on a bend in the river Boyne that provided a natural amphitheatre. No prizes for guessing who didn’t make it.

The 250,000-watt sound of the band could be heard in the nearby village of Slane which was already filling up with fans. Another source remembers passing through the village on the morning of the show.

“This little village had been completely taken over by thousands of kids in headbands and denim jackets,” he recalls. “Every now and again some little makeshift band would start up and people would cluster round. And then suddenly they’d get up and lead this big procession round the village and then down this little country lane towards the castle. Obviously loads of them were carrying cans but it was all really peaceful.”

Meanwhile the Irish tabloids had been doing their best to whip up a controversy, fearing for those good catholic Irish girls who might be induced to bare their breasts for the video cameras, following a growing American tradition that provided pre-show entertainment for the crowd on the giant screens as well as the band watching backstage.

A police chief was quoted as saying that they would be monitoring the situation closely. Of course. In fact there were over 800 policeman being drafted in for breast patrol and other more mundane tasks. Sadly they would see more hairy arses than tits as the crowd amused themselves by building human pyramids in front of the stage with the guy at the top getting the chance for a quick moon before the whole edifice collapsed.

The band arrived at the site by helicopter although Axl’s helicopter had still not left Dublin as showtime approached. Still, the rest of the band could console themselves with the crate of 40-year-old Irish whisky and barrel of Guinness that had been sent by U2 who were currently touring Europe with their Zooropa show.

Just over an hour late, the pent-up energy exploded on both sides of the stage as the band ripped into Nightrain and Mr Brownstone as Axl, clad in tight back shorts and a black jacket with emerald trimmings, raced from side to side of the 160ft-wide stage like a man possessed while Slash, wearing an emerald green shirt, Gilby and Duff checked out the various ramps and walkways around and above Matt’s drumkit.

Maybe the unusual experience of playing in daylight was having a benign effect on them (“Playing in sunshine – it’s a new concept,” remarked Axl); there was definitely a relaxed feel to the show. Axl attempted to make some Irish heritage connections on behalf of the band – “We have a McKagan in the band, in case you hadn’t noticed, and I’m half Irish myself, but you can’t tell, right?”

Later on after Duff had taken over his microphone for a version of the Misfits classic, Attitude , he unravelled a new microphone cover and rolled it on. “Much as I love Duff I would never share a condom with him,” he joked.

But the GN’R attitude was never far below the surface. “Here’s a nice pretty song,” said Axl after an impassioned performance of Don’t Cry . “It’s dedicated to all those who can’t keep their mouths out of your fucking business. Misery likes company so if you know someone like that, call them up and tell them from me that they are DOUBLE TALKIN’ JIVE MOTHERFUCKERS!” Cue the song.

Later on, in a rare moment of irony, Axl stamped his foot repeatedly, petulantly yelling “Gimme piano!” until it became apparent that he was standing on top of the instrument as it rose up from below the stage. He then proceeded to give a short recital, breaking into Black Sabbath’s It’s Alright as Duff sat on the edge of the stage, pummelling his bass with his fists until the song transformed itself into November Rain .

Not to be outdone, Slash topped and tailed Civil War with a blast of Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child (Slight Return) , allowing Axl the chance to nip down to a tiny dressing room below the drum riser and change into another pair of cycling shorts and jacket. Later on Slash turned the Theme From The Godfather into a solo tour de force as part of an instrumental jam that included a drum solo and, on a good night, a bass solo.

A couple of songs had fixed positions in the set: Mr Brownstone was invariably the second number and Knockin’ On Heavens Door routinely closed the show before the encores which always finished with Paradise City . But you never knew when the others would crop up. This was tough on the road crew who had giant inflatable beasts to blow up for Welcome To The Jungle and fireworks to let off during Live And Let Die . And the brass section would hang around under the stage on permanent stand-by, never knowing if they’d be needed for the next song.

At Slane Castle the band responded to U2’s liquid gift by playing a bit of One as the intro to Sweet Child O’ Mine . As Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door reached its peak Duff was so excited he leapt into the crowd and nearly knocked himself out with his radio pack as he tried to clamber back. As the last strains of Paradise City echoed across the Boyne valley Slash thanked the crowd for “making us so welcome. You’ve been fucking great.”

The band spent another couple of convivial days in Dublin, relaxing in the bars and clubs and watching the girls dressed up in their ball gowns going to the Trinity Ball. Slash in particular was enjoying himself. “I can always tell a drinking town when the people in the bar get drunk before I do,” he told reporters when they finally headed off to the next leg of the tour in Czechoslovakia.

Prague was a sobering contrast. The country was still emerging from 50 years of communist rule and its status as a stag weekend capital was many years away. At the ageing Strahov Stadium the road crew found the stage was only half built and were immediately called upon to put their motto – “make it happen” – into practice.

The Czech media were less interested in the sex and drugs and rock’n’roll than the high cost of tickets – around £15, way above the means of most kids. No wonder there was a market for cut-price forgeries although it was a bit stupid of the forger to advertise his wares on a university noticeboard complete with a phone number.

Meanwhile the hotel booked for the band had cancelled the reservation on discovering their identity. They were forced to relocate to a tourist hotel on the edge of town where such basic amenities as room service and a telephone switchboard were deemed surplus to requirements.

“Fortunately there was a newly opened McDonalds in town which was a lifeline, otherwise the band would have gone crazy,” a crew member recalls. “There was virtually a shuttle service operating.”

And it wasn’t just McD’s that was keeping the band busy. “A couple of the Guns N’ Roses guys found this strip club,” another source reveals. “They were absolutely fascinated by it because the strippers still had pubic hair.”

In the event the show drew a respectable 30,000 crowd. The band opened with It’s So Easy and Axl told the audience, “Some people talk about how hedonistic we are. Well, sometimes we just write songs about how really fucked up we are.”

Slash however got closer to the mark: “I guess you guys don’t know much English so I’ll just say fucking Hi!” Quite what Matt had done to be introduced as “a man made out of all the thick stuff in the bottom of your toilet” was never explained.

In Hungary there was a Hilton Hotel waiting for the band. Unfortunately they arrived at Budapest Airport just 20 minutes before they were due to play, having been held up at Prague Airport for four hours by a bomb scare. A police escort whisked the band’s motorcade to the Nep Stadium where 70,000 fans were waiting.

“It was kinda weird to finish our set and then be told that the headline band wasn’t even in the country,” Mr X tells us. “Still, it was something we’d get used to.”

Scarcely had Guns N’ Roses started their show before they had to compete with a massive thunderstorm that drenched first the crowd and then the band as water poured through the roof of the stage. As roadies frantically wiped the stage with towels between songs Axl remarked, “We’re going to be sponsoring a car wash. And we’ll all be topless.” The only dry place on stage was by Dizzy Reed’s keyboards and Axl called Duff and Gilby “pussies” for trying to take shelter there. Dizzy meanwhile tried to show solidarity with the others by pouring a bottle of beer over his head.

Midway through the show the crowd got an unexpected treat. “This is a song that Freddie Mercury asked us to sing to you,” Axl announced. “He couldn’t be here tonight, he had other plans, so we tried to learn it in the dressing room tonight.” He and Slash then played a Hungarian folk song, Tavasziszel (easier to sing than pronounce) that Queen had performed when they came to Budapest in 1985. As the crowd joined in Axl tossed the microphone at them and let them take over.

Back in the Western European comfort zone in Vienna, Axl was in playful form. “This is kinda tongue in cheek,” he mused, introducing Live And Let Die . “I wonder if Hitler ever sang this song to himself when he was a kid.” Always a bit of a risk, reminding the Viennese of their most infamous son, but he got away with it.

Vienna was where Guns N’ Roses and U2’s paths crossed on their respective European tours. U2 came to the GN’R show and afterwards Axl and Bono spent over an hour locked in conversation in a private backstage area. “They were sharing this private jet that was ferrying each of the bands around from place to place,” recalls a journalist who managed to get backstage.

“There was definitely a bit of a mutual admiration society going on. Both bands were trying to challenge the whole idea of stadium rock. Most bands tend to behave like rock gods when they play stadiums – and with all those adoring masses in front of them it’s not hard to see why. But Axl and Bono were both trying to turn the whole stadium rock rock thing back on the audience, trying to show in their own different ways why it didn’t have to be like that. That’s what they had in common.”

When U2 played the same venue the following night Bono brought out Axl to sing an acoustic version of Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door with him, adding, “This song could be written for him”.

Back in town, Slash and Gilby were so outraged at being charged $300 for a bottle of champagne in a strip club they forgot to notice the state of the strippers’ pubes.

The next part of the tour was focussed on Germany. “The mood seemed to get a little darker at this point,” admits one of the GN’R entourage. “We got to Berlin and when we arrived at the Olympic Stadium where we were playing we could feel the bad vibes there. They were coming out of the walls of the place. Everyone felt it, even the bands. And then we discovered it was the place where [American black athlete] Jesse Owens had won the 100 metres back in 1936 and Hitler had stormed out in disgust.”

Axl caught the mood too. When someone threw a bottle on stage during Civil War , suddenly the spectre of those riotous American shows (and no shows) returned. “Fucking Asshole,” screamed Axl. “We can stop the show you know. It’s no problem. Fucking asshole.” He made to walk off but the band kept playing. Eventually he started singing again and calmed down with the aid of a cigarette and a rose that he wrapped around the microphone. At the end he even managed to incorporate a few lines from Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall into Paradise City .

At Stuttgart there was another incident that typified the Guns N’ Roses attitude. “I standing in the production office and at this point it’s not even an hour late so no one’s panicking,” divulges a source. “Somebody’s asking the sound guy out front what the NWA track he played just before the show a week or so ago was because Axl wants to hear it again. The sound guy says he hasn’t got it with him so what else would Axl like to hear?

“Next thing, there’s a car being organised to go back to the hotel and search the sound guy’s room for the NWA CD. So that takes another hour. But the amazing thing is that the song they played just before the band came on was Sid Vicious’ My Way . I don’t know whether they couldn’t find the CD or whether Axl changed his mind again.”

The tour was heading towards Paris where the show was going to be broadcast live on the American HBO channel. “This meant the show was going to have to start on time because there was no way an HBO audience was going to sit and stare at an empty stage for an hour or so,” another of FNM’s crew told us.

In Paris a day had been set aside to rehearse at the Hippodrome De Vincennes with the special guests who’d come in the bolster the HBO show, people like Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith, Lenny Kravtiz and Jeff Beck.

“I’m a huge Jeff Beck fan so I went down to have a look,” says a member of GNR’s crew. “And I watched Slash, Joe Perry and Jeff Beck jamming away on Train Kept A’ Rolling for nearly half an hour. Can you imagine? That for me was the musical highlight of the whole tour. But the next morning Jeff Beck has gone back to England, complaining of tinnitus.”

As well as Lenny, Joe and Steven, Slash’s girlfriend had also showed up so he was feeling good, but Axl’s girlfriend, model Stephanie Seymour, had not and he had not been sleeping well. In fact he had not been sleeping at all.

To the relief of everyone at HBO the show started on time, Lenny Kravtiz came out to play Mama Said and all went well until Axl, who was wearing his Nobody Knows I’m A Lesbian T-shirt, dedicated Double Talking Jive to Warren Beatty, “a man whose life is so empty he has to fuck around with other people minds and play fucking games.” The fact that Beatty was Stephanie’s previous boyfriend might have had something to do with it.

The rant seemed to clear Axl’s head and apart from describing November Rain as “a song about unrequited love” (Stephanie had of course been in the video) there were no more difficult moments for HBO – apart from the swearing which they’d presumably been warned about. Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were saved for the encores and everyone – even Axl – joined in a storming versions of Mama Kin and Train Kept A’ Rolling .

Two free days in Paris before the next show in Manchester should have been enough to clear Axl’s sleepless head but instead things got worse. “I was told that Axl went to see his favourite statue, the Winged Victory, which is in the Louvre,” recalls Mr X. “But he didn’t disguise himself or anything so he ended up getting pestered by all these people.

“And then he agrees to go on a boat trip down the river Seine but on the way to the boat he nods off for a minute or so which is the worst thing that can happen when you haven’t slept for days. After about ten minutes on the boat he wants to get off but there’s nowhere for the boat to pull in. So he’s on the boat for another half hour before he can get off. And by then he’s real mad!”

The Manchester show was postponed the night before it was due to take place. Instead the band flew to London for their third appearance at Wembley Stadium within ten months, and the hottest yet in terms of performance and weather. Three thousand people were treated for heat exhaustion during the course of a very long day.

This time they repaid the favour to Queen, bringing Brian May on for the encores and playing Tie Your Mother Down and We Will Rock You . Earlier in the show they had also played Sail Away Sweet Sister (a May song from The Game ) as an intro for Sweet Child O’ Mine , something they had been doing regularly on the tour.

The next day’s rescheduled Manchester show started nearly two hours late after the band took their time getting there but Gateshead a couple of days later was a lot livelier. After both shows the band flew back to the Conrad Hotel in London’s Chelsea Basin where they ended up staying for ten days.

“It was a real rock’n’roll hotel at that point,” an insider says. “There’s INXS hanging out in the bar with Slash and Duff and Dizzy and Matt and Duff’s planning to go into a studio nearby to do some stuff for his solo album. Axl is nowhere to be seen, obviously, but everyone’s laughing because apparently he’d demanded to be flown by helicopter to the Wembley show but there was nowhere for him to land there and the helicopter ended up dropping him off further away than when he’d started.

“Prince was also staying at the hotel because he was playing concerts at Earls Court nearby, and the hotel staff were saying they’d had to remove every piece of furniture from his suite and he’d had his own bed and everything – even the sheets – flown in from America. They’d also had to black out all the windows so that he wouldn’t see daylight and then he’d demanded that they open up the hair salon for him at two in the morning.”

The Guns N’ Roses tour resumed in Germany and it was a chance for Heathrow Airport customs officials to single out Axl’s luggage for the third degree for the second time in a month. He was so cross he made a statement: “To be singled out by someone who just wants to score a few points and have a story to tell his friends over a beer is really out of order,” he complained.

Their show at Wurzburg was accompanied by the full Wagnerian backdrop of thunder and lightning and the steam rising from the crowd made it hard for those at the back to see the stage. After the next day’s show in Basle, Switzerland, Duff developed flu symptoms and Axl had a sore throat. Copious medication got them both through the next show in Rotterdam, Holland, which started over two hours late. The authorities decided to abandon the curfew after Axl told the crowd, “You have a right to a complete show. You paid for it. If they cut the power, be my guests, do what you want.”

Afterwards Duff was officially declared ill and the following night’s show in Gent, Belgium, was cancelled. The band moved on to Milan, Italy, where Axl’s recovery was aided by the arrival of Stephanie Seymour. Meanwhile Slash and Gilby made a brief extra-curricular trip to Munich to take part in the filming of Michael Jackson’s video for Give In To Me .

After a rousing show in Turin the band and close entourage took a two-day break on a luxury cruiser in the Mediterranean before heading across to Seville in Spain where they could bask in a culture that didn’t bother with words like curfew. This turned out to be the last gig of the tour when the Madrid stadium they were due to play was suddenly closed by the authorities when the concrete structure was found to be at risk from aluminosis.

“By the end of the tour we were spending more time hanging around than working,” confides Mr X. “Faith No More were getting pissed at some of Axl’s antics which they thought were unprofessional.

“But that fact was that whatever it took to get the guy on stage, when he got there it was just mesmerising. You couldn’t take your eyes off him. I’ve never seen any band produce that kind of spontaneous excitement in a stadium before or since.”

Faith No More continued to support Guns N’ Roses on their American stadium tour with Metallica which started later in July although the scheduled was repeatedly interrupted by damage to Axl’s vocals cords and burns to James Hetfield’s arm.

In November Guns N’ Roses headed down to South America for a tour that was buffeted by torrential rain, collapsing stages and a military coup in Venezuela which started just as the band went on stage in a massive parking lot (nobody had been able to find a suitable venue). The band managed to get out but their equipment and half the road crew was left stranded at the airport.

Even Axl couldn’t compete with that.

This article originally appeared in Classic Rock #92 .

Watch the video for David Gilmour's brand new single The Pipers Call

“Are these your questions?” When Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan interviewed Nick Cave for MTV at Lollapalooza 1994, it did not go well

“The blonde anti-hero known as Slim Shady has had no shortage of enemies.” Watch the crime scene trailer for Eminem's forthcoming album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace)

Most Popular

Guns N’ Roses‘ ’Use Your Illusion’ Box Set Is an Image of a Band Refusing to Give Up its Place in the Jungle

• By Kory Grow

Many millions of album sales and oh, so much “Patience” later, GN’R were still processing their metamorphosis as they were releasing the evil-twin confessional testaments, Use Your Illusion I and II . At a May 1991 New York City gig, included in this new super deluxe editions of the new Use Your Illusion box set, guitarist Izzy Stradlin slovenly addresses the crowd after a ragged “My Michelle”: “Fuckin’ three years ago, fuckin’ Appetite came out,” he says. “Fuckin’ no one would give the band fuckin’ shit for notoriety or anything. … It was you guys that fucking made us happen. So that being the case, the band got really fuckin’ big. I mean it blew my fuckin’ mind. … So now what we’re doing is we’re fucking touring on an album that hasn’t been released, because when we started out in clubs, that’s how we started.”

Editor’s picks

The 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history, every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term.

This, in the Year Punk Broke A.D., was months before Nevermind , and a year before Kurt Cobain, on the exact same journey as GN’R, rocked a “Corporate Magazines Still Suck” T-shit on Rolling Stone’s cover. But even as grunge and punk revivalism supposedly unseated mainstream rock in the Nineties (or so the myth goes), Guns N’ Roses, who’d been covering punk groups the U.K. Subs and the Misfits for years, were playing in stadiums alongside Metallica (another band that covered the Misfits, as well as punks Fang years before Nirvana). Mainstream rock, with all its primordial influences, was still bigger than ever and would remain so for at least a couple more years. This box set, memorializing the 30th anniversary of Guns N’ Roses’ overwhelming and intimidating Use Your Illusion albums — arriving, in true GN’R fashion, a year late — presents some interesting alternate facts for the alternative explosion.

Slash Had to Cold Call Chris Stapleton to Sing on His Blues Album

Slash to lead s.e.r.p.e.n.t. blues festival tour raising money for equal rights charities, see slash, ac/dc's brian johnson, and steven tyler rip through howlin' wolf's 'killing floor'.

The albums, in hindsight, present the paradox of a band of outsiders who have become the biggest band on the planet but still want to be rebels (see also: Neil Young’s fable of Johnny Rotten, and Kurt Cobain’s fable of Kurt Cobain). It’s a portrait of an identity crisis and it eventually tore them apart. But at the time, they rose to the challenge and reaped the rewards, even if by all accounts the Use Your Illusion albums are still Too Much Music.

The two lengthy live shows on the bonus discs here present GN’R at interesting points in the use and abuse of their illusions. The New York gig (which you can also watch on a Blu-ray) was one of three rehearsal “club” dates for the tour that would ultimately divide the band, and it took place at the 1,400-person-or-so-capacity Ritz. Rose tells the crowd he doesn’t like showing up to rehearsals (shocker) so this was his warmup but he nevertheless delivers an impressive, throat-shredding performance throughout, even after injuring a leg mid-gig. He even sounds like he’s having fun. He does the Cool Hand Luke “failure to communicate” monologue himself in “Civil War,” which also features Slash riffing on Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” They play “Estranged,” perfectly arranged with all of Slash’s seagull squalls (and, more impressive, the audience is perfectly fine listening to a 10-minute song they’ve never heard before). They jam a little of Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed” before “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” and Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon (then unknown) joins them to sing the high parts to the “Don’t Cry” chorus. There’s a sense of bonhomie between Rose and the band — the album will be out soon and they’re ready to cross the finish line.

Meet the MVP of 'Shōgun' — Ex-Punk Rocker and Japanese Movie Star Tadanobu Asano

Team trump is ready to lose the supreme court immunity case. they’re celebrating, billie eilish would like to reintroduce herself, russian mercenaries hunt the african warlord america couldn’t catch.

This live album, which spans three CDs, is the Guns N’ Roses we know today: big and deafening. They cover “Live and Let Die” (loudly) and the Misfits’ “Attitude” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (which also includes tangents into “Hotel California” and “Only Women Bleed” and Rose demanding, “Gimme some reggae!” twice.) Rose plays a deft classical piano intro to “November Rain.” “Rocket Queen” replaces groupie gasps with Slash on a talk box and now lasts nine minutes. Rose approximates a Schwarzenegger impression before the Terminator 2 song “You Could Be Mine.” Slash plays the Godfather theme. Everyone takes a break in “Move to the City” for the horn section to do a jazz-funk jam. And Rose whispers “alone” dramatically on “Estranged.” GN’R’s musicians each hit bum notes here and there, but who really cares? It’s loose, baggy, and fun. It’s a reminder that rock & roll can and should be unpredictable (the GN’R hallmark) and that it could reach as many people as the downer rock that followed it (and never got quite as big).

By this point, the band had been called up from the streets and had risen to the occasion. They were still working together, and, gosh, maybe even liked each other. Three decades since their release, we know understand how the Use Your Illusion albums represented the most of what they could do, and they secured their legend. If they had called it quits completely after the tour, like the Police did after Synchronicity , and avoided all the nasty press digs, it could have been a clean break and we probably still would have gotten Chinese Democracy . But Use Your Illusion was a testament to their determination, which is still their driving force. Not grunge, not Spin , not good taste (or even bad taste) could hold them back then or now. This is a portrait of the kings of the jungle.

Kathleen Hanna Recalls Falling in Love With a Beastie Boy in 'Rebel Girl' Book Excerpt

Post malone teams with brad paisley, dwight yoakam for country pivot at stagecoach.

• Stagecoach 2024
• By Larisha Paul

Miranda Lambert Surprises Stagecoach 2024 With Reba McEntire, Debuts New Song 'Wranglers'

• Fancy Cameo
• By Joseph Hudak

Salma Hayek Joins Madonna for ‘Vogue’ in Mexico City

• By Althea Legaspi

Anitta Embraces Her Roots, But Could’ve Taken More Risks, On ‘Funk Generation'

• ALBUM REVIEW
• By Felipe Maia

Most Popular

Anne hathaway says 'gross' chemistry test in the 2000s required her to make out with 10 guys: that's the 'worst way to do it' and 'now we know better', louvre considers moving mona lisa to underground chamber to end 'public disappointment', 'the lord of the rings' trilogy returning to theaters, remastered and extended, sources gave an update on hugh jackman's 'love life' after fans raised concerns about his well-being, you might also like, colin jost wins over tough white house correspondents dinner crowd with praise for ‘decent’ biden, rihanna does full-body fenty x puma creeper phatty ‘earth tone’ colors at launch party, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, bob bakish expected to resign as paramount ceo amid skydance merger talks, messi’s road show shatters another attendance record.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

Use Your Illusion Tour

The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Guns N' Roses which ran from January 20, 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 194 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 Axl Rose .

Notable events

First typical setlist, second typical setlist, third typical setlist, fourth typical setlist, fifth typical setlist, songs played, external links.

The Use Your Illusion Tour was a promotional tour for the albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II . 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 be issued as a two video / DVD set, Use Your Illusion I and II (featuring footage from a 1992 concert in Tokyo, Japan) and provide content for the 2-disc set Live Era: '87-'93 . The tour also provided footage for music videos , including " Dead Horse " and their popular cover of Paul McCartney's " Live and Let Die ". A planned documentary, titled The Perfect Crime , included footage consisted of the band's time on the road, concert clips, and information about the riots and other major events of the tour. It was never released and never spoken about after the tour. Slash mentioned in his biography that Axl Rose controls the footage and that Slash would be interested in viewing it, as he thought it captured "killer moments" from the tour. [ citation needed ]

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 setlist was never chosen by the band. They did, however, usually open with " Welcome to the Jungle ", " It's So Easy ", " Nightrain " or "Perfect Crime" and would shortly after one another play " Mr. Brownstone " or "Live and Let Die", and close with " Paradise City ". Each show featured guitar solos from Slash (including the " Theme From the Godfather ") and a drum solo from drummer Matt Sorum , usually six minutes in length. [ citation needed ]

The 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 130 working personnel traveled with the band, using two different stages to enable faster setup. [2] The trade magazine Performance named the tour crew "Crew of the Year" for 1991.

Duff McKagan revealed in 2015 that the band didn't make profit on the tour until 1993 due to the extravagant costs. [2]

"The band had such a ball," Slash remarked in 1994. "We managed to tour for two and a half years, against all the fuckin' odds. It really was a fuckin' endurance test of pretty big proportions." [3]

At the June 10, 1991, show, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center , Axl Rose requested that the crowd chant "Get in the ring!" This was recorded for the song of that name on Use Your Illusion II .

On June 13, 1991, during the show in Philadelphia, Rose erupted after a fan fought with Guns N' Roses' photographer Robert John . When the fan kicked the camera out of his hands, Rose cursed him out 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 Maryland Heights, Missouri , near St. Louis , Rose spotted a spectator recording the concert with a video camera and jumped into the audience after him when concert security failed to respond to his request to apprehend the man. Returning to the stage, Rose declared: "Well, thanks to the lame-ass security, I'm going home!" then slammed the mic on the stage, sparking the infamous Riverport riot . Rose 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." He proceeded to throw his guitar pick into the crowd and follow Rose. The band followed. The band was looking to come back out and finish the show, but as police and security tried 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 Rose was charged with inciting a riot. He was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The band would later express their feelings regarding the incident by including the message "fuck you, St. Louis!" in the liner notes of both Use Your Illusion albums. [4]

On August 3, 1991, the day mixing of the Illusion albums was finished, the band played the longest show of the tour at the L.A. Forum . It lasted three and a half hours. [5]

On November 7, 1991, Izzy Stradlin quit the band after the release of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II ; his last show was on August 31, 1991, at Wembley Stadium . On December 5, replacement rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke made his debut in Worcester, at 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 Rose's arrest due to his behavior at the St. Louis show.

On April 20, 1992, the band performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert , an effort for AIDS Awareness in London. The band was a controversial addition to the lineup, as many in the gay community were still angry over Rose using a homophobic slur in " 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 pointed at protesters in the audience and yelled, "SHOVE IT!" [ citation needed ] [ clarification needed ] 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 Alice Cooper 's " Only Women Bleed ", Duff McKagan kept an eye on Rose, who approached the front of the stage. When Slash finished the song, then strummed the beginning of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", McKagan walked over to Rose and shook his hand in appreciation. Later in the show, Slash joined Joe Elliott of Def Leppard and the surviving members of Queen for " Tie Your Mother Down ." Rose sang " We Will Rock You " and finished " Bohemian Rhapsody " with Elton John and 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 famously troubled Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour portion, Metallica frontman/guitarist James Hetfield 's left arm was badly burned due to misunderstanding about pyrotechnics added to Metallica's stage setup. Metallica was forced to end their set early. However, Guns N' Roses were not present at the arena to begin before the scheduled time, leaving fans to wait several hours before they took the stage. A few songs into the very late set, audio problems resulted in the band not being able to hear themselves play. Rose stormed off stage due to vocal issues, sparking a 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. Rose later stated this was a special moment for him because "November Rain" was #1 in Colombia for 60 weeks. Rose 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 2, 1992, the band performed in Santiago , Chile, at Estadio Nacional in front of 85,535 people, breaking an attendance record in the stadium. At their arriving at Chile, Rose attacked some graphic reporters and a cameraman was injured. Before the concert, Rose got drunk and arrived at the stadium two hours late. While the band performed " Civil War " some people threw bottles to the stage, and Rose stopped four minutes into the show. The concert ended with 50 people arrested outside the stadium, and a teenage fan with several injuries, dying two days later.

In February 1993, Gilby Clarke told BBC Radio 1 's Friday Rock Show : "For the last year and a half, we had a film crew with us. They do film every show and things backstage: hotel rooms, everything. And what we're gonna do at the end of the whole tour – which is actually after we're done in Europe – is put it all together, and we are gonna make a movie. It's pretty candid right now, so it's gonna be really great. The difference between ours and Madonna's is that ours isn't scripted. This movie is actually things that are happening around us." He also said Guns N' Roses would record an MTV Unplugged during their stay in Russia. Neither of these plans came to fruition. [6]

Stradlin returned for several shows in 1993, deputizing for an injured Clarke. "It was weird," he recalled. "We toured Greece, Istanbul, London [sic] . I liked that side of it – seeing some places I'd never seen… [But] money was a big sore point. I did the dates just for salary… [At the end] I didn't actually say 'See you', cos they were all fucked up… It was like playing with zombies." [7]

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 Use Your Illusion -era lineup (Rose, Slash, McKagan, Sorum, Reed, and Clarke). The tour was renamed the "Skin N' Bones Tour" for the last couple of legs and 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 Sorum.

(Taken from the Inglewood, California Great Western Forum show on August 3, 1991)

• "Perfect Crime"
• " Mr. Brownstone "
• "Right Next Door To Hell"
• "Bad Obsession"
• " Live and Let Die " ( Paul McCartney and Wings cover)
• " It's So Easy "
• " Yesterdays "
• "Dust N' Bones"
• "Double Talkin' Jive"
• " Civil War "
• " Patience "
• " You Could Be Mine "
• " November Rain "
• " My Michelle "
• " 14 Years "
• " Nightrain "
• " Welcome to the Jungle "
• " Pretty Tied Up "
• " Rocket Queen "
• " Don't Cry " (Original lyrics) (with Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon )
• " Knockin' on Heaven's Door " ( Bob Dylan cover)
• "You Ain't the First" (with Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon)
• "Used to Love Her"
• "Move to the City"
• " Sweet Child o' Mine "
• "You're Crazy" (with Sebastian Bach of Skid Row )
• "Locomotive"
• "Out ta Get Me"
• " Dead Horse "
• " Estranged "
• " Paradise City "

(Taken from the Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Dome show on February 22, 1992)

• "Nightrain"
• "Mr. Brownstone"
• "Live and Let Die" (Paul McCartney and Wings cover)
• "It's So Easy"
• "Attitude" (McKagan sang lead vocals) ( Misfits cover)
• "Pretty Tied Up"
• "Welcome to the Jungle"
• "Don't Cry" (Original lyrics)
• "Civil War"
• " Wild Horses " ( The Rolling Stones cover)
• "You Could Be Mine"
• "November Rain"
• "Sweet Child o' Mine"
• "Rocket Queen"
• "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan cover)
• "Estranged"
• "Paradise City"

(Taken from the Stuttgart, Germany Neckarstadion show on May 28, 1992)

• "Attitude" (McKagan sang lead vocals (Misfits cover)
• "Wild Horses" (The Rolling Stones cover)
• "It's Alright" ( Black Sabbath cover)

(Taken from the Paris, France Hippodrome de Vincennes show on June 6, 1992)

• "Attitude" (McKagan sang lead vocals) (Misfits cover)
• " Always on the Run " ( Lenny Kravitz cover) (with Lenny Kravitz)
• "It's Alright" (originally performed by Black Sabbath)
• " Mama Kin " ( Aerosmith cover) with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith)
• " Train Kept A-Rollin' " ( Tiny Bradshaw cover) (with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith)

(Taken from the Buenos Aires, Argentina River Plate Stadium show on July 17, 1993)

• "Yesterdays"
• " Dead Flowers " (The Rolling Stones cover)
• "You Ain't the First"
• "You're Crazy"
• "Dead Horse"
• W. Axl Rose – lead vocals, piano, whistle, whistling, acoustic guitar, tambourine, backing vocals
• Slash – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, talkbox, slide guitar
• Izzy Stradlin – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, lead vocals (1991; 1993 – five shows)
• Duff McKagan – bass, backing vocals, lead vocals, drum
• Matt Sorum – drums, percussion, backing vocals, drum
• Dizzy Reed – keyboards, piano, backing vocals, percussion, organ, tambourine
• Gilby Clarke – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, drum (1991–1993)
• Teddy Andreadis – keyboards, backing vocals, harmonica, tambourine (1991–1993)
• Roberta Freeman – backing vocals, tambourine (1991–1993)
• Traci Amos – backing vocals, tambourine (1991–1993)
• Diane Jones – backing vocals, tambourine (1991–1993)
• Cece Worrall-Rubin – saxophone (1991–1993)
• Anne King – trumpet (1991–1993)
• Lisa Maxwell – horns (1991–1993)
• Shannon Hoon
• Sebastian Bach
• Lenny Kravitz (June 6, 1992)
• Steven Tyler (June 6, 1992)
• Joe Perry (June 6, 1992)
• Brian May (June 13, 1992)
• Ronnie Wood (January 15, 1993) [8]
• Michael Monroe (May 30, 1993) [9]
• Tyranny of Time
• Soundgarden
• Raging Slab
• Faith No More
• Smashing Pumpkins
• My Little Funhouse
• Blind Melon
• El Conde del Guacharo
• Estadio El Campín
• Nine Inch Nails
• Brian May (some shows with his band)
• Motörhead
• Pearls & Swine
• Rose Tattoo
• Soul Asylum
• Suicidal Tendencies

From Appetite for Destruction :

From G N' R Lies :

• "Reckless Life"
• "Nice Boys"
• " Mama Kin / Train Kept A-Rollin' " (with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith )
• "You're Crazy" (Acoustic)

From Use Your Illusion I :

• " Don't Cry " (Original lyrics)
• "Back Off Bitch" [10]
• " The Garden "
• "Garden Of Eden"
• "Bad Apples"

From Use Your Illusion II :

• "Breakdown"
• "Don't Cry" (Alt. Lyrics)

From "The Spaghetti Incident?" :

• " Since I Don't Have You " (Intro)
• "Attitude" (McKagan sang lead vocals)

Other commonly performed songs:

• " Theme From the Godfather " ( Nino Rota cover) (Guitar Solo)
• " Imagine " ( John Lennon cover) (Intro)
• "Dust In The Wind" ( Todd Rundgren cover) (Intro)
• " It Tastes Good, Don't It? " (Unreleased original) (played during Rocket Queen)
• " I Was Only Joking " ( Rod Stewart cover) (Intro)
• " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds " ( The Beatles cover) (Intro)
• " Only Women Bleed " ( Alice Cooper cover) (Intro)
• " Mother " ( Pink Floyd cover) (Intro)
• " Pinball Wizard " ( The Who cover) (Intro)
• " The One " ( Elton John cover) (Intro)
• " One " ( U2 cover) (Intro)
• "Sail Away Sweet Sister" ( Queen cover) (Intro)
• "Bad Time" ( Grand Funk Railroad cover) (Intro)
• " Voodoo Child (Slight Return) " ( The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover) (Intro)
• " Let It Be " ( The Beatles cover) (Guitar Solo)

Related Research Articles

W. Axl Rose is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inception in 1985. Possessing a distinctive and powerful wide-ranging voice, Rose has been named one of the greatest singers of all time by various media outlets, including Rolling Stone , NME and Billboard .

Use Your Illusion I is the third studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on September 17, 1991, the same day as its counterpart Use Your Illusion II . It was the band's first album to feature drummer Matt Sorum, who replaced Steven Adler following Adler's departure in 1990, as well as keyboardist Dizzy Reed. Both albums were released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 , selling 685,000 copies in its first week, behind Use Your Illusion II ' s first-week sales of 770,000. Use Your Illusion I has sold 5,502,000 units in the United States as of 2010, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Each of the Use Your Illusion albums have been certified 7× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992.

Jeffrey Dean Isbell , best known as Izzy Stradlin , is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and backing vocalist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded four studio albums and left at the height of their fame in 1991.

Use Your Illusion II is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. The album was released on September 17, 1991, the same day as its counterpart Use Your Illusion I . Both albums were released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour. Bolstered by the lead single "You Could Be Mine", Use Your Illusion II was the slightly more popular of the two albums, selling a record 770,000 copies its first week and debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 , ahead of Use Your Illusion I' s first-week sales of 685,000. As of 2010, Use Your Illusion II has sold 5,587,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Both albums have since been certified 7× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was also No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for a single week.

Darren Arthur " Dizzy " Reed is an American musician. He is best known as the keyboardist for the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has played, toured, and recorded since 1990.

Use Your Illusion is the name of two releases by American rock band Guns N' Roses: a 1998 compilation album, drawing from the Use Your Illusion I and II studio albums featuring songs without explicit lyrics, and a 2022 box set anniversary edition of both albums.

Live Era '87–'93 is a double live album by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released on November 23, 1999. The record was the first official Guns N' Roses release since "The Spaghetti Incident?" released on the same day 6 years prior in 1993. Guitarist Slash notes that the album is "not pretty and there are a lot of mistakes, but this is Guns N' Roses, not the fucking Mahavishnu Orchestra. It's as honest as it gets."

" The Garden " is a song by the rock band Guns N' Roses released in 1991. It appears on the album Use Your Illusion I and features alternating lead vocals between Axl Rose and Alice Cooper.

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in March 1985 when local bands Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns merged. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic lineup" consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. The current lineup consists of Rose, Slash, McKagan, guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese.

" Nightrain " is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses. The song is a tribute to an infamous brand of cheap Californian fortified wine, Night Train Express, which was extremely popular with the band during their early days because of its low price and high alcohol content. The title is spelled differently, omitting a T and removing the space, making a portmanteau of the two words.

" It's So Easy " is a song by the American rock band Guns N' Roses, appearing on their 1987 debut studio album, Appetite for Destruction . The song was released as the band's first single on June 15, 1987, in the UK, where it reached number 84 on the UK Singles Chart as a double A-Side with "Mr. Brownstone". It was also released as a maxi-single in Germany later in the same year.

Use Your Illusion World Tour – 1992 in Tokyo II is a live VHS/DVD by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Filmed live at the Tokyo Dome, Japan, on February 22, 1992, during the Japanese leg of the Use Your Illusion Tour, this recording features the second half of the concert, the first half appearing on sister volume Use Your Illusion I . Both VHS titles were distributed by Geffen Home Video in 1992.

Use Your Illusion World Tour – 1992 in Tokyo I is a live VHS/DVD by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Filmed live at Tokyo Dome, Japan, on February 22, 1992, during the Japanese leg of the Use Your Illusion tour , this recording features the first half of the concert, the second half appearing on sister volume Use Your Illusion II . The VHS titles were distributed by Geffen Home Video in 1992.

" Civil War " is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses that originally appeared on the 1990 compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and later on the band's 1991 album Use Your Illusion II . It is a protest song on war, referring to all war as "civil war" and stating that war only "feeds the rich while it buries the poor". In the song, lead singer Axl Rose asks, "What's so civil about war, anyway?"

The discography of Guns N' Roses, an American hard rock band, consists of six studio albums , one live album , two compilation albums , four extended plays (EPs), 24 singles , nine video albums and 26 music videos . Guns N' Roses was formed in Los Angeles, California with an original recording lineup of lead vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. After self-releasing the EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide in December 1986, the band signed with Geffen Records and released its debut studio album Appetite for Destruction the following July. It topped the US Billboard 200 and went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time, with reported sales over 30 million units worldwide, 18 million of which are in the US. Three singles – "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City" – reached the US Billboard Hot 100 top ten, with "Sweet Child o' Mine" topping the chart.

The Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour was a co-headlining concert tour by American rock bands Guns N' Roses and Metallica during 1992. It took place in the middle of Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion Tour, promoting their Use Your Illusion I and II albums, and between Metallica's Wherever We May Roam Tour and Nowhere Else to Roam, promoting their eponymous fifth album Metallica . The tour's initial opening act was Faith No More as Axl Rose had originally wanted Seattle rock band Nirvana to be the opening act, but frontman Kurt Cobain refused.

The Appetite for Destruction Tour , by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, promoted their debut album Appetite for Destruction , released in July 1987. During its 16-month duration, the band opened for bands The Cult, Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden and Aerosmith, and headlined shows across four continents.

Appetite for Democracy 3D is a live concert film released in Cinemas, Broadcast and BD/DVD by Guns N' Roses, filmed live at The Joint at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas on November 21, 2012, on the tenth night of their residency, as part of the Appetite for Democracy tour in celebration of twenty-five years of Appetite for Destruction and four years of Chinese Democracy . This is the first live DVD release of Guns N' Roses since Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II in 1992. The show was filmed entirely in 3D and was produced by Barry Summers from Rock Fuel Media. The cover art features part of the original banned cover art from Appetite For Destruction. The album was officially revealed on May 29, 2014.

The Not in This Lifetime... Tour was a concert tour by hard rock band Guns N' Roses, spanning from April 1, 2016, to November 2, 2019. It featured classic lineup members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan, marking the first time since the Use Your Illusion Tour in 1993 that the three performed together. After the previous tour in 2014, guitarists DJ Ashba & Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, bassist Tommy Stinson and keyboardist Chris Pitman left Guns N' Roses, leaving the band with several open spots. Former members Slash and McKagan rejoined the band and Melissa Reese joined as keyboardist. The group embarked on a world tour that spanned all continents except Antarctica. They performed 175 shows making it their third longest tour ever, just behind the Use Your Illusion Tour and the Chinese Democracy Tour. The group welcomed former drummer Steven Adler to the stage for several shows as a guest spot, the first time he had played with the group since 1990. The tour has been a financial success, grossing over $584.2 million, making it the fourth-highest-grossing concert tour of all time. The tour was 2016's highest-earning per-city global concert tour as well as the fourth-highest-grossing overall that year. In 2017, the tour ranked as the second highest grossing worldwide tour. The tour was honored at the Billboard Live Music Awards in November 2017, winning Top Tour/Top Draw and being nominated for Top Boxscore.

" So Fine " is a song by the American rock band Guns N' Roses, released as a promotional single in 1992. It features bassist Duff McKagan on lead vocals, with Axl Rose singing the intro song's verses. The song, written entirely by McKagan, is a tribute to Johnny Thunders.

• 1 2 Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 372
• ↑ Q : 71. March 1994. {{ cite journal }} : Missing or empty | title= ( help )
• ↑ "Axl Rose Tantrum Led to Riverport Riot & "Fuck You, St. Louis" Message on Use Your Illusion" . December 13, 2009.
• ↑ Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. p. 342
• ↑ Interview after 23 Feb 1993 show in Austin, broadcast 27 Feb 1993, as transcribed in GN'R fanzine Controversy , issue 6
• ↑ Wall, Mick (June 2001). "In too deep". Classic Rock #28 . p.   41.
• ↑ "Guns N' Roses Tour 1991–1992 on SlashParadise" . www.slashparadise.com. November 26, 2012.
• ↑ "Guns N' Roses Tour 1993 on SlashParadise" . www.slashparadise.com. November 26, 2012.
• ↑ 06/07/91 CNE Grandstand, Toronto, Canada http://www.gnrontour.com/setlistalm91.htm
• GNRontour.com
• In depth info and tour diary
• Causes and the riot itself
• Review of Riot Concert Bootleg DVD

Holding the Music in Your Hands ®

Thanks for being a part of the SDE community.

Remember Me

Forgot password?

Don't have an account? Sign up!

Guns N’ Roses / Use Your Illusion box sets

Massive reissue campaign.

By Paul Sinclair

Ratings Ratings

Use Your Illusion / Guns N' Roses 7CD+blu-ray super deluxe

SDE Reader Rating

76 Reader Submissions -->

Expensive box sets • No Atmos Mixes of the studio albums • Live concerts remixed • Lots of ‘stuff’ in the boxes •  2CD sets with exclusive audio

Guns N’ Roses are to reissue their 1991 albums Use Your Illusion I & Use Your Illusion II across nine different physical formats in November, including 7CD+blu-ray and 12LP vinyl+blu-ray super deluxe editions.

Both albums have been “fully remastered for the first-time ever”, from hi-res 96/24 transfers from the original stereo 1/2-inch analog masters. Use Your Illusion I  includes an updated version of the single ‘November Rain’ which features a newly recorded 50-piece orchestra (this has been mixed by Steven Wilson, incidentally).

The 7CD+blu-ray super deluxe features both remastered albums, Live in New York (from the Ritz Theatre in May ’91) across two CDs, Live in Las Vegas (from the Thomas & Mack Center in January ’92) across three CDs. Both have been newly mixed from the multi-track tapes .

The bonus blu-ray video disc features the complete Live In New York concert film, “newly transferred from 35mm film prints to 4K UHD”. Boasting of a 4K transfer and then putting it on a standard 1080p HD blu-ray (which is effectively a 2K medium) is confusing and disappointing. A 4K UHD blu-ray and this standard blu-ray should have been included for the price being asked –  after all this happens all the time in £25 retail 4K film blu-ray releases and this CD box costs ten times that. The concert soundtrack offers Dolby Atmos, 5.1, and 48/24 stereo.

Talking of Atmos, notable by omission are any spatial audio mixes of the studio albums themselves. No Atmos, 5.1 or even hi-res stereo versions are included on the blu-ray. Also, there is no studio outtakes, demos on any of the formats.

The 12LP black vinyl box set features exactly the same audio content as the 7CD+blu-ray. Both studio albums are 2LP sets and Live in New York and Live in Las Vegas are both 4LP sets. The blu-ray is included with this vinyl package and is identical to the one in the CD box set.

The super deluxe editions are housed with a 100-page hardcover book and are designed with fancy red & blue ‘reveal sleeves’. These sets come with lots of ‘stuff’ like Conspiracy Inc. replica fan club folder (with membership card!), four Conspiracy Inc. 1991/1992 Use Your Illusion era replica fan club newsletters, 10 double-design lithos that reveals one of two unique images when inserted into the red & blue ‘reveal sleeves’, 8” x 10” photo prints (x7), four Use Your Illusion tour replica cloth sticky backstage passes (x4), a Ritz Theatre 5/16/1991 replica concert ticket (with the original misprinted date of 5/15/1991) and a 24”x36” band poster.

Despite the 12LP vinyl and 7CD sets costing over £400 and £250 respectively, the much cheaper 2CD editions of each album feature exclusive live audio not included in the bigger boxes . This is in the form of bonus discs with live highlights from the Use Your Illusion 1991 / 1992 tour including dates in Paris, London and Rio de Janeiro. So for example, if you are a CD collector and want ‘everything’ (in terms of audio) you have to buy three products: the 7CD+blu-ray super deluxe and both 2CD deluxe editions! That situation is unlikely to impress fans. The 2CD sets come with 24-page booklets.

Other formats are both albums remastered on 2LP black vinyl , a 4LP vinyl box set (D2C-only) and single CD remasters of Use Your Illusion I & II .

Use Your Illusion I & II will be reissued on 11 November 2022, via UMe/Geffen.

Compare prices and pre-order

Guns N' Roses

Use your illusion - 7cd + blu-ray super deluxe.

Use Your Illusion - 12LP vinyl + blu-ray super deluxe

Use Your Illusion I - 2LP black vinyl

Use Your Illusion I - 2CD deluxe

Use Your Illusion I - single CD remaster

Use Your Illusion II - 2LP black vinyl

Use Your Illusion II - 2CD deluxe

Use Your Illusion II - single CD remaster

Tracklisting, use your illusion reissue guns n’ roses /.

• 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*
• GARDEN OF EDEN
• DON’T DAMN ME

* Previously unreleased

• KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR
• GET IN THE RING
• SHOTGUN BLUES
• PRETTY TIED UP
• YOU COULD BE MINE
• DON’T CRY (ALT. LYRICS)
• PRETTY TIED UP*
• BAD OBSESSION*
• RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO HELL*
• BROWNSTONE*
• LIVE AND LET DIE*
• PARADISE CITY*
• VOODOO CHILD (SLIGHT RETURN) / CIVIL WAR*
• SLASH SOLO*
• YOU COULD BE MINE*
• I WAS ONLY JOKING / PATIENCE*
• ONLY WOMEN BLEED / KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR*
• DON’T CRY (ORIGINAL)* [features Shannon Hoon on vocals]
• YOU AIN’T THE FIRST* [features Shannon Hoon on vocals]
• MY MICHELLE*
• DOUBLE TALKIN’ JIVE*
• SWEET CHILD O’ MINE*
• WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE*
• IT’S SO EASY*
• VOODOO CHILD (SLIGHT RETURN) / CIVIL WAR / VOODOO CHILD (SLIGHT RETURN)*
• DON’T CRY (ORIGINAL)*
• WILD HORSES*
• INTROS / DRUM SOLO*
• SPEAK SOFTLY, LOVE (LOVE THEME FROM THE GODFATHER )*
• SAIL AWAY SWEET SISTER*
• MOVE TO THE CITY*
• HOTEL CALIFORNIA / ONLY WOMEN BLEED / KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR*
• MOTHER* / PARADISE CITY
• DUST N’ BONES*

Audio: Dolby Atmos 48kHz 24-bit / Dolby TrueHD 5.1 96kHz 24-bit / PCM Stereo 48kHz 24-bit

Regions: all, run time: 2hr 6min.

• PERFECT CRIME (Live in London – 8/31/91)*
• BAD OBSESSION (Live in Las Vegas – 1/25/92)*
• RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO HELL (Live in New York – 5/16/91)*
• ALWAYS ON THE RUN (with Lenny Kravitz) (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• DUST N’ BONES (Live in London – 8/31/91)*
• LIVE AND LET DIE (Live in New York – 5/16/91)*
• ATTITUDE (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• DOUBLE TALKIN’ JIVE (Live in London – 8/31/91)*
• DON’T CRY (ORIGINAL) (Live in New York – 5/16/91)*
• YOU AIN’T THE FIRST (Live in New York – 5/16/91)*
• IT’S ALRIGHT / NOVEMBER RAIN (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• BAD APPLES (Live in Rio de Janeiro – 1/23/91)*
• WILD HORSES (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*

• PRETTY TIED UP (Live in New York – 5/16/91)*
• 14 YEARS (Live in London – 8/31/91)*
• VOODOO CHILD (SLIGHT RETURN) / CIVIL WAR / VOODOO CHILD (SLIGHT RETURN) (Live in Las Vegas – 1/25/92)*
• YOU COULD BE MINE (Live in New York – 5/16/91)*
• DRUM SOLO (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• SLASH SOLO (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• SPEAK SOFTLY, LOVE (LOVE THEME FROM THE GODFATHER) (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• SAIL AWAY SWEET SISTER (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• SO FINE (Live in Las Vegas – 1/25/92)*
• ONLY WOMEN BLEED / KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR (Live in Rio de Janeiro – 1/20/91)*
• MAMA KIN (featuring Steven Tyler & Joe Perry) (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN’ (featuring Steven Tyler & Joe Perry) (Live in Paris – 6/6/92)*
• ESTRANGED (Live in Las Vegas – 1/25/92)*

*previously unreleased

Sign Up For the SDE newsletter

SuperDeluxeEdition.com  helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.

Related Content

28 Apr 2024

Peter Gabriel – i/o deluxe set, unboxed

Watch the unboxing video

25 Apr 2024

Now Yearbook: The Vault 1983

New collection with “lesser compiled” tracks

24 Apr 2024

David Gilmour / Luck and Strange

New studio album

23 Apr 2024

Paul McCartney & Wings / One Hand Clapping

Now on Amazon, Rough Trade etc.

121 Comments

Sign up for the sde newsletter.