Guns N Roses 2016??

[Seshmeister]

Actually, it's smart scheduling far as the locations themselves go: because they are so scattered and the dates are fairly few, assumedly turnout will be good. Like, if they can't sell out stadiums using this strategy, they're never gonna be able to sell out stadiums...at least in the US (I have no idea what their drawing power in Europe or elsewhere would be).

GNR were/are much bigger in Europe than Van Halen ever were - I think they could at the very least match the last ACDC tour and manage 2 stadium shows per country as long as the YouTube footage from the US looked ok.

I would guess that the reason for the makeup of the US tour though is to keep it short so the wheels don't fall off or at best as a test to see if they can function before going further afield.

[Seshmeister]

That's either VIP or some broker. I just bought tix for $250 via ticketmaster for row 19 on the floor at the Georgia Dome. The highest priced VIP package was like $1750.

Yeah it was a presale broker - I never realized just how inflated those are...

[Terry]

GNR were/are much bigger in Europe than Van Halen ever were - I think they could at the very least match the last ACDC tour and manage 2 stadium shows per country as long as the YouTube footage from the US looked ok.

I would guess that the reason for the makeup of the US tour though is to keep it short so the wheels don't fall off or at best as a test to see if they can function before going further afield.

I never got much of a sense that Van Halen were huge in Europe. They really only had one tour in Europe as headliners, with Roth in 1984. Did they even play Europe after that prior to opening for Bon Jovi in 1994/1995?

Yeah, I could see part of the upcoming US structure in terms of a fairly small amount of dates as being a testing run of shows, so that if they don't get along they're not locked into a massive amount of dates with promoters.

I do recall reading that the Illusions tour dates in Europe were pretty well attended, and I also recall reading that even the Axl-only version of the band has done well over there far as concert attendances go.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I never got much of a sense that Van Halen were huge in Europe. They really only had one tour in Europe as headliners, with Roth in 1984. Did they even play Europe after that prior to opening for Bon Jovi in 1994/1995?

Yup, '93 RHRN tour....

[Seshmeister]

I never got much of a sense that Van Halen were huge in Europe. They really only had one tour in Europe as headliners, with Roth in 1984. Did they even play Europe after that prior to opening for Bon Jovi in 1994/1995?

Not even that. They last did a European tour in 1980 for WACF which ended up just being France. Germany and the UK as they had to cancel a week in Italy after Roth famously bust his nose on a glitter ball jumping off a riser. This is before my time but I talked to a fan who went to the Scottish show recently and he said it was a shitty gig as the band were really drunk. They then did just four festival shows second on the bill to ACDC in 1984 and that's it until the Van Hagar supporting Bon Jovi thing. I think that was part of the reason for Van Halen's relative smaller following in Europe. Dave toured every solo album after EEAS and appeared to be bigger solo than Van Hagar.

Europe has never been as big as the US with the whole AOR/MOR thing particularly since rock isn't and never has been mainstream.

[Terry]

Not even that. They last did a European tour in 1980 for WACF which ended up just being France. Germany and the UK as they had to cancel a week in Italy after Roth famously bust his nose on a glitter ball jumping off a riser. This is before my time but I talked to a fan who went to the Scottish show recently and he said it was a shitty gig as the band were really drunk. They then did just four festival shows second on the bill to ACDC in 1984 and that's it until the Van Hagar supporting Bon Jovi thing. I think that was part of the reason for Van Halen's relative smaller following in Europe. Dave toured every solo album after EEAS and appeared to be bigger solo than Van Hagar.

Europe has never been as big as the US with the whole AOR/MOR thing particularly since rock isn't and never has been mainstream.

Yeah, because I think Roth played Donnington in the late 1980s as a solo act, and he wasn't too far down from the headline slot, either...maybe 3rd or 4th from the top, if memory serves.

[DavidLeeNatra]

It was Iron Maiden, Dave, Kiss in Germany.

In Donnington Dave came before Kiss as third "Headliner".

Gesendet von meinem SM-G850F mit Tapatalk

[vandeleur]

It was Iron Maiden, Dave, Kiss in Germany.

In Donnington Dave came before Kiss as third "Headliner".

Gesendet von meinem SM-G850F mit Tapatalk

A good gig , Dave had hair I had hair ...... Those were the days

[Jérôme Frenchise]

I'm trying to imagine a jam packed MetLife stadium reacting to the likes of this...

The last guy we chastised for his song and dance act was a hundred times more watchable and listenable than this ass clown.

Must be some acid belch that wouldn't come out.

I thought it was a crappy impersonator at first.

[Seshmeister]

A good gig , Dave had hair I had hair ...... Those were the days

Yeah they did the song 'Skyscraper' to a festival crowd and it was actually fine.

I liked this post I just read about that day.

The first (29 and counting) of my festival experiences.
16 yrs old, still only 5' 4" tall, 9 stone (wet through in my denims) and shit scared of life in general, i came to donington with eyes as wide as saucers ("is this what heaven's like?").
After Megadeth, i think Helloween had sold the most t-shirts that day, they were everywhere you looked but i can't say they got more than a polite roar.

That the sound wasn't great and it was drizzling is about all i remember. That and the fact that the singer had black canvas pants and huge white basketball trainers on "Hey, look, german rock stars dress just like us!"

Even then, my mate had already been a fan of Guns N Roses for a year (like some kind of heavy metal nostradamus) so we made our way down as far front as we could. Bottles were flying everywhere and i naively said to my mate "Why is everyone throwing their beer away?" A moment later a 2 litre cider bottle landed and perched on the shoulder of the guy in front, spilling its contents down his back before he could knock it off. When the steam of this "cider" rose off his back, the penny finally dropped and i don't think i could stop laughing for a good 20 minutes. With tears of joy in my eyes i fell in love with festival life right then and there.

I was still, like most people, undecided about Guns N' Roses. Truth be told, they didn't do that well except for the in pit area (all the other nostradamii?) which was so intense they were ordered to stop the set, ensuring they didn't have a great show with the majority of the audience and thats the OTHER great tragedy of the day. It should have been the defining moment of their career. Like most of the crowd, i had no idea why they'd suddenly stopped and started noodling. I just thought my mate had been wrong about them and Appetite For Destruction wasn't that great after all. Oh, how i'd change my tune on that score.

Megadeth were my favourite band at the festival when i bought the ticket but i thought they were a little flat. Still not a great sound and with their revolving door policy of band members, to this day there's never any onstage presence beyond Mustaine himself, and he's rooted to the mike stand! My first genuine disappointment.

Then came Dave Lee Roth. I wasn't a big fan before that day but like he said when the security guard jumped on stage "Get the fuck off my stage!" it was HIS stage that day. He put on a performance that Kiss could only have hoped to follow in their prime. All these years later and hundreds and hundreds gigs i've been to and still i've never seen showmanship that was even in the same LEAGUE as that guy put on that day. No lights, no pyro, halfway down the bill and even the screens were out of commission, just the guy himself and a decent sound (and no doubt a mountain of cocaine backstage). He was hilarious between songs and had possibly the finest band of musicians (technically speaking) that ever strode onto that stage.



Slash again ....© Dave Ingham

Like all the truly great gigs you ever see, he didn't beam down from another planet, he beamed you to his.
I was a fan of Kiss and i enjoyed their set but they were never a support band. Its easy to say now but without the make up and gimmicks it was a bit like a blowjob after the nightclub has shut in a public toilet off a girlfriend you dumped a couple of months previous, still great but it really is time you both moved on and you both know it.



Megadeath © Dave Ingham


I still liked Iron Maiden and they had a better frontman with Bruce but the music had no street-level fire in the belly after Di'Anno. Still, you'll never get less than 100% out of them live and they went down like the home grown heroes they'll always be.

We headed back to where we thought the coach might be (it wasn't), talking with strangers about what a day it had been and everyone was talking about Roth, the strange disappointment of Guns N Roses and the reports that a couple of people had died while they were on.
I remember being a little bit skeptical the first time i heard it but so many people said the same thing, it had to be true.
Sadly, it was.

It put a strange mood over the journey home.

Still nothing could change how my eyes had been opened to the joyous, spontaneous, unpredictable magic of a festival.
After that day i didn't cut my hair for 6 years.

Its 2009 as i write this. I'm now bald of head, pot of belly and can talk the balls off a rhinosuarus when it comes to festival moments passed BUT i have a ticket for Donington (don't call it download to me, son) and can't wait 'til june.
See you there,
Ray Kane.

[Seshmeister]

1. The Bottom Line 0:51
2. Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love 4:14
3. Just Like Paradise 8:16
4. Knucklebones 12:56
5. Hot For Teacher 18:32
6. Hot Dog and a Shake 23:26
7. Skyscraper 26:37
8. Goin' Crazy! 30:32
9. Yankee Rose 33:54
10. Panama 42:05
11. California Girls 47:15
12. You Really Got Me 50:37
13. Jump 54:34


If you listen to the guitar solo on Panama there is a little gap before Dave takes over playing Steve Vai's guitar.

[Terry]

I liked the comparison the guy made between a makeupless/gimmickless KISS and getting a blowjob from an ex-girlfriend in a stall of a public bathroom after the clubs have closed: still good but it's really time to move on and you both know it. EXACTLY the sensation I got when I saw them on the Asylum tour. Had been a MASSIVE fan of KISS in the 1970s but never got to see them. Wasn't particularly interested in seeing them in 1985 but had an offer of a free ticket and all the lame, third generation homegrown I could smoke to boot. Went to see the show and KISS without the makeup and stage effects in the mid 1980s was decidedly less than stellar experience. They were actually kind of lame, particularly since I saw that show after having seen Van Halen, Ozzy, Dio (2x), Maiden, Priest and Scorpions (to name but several bands out of 15-odd shows I saw during that period) in the 2 years leading up to it. I mean, fuck, after seeing THOSE bands, no makeup KISS churning out shite like Tears Are Falling just didn't even have a chance of cutting it.

[Seshmeister]

It's the Roth line, 'Would I still be here if I was blind?'

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Last night's opening in Vegas, Axl's dumb ass broke his foot.....

[Fairwrning]

Dude sounds decent honestly..Grohls chair?