“Reality kicked in”: The concert Slash called an all-time low for Guns N’ Roses
The concert should always be viewed as a safe space for musicians. Although life on the road can turn into absolute hell for someone not prepared for it, all of the superficial sides of the job fade away the moment you step out on that stage and can have a genuine connection with the fans. Slash always thrived on that audience interaction beneath his top hat and mane of curly hair, but when Guns N’ Roses played on one of their first massive tours, this one gig was where everything started to get far more serious than he bargained for.
Then again, it’s not like Guns N’ Roses were the kings of being lighthearted. Looking through the lyrics to Appetite for Destruction, Axl Rose was never subtle about what life in the gutter was actually like, especially when he talks about borrowing his girlfriend’s credit card to go to the liquor store on ‘It’s So Easy’ and running from the law on ‘Out Ta Get Me’.
All of this could have been posturing half the time, but no one doubted them for a second once they hit the stage. Considering how animated Rose was every time he sprinted across the stage, you’d swear that he was the perfect cross between Mick Jagger and John Lydon, always prepared to go on the most offensive rant anyone had ever heard while also having the kind of rock and roll swagger most would die for.
Since nobody had seen this kind of authentic rock before, the band began getting bigger and bigger until they finally got the chance to play at the Monsters of Rock Festival in Donington. These kinds of gigs should be a rite of passage for bands turning into one of the biggest acts in the world, but things slowly turned deadly in front of them.
As the massive crowd became more and more ravenous, numerous fans ended up getting crushed to death. Despite the band playing on for the rest of the set, Slash said that he wasn’t aware that anyone had passed away until he was told by management when they were partying after the show.
In Behind the Music, Slash said that he was overcome with grief at the thought of their fans being in danger at their shows, saying, “I remember I fell over on the bar, and I started crying. That’s when reality kicked in where you get to this all time high, something that you can’t compare to anything, and then have it go to an all-time low.”
That didn’t mean that the group would suddenly tone things down. If anything, things were only going to heat up, and once Use Your Illusion was released, fans began getting even more crazed, leading to multiple riots on the accompanying tour when Rose would either stop the show early due to vocal problems or not even bother to show up for a handful of the gigs.
Even though the group had garnered a reputation for being one of the most dangerous acts to come out of LA, this Donington show went well beyond what they thought. Appetite for Destruction may have been an edgy-sounding title, but the moment that people start getting hurt at the show is when that appetite disappears forever.
