Guns n’ Roses is my favorite band of all time. They’ve been so since I heard the opening riff of Sweet Child O’Mine at my cousin’s room, after a family gathering. I also remember listening Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door on the radio and thinking there were two different singers, as well as Don’t Cry and maybe Paradise City. Later on, I bought the Live Era ’87-’93 album on a trip to the USA and quickly fell in love with most of the songs of disc 2. I was around 14 years old.
I’d had an interest in playing the guitar a little before that, since I started listening to punk-rock in 1999: The Offspring’s Americana and Blink 182’s Enema of the State. Shortly after, I started learning about classic rock and recognizing popular songs in the genre little by little. The guys in 11th grade played Black Sabbath and I liked the heavy riffs and overall look of it all. Denim and leather, black shirts, long hair, earrings, tattoos.
Once I heard Iron Maiden’s The Trooper, my fate was sealed. I needed to learn how to play those awesome riffs. One of the first bands that I studied was GnR, (along with Maiden and Metallica). I spent long nights learning those songs I loved from disc 2 of their exquisite live double album. What I like the most about this band is that they took elements of many styles before them and mixed them all up perfectly. GnR is the perfect blend of classic rock, punk, glam, heavy metal, blues, country, and pop. And of course, you have Axl’s powerful, raspy, unique voice, Slash’s epic solos and riffs, Duff’s stage presence and power, Izzy’s solid songwriting, and Popcorn’s/Sorum’s drumming.
My first gig was playing GnR songs at a school event, on a cold night in the year 2004, the Lunada del San Carlos. That day and a couple of subsequent gigs with that tribute band were very special moments in my life. Not that we were particularly skilled or anything at the time, but there was so much power and feel to what we played, that it’s just impossible to describe with words. Music is a higher language.
So, GnR live. The first GnR concert I attended was on March 30, 2010 (source: setlist.fm). That day Axl Rose and his Chinese Democracy line-up came to Bogota to fulfill the dream of thousands of young fans who couldn’t attend the infamous, ill-fated, short concert of 1992, which ended in a riot. Eighteen years later, there was a delay, there was rain, but it was not November. Axl looked and sounded different. But hardcore fans already knew what they were going to get and it was good enough. Axl was in a good mood that night and the musicians around him were formidable.
The opening artist was an invigorated Sebastian Bach who demonstrated he has one of the greatest voices in rock. He also kicked out a guy who was behind me for unintentionally splashing him with some water. So uncool…you could tell the guy was a huge fan, as he blissfully recited every Skid Row song. Minutes later, he was forced to leave the concert in tears while kissing his girlfriend good-bye.
Only a year later, I saw Slash + Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators (April 2nd, 2011) at a small venue. I would’ve sworn that I saw Slash before Axl, but apparently, it was the other way round. I had loved his solo debut album and that night I got to see one of my biggest idols in person, just a few feet away, performing as the rockstar he is, while Myles delivered an impeccable vocal recital. I swear he nodded with a smile after I shouted at him: “You’re #1!” between songs. I hadn’t heard about Alter Bridge before that…
The GnR songs sounded on point and it was a memorable concert for me. Slash came out to the stage wearing a red shirt that read “Colombia” with the Coca-Cola white font. His wife at the time flashed her tits from the side of the stage and later on, hand-delivered a souvenir pick to me after I called her name (“Perla, please!”) from the front row. I still have that purple pick with a doodle and signature from the top-hatted icon. I stopped using it after I noticed the ink was starting to fade because of the sweat of my strumming hand.
A reunion seemed like a dream that wouldn’t ever come true back then. Too much bad blood between Axl and Slash. “Not in this lifetime” they said. But stars slowly started to align so that a younger generation could at least enjoy Axl, Slash, and Duff on the same stage. Even if they’d aligned just for the money, in my opinion, they’d earned it. Whatever they want to do, for as long as they decide to do it. Still, we fans will keep on dreaming about new music (and why not, Izzy Stradlin joining in).
In early 2016, GnR confirmed Slash and Duff would be joining in to play Coachella, and then a World Tour. Their warm-up gig was at the Troubadour. I remember the first pictures and footage of the show got viral quick, gave me the chills, and almost made me cry with joy. Naturally, I got hammered that weekend, lost my favorite blue leather jacket, and got into trouble at work. Who cares, I would go to the end of the world to see those guys together.
Sometime later, the rumor of a GnR Medellin stadium concert started to grow and when it was confirmed, the good news turned bittersweet, as front-row tickets would be around 1 million COP. I knew I’d be there, even if I didn’t have that amount in hand at the time. Now that I think of it, my father helped me with part of the ticket cost. He has always encouraged my love for rock.
I would also have to buy plane tickets, find a place to stay, etc. We decided, with fellow gunner Juanfe Rose, Daniel R, and some friends, that we needed to be first in line to make sure we saw the concert from the front row. The only way to make sure it would happen was to go to the stadium the night before and get in line more than 24 hours before the show.
Here in Colombia, I’ve done that more than once. (For Iron Maiden, I was in one of the dozens of tents that set camp the week before the concert, just to make sure I had a good spot near the stage. I actually just stayed the night before. I played soccer with fellow metalheads all night long (one of them broke his leg, but the next day I think I saw him in a wheelchair, ready to enjoy the concert), drank, and smoked *bee-fore I…slipped in-tooo un-con-sciousss-nessss*. In the early morning I cuddled with a beautiful girl I met. We laid on top of the pavement because the cops made everyone put away the tents. I didn’t mind, I had fun.)
That level of passion for a band may be ridiculous to many, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. It couldn’t be otherwise, after several years in which most great bands didn’t come to Colombia, due to the armed conflict. It’s said that this was also because of the riot that happened after the 1992 GnR concert in Bogota. The show was stopped after a few songs because it started to rain. The magical part everyone, including the band, remembers was that it was raining when they played November Rain. It was announced the band would come back shortly.
The whole story, as I understand it, is that there were two shows in Bogota, but the first one was canceled because the band couldn’t travel from Venezuela, so the organizers stacked people who bought tickets for both dates into a single show. Of course, many couldn’t get inside the stadium because it was already full, and after the band didn’t come back onstage, everyone lost their minds and wrecked everything nearby.
Fast forward 24 years to 2016. When we got to the Atanasio Girardot, there were already some people in line. We drank some beers, ate pizza, and just hanged out, as more and more people started to join. I remember late at night I couldn’t stop laughing with my friends because there was this huge cockroach running up and down a kid who was placidly taking a nap in a sleeping bag in front of us. “Cockroach Boy” was most likely under 18, because he went to the gig with his mom. I have nothing against that, I went to a metal festival in Spain with my mother and aunt in 2003. It was awesome. I’m proud (and grateful) my family has an open mind towards rock and metal.
Even though some were capable of sleeping out there in the street, it wasn’t possible for me to rest for more than a couple of hours. Not only because of the conditions we were in, but because the expectation was too much. I was about to see my favorite band of all time. The real hassle would start the next morning as some smart-asses always try to cut the line, so it’s usually necessary to make a list of the people in the order they arrive so that at least everyone is (literally) on the same page, once it’s time to enter the venue.
You get to know a wide array of characters when you spend several hours in the line of a rock n roll concert. Many come from different cities, even from abroad. That day we couldn’t stop laughing because there was this funny guy from the coast. I don’t remember what it was exactly that he said but he had everyone around him entertained. I think it was the way he was lovingly annoying the hell of the woman he was with. People started to play GnR on their speakers, and many hours before the actual show, there were hundreds of voices chanting the entire catalog.
Once inside, I wanted to run to the right part of the stage, where Slash usually is. However, that side already had many more people, and I had to go back to where my friends were and settle with being just behind the front row. It was not as bad as other concerts, in which people struggle for every inch closer they can be to their idols, making the experience an unbearable human stampede at times.
Marky Ramone was the opening act (he would also DJ later on that night) but someone decided it was a good idea to play almost the same songs (Ramones hits) that were about to be played live through the stage speakers just before he came out. That was a huge turnoff for me and I can’t say I enjoyed the legendary punk drummer’s show. Still, it’s always cool to see a real rockstar in person. The things he must’ve lived..
So this time, there they were. Axl and Slash, side by side. No delays this time. The stage was huge and the sound improved as the show progressed. The stadium was full and there was this energy that you can actually feel when the show is splendid both visually and musically. There’s something unusual when you get to stare at your favorite artists on stage. It’s like you can’t believe they are really there, that their bodies actually occupy a region of space just like other mortals. I grew up seeing those guys in the same videos, over and over again. The internet was not what it is now, where you have a limitless amount of videos and content of your favorite artists doing everything you can think of, 24/7.
They have such a strong presence, and I also wonder all the places they’ve been and all the things you know they’ve done…even though flawed and fragile as any other human. I had the same feeling while staring at James Hetfield, the only time I saw Metallica.
I basically knew the setlist by heart, as I had followed their shows on the internet, even though I hate to know what the artist is going to play and in which order. Seeing Slash play Chinese Democracy was surreal and Axl saved his signature raspy voice mostly for Welcome to the Jungle and Live and Let Die.
The “new” members of Guns n Roses each had their moments to shine, especially Richard Fortus. Melissa Reese contributes backing vocals and keys/synths alongside Dizzy Reed (2nd long-lasting GnR member), who always delivers. There’s something odd about the way Frank Ferrer plays some of the songs (the fills in November Rain, for example). I saw him silently enjoying some coffee in a concurred street in Medellín. I was so excited I couldn’t believe it, and I got to chat a little with him, had my ticket signed and a nice picture of us both.
I got to enjoy the show with my friend Daniel R and a couple other friends, but it was really more of an introspective thing for me, as I saw it as the conclusion of something that started more than 15 years ago, with my new-found love for rock music in 1999, the decision of learning to play the guitar afterward, and the GnR tribute I did as a teenager. Oh, and those GnR unofficial DVDs I watched over and over again from the Tokyo show. That night I got to enjoy the extended versions of Double Talkin’ Jive and Civil War totally live. Slash’s a freaking guitar god, period.
I thought about the different places I’ve been because of rock music and people I’d interacted with over the years because of that, as I puffed a cigarette during Estranged while seeing blue jellyfish swim through the LED screens of the stage. I felt I was as happy as I’d ever been, on the verge of tears. Yeah, why not? It has been my life since then. I decided to be a musician, to play rock. To write songs. To try to recreate that same feeling I discovered when we played those GnR songs for the first time in the basement of a friend’s place.
I thought about people, places, happy moments. The endless amount of beers raised in the air in honor of those rock bands, every time a classic track plays in the jukebox of any decadent joint around the world, and the numerous rock appreciation conversations I’ve had with those who share the same passion. Every opportunity I’ve had to sing, play or just listen to that music.
It’s a feeling that has stretched over the last couple of decades. Feeling alive and free as you listen to some of the greatest music ever done, since the middle of the 20th century. Music that you keep on discovering as you get older because music, as every work of art, has no expiration date.
I enjoyed that gig as much as I could, almost forcing myself to make vivid memories during the November Rain solos, or during the intro to Sweet Child. I remember feeling some sort of peace and calm in the middle of the show. That’s of course until there’s a heavier/more popular song and then you can’t stop jumping with everyone else around you. GnR likes to play for at least a couple of hours and a half, add that up to the time I’d been there since last night, long hours standing, waiting, and you have an idea of the level of exhaustion after the show.
Guns n Roses were one of the highest-grossing tours that year. They continue to fill stadiums worldwide despite not releasing new music. Their songs have made my life much more interesting in many ways, and they will forever be my favorite band in the world.
Update 11.10.22:
Tonight, Guns n Roses will play in Bogotá at the same venue they played 30 years ago, and because it sold out quickly, there will be a second show tomorrow.
Last month I saw them at Rock in Rio and it was disappointing. The mix was horrible, volume kept on going up and down and it generally sounded as if it was super compressed. No bass, no rhythm guitar and Slash soloing without harmonic backup sounded thin. The expectation was huge before they came onstage but then people started going away. Axl was also struggling badly. He later apologized and said he was under the weather, coughing “but no COVID”.
However, they did great in Argentina, Uruguay and Peru, according to some videos and social media posts I’ve been seeing these days. Hopefully Colombia gets the same experience, twice. I’ll be initially enjoying from the outside, bottle of wine in hand. I promised this to myself after Rio, as I can’t let my last memory of GnR live be a bittersweet one.
Guns n Roses has always been known for being able to play the greatest show on Earth one day and then, the next day, being sloppy and wreckless, delayed or not even showing up, to the point of causing people to riot. They’re the most dangerous band in the world, after all.