Use Your Illusion Tour


The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by the American hard 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 192 shows in 27 countries. It was also a source of much infamy for the band, due to riots, late starts, cancellations and outspoken rantings by Axl Rose.

History

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 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 (video)|II] 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.
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 and a drum solo from drummer Matt Sorum, usually six minutes in length.
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. 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.
"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."

Notable events

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.
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.
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!" 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 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.
On February 1, 1993, the band performed at the Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The concert started late due to earlier heavy rain, with minimal shelter available for those attending. The concert was fraught with controversy, including reports that security staff had prohibited patrons from bringing their own food, drinks and sunscreen into the venue; this most seriously affected a diabetic teenage girl, whose medication and carefully portioned food were confiscated. The weather was very hot on that day, reportedly, and reportedly 1000 people were treated for heat-related illness. Many concertgoers went to the venue on special shuttle buses, which left the venue shortly after Guns N' Roses performed their final song. This, combined with a refusal to extend train timetables, left many concertgoers stranded. There are reports that they walked all the way down the Calder Highway back to Melbourne, looting a 7-Eleven on the highway for food. An inquiry into the conditions was held, with the findings published by Ombudsman Victoria in May 1993. To this day, this was the last ever concert to be performed at Calder Park.
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.
Stradlin returned for several shows in 1993, deputizing for an injured Clarke. "It was weird," he recalled. "We toured Greece, Istanbul, London . I liked that side of it – seeing some places I'd never seen… money was a big sore point. I did the dates just for salary… I didn't actually say 'See you', cos they were all fucked up… It was like playing with zombies."
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. 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.

Tour dates

DateCityCountryVenue
January 3, 1992Baton RougeUnited StatesLSU Assembly Center
January 4, 1992BiloxiUnited StatesMississippi Coast Coliseum
January 7, 1992MemphisUnited StatesPyramid Arena
January 9, 1992HoustonUnited StatesThe Summit
January 10, 1992HoustonUnited StatesThe Summit
January 13, 1992FairbornUnited StatesNutter Center
January 14, 1992FairbornUnited StatesNutter Center
January 21, 1992MinneapolisUnited StatesTarget Center
January 22, 1992MinneapolisUnited StatesTarget Center
January 25, 1992ParadiseUnited StatesThomas & Mack Center
January 27, 1992San DiegoUnited StatesSan Diego Sports Arena
January 28, 1992San DiegoUnited StatesSan Diego Sports Arena
January 31, 1992ChandlerUnited StatesCompton Terrace
February 1, 1992ChandlerUnited StatesCompton Terrace
February 19, 1992TokyoJapanTokyo Dome
February 20, 1992TokyoJapanTokyo Dome
February 22, 1992TokyoJapanTokyo Dome
April 1, 1992Mexico CityMexicoPalacio de los Deportes
April 2, 1992Mexico CityMexicoPalacio de los Deportes
April 6, 1992Oklahoma CityUnited StatesMyriad Arena
April 9, 1992RosemontUnited StatesRosemont Horizon
April 10, 1992RosemontUnited StatesRosemont Horizon
April 13, 1992Auburn HillsUnited StatesThe Palace of Auburn Hills
April 14, 1992Auburn HillsUnited StatesThe Palace of Auburn Hills
April 20, 1992LondonEnglandWembley Stadium
May 16, 1992SlaneIrelandSlane Concert
May 20, 1992PragueCzechoslovakiaStrahov Stadium
May 22, 1992BudapestHungaryNépstadion
May 23, 1992ViennaAustriaDonauinsel Stadium
May 26, 1992BerlinGermanyOlympiastadion
May 28, 1992StuttgartGermanyCannstatter Wasen
May 30, 1992CologneGermanyMüngersdorfer Stadion
June 3, 1992HanoverGermanyNiedersachsenstadion
June 5, 1992WerchterBelgiumWerchter Festival Ground
June 6, 1992ParisFranceHippodrome de Vincennes
June 13, 1992LondonEnglandWembley Stadium
June 14, 1992ManchesterEnglandMaine Road
June 16, 1992GatesheadEnglandGateshead International Stadium
June 20, 1992WürzburgGermanyAirdrome Würzburg-Schenkenturm
June 21, 1992BaselSwitzerlandSt. Jakob Stadium
June 23, 1992RotterdamNetherlandsFeijenoord Stadion
June 24, 1992GhentBelgiumExpo Hall
June 27, 1992TurinItalyStadio delle Alpi
June 28, 1992RomeItalyTBA
June 30, 1992SevilleSpainEstadio Benito Villamarín
July 2, 1992LisbonPortugalEstádio José Alvalade
July 4, 1992MadridSpainVicente Calderón Stadium
July 5, 1992BarcelonaSpainOlympic Stadium
November 25, 1992CaracasVenezuelaPoliedro de Caracas
November 29, 1992BogotáColombiaEstadio El Campín
December 2, 1992SantiagoChileEstadio Nacional de Chile
December 5, 1992Buenos AiresArgentinaRiver Plate Stadium
December 6, 1992Buenos AiresArgentinaRiver Plate Stadium
December 10, 1992São PauloBrazilArena Anhembi
December 12, 1992São PauloBrazilArena Anhembi
December 13, 1992Rio de JaneiroBrazilAutódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet

DateCityCountryVenue
January 12, 1993TokyoJapanTokyo Dome
January 14, 1993TokyoJapanTokyo Dome
January 15, 1993TokyoJapanTokyo Dome
January 30, 1993SydneyAustraliaEastern Creek Raceway
February 1, 1993MelbourneAustraliaCalder Park Raceway
February 6, 1993AucklandNew ZealandMount Smart Stadium
February 23, 1993AustinUnited StatesFrank Erwin Center
February 25, 1993BirminghamUnited StatesJefferson Civic Arena
March 6, 1993New HavenUnited StatesNew Haven Coliseum
March 8, 1993PortlandUnited StatesCumberland County Civic Center
March 9, 1993HartfordUnited StatesHartford Civic Center
March 12, 1993HamiltonCanadaCopps Coliseum
March 16, 1993AugustaUnited StatesAugusta Civic Center
March 17, 1993BostonUnited StatesBoston Garden
March 20, 1993Iowa CityUnited StatesCarver–Hawkeye Arena
March 21, 1993FargoUnited StatesFargodome
March 24, 1993WinnipegCanadaWinnipeg Arena
March 26, 1993SaskatoonCanadaSaskatchewan Place
March 28, 1993EdmontonCanadaNorthlands Coliseum
March 30, 1993VancouverCanadaBC Place
April 1, 1993PortlandUnited StatesMemorial Coliseum
April 3, 1993SacramentoUnited StatesARCO Arena
April 4, 1993RenoUnited StatesLawlor Events Center
April 7, 1993Salt Lake CityUnited StatesDelta Center
April 9, 1993Rapid CityUnited StatesDon Barnett Arena
April 10, 1993OmahaUnited StatesOmaha Civic Auditorium
April 13, 1993Auburn HillsUnited StatesThe Palace of Auburn Hills
April 14, 1993AtlantaUnited StatesThe Omni
April 15, 1993RoanokeUnited StatesRoanoke Civic Center
April 16, 1993Chapel HillUnited StatesDean Smith Center
April 18, 1993Virginia BeachUnited StatesVirginia Beach Amphitheatre
April 21, 1993GuadalajaraMexicoEstadio Jalisco
April 23, 1993Mexico CityMexicoPalacio de los Deportes
April 24, 1993Mexico CityMexicoPalacio de los Deportes
April 27, 1993MonterreyMexicoEstadio Universitario
April 28, 1993MonterreyMexicoEstadio Universitario
May 1, 1993CincinnatiUnited StatesRiverfront Coliseum
May 3, 1993ProvidenceUnited StatesProvidence Civic Center
May 4, 1993AlbanyUnited StatesKnickerbocker Arena
May 6, 1993AmherstUnited StatesMullins Center
May 22, 1993Tel AvivIsraelHayarkon Park
May 24, 1993AthensGreeceOlympic Stadium
May 26, 1993IstanbulTurkeyInonu Stadium
May 29, 1993Milton KeynesEnglandNational Bowl
May 30, 1993Milton KeynesEnglandNational Bowl
June 2, 1993ViennaAustriaPraterstadion
June 5, 1993NijmegenNetherlandsGoffertpark
June 6, 1993NijmegenNetherlandsGoffertpark
June 8, 1993CopenhagenDenmarkGentofte Stadion
June 10, 1993OsloNorwayValle Hovin
June 12, 1993StockholmSwedenStockholm Olympic Stadium
June 16, 1993BaselSwitzerlandSt. Jakob Stadium
June 18, 1993BremenGermanyWeserstadion
June 19, 1993CologneGermanyMüngersdorfer Stadion
June 22, 1993KarlsruheGermanyWildparkstadion
June 25, 1993FrankfurtGermanyWaldstadion
June 26, 1993MunichGermanyOlympiastadion
June 29, 1993ModenaItalyStadio Comunale
June 30, 1993ModenaItalyStadio Comunale
July 2, 1993Cava de' TirreniItalyStadio Simonetta Lamberti
July 5, 1993BarcelonaSpainEstadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
July 6, 1993MadridSpainVicente Calderón Stadium
July 8, 1993NancyFranceZénith de Nancy
July 9, 1993LyonFranceHalle Tony Garnier
July 11, 1993WerchterBelgiumRock Werchter
July 13, 1993ParisFrancePalais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
July 16, 1993Buenos AiresArgentinaRiver Plate Stadium
July 17, 1993Buenos AiresArgentinaRiver Plate Stadium

Personnel

;Guns N' Roses
  • 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
  • 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
;Touring musicians
  • Teddy Andreadis – keyboards, backing vocals, harmonica, tambourine
  • Roberta Freeman – backing vocals, tambourine
  • Traci Amos – backing vocals, tambourine
  • Diane Jones – backing vocals, tambourine
  • Cece Worrall-Rubin – saxophone
  • Anne King – trumpet
  • Lisa Maxwell – horns
;Additional musicians