Nicole Milsano's Review

Guns played in St. Louis in July 2, 1991. I was there, just left of the chaos.The riot occurred in the middle of "Rocket Queen". The biker called "Stump" had been bugging Axl all through the show. At one point, he passed a note up to Axl, who said, quietly "Real fuckin cute, man. Real cute." He then gave the note to a roadie.

This jerk continued to heckle Axl and the band, and bully people in the audience for another 45 minutes. When the guy pulled out the camera, Axl called for security (who is comprised of mostly friends of the biker gang this jerk belonged to), who never bothered to do anything. Axl jumped out into the crowd and the rest was history. (A never mentioned fact in any of the press releases: Axl didn't start the riot. The crowd was stunned and quiet for a few minutes, waiting for the band to come back out. The Maryland Heights, MO Police Dept started it when two officers chased a kid up onstage and got a little too rough with him. Someone threw a chair at the cops, and in what was probably the most irresponsible move these two goons could have made, the cops threw the chairs back at the crowd. THAT is what started the riot.)

What's interesting is, the band kept looking out from a curtain backstage, as if they were coming back out. But as soon as the chairs (ripped up from the concrete floor) went crashing into Matt's kit, the band left. Can't say as though I blame them. What the crowd did was reprehensible. I could not believe the mob mentality of the cretons who destroyed and stole the band's stuff, and tore up the venue. I was so pissed! I went to see them in Kansas City, MO the following year. Axl made a point to address all of us from St. Louis who were there. I don't remember his exact words, but in effect, he told us he appreciated the true fans from St. Louis, and was sorry we had to travel so far to see the band. We gave him a standing ovation.