Suncoast Dome, St. Petersburg, FL
December 28th 1991
Reviews



GUNS N' ROSES ROCK OUT
- Mike Niewodowski, The Bradenton Herald, 1.8.92

The Guns N' Roses concert on Dec. 28 was a very memorable experience. The controversial band filled the Florida Suncoast Dome with a crowd of about 38,000.

Special guest Soundgarden entertained the crowd with tracks from their new album, Bad Motor Finger. The crowd was very receptive to the band.

Following Soundgarden, there was a long wait in which the fans became more and more excited with every passing minute. When the lights finally went down and the first chords of Welcome to the Jungle were struck, the crowd was livid with excitement.

Guns N' Roses thrilled St. Petersburg with hits such as You Could Be Mine, Mr. Brownstone and Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die. The concert was balanced with ballads such as Don't Cry, Patience and Estranged. Axl Rose, lead singer, displayed his talent on the piano during another ballad, November Rain.

Lead guitarist Slash had several solos, including a version of the theme from The Godfather. Another solo was very bluesy and opened up into a hard rock blues song, Bad Obsession.

Rose gave up the microphone to Duff McKagan for two songs. McKagan, bass guitarist of the band, sang a nameless song to a lo cal DJ, Austin Keyes, who apparently had offended him at an earlier time. The other song, So Fine, had backing vocals by Rose.

Rose lashed out at the press, saying, ``Now it's time for Axl's temper tantrum. You'll tell me you didn't get your money's worth if I don't.''

The band then launched into Double Talkin' Jive, which was dedicated to the press.

Izzy Stradlin, the band's old rhythm guitarist, has been replaced by Gilby Clark. This was Clark's first concert. Newcomer Matt Sorum, drummer, had a long solo that opened up the song Rocket Queen. A major highlight was Bob Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door. The entire 38,000 fans were screaming along to the chorus. Guns N' Roses finished the evening with Paradise City, a No. 1 hit from their first album, Appetite For Destruction.

Security was extra tight at the concert. Everyone had to go through metal detectors or be checked by a security guard before entering the dome. The floor and aisles were lined with guards. The only visible break in security was when an excited fan leaped onto the stage. He quickly was thrown back down into the crowd.





Doug Fierro's Review [posted 1.10.92]

Sorry this is late, but I came back from vacation and had other stuff to do :-)

I caught GNR in Florida for the Dec. 28th show and I thought it was one of the best shows I have seen by them! It is even better than their first leg tour. A lot of similar stuff; not sure if the stage has changed that much or not. There is a female brass section (Axl claims they are a equal opportunity employer during the show :-)) and Duff tries to sing yet another song, confirming to me that he should stick to bass guitar.

One thing that caught me by surprise is that they opened up with "Welcome To The Jungle" for the first song. Normally they save that one for mid-way though the show or as an encore ("Paradise City" seems to be the final song they favor for 1991-92 and their second song is almost always Mr. Brownstone). Let me tell you everyone in that stadium went crazy when they opened up with that song! They played "Move To The City", a song off their real first album (Live Like A Suicide) which was a nice touch. Civil War is still awesome, even Slash does the same "VooDoo Child" intro. One good thing about Izzy leaving is that he isn't trying to sing on stage now (ok, 14 Years is all right...:-))

They still have the strobe lights for "Live and Let Die", and they added a little Rolling Stones ditty for the show ("Wild Horses"). The current Rolling Stone issue does a review of their show in New York and it sounds a lot like the show I saw. Here is the set-list:

Welcome to The Jungle
Mr Brownstone
Live N Let Die
Double Talkin' Jive
Civil War
Wild Horses
Patience
Night Train
Attitude
Don't Cry
You Could Be Mine
So Fine
Bad Obsession
November Rain
Rocket Queen
Sweet Child O Mine
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Estranged
Move To The City
Paradise City

So if you didn't catch them the first time, better not miss out this time around! Tickets for the show in Florida were $14.50 face value, so hopefully other places aren't trying to rip the fans off. I know they are playing in San Diego, CA Jan 27th and 28th; that's all I know. If you saw them the first time, I would still recommend that you catch their second-leg tour (if the price is not too much). What can I say, I'm a big fan!