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Re: That Montreal Riot (GNR/Metallica/FNM '92)
Spin: Want to talk about what went down in Montreal?
Clarke: In Montreal? That thing happened so fast. I mean, you're probably gonna get the same story from absolutely everyone.
The Metallica/GNR co-headlining NA tour began on July 17th, 1992 in Washington. Seven shows in, they were in for it. Between July 31st and August 22nd, there were eleven shows booked. Out of these, show number four was played on August 8th, in Montreal, Canada.
"At the Giants Stadium show at the end of July, Axl barely made it through the set due to the state of his voice."
(Life Magazine, 1992)
"[Axl] was swaying back and forth in his white spandex shorts, white funged jacket, white cowboy hat, doing a moving rendition of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," when all of a sudden - zzzing! - some kid in the audience threw a lighter and hit him in the crotch.
Axl stopped singing.
He turned his back to the crowd, threw his microphone into the air, tore off his hat.
And he left."
"He was advised by his doctor to rest it for a week, so we canceled the next three dates. The tour resumed in Canada, which came to be the infamous coup de grâce of everything that was wrong with our band."
"The same shit happened in Montreal as elsewhere."
Craig Duswalt "Everything started out great. Faith No More’s set was awesome, and Metallica took the stage pretty much on time... About 60 minutes into Metallica’s set, something went horribly wrong."
James Hetfield “During ‘Fade to Black,’ I’m up there playing the part, and all these colored flames are going off, I’m a little confused on where I should be — I walk forward, I walk back, the pyro guy doesn’t see that I’ve walked back there, and [makes whooshing noise] colored flame goes right up under me.
I’m burnt — all my arm, my hand completely, down to the bone. The side of my face, hair’s gone. Part of my back.
I watched the skin just rising, things going wrong." (Behind the Music)
"The other members of Metallica came back out onstage after James had been whisked away, explained what had happened, and apologized for suspending the show."
Gilby Clarke "We had gotten word - you know, we were all just hanging out at the hotel - and somebody said that there was a big accident. James had burned his arm, and their set got cut short. The audience is, you know, going a little crazy. It would be really great if we could go on early today. (Laughs)"
"We were still at our hotel when it happened, and we were asked to go on early - it was a nonissue; of course we agreed to do so. The band headed down to the venue right away and discussed what we'd play to fill up the remainder of Metallica's slot and ours as well. We had plenty of time to go over our options but it couldn't happen because Axl did not show up."
"I sat backstage monitoring the sounds drifting in from the arena, drink in hand, and could feel the crowd’s mood change. The rumble of tens of thousands of people beginning to get angry is a deep, low sound that penetrates walls and vibrates the fundaments of buildings, where dressing rooms are located. It’s a horrible sound, and the panic and embarrassment and frustration in my own head was compounded by that rumble.
CD "Because Metallica’s set had ended about sixty to ninety minutes early, the crowd had to wait longer than normal for Guns N’ Roses to take the stage."
"In the end, there was something like four hours between the time Metallica were forced to stop the show and the moment we took the stage."
Montreal Gazette "Guns N' Roses take the stage 135 minutes later, far too long after the abbreviated Metallica set."
"Us going on late - more than two hours after Hetfield was rushed to the hospital - playing to pissed-off fans. Our own fans, pissed off at us."
CD "About two hours later Guns N’ Roses took the stage, and the crowd went nuts. It was a great beginning of the set."
G By the time we got onstage - which was early - it wasn't together.
After letting the crowd reach its boiling point, we finally went out and started playing.
G The sound was just like - it wasn't just bad, it was like almost unplayable.
The PA fed back the entire time, the monitors fed back the entire time, the crowd was like, nonexistent. (MTV)
I told Slash, ‘Two more songs, if we can’t get it fixed, I gotta go.’
We did more than two more songs...
I realized, ‘I’m gonna hurt myself.’
"In case anybody here is interested, this will be our last show for a long time."
MGz "Rose followed a doper's blues version of Bad Obsession with a speech about how the band had honed its act on a seven-week tour of Europe just to have it all fall apart last night."
"In Montreal, he didn't mention that he was in pain or anything that night before the show."
We had just stopped the tour [temprorarily,] because I had throat problems.
[Axl] had canceled our Boston show and two others because of his throat.
MGz "At the time, a friendly Slash had told The Gazette that neither medical issues - Rose had a hole in a vocal cord - nor the band's "typhoon of chaos" could derail GNR's first-ever headline gig here."
"He [later] said that his vocal cords were damaged and that was why he couldn't perform. To us, it was crying wolf."
45 minutes into our set, a microphone stand hit Axl in the mouth. He threw down the mic and left.
Axl ended it early, after we'd done just 90 minutes out of a scheduled two hours.
Finally I was just, like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ I looked over and Gilby was like, ‘Dude, I can’t hear.'
G I just remember Axl coming up to me and just going: 'You know, I can't hear myself - I can't hear anything. What do we do?'
And Duff [McKagan] was like, ‘I can’t hear either.’ We had a little huddle, and we were like, ‘We’re outta here.’”
At the end of 'Civil War,' Axl says “Thanks you, your money will be refunded, we're outta here.”
G The next thing you know, he left.
I'm sure he had his reasons, but neither I or the crowd, as far as I know, knew quite what they were.
CD About 55 minutes into the set, Axl just walked off the stage. Unfortunately it happened the same night that something happened to James, but I was there, and I truly feel it was just a coincidence. One incident had nothing to do with the other.
"I think some people understand, but a lot of people, they want what they want, y'know, even if they understand. It's like, if there's a problem on stage and we have to stop the show, they don't really care at that point (laughs). They're still upset, because they don't appreciate it.
"In all due respect for the people that got pissed off or disappointed by any of the situations that went down, we were just being as real as humanly possible about our own situation." (MTV)
"They came to see something and... y'know, there were technical difficulties in Montreal, and we had a ..., and the ... was very upset about that. And they didn't really take the time to think about what went wrong for us. And that's kind of hard to take sometimes. I really don't feel responsible about that."
"It was actually a huge issue for me because I'd lost face with everyone in Metallica."
An announcer comes onstage and tells the crowd that the show is over.
"This time the riot didn’t start near the stage. We didn’t even see it.
The crowd blew up back at the concession areas and merchandise stands, and then spread outside into the streets. In fact, our crew did their normal teardown of the set, oblivious to the riot already raging out of view. Only when our buses pulled out of the parking enclosure did we see the full extent of the situation — cop cars turned over, vehicles on fire, lots of broken windows. Once again there looked to be a lot of injuries. Once again I felt anguished and heartbroken. This time I also felt deeply embarrassed, a feeling that managed inexorably to worm its way into my vodka-numbed psyche.
It didn’t have to be like this."
"At this point, we've been through so much I just look at life as, 'you take the good with the bad and just deal with it.'" (MTV)
Out of the eleven shows following Montreal, ten were rescheduled. Guns had opened for lackluster reviews, but in the wake of the Montreal show, they began receiving warmer reviews, leading up to a final night in Minneapolis on September 15th.
The Metallica/Guns show that never was? Vancouver.
At the end of their performance, the guys in Metallica took a curtain call, which was reminiscent of the Twins returning to the field after winning the World Series last October.
Then, after a 95-minute intermission during which there was human gridlock in the humid Dome hallways, Guns N' Roses took the stage. Their explosions and flashpots during "Live and Let Die" outdid any pyrotechnics Metallica offered and GNR's light show was much more artful, extensive and sophisticated. However, GNR's performance was less focused than Metallica's and more varied, ranging from piano ballads to full-tilt rockers.
Guitarists Slash and Gilbey Clarke meandered on some aimless solo excursions, and hyperactive singer Rose kept disappearing from the stage during guitar solos to change outfits. When he was onstage, he scurried all over the place like a scrambling quarterback desperately looking for a receiver (at one point he muttered something about ex-Viking quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Thus, much like the Stones' performance at the Dome, it was difficult last night at times to focus on the 10-member GNR spread all over the stage with its various tiers and ramps.
Rose, who had called off a Dome appearance Aug. 5 because of throat problems, sounded in fine voice last night. Especially impressive were the current hit, the piano ballad "November Rain," the up-tempo hit ballad "Sweet Child O' Mine" and the ambitious epic "Civil War." The repertoire was nearly identical to the one GNR played at Target Center in January. The big differences were two inflated crab-like creatures that appeared over the stage during, "Welcome to the Jungle" and the fact that GNR got onstage at a relatively early hour for them -- 10:45 p.m.
And the band finished 10 minutes before the 1 a.m. curfew, leaving some time for post-concert fireworks and a curtain call, complete with Rose tossing roses into the crowd. Sometimes, GNR plays by the book.
Duff, Slash and Craig Duswalt quotes from their respective autobiographies, unless noted otherwise. Gilby interviewed by Spin in 1999. Axl interviewed by MTV in 1992.
Re: That Montreal Riot (GNR/Metallica/FNM '92)
That's Axl all over. Passing the buck, saying he's misunderstood, people not appreciating his issues w/o extending the same courtesy to others - to his own fans/paying customers. Too volatile, his behaviour is reflected back to him by the fanbase/crowd, always has been always will be.
Good work on collecting that stuff, as per usual!
These days it can prob be looked back on as an epic rock n roll story (for better & worse). But really it was just another missed opportunity to connect w/the fans & do a good deed. GnR/Axl have lived their life squandering such moments, this just happened to be the biggest splash.
They don't make them like they used to tho.
Well rock music isn't big enough for anyone to care anymore sadly. Watered down sanitised shite like Bon jovi & Bono/U2 won the war & spoiled it all for everyone.
Yes, I'm saying shitty gigs that cause mini-riots are better than any proper Bon Jovi concert.
