1987.08.18 - Super Skate 7, Kitchener, Canada

Here we go...The infamous "Superskate" gig.
While on tour with The Cult as assistant Monitor Engineer (and as Guns
And Roses Main Monitor Guy), we happened to do a gig in Moncton Canada
at a roller skating rink called Superskate. Ordinarily, we were playing
large venues-hockey arenas and the like, but somehow tour management
thought it would be great for the band to do this gig. At first, we
figured we would only set up half the gear, but sound and lighting guys
being what they are (lunatic egomaniacs by-and-large), we wound up
setting up all of the PA and most of the lighting rig in this small
place. The PA itself was stacked right to the ceiling...literally. Guns
and Roses played first, put on a great show....everything was going
great. Any concerns about power consumption were pretty much allieviated
while GNR was playing...it seemed as if everything would be alright.
Two songs into the Cult set...the lights went out. Everything went out.
Except for some feeble emergency lights near the exit doors, everything
went dark and the crowd went ballistic. I immediately shut the Audio
distro down...if service returned, the resulting surge would blow the
mains. People were flipping out in the jammed venue. Ian and the boys
stood on stage for a few moments in complete confusion. I ran back to
the breaker room where all the tie ins for Power distribution had been
made. There was a lighting guy arguing with a house electrician because
they couldn't get the panel open to see what the hell had happened to
the dynamite stick sized fuses which had blown. I picked up a hammer,
actually more of a maul than a hammer and proceeded to bash the sh*t out
of the box handle. Two strikes and the box popped. Out on stage, Ian
walked out on his runway extention into the crowd. In a loud voice he
began talking to the crowd... keeping people cool and entertained while
we were scrambling to restore power to the venue. What else is there to
say? We got the system up, The Cult started the show from the begining,
redoing the first two songs, and adding in a bunch of extra
stuff...Doors cover tunes and the like. At one point Ian climbed the PA
stack (during Born To Be Wild) and disappered into the false ceiling
scattering ceiling tiles everywhere. I also remember almost getting hit
in the head by a wine bottle that Ian had took a slug out of and tossed
up behind the backdrop. As I was running from one side of the stage to
the other in order to stop the PA stacks from falling into the crowd,
the wine bottle exploded in front of me. I also remember a huge amount
of people on stage after the barracades collapsed, I remember pulling
security guys out of the pit as they were getting crushed by the fence
which had been pushed against the stage by the crowd. In 20 years of
touring, it's up there as one of the most bizarre gigs I can remember.
Anyone with pictures from the Electric Tour of Canada August 1987 please
let me know!