1988.02.02 - The Ritz, New York City, USA

by **Soulmonster** Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:19 am

February 2, 1988
The Ritz, New York, NY, USA

Setlist:
01. It's So Easy
02. Mr. Brownstone
03. Out Ta Get Me
04. Sweet Child O'Mine
05. My Michelle
06. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
07. Welcome to the Jungle
08. Nightrain
09. Paradise City
10. Mama Kin
11. Rocket Queen

Date:
February 2, 1988.

Venue:
The Ritz.

Location:
New York City, USA.

Line-up:
Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitarist), Slash (lead guitarist), Duff McKagan (bass) and Steven Adler (drums).

Notes:
The famous Ritz show in 1988 that was broadcast on MTV and aired on various radio channels. The band

Quotes:

In New York, we filmed a show for MTV, which was another one of those nights that was a great show for fun, and the crowd was crazy. The show didn't necessarily go as well as I think it should have. We had a monitor man, and on stage, it was the twilight zone. I stage-dived, and my Thin Lizzy shirt got shredded right off my body. The crowd grabbed my necklaces and started choking me, pulling my hair. Some little kid had my arm between his knees with his legs wrapped around and his hand behind his back holding onto my hand, trying to steal my bracelets and was not going to let go of me until he got them. I couldn't get a hand free to punch him in the head because Doug Goldstein (GNR's tour manager) had my other arm and was trying to yank me back to the stage, an I'm getting split in two. There like, 30 people trying to throw me back on stage and another 30 trying to get a piece of Axl. It was a blast!

Blast! May 28, 1988

Personally, I think we looked like a bunch of idiots on it [...]

Felt Forum, May 9, 1988

You see on that live MTV thing, everything was pro except this monitor man who didn't have a clue what was going on. The crowd's hearing the show, everything's great, we're hearing spaceships' landing onstage, backwards echoes, screaming feedback, and the drummer doesn't know what, Steven doesn't know what's going on. Finally I tried to nail the monitor man with my microphone and my tour manager moved and I nailed him [laughs]. That was messy. But it leaves for some excitement.

MTV Headbanger's Ball, May 14, 1988

Like, there’s gigs where we’ll go out, like the Ritz. We did a show at the Ritz in New York as an MTV special – I don’t know if you ever saw it. I mean, playing-wise it was just one of those nights where we’re using borrowed gear - you know, rented gear and all this stuff; and we hadn’t rehearsed in a month, it was the first gig on the tour. But, I mean, the energy level and the attitude was so right on, that even though the fact that some kid grabbed my guitar and knocked it way out of tune, it was, like, still very hardcore; you know, a very New York gig. […] There was no guy [to tune the guitar]. I only brought one guitar with me. No, I brought two with me, but I think – see, the problem with me is I get so manic, that switching guitars is a hard thing for me to do, you know?

Guns N' Roses Interview Disc, June 1988

Ahh, I hate that concert. [...] You know everybody likes it, but it was the worst playing...especially on my part. It was just bad. [...] Yeah, [the audience] did everything to me! They untuned my guitars and they pulled my jacks out. [...] We were all out of tune for the first three songs. It was chaos.

Circus Magazine, July 1989

It's bad, it's terrible![...] My bass went out of tune for two songs.[...] I think people like it more like in the way when you drive past a car accident and somebody's mutilated, you know, it's like you can't help but look at it!

Circus Magazine, July 1989

The Ritz show in New York we played that trip was hugely popular on MTV. It wasn't one of our greatest shows by any means: Axl was having vocal problems, and though we didn't play badly, we'd played so much better in the recent past. In any case, it was loose and out of tune and punk rock, and for those reasons alone, it is something to be recognized. That footage is important because it is the essence of the band. The crowd was great, and like so many memorable moments, it was over and done before I knew it.

Slash's autobiography, p 225

MTV had contacted our management about taping one of our live performances while in the Apple, and it was scheduled for our appearance at the Ritz on February 2. Label mates Great White opened for us. After their set, it was time for us to hit the stage. I'm all ready to go, and fucking Axl is holding us up. Of all the times for him to do this. MTV was there, and this was huge, but eventually the MTV guys were like, "We gotta go, we gotta get this going, guys". Axl's like, "Fuck it. I'm not going on unless I have my bandanna!" Apparently, he couldn't find it after tearing apart the little hovel they gave us backstage. Of course the rest of the band was avoiding any eye contact with Axl, preferring to wander off, out of earshot, to do their grumbling. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "What's wrong with you, Axl?" He shrugged me off and continued with his insane tirade. He had all of our roadies looking around for people who had scarves or bandannas. I said, "C'mon, Axl, let's just go on." He blurted out, Fuck that. Fuck you. I need a bandanna or a scarf or I'm not doing this. Now, we're thirty minutes late. The cameramen were tired of standing around and said, "We're outta here." I was the only one who was openly begging them to stay: "Please, don't go, we'll go on." I'm sure that's why I am featured prominently throughout the video, because I showed some respect for the MTV crew. Axl finally found a fucking scarf, some bowder-blue, girly-looking thing, and the show began. He put it on, and he got this Little Rascals Alfalfa look going, because his hair was pushed up, like a ridiculous cowlick, on the back of his head. I'm sitting there playing and just laughing. "You dick, look at you. You couldn't go on without your scarf, and now you look like you're in an Our Gang movie."Someone must have tipped him off, because he finally got wise to it and adjusted the bandanna. In spite of all the drama, the show went off fantastically. It's become one of the most widely bootlegged performances of the band.

Steven's autobiography, "My Appetite for Destruction", 2010, p. 156-157

I think that was the same night that I stage-dove and the crowd parted like the Red Sea and let me hit the floor. I lay there for a moment taking stock of whether I'd broken any bones or not. Then I got back on stage and tried to maintain some semblance of cool.

Slash's autobiography, p 225

I think that was one of the moments out here [in Los Angeles] where we all sort of realized that Guns were gonna blow up [Metro, February 9, 2012]

____________________________________________________________________

1988.02.02 - The Ritz, New York City, USA Rightarrow

Next concert: 1988.02.04.
1988.02.02 - The Ritz, New York City, USA Leftarrow

Previous concert: 1988.01.31.

1988.02.02 - The Ritz, New York City, USA NeWborder_zpsk3uwcgt1

by 666 Tue May 15, 2012 5:13 pm

I was there!
Snuck out of my house to go Devil Laugh

by **Soulmonster** Tue May 15, 2012 5:45 pm

It's such a legendary concert with the MTV footage. Did you like it?

by 666 Tue May 15, 2012 5:54 pm

Seeing it now, it's full of energy and was really a right place, right time type of show. Axl's voice isn't great but again, he could always push it at that time to get through the show sounding relatively good. He had amazing power back then. I understand why he sings the way he does now but I don't understand how he lost the power. Although he sings more with his "head" voice now, so it does make sense. He's not conjuring up the diaphragm power that he used to use.

I wasn't much of a fan at that point. I had AFD for a few months, basically bought it because the cover looked cool but I don't remember listening to it much. I went to this show with friends sort of on a whim. I'd sneak out often to see bands at that time all over NY. But this show definitely stuck out and there was a buzz in the air, for sure.

If I remember right, I saw White Lion there the previous weekend and there was no buzz at all haha.

by **Soulmonster** Tue May 15, 2012 6:04 pm

Hehe. So do you prefer Ritz'88 or Ritz'12?

by 666 Tue May 15, 2012 6:07 pm

Ritz 88 because of the historical importance. They were hungry and it showed.

2012 was much better than I expected. Axl's voice was the best I've heard since I saw them in 2002.

by **Soulmonster** Tue May 15, 2012 6:17 pm

It's good to hear that Axl can still give a great show almost 25 years later. He ages well. His voice and stage presence I mean Why Thank You

by 666 Tue May 15, 2012 6:21 pm

Stage presence goes a long way

by **Soulmonster** Tue May 15, 2012 6:25 pm

Yeah, I couldn't care less about his looks, there are many ugly men with fantastic voices. I just wish he wouldn't dress as a dork, though, but he has always done that.

by 666 Tue May 15, 2012 6:28 pm

Yeah, he always dressed odd. The look I liked best was 2006 with the braids in a pony tail. He didn't wear stupid looking hats or gloves or anything else. Usually jeans and a button down shirt. He actually looked a lot younger than he was too.

by **Soulmonster** Tue May 15, 2012 6:29 pm

Which we can't say about him now, unfortunately. I'll start a new thread about ugly men with great voices.

by puddledumpling Fri May 18, 2012 4:41 am

Meeeyow! You boys sound like hens.
Axl is a fine-looking man. I'd do him.

by 666 Fri May 18, 2012 4:46 am

I am not a boy! I'm a man!! Evil or Very Mad

btw, if I'm not mistaken, Mama Kin was played at the 88 Ritz show as well

by 666 Fri May 18, 2012 10:36 am

and here you go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_CLmH6rzw

by **Soulmonster** Fri May 18, 2012 11:05 am

Thanks for pointing out that error in the setlist, it earned you the TOTT (Thanks of the Thread) 1988.02.02 - The Ritz, New York City, USA 3797600939

by 666 Fri May 18, 2012 12:08 pm

mama kin wasn't always showed when the concert aired on mtv

by **Soulmonster** Fri May 18, 2012 12:10 pm

That is probably the reason why the source I used for compiling the setlist lacked that song.

by **Blackstar** Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:54 am

Preview in New York Daily News, January 31, 1988:

https://i.servimg.com/u/f97/20/05/33/00/1988_012.jpg

Metal Band, Solid-Sounding

Like all forms of music, metal has its pretenders, the folks who have the mannerisms and the volume without much to back it up. But somehow, metal fans manage to sort it out and a group that becomes big in the metal market can be big indeed.

One good prospect for this kind of bigness in 1988 is Guns N’ Roses, which came out of the L.A. clubs and reaches the Ritz Tuesday night behind its debut Geffen album, “Appetite for Destruction.”

Yes, they swagger around the stage and turn the amplifiers up to 11 and do the standard life-in-the-loud-lane rock ’n’ roll trip. But they can also play, and their music shows nifty little threads of blues, R & B, punk and even an occasional pop or country lick.

This may not be their main appeal, but it shows how they built it from the ground up; they didn’t start with the white noise and the banshee vocals.

The names, by the way, are W. Axl Rose (vocals), Slash (guitar), Izzy Stradlin (guitar), Duff “Rose" McKagan (bass), and Steven Adler (drums). We mention this because someday, if Guns ever breaks up, some of those names might pop up in other bands, and you'll wish you’d seen them here.

AND ONE FURTHER POINT: Great White is opening. You might remember them from the rather recent Whitesnake dates. Smaller hall, same band.

— David Hinckley

Great White opens for Guns N' Roses Tuesday at 9 p.m. Tix are $13.50 advance, $14.50 day of show, at the Ritz box office (119 E. 11th St) & Ticket Master (212-307-7171).

by **Blackstar** Tue Mar 03, 2020 3:07 pm

Article by the Associated Press published in the Danville News (May 30, 1997) about the production company that had filmed the Ritz show for MTV:

1988.02.02 - The Ritz, New York City, USA 1997_026

[...]
“On Tour” is a production of KCET/Southern California and Sunshine TV, headed by John Diaz. At 47, Diaz is a rock veteran, boasting over 1,000 music videos and 200 concert productions.

“It came from a series of different rock shows that I worked on,” he said of the PBS show’s origins. “One was an early show for MTV called ‘Live at the Ritz’ in 1986-87. One segment featured Great White. We had to convince them to let us shoot the opening band, an unknown act by the name of Guns ’n Roses.

“It turned out to be the best show Guns ’n Roses ever did, and the highest-rated ‘Live at the Ritz.’ What was great about Guns ’n Roses was that they hadn’t been spoiled by success. They were just this hard-edged punk band that blew everybody away.

“That made me feel that it was great to capture these young bands prior to them making it. You get them at a point in their career they will never be again, and it’s impossible to ever duplicate.”

In 1991, Diaz’s cameras captured a 10-day rock festival in Rio that included George Michael, Prince, Billy Idol, Guns ’n Roses and dozens of others. That experience provided further inspiration for “On Tour.”
[...]

by **Soulmonster** Sat Jan 15, 2022 6:50 am

Dizzy talking about this show:

I think that was one of the moments out here [in Los Angeles] where we all sort of realized that Guns were gonna blow up.

Metro, February 9, 2012

by **Soulmonster** Sat Jul 02, 2022 6:48 pm

Alan Niven talking about Great White being originally planned to close the show:

Well, originally Great White were closing. And originally, originally I got the thing because MTV wanted to record Great White and I said, "Well, if you want to do this, then I want the opening slot as well for my other band." And they said, "Fine, you can have Guns open." Alright. Because I wanted Guns to be filmed and be a part of, you know, be in that circumstance as well. But it was originally set up for Grey White and after that was done, by the time March rolled around, I sat the white ones down and I said, "Listen, what's the maxim? The maxim is 'be a hard act to follow instead of following a hard act'. If you're smart here, you're going to invite Guns to close because there's the momentum on them at the moment is so huge you'd be idiots not to do it." And the white ones listened and they said, "Fine, let them close. We'll play first." After the Great White set Slash came running into the dressing room, the white ones dressing room, and said, "How the fuck are we supposed to follow that?" But they did. They did. Both bands played a blinder that night. It was a great night of rock and roll [...]

Dropping The Needle Podcast, March 11, 2013

by **Soulmonster** Fri Jun 16, 2023 6:20 pm

Explaining how he earned the Popcorn nickname:

We played that show at the Ritz that was live on MTV one night and [Axl] introduced me as Steven Popcorn Adler. That one and only time. He would always introduce me as Steven California Indica Bud Adler. I'm a big pot smoker. So, that one night that it happened to be live on TV, out of nowhere he just called me popcorn and it just stuck. I think it was like when I play my hair bounces up and down. Like popcorn popping in a machine. I don't know. He's insane. I don't know why the hell he did it. It just happened. He just called me that.

Reddit AMA, January 25, 2017

by **Soulmonster** Sat Nov 25, 2023 7:47 am

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