1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
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1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
Date:
November 22, 1987.
Venue:
The Omni.
Location:
Atlanta, USA.
Setlist:
XX. Communication Breakdown
XX. Honky Tonk Women
Line-up:
Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitarist), Slash (lead guitarist), Duff McKagan (bass) and Steven Adler (drums).
Quotes:
Next concert: 1987.11.24.
Previous concert: 1987.11.21.
November 22, 1987.
Venue:
The Omni.
Location:
Atlanta, USA.
Setlist:
XX. Communication Breakdown
XX. Honky Tonk Women
Line-up:
Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitarist), Slash (lead guitarist), Duff McKagan (bass) and Steven Adler (drums).
Quotes:
Name a city on their tour itinerary, and Guns N' Roses probably have a story to go with it. In Atlanta, Axl jumped from stage to grab a security guard who, Axl says, shoved a friend of his without provocation. The police held Axl backstage while the rest of the band played "Communication Breakdown" and "Honky Tonk Women" with a roadie singing. To avoid a trial, Axl pleaded guilty to assaulting the police and paid a fine [November 1987]
Next concert: 1987.11.24.
Previous concert: 1987.11.21.
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
Source: http://www.vulture.com/2016/03/concert-promoters-share-their-gnr-war-stories.htmlAs concert promoter Charlie Brusco walked through the back door of the arena shortly after the concert started, he knew something was wrong. “I heard this horrible sound,” Brusco says. “I look up, and one of the guys in the road crew was singing.” A roadie for the band named Big Ron was on lead vocals, because, earlier, Rose had jumped offstage, punched a cop, and been carried away. The Omni’s head of security told Brusco, “First strike, he hit an Atlanta police officer. Second strike, he hit a female Atlanta police officer. Third strike, he hit a black female Atlanta police officer. He’s going to jail.” Brusco begged for Rose to be allowed to finish the show. Finally the security chief said, “If he apologizes to the police officer in writing, we’ll let him go.” Brusco agreed. He was led to Rose, who was sitting at a makeshift booking table wearing his trademark bandanna. Rose dutifully signed his apology, and security brought in the female officer. Then Rose looked up and said, “Fuck you, you fucking jag-off cop.” He was hauled to jail, and the show was canceled. “I don’t think,” Brusco says, “I did another Guns show after that.”
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
Doc McGhee (manager of Motley Crue) wrote:
Axl Rose was onstage in Atlanta when he saw one of the security guards, who turned out to be an off-duty cop, pushing their fans around. Axl jumped off the stage and started fighting the guard, so security grabbed him and took him backstage. So Slash sang a few songs, and Guns’ drum technician sang “Honky Tonk Woman”—four times, not terribly well. I told security, “Look, let Axl finish the show then shoot him for all I care,” but they called the police. I said to Axl, be nice to the cops and they’ll let you go. Then a cop walked in and asked him for his full name, and Axl said, “Fuck you!”. That was it - he was arrested and in the cells for the night.
Nikki Sixx wrote:
Backstage, 7:45 p.m.
Just got off the massage table here in the dressing room. We were having a few drinks and Doc just came in and said Axl got arrested for jumping into the audience Slash is up there singing a Stones song and it’s not going well. Guess I’d better get ready . . . I think the crowd is probably getting unruly.
11 p.m.
Slash wants to go out ’cause he’s pissed off at Axl, so I’m taking him to a killer strip club. I guess they need to wait for their singer to get bailed out tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll offer Slash any junk ’cause I know he used to have a problem . . . one of us slipping back is bad enough.
Source: Nikki Sixx, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of Shattered Rock Star, 2008
Last edited by Blackstar on Fri Apr 13, 2018 1:51 am; edited 5 times in total
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
The Atlanta Constitution, November 24, 1987:
(the mugshot was found on tumblr and posted on mygnrforum by the member The Garden Of Guns N Roses)
Musician arrested
From Staff Reports
Axl Rose, lead singer for the rock band Guns & Roses, was arrested Sunday night and charged with four counts of simple battery after he allegedly leaped from the stage at the Omni and scuffled with ushers and police officers.
Rose, 27, was freed after posting $2,900 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Atlanta Municipal Court on Dec. 17.
The incident occurred about 15 minutes into the performance by Guns & Roses, which finished its set without Rose. According to police, he left the stage and tried to stop an usher from restraining a fan attempting to reach the stage and then grappled with three police officers who intervened. No injuries were reported.
According to an Omni official, Rose had objected to ushers limiting fans’ access to the stage area during the band’s set at the Omni on Friday night.
Guns & Roses, a five-man band, has been touring with headliner Motley Crue. The two bands played for about 14,000 fans Friday night and for about 7,000 fans Sunday night.
(the mugshot was found on tumblr and posted on mygnrforum by the member The Garden Of Guns N Roses)
Last edited by Blackstar on Tue Nov 22, 2022 10:36 pm; edited 7 times in total
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
Two nights ago we did a show in Atlanta. At about the second song, I found myself on the way to jail. I won’t go into a lot of detail on that, but, basically, that was a case of people getting pushed around to sit in the back, people getting hurt to sit in the back; and people abusing their authority and guys going “Look, I got the lead singer!”. I’m gonna dedicate this to the “Atlanta’s finest” and to the guys that bailed me out. This is a song called “Out Ta Get Me”! [Concert at Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, FL - 11.24.1987] |
This guy named Scott, he works in a record store up in Detroit, and he sells records, he’s got a Guns N’ Roses tattoo and stuff, and he comes to a lot of our shows. And the show is in Atlanta, at the Omni, and they make the people... the people can’t get in the aisles, people can’t come to the front of the stage, it’s a big law there; the security will get fined like $25,000 if people are in the aisles or anything. But some of the security doesn’t really seem to care about that, they like the job so they can push around kids. On the Friday night show [11.20.1987] there was this one guy particularly hassling the kids... and the kids don’t know, they come round to the front of the stage, they just think it’s a concert. And this guy like was being overly rough and I jumped off the stage into the pit, leaned on the barricade and grabbed him. [Band interview after the show in Lakeland, FL, 11.24.1987, “A Night In The Jungle”, MTV] |
We just recently did a show in Atlanta, opening up for Motley Crue [...], and I [...] actually warned a security guard being a little shit and pushing the kids around, really proving that he was an asshole, and he called me out. So I dived down over the fucking rail, and before I got over the rail, the fucker hit me. So I got him about three times, and now I’m being charged with four counts of assault for hitting police that I never touched. These are the kind of people that can just suck my dick! You know, I’ve got nothing against fucking security. [?] you're out doing your job, but you don’t need to fucking push kids; not my friends that come here. These are the kind of people that get me down. They make me feel that somebody out there is out to get me! [Concert at UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL - 12.18.1987] |
I can think of a few people I wouldn't want to have [Appetite For Destruction] in their collections, like the Atlanta police. I don't want them to even have listened to it at all. [Rock Scene magazine, June 1988] |
We played in Atlanta and Axl jumped off the stage to help out a fan who was getting beaten by these security guys. He never made it back on stage so we improvised a seven minute blues jam. ["In The Classic Way", Guitar For The Practicing Musician, September 1988] |
There was one crowded show we did, where Axl jumped in the crowd to beat up a security guard who pushed one of our friends around, and we did the whole show without him. He went to jail and we did, like, Honky Tonk Women and guitar solos, and we had a roadie come out and sing Communication Breakdown [...] [Guns N' Roses: The Interview Picture Disc, June 1988] |
In Atlanta I dived in and I had police saying I hit them. I never did, but I had to plead guilty because we didn't have any money at the time. Lie? Yes, I guess I did lie once. I lied and said that I hit four cops. I guess we should reopen the case and take me to trial for perjury. But I didn't have $56,000 to pay them off under the table. ["There's A Riot Going On!", Musician, September 1991] |
Last edited by Blackstar on Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:35 am; edited 12 times in total
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
After that show, the next time the band was scheduled to play in Atlanta was during the "Skin N' Bones" leg of the Use Your Illusion Tour, on April 15, 1993.
Herald and Review, March 3, 1993:
Eventually, the show was cancelled:
The Atlanta Consitution, April 1st, 1993:
April 2, 1993:
Herald and Review, March 3, 1993:
No Southern hospitality for Axl Rose’s return to Atlanta
ATLANTA (AP) — Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose is coming to Atlanta for the first time since 1987, but officials don’t plan to give him a key to the city. They haven’t forgotten his last appearance here.
The heavy metal band is to perform April 15 before a sellout crowd at The Omni.
Apparently, the promoters thought it would be entertaining to give him a key, or at least a piece of paper signed by the mayor.
But official city image protector Joel Babbit said no way.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate that you give a key to the city to a guy who hits a policeman on his last visit here,” Babbit said Monday.
On the group’s last trip to Atlanta, Rose was arrested for brawling with security personnel at The Omni.
“I think he ought to be the one giving something to us — maybe 1,000 bulletproof vests for police,” said Babbit, Mayor Maynard Jackson’s spokesman. “Plus, I don't like his music.”
Eventually, the show was cancelled:
The Atlanta Consitution, April 1st, 1993:
Gunning on empty: Rose may cancel
There was no shortage of tongue-in-cheek reaction Wednesday when it became apparent Guns N’ Roses plans to cancel its April 15 concert at The Omni because vocalist Axl Rose isn’t getting a key to the city. “We’re not going to lower our flags to half-mast over this,” said Joel Babbit, the mayor’s director of marketing and communication. Babbit had rebuffed Rose’s request for either a key to the city or an apology for his arrest during a never-finished show here in 1987. “I guess this means my request for the band to play my daughter’s birthday party won’t go through either,” Babbit said. A spokesman for concert promoter Cellar Door acknowledged that it appears the Gunners will perform in Roanoke, Va., on April 15, but added, “For the record, they’re good fellows.” A formal announcement is expected today.
April 2, 1993:
► THE BALLAD OF GUNS N’ REFUNDS: Another chapter in the five-year saga of Guns N’ Roses and Atlanta ended Thursday. The band’s April 15 show at The Omni, originally scheduled for Feb. 28, was officially canceled and fans were told to obtain refunds at the point of purchase (249-6400.)
The principals, meanwhile, set off on different tangents to explain why the Gunners, who have never played a full set in Atlanta, won’t be coming.
Lead singer Axl Rose said, “I suppose the mayor will say I’m some [bleep] who doesn’t care for his fans... but I'm not willing to be a sitting duck for the police.”
The band’s manager, Doug Blackstein of BFD Entertainment, said he was calling off the show because of the possibility that Mr. Rose, who’s on parole in St. Louis for one of his several brushes with the law, might run afoul of authorities. He was arrested here shortly after starting an opening-act set at The Omni in 1987.
Guitarist Slash, speaking in a statement released by Geffen Records publicist Bryn Bridenthal about 1 a.m. Thursday, tried to inject some humor, saying “We’d love to play there. After all, they have great strip bars."
The promoter of the Atlanta show, Cellar Door of Florida, finds itself in a Catch-22 situation. While its Atlanta office oversees refunds for the Atlanta show, its Virginia office will be promoting the Guns N’ Roses concert in Roanoke on April 15.
Cellar Door spokesmen declined to comment on Mr. Blackstein’s statement that the Atlanta show would not have been agreed to if the band had not been promised that, as far as the city was concerned, “bygones would be bygones.”
The city earlier rejected requests for a key to the city for the band.
We canceled a show in Atlanta both to let Duff recover and because Axl had been arrested there during the Appetite tour for kicking in the head a security guard whom he’d supposedly seen roughing up audience members. Doug didn’t trust either Axl or the venue’s security and he was probably right on both counts. [Slash with A. Bozza, Slash, 2007]. |
Last edited by Blackstar on Tue May 21, 2019 1:57 am; edited 1 time in total
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
Axl didn't return to Atlanta for a show until 2011.
That's a better start than the last time I was here. I'm not in jail yet! [Concert at Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA - November 2, 2011] |
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
I added some more articles and quotes to the previous posts.
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
Article about the closing of The Omni in 1997, with mention of this show Axl's arrest; The Atlanta Constitution, May 28, 1997:
It seems that 1997 marked the end of an era for historical concert venues and rock concerts in general.
--------[...]
Who’ll forget seeing Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses leave in a police paddy wagon? (He was fighting and the show didn’t go on.)
[...]
It seems that 1997 marked the end of an era for historical concert venues and rock concerts in general.
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Re: 1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA
As concert promoter Charlie Brusco walked through the back door of the arena shortly after the concert started, he knew something was wrong. “I heard this horrible sound,” Brusco says. “I look up, and one of the guys in the road crew was singing.” A roadie for the band named Big Ron was on lead vocals, because, earlier, Rose had jumped offstage, punched a cop, and been carried away. The Omni’s head of security told Brusco, “First strike, he hit an Atlanta police officer. Second strike, he hit a female Atlanta police officer. Third strike, he hit a black female Atlanta police officer. He’s going to jail.” Brusco begged for Rose to be allowed to finish the show. Finally the security chief said, “If he apologizes to the police officer in writing, we’ll let him go.” Brusco agreed. He was led to Rose, who was sitting at a makeshift booking table wearing his trademark bandanna. Rose dutifully signed his apology, and security brought in the female officer. Then Rose looked up and said, “Fuck you, you fucking jag-off cop.” He was hauled to jail, and the show was canceled. “I don’t think,” Brusco says, “I did another Guns show after that.”
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