1987.11.22 - The Omni, Atlanta, USA

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]

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.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.

► 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.

[...]
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.)
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