2023.09.05 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - St. Louisan Richard Fortus of Guns N' Roses finally makes it to biggest hometown stage

St. Louisan Richard Fortus of Guns N' Roses finally makes it to biggest hometown stage

By Kevin C. Johnson

In his 21 years as a guitarist with Guns N’ Roses, St. Louisan Richard Fortus has played in venues around the world. But there's one stage that until now has eluded him.

Fortus finally gets to play at Busch Stadium, St. Louis' biggest stage, on Sept. 9. The rock superband's last show here was in 2017 at the Dome at America’s Center.

“I never dreamed I’d be playing Busch Stadium," he says. "I’m very excited about it.

“Some of the biggest concerts I’ve been to in my life were there — the Rolling Stones, U2, Super Jams when I was a kid. I used to skip school and buy $5 [tickets] and sit up top.”

Fortus is a 1984 graduate of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.

He finds hometown shows stressful because of all the extra details, such as taking care of family and friends. His 79-year-old mother will be attending the Busch Stadium show.

For St. Louis shows, he supplies his bandmates with T-shirts bearing the names of local landmarks from his youth.

In 2017, singer Axl Rose wore a Coral Court Motel T-shirt, and bassist Duff McKagan wore Streetside Records. Fortus’ was from Kennedy’s, the club where he performed with his early band Pale Divine (the Eyes).

He won’t reveal what he has lined up for this weekend. “I’m proud of my choices," he says. “I’ve outdone myself this time."

He's also planning a buffet of St. Louis foods for his bandmates — gooey butter cake, Imo’s Pizza, toasted ravioli, Ted Drewes frozen custard, Vess soda and barbecue.

Guns N’ Roses is on its first full North American headlining tour since 2021.

“We’ve got a bunch of new songs, new music and we’re revisiting old songs we haven’t done before," Fortus says. "That keeps it a little fresh.”

The band can’t leave the stage without performing songs such as “Paradise City,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and “November Rain.”

“We don't wanna dismiss those songs," Fortus says. "Axl wants to deliver all the songs people wanna hear, as well as the songs we wanna play. That makes it a very long show.

"We don’t have a set list. It’s different every night. The tour is exceptional in that regard. We’ve settled into a zone, but when we started, it was really 'anything goes.'”

A new song the band has been performing is “Perhaps,” which he says has been revisited, reworked and rerecorded over the years since 2002, when he joined Guns N' Roses.

“I’m thrilled with how it came out," he says. "It’s a great song — one of my favorite Guns N’ Roses songs. Lyrically, it’s very mature, and I think it’s some of Axl’s best work."

“The General,” which he calls the B-side to “Perhaps,” also was long in progress and could join the show soon.

“Absurd” and “Hard Skool” were introduced in live shows a year or so ago.

“We’re clearing things out — priming the pumps for things that have been around that we wanna get out and release before releasing new music," he says.

Some of the more unexpected songs that have been popping up in concert, Fortus says, are “Anything Goes,” “Pretty Tied Up,” “Reckless Life” and “Bad Obsession."

Fortus looks forward to “Rocket Queen” because of the solos he and guitarist Slash get to perform.

“I love parts of the show that are just freeform, and you don’t know what’s going to happen," he says. "It’s different every night, and it’s improvising in a jazzy type of way.”

Support acts on the tour have included Carrie Underwood, Dirty Honey and the Pretenders. Alice in Chains and the Warning will join the tour this month. St. Louis fans will see the Pretenders, a thrill for Fortus.

“You gotta go see Chrissie [Hynde],” Fortus says. In high school, he fell in love with the Pretenders, the Clash and David Bowie. He had been into more art-rock bands such as Yes and King Crimson.

“The Pretenders were super important to me," he says. "Their first two records were huge to me. I listen to them now. Her songwriting — she’s one of the greatest American songwriters."

The tour so far has had to contend with some severe weather, including a Chicago show that set a heat record. A show in Boston went on despite monsoon-like weather.

“It was raining so hard the entire show," he says. "It was so wet, I was dumping water out of my guitar because it was so heavy. But the fans stayed.

“It’s amazing to me, the dedication of the fans. I don’t know if I could do that. I love music more than anything. I guess I’m old and jaded. I can’t imagine doing that for anybody.”

Fortus' 20th year with Guns N’ Roses in 2022 was mostly business as usual.

“I didn’t do anything special," he says. "But it was a milestone for sure. I’ll still waiting for my watch.

“It’s been a roller coaster, for sure, when I look at the different line-ups we’ve been through. It’s been pretty crazy when you think about it. But it’s also quite the ride.”

https://www.stltoday.com/life-entertainment/local/music/st-louisan-richard-fortus-of-guns-n-roses-finally-makes-it-to-biggest-hometown-stage/article_48d6409a-48dc-11ee-8ab3-2731484c4382.html

Cool that he talks about music and also their plans. I wish he had put a number on the old songs they intend to release. Slash is not really good with such details.

Soulmonster wrote:Cool that he talks about music and also their plans. I wish he had put a number on the old songs they intend to release. Slash is not really good with such details.

He kinda said the exact same thing that Slash said a while (months?) ago didn't he?

He said that they are releasing old Chinese-era tracks (Slash mentioned it would be 6 or 8, right?) and that by doing it they will "clear space" for "new music".

Isn't that the exact same thing Slash said?

ludurigan wrote:

Soulmonster wrote:Cool that he talks about music and also their plans. I wish he had put a number on the old songs they intend to release. Slash is not really good with such details.

He kinda said the exact same thing that Slash said a while (months?) ago didn't he?

He said that they are releasing old Chinese-era tracks (Slash mentioned it would be 6 or 8, right?) and that by doing it they will "clear space" for "new music".

Isn't that the exact same thing Slash said?

Yes, what Slash said was kind of similar, but he didn't say anything specific along the lines of "making space" for new music. He just said that the end of the tour would "free" the band so that they could sit and write new music, and in the meantime there were still some remaining reworked CD era tracks to be released.

Blackstar wrote:
He just said that the end of the tour would "free" the band so that they could be able to sit and write new music, and in the meantime there were still some remaining reworked CD era tracks to be released.

yes, that is what I understood