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APPETITE FOR DISCUSSION
Welcome to Appetite for Discussion -- a Guns N' Roses fan forum!

Please feel free to look around the forum as a guest, I hope you will find something of interest. If you want to join the discussions or contribute in other ways then you need to become a member. We especially welcome anyone who wants to share documents for our archive or would be interested in translating or transcribing articles and interviews.

Registering is free and easy.

Cheers!
SoulMonster

1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA

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1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA Empty 1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA

Post by Soulmonster Mon Sep 12, 2011 8:35 pm


September 28, 1985 - LA Street Scene Festival, Los Angeles, USA
Date:
September 28, 1985.

Venue:
LA Street Scene Festival.

Location:
Los Angeles, USA.

Setlist:
01. Reckless Life
02. Welcome to the Jungle
03. Jumpin' Jack Flash
04. Think About You
05. Shadow of Your Love
06. Heartbreak Hotel.

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


Quotes:
One of the more memorable gigs from the era was an outdoor festival called the Street Scene that took place on six or seven stages in downtown Los Angeles that occupied a circuit of city blocks. It was our first time playing it, and it was 1983 [eh, no], and we were scheduled to open for Fear, the only L.A. punk band that I really cared about. [...] We finally got close enough to the stage to realize there was no stage; Fear's fans had overzealously rioted and torn it down before the band even went on. Our manager, Vicky, and I wandered around this huge mess in an attempt to find us a slot somewhere on the day-long bill. We pushed our way from stage to stage talking to the organizers, looking for an opening until we found one - playing after Social Distortion. It didn't sound like the best idea, following a loyally beloved local punk band, but it actually turned out to be one of the greatest gigs we ever did. The audience was full on punk and still bloodthirsty after just having seen Social Distortion. We got up there and ripped into our set, and within the first thirsty seconds, the show became a spitting contest between us and the first five rows; their fans fucking spit on us, so we just spit on them back. It was hilarious and memorably sickening: I remember going over to Izzy's side of the stage and standing there beside him and spitting back and forth with these people because that's the band we were. [...] By the end of our set, this disgusting war of the wills became fucking fun. We ended up with green phlegm all over us, and considering that it was warm out, not only was I shirtless, but the heat cooked the spit and made it start to smell pretty bad [Slash's autobiography, page 127-128]
Every year in L.A. they held what was called the Street Scene. There were ten or more stages set up, all featuring free shows. Ut took up a few city blocks, and by the time we were asked to participate in 1985, it drew about a hundred thousand people. We were pretty familiar with the festival and felt that the gig could potentially get us some good exposure. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very fucked-up show. I was on stage setting up my drums, putting the bass drum in place. All of a sudden, this empty Jack Daniel's bottle comes flying past my face and nails my cowbell. It missed my head by an inch! Some dumbass really tried to hurt me. During our set, people were actually spitting at us. It was pretty ugly. I think this was some sick remnant of the masochism and selfabuse of the punk era. It was odd, it was dangerous, but most of all it was sad [...] We didn't stand for shit like that and the band was spitting right back at them. It got so ridiculous it became funny. I remember seeing Duff looking all pissed as he hocked a big loogie into the crowd. It definitely was an unforgettable performance [Steven's autobiography, "My Appetite for Destruction", 2010, page 89-90]
____________________________________________________________________

1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA Rightarrow Next concert: 1985.10.10.
1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA Leftarrow Previous concert: 1985.09.20.
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1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA Empty Re: 1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA

Post by Blackstar Sun Apr 28, 2019 3:41 pm

Article about the festival and schedule of performing artists, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 27, 1992. GN'R played at 5:30 p.m.

1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA 1985_012
1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA 1985_011
Street Scene -1 Million Due to Come Alive in ’85

By EDWARD J. BOYER,
Times Staff Writer


"No, Joan Rivers will not be appearing,” the secretary was explaining over the telephone when Sylvia Cun-liffe, producer of the Los Angeles Street Scene Festival, overheard.

"Don’t say that,” Cunliffe shouted from her City Hall office. “She will be appearing.”

The confused secretary put the caller on hold as Cunliffe, general manager of the city's General Services Department, briefed her on yet another schedule change in the two-day festival, which attracted nearly 1 million visitors to the Civic Center last year.

As late as Thursday, a harried Cunliffe and her cadre of aides were juggling schedules, revising programs and nailing down last-minute details for the eighth annual Street Scene Festival, which runs Saturday and Sunday in the 13-block Los Angeles Civic Center.

Joan Rivers is indeed on the program for a 5.-30 p.m. appearance on Saturday at the festival’s Times Plaza Stage, one of 21 festival stages featuring such stars as Richard Pryor, Stevie Wonder, Jackson Browne, Tierra, James Brown and Bill Withers.

The entertainers are appearing largely through the efforts of Mayor Tom Bradley, who hosted a luncheon for show business managers and agents several months ago and asked them for help providing talent for this year’s festival, a Street Scene spokeswoman said.

Festival organizers are again expecting more than 1 million visitors this year, and nearly all of them should be able to find music to their liking among the symphony orchestra, jazz, country, rhythm and blues and ethnic music groups that will give 300 live performances.

Attractions also will include shows for children, strolling clowns, comedy acts, 150 arts and crafts booths and a panorama of ethnic food on sale throughout the festival area, bounded by Broadway and Aliso, Alameda and 1st streets.

Festivities actually get under way Friday evening with an invitation-only "Opening Night Gala” on the south lawn of City Hall. About 1,000 guests will be entertained by a Polynesian revue flown in from Hawaii and will dine on roast pig, ribs and chicken.

Spring Street will be closed between 1st and Temple streets on Friday for the City Hall gala. Broadway, Spring, Main, Los Angeles, San Pedro and Temple streets will be closed between 1st and Aliso all day Saturday and Sunday, except for a half block of Los Angeles Street near 1st, which will remain open to allow access to underground parking at City Hall East and the Civic Center Mall. The north side of 1st Street between Broadway and San Pedro Street will also be closed.

Portions of Broadway and 1st, Hope and Temple streets will be closed Sunday morning for the festival’s 3-1/2-hour parade, which steps off at 10 a.m. with marching bands, drill teams, equestrian units, folk dancers, a children’s chorus and floats.

A plan by KMEX-TV to broadcast a telethon from the festival site to raise funds for Mexican earthquake relief fell through on Wednesday, the day after news accounts of an agreement between the city and the station appeared.

“I checked with top producers who all said the telecast was technically feasible,” Cunliffe said. “But the station, after initially agreeing, said it was not feasible.”

A spokesman for the station said plans to broadcast from the festival were scrapped because “logistical-ly, it just didn’t work out.” Instead, KMEX-TV will broadcast the 12-hour telethon from its studios on Sunday, with a camera at the festival to feed live segments to the station.

American Red Cross volunteers will collect contributions for Mexican earthquake relief at several locations at the festival, Cunliffe said.

While the lost telecast is disappointing, Cunliffe remained enthusiastic about new features at this year’s festival: a fireworks display at 9 p.m. Saturday that will be “choreographed” to music broadcast simultaneously over KMGG-FM, a Mexican program featuring rancheras sung by various local groups, a drawing for a Pontiac Fiero, and an expanded carnival with larger, more daring rides.

The festival’s $700,000 budget was provided by General Motors’ Pontiac Division, Camel cigarettes, Coors beer, California Cooler, Denny’s restaurants, Xerox Corp., Kal Kan Foods, Mogen David Kosher Meat Products, Pepsi Cola and Chipwich.

Showcase for Fun

“The festival is a showcase of how people can get together and have a couple of fun days with free, quality entertainment,” said festival board member Willie Davis. “Free entertainment is almost non-existent today.”

Davis, a former All-Pro defensive end with the Green Bay Packers and now owner of a beer distribution business in Los Angeles, launched the idea for a festival after spotting Mayor Bradley aboard an airliner in 1977.

After persuading stewardesses to allow Bradley to leave his seat in the coach section and join him in first class, Davis told the mayor that Los Angeles should have a festival similar to those held in other cities around the country.

“The mayor expressed some excitement,” Davis said, and invited the National Football League Hall-of-Famer to start one.

“The whole idea was to show off downtown and remove misconceptions about the area,” Davis said. “From that standpoint, this thing has gone an extra mile in bringing millions of people back downtown.”

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1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA Empty Re: 1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA

Post by Soulmonster Fri May 14, 2021 7:54 am

September 28, 1985 was also very special because they were opening up for Social Distortion and the whole show was running a few hours late. The punks were getting restless and the last thing they wanted to see was a bunch of guys on stage wearing make up and playing Stones songs. Guns N’ Roses were able to maintain the stage while being spit on and won over the crowd and handled the stage like a stadium band.
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1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA Empty Re: 1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA

Post by Soulmonster Sun Aug 14, 2022 5:46 pm

Marc Canter being asked about his favorite GN'R show:

If you talk Guns N' Roses, I mean hard to say, maybe the Street Scene just because I saw them win over 5,000 people- [...] Temple and Broadway. [...] In Downtown. They were opening up for Social Distortion. They were supposed to go on at 5:30. Guns N' Roses took the stage at 8 not because they were late, because the whole the whole thing- [...] So the people that were there, the hardcore punk scene that was there for Social Distortion, they're already three hours in that crowd waiting for their band- [...] And Guns N' Roses come out and they look like the New York Dolls. Pretty much. And they're throwing beer and hamburgers and spitting and, just like, "Fuck, what is going on here?" You know, like, "Another fucking band?" But like after the second song, they won that crowd and that crowd was just swaying the stage and it's just so much energy. [...] They only played five songs, but that was an intense moment for me to see them win that crowd.
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1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA Empty Re: 1985.09.28 - LA Street Scene Festival, LA, USA

Post by Soulmonster Fri Jun 16, 2023 6:13 pm

Being asked what his first "hooooooly shit we're huge" moment was while in GN'R:

When we played the street scene in 1986, downtown LA. There were 100,000 people in the streets, outside, and we started playing. Literally not 10s, or 100s, thousands of people were spitting on the stage at us. I was in the back, so I wasn't getting hit. The coolest thing was, nobody in the band got pissed off , they started spitting back at them. It was one of those moments like "holy shit! What am I doing here? How did I get here? and Why is this so awesome!"


GN'R played twice at LA Street Scene, in 1985 and 1986. It was in 1985 the spitting, which Steven talks about, occurred.
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