Your GN'R highlights?

[slashsaxl]

i have alot of highlights, but most recently, friday night, after the bar, a girl i've been going after for the longest time left with me, we drove to a secluded area, i played november rain as we danced under the stars and the moonlit sky, and shared our first kiss. i'm usually not a romancer, but this time axl's words and gnr's music brought out the soft side of me, i'm still smiling.

rock n roll baby!!!

[AXL DEMOCRACY]

-Buying "AFD" in early summer of '88 when I was eleven years old.

-Having my dad promise me he would take me to see G N' R when they played NY.  Found out they would be playing with Aerosmith at Giants Stadium that summer.  His friend had come across an extra pair of tickets a few days before the show.  My dad was set to give him the money the next day at work and get the tickets.  That whole day I was so excited.  Couldnt wait for my dad to get home from work so I could look at the tickets.  When my dad got home that night he looked as if he was going to cry.  He didnt have the tickets cause his friend wound up selling them to another buddy of his.  Talk about feeling let down.    [crying]

-Missing the warm up show G N' R played in NYC in May '91.  A friend of my mom's brought me back a T-shirt though -which I still have.  The now famous saying "Here Today...Gone To Hell..."

-Going to see Terminator 2 in the theater not just cause it was a kick ass film but because I wanted to hear G N' R's new single played and at the end of the film I rocked out and was jumping in the aisle.

-Missing more G N' R shows in NYC in December '91.  

-Running straight to the record store after another difficult school day as a Freshman in High School to buy my copy of the Illusion albums and it changing my teenage and adult life, same as "AFD" had changed my childhood in 1988.

-Missing the G N' R/Metallica shows at Giants Stadium in 1992.  Eh, did that hurt  Third time is a charm though and when they play Giants Stadium again...I WILL FUCKIN BE THERE THIS TIME DAMN IT!  [rant]

-FINALLY getting to see G N' R live in concert on March 6, 1993 -even though I had to travel all the way to New Haven, Connecticut to see them!  Great fuckin show.

-Seeing Axl return live in person at the 01-01-01 Las Vegas show.  Having him see my Use Your Illusion I tattoo and point me out of the crowd and give me a huge smile and thumbs up.  Then bringing Tommy to the front of the stage to point me out again and show him.  Unfuckin real!  One of the most amazing moments of my life

-Meeting Slash and Matt Sorum in summer 2001 when I worked at The Howard Stern Show.

-Seeing G N' R for two more shows in Vegas in December 2001.

-Seeing G N' R make their "official" comeback at the MTV Awards in summer 2002.

-Spending all my graduation money to see G N' R kick off their first headlining North American tour since 1993 in Vancouver.  Well, the rest is history  [confused]

-Being front row in Albany, New York to see the band play.  Axl pointing me out of crowd again by giving me back the peace sign I gave to him during "Paradise City" -which was captured perfectly on the video boot!  [ok]

-Being second row in Hartford, CT to see the band live again.  Axl pointing me out of the crowd again and rocking out with me at the end of Madagascar.  [peace]

-FINALLY getting to see G N' R in my own backyard -New York City -on December 5, 2002.  Great show.  [wow]

-Getting the chills every single time I listen to one of my G N' R albums, or watch one of their video performances.   [love]

[smitty]

Many Highlights:
-Seeing WTTJ for the first time on MTV and being blown away.  "Look at that guitar player.  You can't even see his face!"
-The summer of '88 was dominated by AFD and was capped off when I saw them for the first time opening for Aerosmith.  After their set Slash & Duff walked walked right in front of us on the way to the sound board.
-Sept. '91 standing in line at midnight to get the UYI albums.
-Jan. '92 waiting in a hostile Nutter Center in Dayton, OH for GNR to hit the stage.  They come on at 12:30am and blaze until 3 am.  I went the next night too and they came on early...11:30pm
-Meeting Slash in '98 & '01

www.rocktalk.net

[shelly60]

VEGAS 01-01-01  One of the greatest thrills of my life!

[axlrosegnr]

!989.....I was looking at all my cousins casettes...I saw appetite and thought it looked pretty cool, so I popped it in....i was hooked

1993 - saw them for the first time in Fargo, ND

2001 - saw then in vegas

2002 - saw them in minneapolis and fargo

[FrancisFarmer]

I first didn?t like GN?R. In 1990 I borrowed a Manfred Mann-Tape from a friend - 2nd side was AFD. After a short time I really liked that stuff very much. GN?R was my introduce to "hard" music in general.
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Buying UYI I + II (after a long time of waiting). Greatest music for lots of years - bad time for my mother ;-) - because we were still living in one flat!
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The Tokyo vids are very good!
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Went to three shows in `92 and `93 (Stuttgart/Germany, Karlsruhe/Germany, Frankfurt/Germany) - two times in front row, center.

Axl saw my shirt with "Stay like Francis Farmer, but only her first part of life (Stuttgart/Germany)" on it while playing Live and Let Die in Karlsruhe (`93). He made a short break after the song, checked my shirt again (which was a bit strenuous for him because of the distance. He ordered the camera-man to film me, so I was filling out the two huge screens beside the stage. He smiled and gave me an O (.k.) with his hand. He introduced me short before starting WTTJ! The crowd went... somehow crazy! I have the show as Bootleg!!!
That was my "famous moment" in front of about 60.000 people!

The whole show was absolutely phantastic, seeing Axl (and the band) directly in front of me playing Dust in the Wind, November Rain, Estranged, Paradise City... (I must say that it?s a big difference compared to the new GN?R!)

At the end of the concert he shouted s.th. like "(....) Good night, Stuttgart!". In fact, the gig was in Karlsruhe. He still had Stuttgart (from my shirt) in mind. Funny!

Before my third GN?R show I met Axl in a hotel in Frankfurt, and tried to speak with him. We were alone, and my english that time was maybe 10%, and I was soooooooooo fuckin? nervous standing in front of Axl while he was looking at me that I had only few (english) words left. Not enough for a real conversation!
He obviously expected some words from me, while he was looking at me and my surprising appearance in his room. I asked if he got the slides (I gave this  -afterwards I think STUPID- present, some slides,  a security guy adressed to Axl). He replied "Yeah." But the whole situation went bad a minute after I  turned up  (he later wanted to kick my ass), because Axl for sure (!) didn?t have the  patience  to wait for more more of my babbling. I was only able to excuse for this, and I said "fuck" to that situation. I didn?t mean Axl. So he was pissed off, directly went my way walking out of the room (for sure I went out of his way, otherwise he would have run in me, and I could have touched him. But I?m no woman, and there?s to much respect for that man. And I think it?s not necessary to touch your idol. It was bad enough to bring him in this situation!

So Doug Goldstein "brought" me out of area. Axl was upset and smashed the door.

Before I stood in his door frame he was playing "Dust in the wind", which sounded so awesome and his voice filled the whole big, long floor and it was so beautyful - like Axl singing in  a church! I guessed he was playing a really big piano and sang in a mic. I had to come closer - I knew that would be the only chance in my life to personally meet Axl. Then I saw him sitting on a settee, a Korg keyboard in front of him and no mic! It was unbelievable!!!

So it was one of the greatest and also one of the worst situations in my life (I suffered years on that)! Shit happens.  

Today I?d be a lot more cool in such a situation.

So IF you read this, Axl: I?m so sorry about that, and I hope you were able to forgive me for this! I?m not a stalker, only a fan who wanted to meet his idol and talk a few words.

Also met Duff: He?s a very nice guy.

The next day I had birthday and spent the whole day waiting outside the hotel. Earl came out, he spoke with me about this incident. It seemed he also got in trouble with Axl because of a fan coming so close to him (I mean, I stood uninvited in his room, and I also could have been a crazy fan who wants to kill him or s.th. like that). I excused as good as possible, and asked for an excuse adressed to Axl. The excuse probably reached him.

After Axl left the hotel for the gig, I drove to the stadium and got over the metal fence  with the help of a tree. Also a great concert with a different - compared to 1992 - great accoustic-like version of November Rain with Slash sitting on the piano, and an accoustic set.
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Then "The 10 year-waiting" began. Spaghetti didn?t satisfy me very much.
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Bought two tickets for "Rock im Park (2001)" for 280 DM (lot og money). Buckethead got ill (on the other hand Axl didn?t know there are shows in Europe!!!). I decided to not go to the festival, because I wanted only because of GN?R. After eight years of waiting, I was depressed about this.
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Madagascar is great!!
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Guns N?Roses will ever be my favourite band - they (and especially Axl) gave me so much in the past 13 years! They influenced me and helped me finding my own place in this world - at least lots of time!

Greetings,
         Francis

[nadia]

Seeing Paradise City on TV.
Seeing GNR live in Costa Mesa 91
Buying UYI 1&2 from the freshly delivered paper box.
Rocking out to GNR at every single party.
SEEING GNR LIVE AT THE FMT while I was sick in bed.
Buying GNR tickets to see them in Turin.
Hearing GNR live from Paris on the radio
Seeing GNR in Turin 92 (the best of all by far)
Seeing GNR in Modean 2 nights in a raw in 93.
Bumping into Slash at a Gilby concert at the Troubadour in 94.

[tonya_ytzerman]

FrancisFarmer - i also had ticks for Rock im Park, Rock am Ring, Berlin, and Stockholm. I had talked a friend in coming to RIP with me, so i was in RIP (no gn'r though ("humor ist, wenn man trotzdem geht"). i got the money back for berlin, and also for the train tickets i'd already bought. i had talked another friend into coming to stockholm with me. she called me one fine day n' said "hey i just heard on the radio the gn'r shows are cancelled - you still come to stockholm with me" - it's a beautiful city... well lucky me: my bro works for swiss (former swissair), and so i got my tickets for half the price... in stockholm i went to the globe arena and there were posters of gn'r hanging everywhere, so i walked to their office n' asked if i could get one (i have it at home, so it was worth the trip). i could also exchange the gn'r ticks for some for december (first the stockholm show was postponed). well i got my money back from sweden when the show was cancelled without even asking for it...

[Michelle]

-The first time I heard Welcome To The Jungle which was the first Guns song I heard anyway. It blew me away and the obsession has started To quote Jarmo: "It changed my life"

-The first time I actually saw the band behind the music - especially this guy with the red hair and the bandana  [love]

-The first time I heard Estranged. [smoking]

 [peace]

[smeagol2124]

1.Hearing Estranged for the first time, Alpine Valley 1991 opening    weekend of the Illusions tours.  Remeber that other than some radio station rumors, most of us here in America had heard little about the Rock in Rio show.  YCBM was being played, but we had no real clue as to what the Illusions albums would be like.  These two shows were incredible, if for the fact that I was there up close, and got to hear new GNR material fro the first time in 2 years

2. HOB Las Vegas show 1/1/1, hearing The Blues for the first time.  See above


I have about 20 more, but these two moments will forever stand out in my mind.

[Aava]

-Getting my first CD. It was AFD and my dad bought it to me.

-Recording the whole video tape full of Dont cry-video.

- April 20th, 1992. Sitting at home watching the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness.

-That was great moment for me too. Was it really april? At the time i was in our summer place in middle Finland and my aunt had to record it to me, cause we didnt had videos there.

-All those GNR weekends on MTV!

-Being miserably in love with Axl. It was 1991 and i was in Play Del Ingles with my family. I spent all days inside raeding Rock magazines about Axl. I felt so sick because of him (my first love).  

-I?ve never seen them live..

[Jim]

I'm not old enough to have as many GNR memories as most of you  

So I'm hoping that it will be the new GNR who change mylife

I can't really remmember hearing Sweet Child or Jungle etc for the first time, because, well, they are just songs that I have grown up knowing.

Although one of my great memories of the new band is:

Waiting for the Rio appearance and awaiting the bootlegs, because what I heard first was terrible quality  

Staying up late on the slight chance that GNR would appear at the VMA's...thank God they did  

[marknroses]

1994 - Watching the video for "November Rain" at 12 years old and being into grunge and pop-punk acts and not liking GNR b/c they were considered 1980's establishment - and they seemed too ostentatious and overblown - not to mention I thought they were being sellouts after AFD had seemed to be a hard album. Sure enough, hating GNR when I was younger would set the stage for a much greater appreciation of the band when I got a little bit older

1997 - Starting to broaden my musical horizons a bit from the contemporary stuff with Elton John, the Beatles, Zeppelin...u get the picture. But sure enough, my 1st GNR recording is found a mix tape from summer camp with "Nighttrain" as one of the featured tracks ( I still hated GNR for "November Rain", but I was familiar with their AFD stuff - but only PC, WTTJ, SCOM & Nightrain).

December 1998 - A little bit older and wiser - about 16 years old and watching MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch" when Nick Diamond falls off the broadcaster's booth after a dead celebrity knocks into it, and falls down and knocks his head and goes into a coma ("Coma" would have sounded better). At the end of the episode, they pay a tribute to Nick Diamond playing "Knockin On Heaven's Door"...the 1st time I heard that song since 1991. I thought it sounded cool, but I still hated GNR, so instead of buying AFD & UYI, burning them on CD & returning them, I just borrowed  those cd's from my friend (note: "Coma" & "Don't Cry" were not on the burned copies).

December 1998 - After misplacing UYI 2 with UYI 1, I turned to track 4 to hear "KOHD" but instead got something even better. "Don;t Cry" and soon to follow "Civil War" became my first beloved GNR tracks.

July 1999 - Hearing "Patience" for the very 1st time and deciding it would be worth burning that GNR LIES CD too.

December 1999 - LIstening to Live Era 1987-1993 and just going fucking wild for one track on that album "Its So Easy".

January 2000 - Buying "Welcome to the Videos" and seeing "Estranged" a song i had feared listening too, and crying the whole day afterwards, knowing my views of myself would never be the same, as well as concluding that I finally had a favorite Rock N' Roll band (GNR) and a favorite musician (Axl) and that I would begin devoting $$$ towards assembling a collection of their music and merchandise.

July 2000 - Just falling in love with "Coma". Also began buying videos from ebay including the Paris show 1992 which is still my favorite.

Oct 25th 2000 - Running around the hallways of my dorm at BU with my shirt off, yelling at the top of my lungs after reading the MTV report that GNR would be debuting the new lineup at Rock N' Rio 3.

August 12th 2002 - Reading the Axl interview and finally understanding how and why GNR had broken up. Getting excited for the new GNR tour.

September 2002 - Getting 25 GNR shows on VCD from Hong Kong and loving them all.

December 2nd 2002 - Watching GNR in Fleetcenter and coming to the conclusion after hearing that performance and others that the true greatness of this lineup will only shine with the new material - that the old songs would never sound as good as they did with the old band, but that this new band can pack just as good a punch with their new material.

April 2003 - Feeling more confident now than at any point in the past 4 years that GNR will be putting out the record at any month, and at any moment, will begin their blitz on the music scene.
 [peace]
MNR

[Rain]

Oct or Nov 1989 - I was 15 and the american assistant who gave us conversation lessons in high school lent me Appetite for destruction because i told him I listened to Led Zep.

6-6-92 : Show in Vincennes... half of my fellow students, many weren't even gn'r fans, went to that show while I was locked at home because of my Baccalaur?at de Philosophie.

7-8-93 : Show in Nancy! First time I saw them live... it was amazing and I'm nearly glad this is one of the few shows where there's no bootleg available... makes it even more special.

7-13-93: Show in Paris... Yes twice that year  [ok]

2-14-95: Won a pin ball contest (weird things do happen) and witnessed an accoustic Slash's Snakepit Show with 50 other people.

To make it short :

9-14-2000: Metting Slash again after an ac/dc show in Vegas...

August 2002 : Pukkelpop Festival and London Arena... I loved so much the new band live... that I planned to see them in Vegas in December (I was lucky enough to have my plane tickets and my hotel refunded)! But I'm ready to do it over again, no doubt

26.08.02 GUNS N' FUCKING ROSES!!! Seeing Axl 15 feet away from me!! [wow] BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE

I was in the front row just in front of Robin maybe we saw each other there

[tonya_ytzerman]

oh not to mention that gn'r played basel in '93 (they also did in 91, but i didn't get that). my bro n' i  (11 and 13) agreed on our mom saying "you're too small but see gn'r are so big they're gonna be back in 2 years". thanks, mom!

[providman]

  Been a fan ever I heard a new song(WTTJ) by a new band called G n R way back whenever AFD was released('87?).  My friends & I (all musicians) made sure we got AFD as soon as it was released.  Thought It's So Easy was the coolest thing we'd ever heard.  We used to get smashed & then spend the whole night discussing & dissecting the sheer brilliance of that album.  We honestly thought it was the GREATEST thing any of us had ever heard. Saw them at a small club in New Jersey(Obsessions, in Randolf) a few weeks after AFD was released.  The funny thing is, that was a make-up show - they were supposed to play a few weeks previous, but when we got to the club, we learned they cancelled.  Saw them soon after at the famous NYC Ritz show, the one taped for MTV(at one point, my brother is visible). Saw them soon after at the Felt Forum(now known as the Theatre at MSG), Saw them at Giants Stadium about a year later, opening for Deep Purple & Aerosmith. Oh yea, I almost forgot, I met Slash & Duff through a friend of a friend the night before the Ritz show, while they were giving a radio interview at NYU. I actually videotaped the interview(at the time I was a fledgling camera operator/editor), & later that night, I cut a music video intercutting clips of the interview, a crazy radio station middle management type jerk-off who was going around screaming at people at the station,  clips of Mike Tyson beating the crap out of, I think, either Michael Spinks or trevor Berbick, & bunch of crazy clips of some buddies of mine trashing a hotel room at the jersey shore, all set to WTTJ. I put my name & phone # at the end of the piece, & actually got it into Goldstein's hand the night of the Ritz show, but alas, I never heard from them.  Oh well.
  I was living in Hermosa Beach, CA, when UYI were released, I remember KNAC(the greatest radio station ever) played the  entire UYI 1 & 2 about a week before they were released, I remember hearing "The Garden" while I was working out at a gym in Manhattan Beach, & freaking out because I thought I heard Alice Cooper singing on a GnR song. COOL!!! It was probably the best time of my life - my girlfriend(now my wife) & I had a tiny 1 bedroom ocean view apartment in Hermosa, we were practically broke( I was just starting my career in Video/Film Postproduction), & I have vivid memories of us playing 500 rummy late into the night, just the 2 of us, listening to UYI 1 & 2 all night.
  Moved back East, saw them again at Giants Stadium(w/ FNM & Metallica).  All I remember was that the show didn't end till around 2:00am, they opened up with "Perfect Crime"(it was the first time I saw them where they didn't open w/"It's So Easy"), they seemed to play for close to 3 hours, Slash did the Godfather theme, & they had the full blown production(there must have been 10 musicians on stage, including a flute player(!).
  Well, thanks for reading this far, it was fun taking this trip down memory lane.

[brian]

My GNR hightlight is not a good one...  On December 6, 2002 - This was supposed to be my first time seeing GNR.  I bought tickets from ebay for $500 to the sold out show (which i eventually got most of my money refunded).  I drove 2 hours from Maryland to Philly to see my favorite band of all time.  He didn't show up.  Crowd was going nuts, stuff started flying so we got out of there.  Got out side and people were burning GNR merchandise, and we could hear the police on their way.  It was a long, sad drive home...

Hopefully I will finally get to see GNR once in my life, that's all I really want, more than I want the album.

Hopefully GNR did not die on 12-6-02, if you think about it - we haven't heard anything official from the band since that day.

[Reckless Life]

--1988 Hearing Sweet Child O'mine and being turned on instanly

--March 9, 1993 Seeing GN'R in Hartford
 
--01-01-01 Vegas at HOB. I was there  [ok]

--Dec.31 2001 --Seeing GN'R in the Front row at the Hard Rock. Then Spending 2 Hrs back stage hanging out w/ Axl. I will never top this!

[Sydney]

Sitting watching The Freddie Mecury Tribute Concert on my Dad's birthday when I was 14.  Guns n Roses took the stage never heard of them before, seeing Axl for the first time and falling in love  [love] having my first real crush [drooling], and just being blown away by his performance.  [wow]

Going to Milton Keynes in 92 with the school hunk (who I am gonna marry next year).  Him holding my hand, Axl running down the side of stage where we were, soooooo surreal.

Whilst travelling stopping off in LA and walking past the Whiskey and making my friend go in the entrance with me just so I could say I had been in there.  (Not really a gnr highlight, but a good memory).

Getting grounded and playing Live and Let Die very loudly from my stereo.

[Lisa]

Not really a highlight presay but the first time I saw Axl loose it live.......03.12.92 Hamilton's Copps Colliseum, Dust and Bones Tour, sitting frontrow,side stage and saw my poor man Axl, take a blue Bic lighter to the nuts, he had the most"i can't believe that fuckin happened" look on his face [no]it was in the middle of Paradise City(first set encore) he just threw the mic into the croed and walked offstage,the rest of the guys tried to salvage the song but we all new the show was over, till this day though , it has been one of the most memorable concerts of my life [love]