May 29th 1993

Charles Elliott's Review [posted 5.31.93]

OK, here is a review of the Guns N' Roses date at Milton Keynes Bowl, England on May 29th 1993. The track list is from memory and there may be a couple of songs that I have got the wrong way round!

The bowl was divided into two sections. There was the main one that was fenced off about 40 metres from the stage, and then between this barrier and the stage was another small section. The people that got there early were given passes into this area, and by the time we arrived, they were no longer letting anyone in. However, after hanging around at the entrance for almost two hours we were let in. This area meant that you were never more than 20 feet from the front of the stage, and if you pushed to the front you were within six feet. Absolutely brilliant!

The support bands were Blind Melon, Soul Asylum and The Cult. Personally, I think that Blind Melon and The Cult were the best, managing to get the audience moving on what was turning out to be a damp day.

GN'R were due on at 7:30, and to play until 10:30, but partly due to he fact that all the monitors had to be waterproofed, they did not come on stage until 8:30. For those of you that are interested, Slash was wearing a Sex Pistols 'God Save The Queen' T-shirt, and Axl a bright red T-shirt with a face on the front and 'Charlie don't surf' written on the back. Any ideas?

Track list:
Nightrain
Mr Brownstone
Live and Let Die
Welcome To the Jungle
Attitude
Its So Easy
Double Talkin' Jive

You Ain't The First * Start of Accoustic Set
Used To Love Her
You're Crazy
Patience/Imagine
Knockin' on Heavens Door
November Rain * End of Accoustic Set

Drum Solo
You Could Be Mine
Dead Horse (with Axl on guitar!)
Guitar Solo
Sweet Child O' Mine

Paradise City

Axl was in excellent voice, although he didn't really have much to say to the crowd at the beginning. The audience was full of support for Izzy, with regular chants of his name. He even bowed to the audience at one point!

There were no backing singers, horns etc. just the band. After the first few songs, the sofa was brought on, as well as accoustic guitars and a small drum kit, and the band sat on the sofa. Before the set started, Slash started to play something on the guitar which got the crowd laughing. It was like a children's program music, but I'm not sure exactly what it was. After You Ain't The First, a pizza delivery man came on, and after throwing the pizza to the crowd, Axl introduced the bloke as the Bongo player for Used To Love Her.

When the band moved onto Patience, and got to the short gap about 2/3rds of the way through the song, Axl walked towards the back of the stage and Slash started to play around on the guitar playing the odd notes which sounded like John Lennon's Imagine. The crows started to hum, and near the end of the verse, Axl reappeared, and seemed to be wondering what was going on. He listened to the crowd and then quietly joined in the the last two lines. They then carried on with Patience!

During Knockin' on Heavens door, there was the usual sing along, with Axl saying 'Are you going to help me sing this motherfucker.....that's a nice way to talk about a religious ditty'. The crowd duly obliged and even got a 'You're fuckin' awsome' comment from Slash.

Once back into the electric set, Axl introduced the band. He called Izzy 'Someone you might recognise', and Izzy got the biggest cheer of all the band. Matt's drim solo lasted about three minutes, and then went straight into You Could Be Mine. After this, Axl was handed an accoustic guitar and then started to play Dead Horse. This was the first time I have heard it live, even on a bootleg. Before Sweet Child, Slash played a long guitar solo which was absolutely amazing, and then after briefly leaving the stage, they played Paradise City.

Overall absolutely brilliant, with no costume changes (not one!), not backing singers, no pyrotechnics, just the band at the best.

As I said in a previous post, I believe Radio 1 broadcast it live - if anyone has the tapes, please let me know.