Guns 'n' Roses - Live at the Ritz (1988)

[dcbc 14,644]

I remember this show being shown on MTV when I was in the eighth grade.  We'd been listening to GNR since late 87 and it seemed like a lot of other music getting radio play was getting pretty awful.  I remember watching this and having hope in newer music for the first time in a while.   It's still great to watch.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by dcbc

[jimmyjazz 47,127]

Whoa.  I never saw them.  I didn't really realize they were that tight.  I love the first album, and in a weird way I love "The Spaghetti Incident", but I didn't know they were such a live powerhouse.  That's a great sounding live recording.

[Deej 77,806]

When these guys came crawling out of the wasteland thar was 80's rock, I was so excited. And Izzy doesn't get enough love.

[HenryJames 67,323]

I have a CD of this, but the sound isn’t as good. They were already the best band in the world at this point, and they were still a rock band.

[dcbc 14,644]

13 hours ago, Deej said:

When these guys came crawling out of the wasteland thar was 80's rock, I was so excited. And Izzy doesn't get enough love.

No, he does not.  Adler doesn't get enough love either. 

I saw them four times, but all were after Izzy and Steve were gone unfortunately.  Still good shows.

[BurntOrangeCrush 1,028]

21 hours ago, dcbc said:

I remember this show being shown on MTV when I was in the eighth grade.  We'd been listening to GNR since late 87 and it seemed like a lot of other music getting radio play was getting pretty awful.  I remember watching this and having hope in newer music for the first time in a while.   It's still great to watch.

 

That was great. I hadn't seen this before. I saw them in concert with this lineup and it was awesome. Thanks for posting

[elfenix 34,744]

as this appears to be the only dedicated guns n' roses thread on here:

 

The ‘November Rain’ music video defined a generation. Inside its ‘bonkers’ production

Quote

“‘November Rain’ was a bit like the last of the dinosaurs before the meteorite, and the meteorite was grunge and everything that happened to the music industry” thanks to file-sharing, says Mike Southon, one of two cinematographers who shot the video.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-06-07/novemeber-rain-guns-n-roses-music-video-making-of-30th-anniversary?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[Deej 77,806]

November Rain was always the best song to get a lap dance to at the club. 9 minutes long, so you got your money's worth. 

[dcbc 14,644]

In a nod to the November Rain video, at my wedding, my best man, as planned, patted himself up and down for the right before holding it out to me on his pinky finger.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by dcbc

[Buzzrock 15,136]

Man I had such a thing for Stephanie Seymour.

[dcbc 14,644]

I got to see that iteration a handful of times, and the end of that song live was sick. 

[Dennis Taylor 19,343]

On 6/11/2022 at 5:44 PM, dcbc said:

In a nod to the November Rain video, at my wedding, my best man, as planned, patted himself up and down for the right before holding it out to me on his pinky finger.

 

 

But was he wearing a black batting glove?

[dcbc 14,644]

Just now, Dennis Taylor said:

But was he wearing a black batting glove?

Sadly, he had to be a bit more subtle.

[tbone_ 14,438]

Video in OP is down, but I saw them in Sep 87 at Palmer. Can verify they were indeed off the hook. Legit rolling ball of butcher knives.

[Dennis Taylor 19,343]

3 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Video in OP is down, but I saw them in Sep 87 at Palmer. Can verify they were indeed off the hook. Legit rolling ball of butcher knives.

Yep same here. Went to see The Cult because Electric is amazing but who knew that Appetite was lurking...I'd love to time machine back to that one 

[tbone_ 14,438]

I had seen the video for welcome to the jungle like once before that show. We had no idea what was coming at us.

[utee94 16,079]

Also saw that show in Austin, it melted my face off.  

[dcbc 14,644]

On 6/12/2022 at 7:38 PM, tbone_ said:

Video in OP is down, but I saw them in Sep 87 at Palmer. Can verify they were indeed off the hook. Legit rolling ball of butcher knives.

Fixed it.  Unfortunately, I never got a chance to see them until 92, but I saw them three times that year and again in 93 in Austin.  Totally different vibe by then, but I got my money's worth.

Edited June 14, 2022 by dcbc

[jimmyjazz 47,127]

I can't believe it took a year for that album to really break.  That band came out of the womb as fully-formed rock stars, such a breath of fresh air compared to the Sunset Strip bullshit of the day.

[dcbc 14,644]

17 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I can't believe it took a year for that album to really break.  That band came out of the womb as fully-formed rock stars, such a breath of fresh air compared to the Sunset Strip bullshit of the day.

I wouldn't call 7th grade me and my friends cutting edge music types, but AFD droped on 07/21/87, and we were blasting ad nauseum by mid August in the locker room before football practice.  Or maybe that was a year later, but I don't think it was.  What's crazy is that it still was being played to death on the radio well into 1989/1990.  We wore that cassette out.

 

/edit.  Reading the history of it, it probably was August of 88.  It was on the chart for 147 weeks.  Wow.

Edited June 14, 2022 by dcbc

[jimmyjazz 47,127]

Yeah, it took a LONG time to really get going.

[tbone_ 14,438]

If you haven’t read Slash’s book give it a read. Lots of standard LA band debauchery shit but also a pretty interesting story.

[baboso 6,105]

 

[Dennis Taylor 19,343]

 

 

[G650 14,437]

So in total absurd news, G'nR is releasing a box set of Use Your Illusion that supposedly has 63(!!!!?!?!) unreleased songs on it. I know several are going to be live versions and whatnot, but that's still insane.

 

Oh and it's gonna be 500 bucks.

[dcbc 14,644]

On 9/21/2022 at 4:20 PM, G650 said:

So in total absurd news, G'nR is releasing a box set of Use Your Illusion that supposedly has 63(!!!!?!?!) unreleased songs on it. I know several are going to be live versions and whatnot, but that's still insane.

 

Oh and it's gonna be 500 bucks.

The Use your Illusion albums have some good songs on them.  They also have some real dogs.  I can only imagine that the 63 unreleased tracks have that status for a reason.  As for the live stuff, I saw five shows during that period, and while I enjoyed them (the songs were well played), it's not like I really need to hear the live version like they're the Grateful Dead or something.  The Ritz show is something else because they're young and the performance is so raw.  But I don't know that listening to it without seeing it would be something special.

[G650 14,437]

3 minutes ago, dcbc said:

The Use your Illusion albums have some good songs on them. 

 

So in an unpopular opinion, I think UYI blows Appetite out of the water in terms of song quality. And most of the good songs were never played on the radio. November Rain isn't even in the top half of UYI songs. AFD clearly has more energy and edge, but they developed a lot as songwriters over those few years, and it was basically a continual writing process straight through from Appetite to Lies to UYI, there really wasn't distinct projects there and UYI was kind of the apotheosis of whatever wild dysfunctional creativity they were.

 

I honestly hadn't listened to any Guns for probably 5 years or so until I heard about this the other day as I was so repulsed by the bullshit lame old white guy money grab nostalgia act tour™. Like to the point I would actively change the station if Paradise City or whatever came on. But my willpower broke down ever so slightly and I listen a song off UYI II, and next thing you know I listen to both albums and goddammit. It's like when I try and play other guitars and amps then go plug my LP back into the Marshall. It's just so fucking good.

 

But anyway I'm not paying 500 bucks for this. I have an original copy of Appetite on vinyl signed by the whole band which I am much more into as far history goes.

 

 

[dcbc 14,644]

1 minute ago, G650 said:

 

So in an unpopular opinion, I think UYI blows Appetite out of the water in terms of song quality. And most of the good songs were never played on the radio. November Rain isn't even in the top half of UYI songs. AFD clearly has more energy and edge, but they developed a lot as songwriters over those few years, and it was basically a continual writing process straight through from Appetite to Lies to UYI, there really wasn't distinct projects there and UYI was kind of the apotheosis of whatever wild dysfunctional creativity they were.

 

I honestly hadn't listened to any Guns for probably 5 years or so until I heard about this the other day as I was so repulsed by the bullshit lame old white guy money grab nostalgia act tour™. Like to the point I would actively change the station if Paradise City or whatever came on. But my willpower broke down ever so slightly and I listen a song off UYI II, and next thing you know I listen to both albums and goddammit. It's like when I try and play other guitars and amps then go plug my LP back into the Marshall. It's just so fucking good.

 

But anyway I'm not paying 500 bucks for this. I have an original copy of Appetite on vinyl signed by the whole band which I am much more into as far history goes.

 

 

There are good songs on both UYI albums.  Estranged is an incedible track.  There are others.  But I have no interest in any alternate takes of Get in the Ring or Garden of Eden.  I'm in the camp of those who say this could have been one really good album.

[Dennis Taylor 19,343]

8 minutes ago, dcbc said:

There are good songs on both UYI albums.  Estranged is an incedible track.  There are others.  But I have no interest in any alternate takes of Get in the Ring or Garden of Eden.  I'm in the camp of those who say this could have been one really good album.

Locomotive and Coma are fucking great 

[G650 14,437]

4 minutes ago, dcbc said:

There are good songs on both UYI albums.  Estranged is an incedible track.  There are others.  But I have no interest in any alternate takes of Get in the Ring or Garden of Eden.  I'm in the camp of those who say this could have been one really good album.

I go back and forth on Estranged. The outro solo is right there for me with No More Tears and Comfortably Numb as best solo in history. And I like the epic nature of the song. Probably my biggest critique is the music video being so overwrought, and it kind of colors my view of the song.

 

But Breakdown - Pretty Tied Up - Locomotive is probably the strongest run of songs they did, and pretty high all time, only rivaled in their work by Don't Damn me - Bad Apples - Dead Horse - Coma.  I don't see how you get all the material in one album. CD's were only 75 minutes long. There's just way too many quality songs.

[dcbc 14,644]

14 minutes ago, G650 said:

I go back and forth on Estranged. The outro solo is right there for me with No More Tears and Comfortably Numb as best solo in history. And I like the epic nature of the song. Probably my biggest critique is the music video being so overwrought, and it kind of colors my view of the song.

 

But Breakdown - Pretty Tied Up - Locomotive is probably the strongest run of songs they did, and pretty high all time, only rivaled in their work by Don't Damn me - Bad Apples - Dead Horse - Coma.  I don't see how you get all the material in one album. CD's were only 75 minutes long. There's just way too many quality songs.

My introduction to Estranged was at one of the shows I saw right around when UYI2 came out.  The video for that one was released later if I recall, and agree that I never really cared for it. 

[CooterBrown 18,287]

57 minutes ago, dcbc said:

There are good songs on both UYI albums.  Estranged is an incedible track.  There are others.  But I have no interest in any alternate takes of Get in the Ring or Garden of Eden.  I'm in the camp of those who say this could have been one really good album.

I made a single album playlist on Spotify years ago that I like a lot...

1. Pretty Tied Up
2. Perfect Crime
3. Yesterdays
4. Right Next Door to Hell
5. Bad Obsession
6. Locomotive
7. Don't Cry
8. Coma
9. Back Off Bitch
10. Shotgun Blues
11. So Fine
12. Civil War
13. You Could Be Mine
14. Estranged

[4th&Five 41,985]

@ Minute Maid on 9/28 too.  

Edited February 21, 2023 by 4th&Five

[HenryJames 67,323]

Saw them at Soldier Field on their last tour. Axl just doesn’t have the range anymore.