‘Live Era ’87-’93′: Guns N’ Roses’s Explosive Live Album
It’s a vital reminder of the explosive power, unmatchable showmanship, and irresistible rock’n’roll attitude of the group at their peak.
The first Guns N’ Roses live album was a long time coming, even for fans used to showing a little patience. On its release in November 1999, Live Era ’87-’93 was a vital, double-album reminder of the explosive power, unmatchable showmanship, and irresistible rock’n’roll attitude of GN’R at their peak.
Order Guns N’ Roses’s Live Era ’87–’93 on vinyl now.
Live Era ’87-’93 had been teased way back in 1994, during an interview frontman Axl Rose and guitarist Slash gave to LA rock radio station KLOS-FM’s Rockline show. Answering fan questions, the pair hinted at vaults bursting with live recordings from their blockbusting Use Your Illusion tour, which ran from January 1991 to July 1993. “We recorded every single show we did,” said Rose. “We’ve talked for a long time about compiling something out of that. I have no idea… we haven’t had the time to go back and listen to everything yet.” Slash joked, “Basically, we’re just trying to find somebody who has the patience to sit through it,” before Rose upped the ambition, “We’d love to make a movie. We filmed everything that we did on the road for the last few years, and we’d like to make a documentary movie and put out a soundtrack to that.”
Creating the compilation
Five years on from that interview, and even the most optimistic (and yes, patient) Guns N’ Roses fan might’ve given up on those live recordings ever officially seeing the light of day. Since the band’s previous full albums of original material – Use Your Illusion volumes I and II, both released in September 1991 – GN’R had disintegrated. Founding member, rhythm guitarist and Rose’s frequent co-writer Izzy Stradlin quit the band in November 1991. Slash followed in October 1996, and in August 1997, bassist Duff McKagan became the final member of the band who’d made Appetite For Destruction to leave. Rose continued to work with an ever-changing group of musicians and producers on the next Guns N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy.
Enter Del James, GN’R’s road manager and the unsung hero of Live Era ’87-’93, who played an invaluable role in the making of the album, as Rose told MTV in 1999, “[He] worked for a couple of years off and on, going through every single show we did on DAT tape from the Use Your Illusion tour and then every available tape, and finding tapes, and finding people that have recorded things, so he could have in his mind what was recorded best from the entire time Guns N’ Roses was together.”
Rose went on to suggest that Live Era ’87-’93 was his way of achieving closure on the first phase of the band. “It was something we wanted to give to the public in a way of saying farewell. It was a very difficult thing to do, as listening to it and the people involved… [it] wasn’t the most emotionally pleasant thing to do.”
Slash, meanwhile, found a new appreciation for his old band over the course of putting the collection together, as he told Rock Hard, “We first had to figure out some kind of setlist, which would represent all of our standards. It was important for me that the album would present the band as honest and pure as possible. I’ve never heard our albums before after they were recorded and mixed, and when I went through this bunch of tapes this time, I realized how good we were back then.”
Capturing the glory of Guns N’ Roses live
From its opening seconds, Live Era ’87-’93 captures the all-out excitement of the GN’R live experience. “You wanted the best?” snarls McBob, Duff’s bass tech and GN’R cult figure, “Well, they didn’t fucking make it. So here’s what you get – from Hollywood: Guns… And… Roses.” As the crowd screams their approval, the band launches into a swaggering version of Appetite For Destruction’s “Nightrain.” It’s the perfect opener, an ode to reckless debauchery which oozes rock’n’roll attitude, from Rose shrieking with unrepentant glee that he’s “ready to crash and burn” to Slash’s high-wire fretboard heroics.
Amazingly, the energy is maintained with an irresistible, high-octane blast through “Mr Brownstone,” another Appetite rocker with lyrics that speak of the dark side of debauchery. The track whips the crowd into such a frenzy that Rose halts the show to plead with the crowd for some calm (“I’ve already seen too many people carried out… the show just started… don’t worry, we’re gonna play for a fuckin’ while”). The decision to include Rose’s speech on Live Era ’87-’93 not only shows the frontman’s mastery of the crowd, but helps to convey the feeling of hysteria that surrounded GN’R in their pomp.
Still, who can blame crowds for getting worked up when confronted with the greatest rock’n’roll band of their generation? Live Era ’87-’93 is packed with certified rabble rousers – a brilliantly snotty “It’s So Easy” is followed by a powerful “Welcome To The Jungle,” introduced by Rose’s gleeful screech of “You’re in the jungle baby, wake up, time to die!” Elsewhere, Stradlin takes lead vocals for the stomping glam of “Dust N’ Bones” (The Sweet’s “Blockbuster” relocated to ’80s Sunset Strip), and a barrage of swashbuckling rockers – “My Michelle,” “You’re Crazy,” “Pretty Tied Up” – capture the wild magic of the band at their best.
Live Era ’87-’93 also finds time for the band’s sensitive side with a stripped-back version of the G N’ R Lies power ballad “Patience” recorded at an April 1993 Mexico City show. From the moment the crowd recognizes the opening riff, they’re the stars, singing each word and almost drowning out Rose – no mean feat. The song also gives Slash a chance to show off his acoustic chops with a breathtaking solo, before segueing into an electric finale (taken from a January 1992 Las Vegas show). The mood continues with one of Live Era ’87-’93’s most moving moments: Rose’s solo piano-and-voice cover of Black Sabbath’s “It’s Alright,” striking a reflective tone before a 12-and-a-half-minute “November Rain” redefines the word “epic.” Later in the set, an extended cover of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” turns into a mass sing-along before Rose demands, “Give me some reggae.” The band obeys, swiftly transforming the Dylan classic into an up-tempo skank, to the crowd’s obvious delight.
Some big-hitters are saved for the final stretch, a reminder of the sheer number of classics the band had to call upon: a jet-fuelled “Rocket Queen,” an utterly glorious “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” an emotionally draining “Estranged” and, finally, a blistering tear through “Paradise City.” But for vinyl lovers, there was an encore – a visceral version of the rarely played Use Your Illusion track “Coma,” also included on the new, fully remastered 4LP reissue of Live Era ’87-’93. “I think the version of ‘Coma’ that’s on the record is the first or second time we ever played it live,” Slash told Player magazine in 2000. “We only played it probably two or three times that whole tour because it was just so involved… Izzy used to have a ‘cheat sheet’ for the chord changes on it – like the size of a table – onstage when we played that song.”
On its release, Live Era ’87-’93 not only served as a timely reminder of the band’s brilliance, but it helped remind the band themselves what they had lost. “Guns is still close to my heart,” Slash told Guitar World in 2000, “I’m loyal to the day I die, I suppose.” In a rare interview with Rolling Stone in January 2000, Rose was similarly sentimental about the band’s glory days, saying, “No one loved the old band more than me.” Live Era ’87-’93 explains exactly why these two generational talents felt that way. You wanted the best? You got it. Turn it up loud.
