Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door: One Guns N’ Roses Fan’s Adventures Outside The Troubadour Show

Jeff Miller
·4 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

It’s apropos Guns N’ Roses is calling their upcoming tour “Not in This Lifetime” — that’s the chance in hell Axl Rose claimed of ever reuniting with guitarist Slash onstage. It’s also the chance most fans had of getting into their impromptu show Friday night (April 1) at the tiny, 450-capacity Troubadour in Los Angeles.

I know, because I was there: the opportunity to see G’N’R’s first legitimate show back as a full band with both Slash and Rose (as well as bassist Duff McKagan) after 23 years was too great to turn down, even if the odds seemed stacked against me from the beginning.

More from Billboard

Guns N’ Roses Shares Dates for 2016 North American Stadium Tour

They were. Hard. Like many hundreds of others, I went to the old Tower Records building on the Sunset Strip, where tickets were expected to go on sale at noon, only to find out the allotment had been distributed via wristband an hour before that. (In any case, one had to be extremely on top of the rumor mill to get in: a couple I met had arrived at 7:30 a.m., and claimed that only a few people behind them line had been issued passes.) That didn’t dissuade a crowd from sticking around: free tacos from Border Grill and hot dogs from Dogtown Dogs didn’t hurt the vibe, and neither did a merch stand selling “exclusive” merch for the Troubadour show, eaten up by the would-be audience, many of whom bought piles of gold-on-black posters and shirts festooned with the band’s signature shield and the show date. “April Fools,” some of the shirts read, causing some fans to postulate that it was all a ruse. Thankfully, it was untrue.

As promised by the band, an interactive exhibit showing their glory days occupied the Tower building — or, at least, the Rock Of Ages version, complete with writhing of-an-era pole-dancers, a faux gross toilet, a stage holding one of Slash’s signature Gibson guitars (er… the Epiphone copy of Slash’s signature Gibson guitar), and walls peppered with memorabilia a la the Hard Rock: platinum records and old t-shirts, debauchery packaged as history. Fans, most clad in Guns’ iconic regalia, took the requisite Instagram photos but it felt worlds away from actually experiencing the band at their peak.

A quick car ride down to the Troubadour revealed a line forming there at 1 p.m. — a full 10-hours before the show was supposed to start. I asked a security guard if a staff member was there; he caught on quickly: “We’re not even opening the box office tonight,” he told me. I left.

Guns N’ Roses Performs Intimate Reunion Show in Los Angeles

At 10 p.m., I returned only to find not just the Troubadour itself, but the street and traffic island surrounding it overrun with the sort of rockers that you’d think went extinct when Vampire Weekend hit (ironically, all that leather doesn’t feel out of place in West Hollywood at all). Like many other fans, I did laps around the block, hoping to run into an insider who may be able to escort me in while attempting to avoid the sheriffs constantly running ticket-holder wannabes off the sidewalk. The legendary restaurant Dan Tanas’ valet station ended up with much of the overflow, meaning a harder time for paparazzi to snap a photo of Lindsay Lohan as she arrived for dinner while Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, David Arquette, Lana Del Rey and Emily Ratajkowski were all reportedly inside as well.

In 25 years of attending shows in L.A., I can’t recall a small event with more of a security presence: multiple barricades prevented hopefuls from getting through not just the front door but the back and sides as well. Entire blocks were stacked with parked police cars and the usual venue security was relegated to distributing 21+ wristbands while the yellow-and-purple shirts conducted pat-downs, confiscating phones and locking them in bags before letting concertgoers in. (A few intrepid people were able to sneak them in. See clips from social media here.)

Guns N’ Roses Eyeing $3 Million Per Show Payday on Potential Tour

But my tries were for naught: though I ran into a few industry folks with the golden ticket, none of them had a golden plus-one, which meant that I was on the sidewalk watching as No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal was escorted in right after the Fire Marshall declared the building at capacity. The doors closed just after midnight as the band’s grind-metal anthem “It’s So Easy” from their 1987 debut Appetite For Destruction began.

And though it certainly wasn’t going to turn into a Guns N’ Roses riot for the ages, it sort of felt right: tonight in LA, G’N’R was once again the biggest band in the world. Whether they can continue to maintain that status remains this summer’s most captivating rock mystery.

 

Best of Billboard