Guns N' Roses August 31, 1988 Pittsburgh Civic Arena Pittsburgh, PA, United States Opening for Aerosmith
01 - You're Crazy 02 - It's So Easy 03 - Mr. Brownstone 04 - Out Ta Get Me 05 - Patience 06 - Welcome To The Jungle 07 - Guitar solo - Slash 08 - Paradise City 09 - Sweet Child O' Mine
A good friend of mine introduced me to record shows and bootleg tapes back around 1986, but I had been aware of vinyl bootlegs since 1973. After attending many "gatherings of the faithful" at various Pittsburgh area hotels and convention centers (and some of those were pretty wacky) and spending ~ $300 on tapes (at ~ $5-10/tape), I began to think "Hey, this recording thing can't be THAT hard ; I'll bet that I can do it myself and the quality will be at least as good as what I'm buying !" How right I turned out to be. After buying a SONY WM-F46 with tie mic included for a whopping $60 plus tax, I was on my way. Being a Do It Yourself type of person, I started checking the news for upcoming concerts. Aerosmith/Guns'n'Roses was the first concert that I spotted so I decided to make that the maiden voyage.
I was pretty paranoid about getting caught taping so I tried to dress in a way that would dissuade people from approaching me. I decided on a old shirt, weird tie and a worn sport jacket to cover the shoulder-slung recorder. I looked like a fucking retard. But that was what I was shooting for ; I figured that if somebody looked at me and thought "What a good guy to stay away from !", half the battle was won. The concert day arrived. I drove into downtown Pixburgh and up the hill to the Civic Arena. As I walked to one of the many gates of the circular building, my heart was in my mouth. I was convinced that a cop was gonna pull me out of line and it would be all over. Not to worry. The little old men ticket- takers barely looked at me and when I successfully snuck everything in, I felt like cheering. The big winner...I found my seat and waited for the show to start. When Guns 'N' Roses hit the stage and began to play, I hit REC and the rest is history...
The Gunners played a ferocious 48 minute set and almost blew Aerosmith off the stage. I was not real impressed with Axl's vocals and wondered how somebody could screech like that for almost an hour and still have any voice left. You have the audio document in your hands if you grab this so enjoy it if you get it. I made a few beginner's mistakes, like talking just a little to my neighbors, continually checking to see if the recorder was running, fiddling with the mic, letting people use my binoculars and looking around to see if I were being observed. I stopped all that crap after a while. I was able to edit out virtually all my talking, so that won't be a problem. The concert is complete and is a record of a hungry band on their way up playing like there would be no tomorrow. Quite a different band than what bears that name now. That's about all that I have, so let's get this little gem on the road to spiritual enlightenment OR we can just welcome it to the jungle... Well, that's about it, so let's get this show on the road...
No buy, no sell, no mp3. Please seed this as long as you can. I will post a sample to help people decide if they want this but trust me, it's a fine-quality show. Listen to this on headphones for an enjoyable experience! Well, thanks for reading this and Mr. Natural would like to add these few comments: have fun, have a good fuckin' night and by all means, enjoy the concert!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Axl thanks the crowd for making 'Welcome To The Jungle' a #1 single. He tells the crowd that Geffen wanted to edit the song, but GN'R fought against it and it didn't happen. Axl introduces Izzy as “My co-partner is crime for the last 15 years!” After his guitar solo, Slash says, “This is our first time in, uh, fuckin' Pittsburgh!” Slash tells the crowd that 'Paradise City' will be their 4th single.
1 CD jojogunne Audience jojogunne Stereo tie mic > Sony Walkman WM-F46 analog tape recorder > Maxell UDS-I 90 high-grade normal bias master tapes >JVC Stereo Double Cassette Deck TD-W505 > ZOOM H2 Handy Recorder >SanDisk SD 2 GB sound card (tracked wav files here) > FLAC 46:57 min. A-
