USE YOUR ILLUSION TOUR FACTS

The Use Your Illusion tour was unique in many ways. The idea itself of launching such a big tour after only one real album out, and the follow-up months away, was pretty unusual. It turned out to be one of the longest tours in rock n' roll history, 192 shows in 27 countries in 26 months. Guns N' Roses reached the peak of their popularity during the tour- Around seven million people saw them live, their albums sold extensively and their videos dominated MTV. But, as always in the world of Guns N' Roses, everything was far from roses. The Use Your Illusion tour would in fact become one of the most infamous ever. There were the riots in St. Louis and Montreal, shows stopped for various reasons (most commonly due to fans throwing stuff on stage), Axl ranting for up to ten minutes during shows, curfew fines and of course the never-ending late starts. Waiting for two hours after the scheduled starting time was nothing unusual for a crowd. Axl, who was mostly blamed for this, explained in the few interviews he gave that he followed his internal schedule, and therefore wouldn't go on stage before he was ready to give the crowd his absolute best.
So, this is the section dedicated to this tour. Enjoy!

The Legs // Behind the Scenes // Countries Visited While on Tour

The Legs

First Leg (May 24, 1991 - April 9, 1992)
USA and Europe.
Tourdiary of this leg.

Second Leg (May 16, 1992 - July 2, 1992)
Europe.
Tourdiary of this leg.

Third Leg (July 17, 1992 - October 6, 1992)
USA Stadium tour with Metallica & Faith No More. 25 shows were held during this leg. 825,000 tickets were sold. Two shows (East Rutherford, NJ and Pasadena, CA) sold-out in less then 40 minutes. Two shows (Boston, MA and Monstreal, Canada) sold-out in less then a day.
Tourdiary of this leg.

Fourth Leg (November 25, 1992 - December 13, 1992)
South America. Nine shows were held in five countries. 500,000 plus tickets were sold.
Tourdiary of this leg.

Fifth Leg (January 12, 1993 - February 6, 1993)
Japan/Far East.
Tourdiary of this leg.

Sixth Leg (February 23, 1993 - April 27, 1993)
USA. This leg was called "Skin N' Bones." It featured only the six members onstage and they did an acoustic section in the middle of the set.
Tourdiary of this leg.

Seventh Leg (May 22, 1993 - July 13, 1993)
Europe. 25 shows in 22 cities in 15 countries were held. Over 1,167,500 people attended the shows. This leg was called "Get In The Ring Motherfucker - Round II."
Tourdiary of this leg.

Eigth Leg (July 16, 1993 - July 17, 1993)
Argentina.
Tourdiary of this leg.

During 1992 alone, the band played to a total of 3,003,086 people... In the summer of 1993, when GN'R returned to Europe for the final time, they had already performed in front of over 853,500 people. Those dates added 1,167,500 more... By the time the world tour was complated in mid-July 1993, the band had played a total of 192 dates in 27 countries in support of their 'Use Your Illusion' albums - 110 in the States and 82 more all over the world. Over SEVEN MILLION people had seen the band perform.

Behind The Scenes

THE 1993 EUROPEAN TOUR PRODUCTION THE STAGES
The stage and set were designed by Phil Ealy and the band. Phil also designed the lighting of the show. The stage was 200' wide and 80' deep. The set, 75' high. 900 searchlights were used. The stage and set took three days to construct and a day to take down. Three separate stages were used in Europe, piggy-backing across the continent, so that each stage was utilised for every third show and at any one time, two or three steel structures would be standing at once in various venues.

HEAVY METAL
The band's travelling stages each weighed 50 tons. The total tonnage transported to each show was 150 tons including the band's equipment (which weighed seven tons) and the steel scaffolding.

THE P.A.
It took three tractor trailors to transport the enourmous PA system speaker cabinets at each site. In total, 200 speaker cabinets were used.

THE BUSES
Including those for the opening acts, there were eight crew buses travelling from show to show. Five of contained GN'R crew personnel.

THE TRUCKS
In total, 11 trucks were used to transport the equipment across Europe.

THE INSTRUMENTS
Slash travelled with 13 guitars, including a variety of Gibson Les Pauls, one of which was a double-neck. Duff used two Fender bass guitars. Gilby had a selection of Gibson guitars. Axl played a grand piano that rose up from beneath the stage during 'November Rain'. 60 microphones were used on stage during each show.

THE POWER
The show used 250,000 Watts of power for sound, ancillary puposes and to power the 900 lights illuminating the stage. It took two massive power generators to provid this power.

THE INFLATABLES
The inflatables erected during 'Welcome To The Jungle' were each 'operated' by four men.

THE VIDEO
The show used three Video Walls - one on either side of the stage (16' x 24') and one at the back (16' x 16'). Paul Becher was the man employed as video director for the European tour. It was his job to ensure the best coverage by switching between the pictures given by the four cameramen in his crew.

THE CREW
80 working personnel travelled with the band including management, six carpenters, 12 caterers, three site coordinators, one power technician and six video production crew. 60 people were needed to construct the stage. Throughout the entire world tour, the production was executed by a team headed by Dale (Opie) Skjereeth Production Manager. US trade magazine Performance honored the GN'R production team as 'Crew of the Year' for 1991.

Countries visited while on tour:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zeeland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, USA, Venezuela