Rock’s Biggest 1992 Summer Tour Was a Disaster

As the summer tour season approaches, fans are gearing up to see shows all over the world. There’s something special about outdoor summer concerts, when fans can let loose and vibe with the crowd and the band. However, not every tour goes off without a hitch and there have been several tours that forever have a black eye.

In the summer of 1992, there were a plethora of great bands on tour. U2, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, The Black Crowes, Skid Row, the late Ozzy Osbourne and more brought music to the masses. It was also the year of the first Lollapalooza tour, which featured Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Ice Cube, Pearl Jam, and Jesus and Mary Chain. But, the biggest tour of the summer of 92 was a co-headlining outing featuring the most popular hard rock and heavy metal bands at the time. The tour started off well, but hit a few snags along the way before it deteriorated into a disaster.

Metallica was on top of the world and on their way to becoming the biggest metal band on the planet with the success of The Black Album, which features the huge hits “Enter Sandman,” “Nothing Else Matters,” “The Unforgiven,” and “Wherever I May Roam.” The group was in the midst of a three-year outing that took them around the world promoting their most-popular album. At the same time, Guns n’ Roses were on tour promoting their two albums, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, which spawned hits like “You Could Be Mine,” “Civil War,” “Don’t Cry,” and “November Rain.” The two groups decided to go out on a co-headlining stadium tour with Faith No More opening each night

The 26-date tour kicked off in RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. on July 17, 1992, without a hitch, but things soon began to unravel. There was a tension building between the two acts. Metallica were regimented, playing tight and punctual sets, while GNR were unpredictable and were notorious for late starts. In fact, on their fall tour of 1991, the tickets for Guns N’ Roses concerts stated the band would take the stage “around 9 PM.” In December 1991 at a show in Philadelphia, Guns N’ Roses didn’t take the stage until after midnight, playing until past two in the morning, drawing some ire from an exhausted audience.

The Tour was Plagued with Issues

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Outside GNR’s infamous punctuality troubles, there were a myriad of issues on the tour. In Detroit, GNR frontman Axl Rose vomited onstage as the band ended “You Could Be Mine.” He left the stage for a few minutes and returned to apologize, and the band launched into the song and played it again. During GNR’s set at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Axl Rose was hit in the crotch by a lighter thrown by an audience member. He quickly stormed off-stage, leaving bassist Duff McKagen to sing the rest of their cover of Bob Dylan‘s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” The band left the stage after the song and was supposed to return for an encore. Duff walked out and addressed the audience saying Axl would not be returning, and the show was over.

Axl Rose had been suffering vocal issues on the outing, most likely brought on from the non-stop performances combined with chain-smoking and a lot of drinking. It all came to a head in a perfect storm in Montreal on August 8, 1992. During Metallica’s set, they were playing the intro to “Fade to Black” when James Hetfield accidentally stood on top of a pyrotechnic that was discharged. It sent flames up his body, resulting in second and third-degree burns to his arm, hand, face and back. The band immediately stopped playing and Hetfield was rushed to the hospital. Drummer Lars Ulrich addressed the crowd, explaining James had been injured and was en route to the hospital, and that the band would return to make it up to the fans.

The Riot in Montreal Caused over 400-Thousand Dollars of Damage

A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica

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Fans waited over two hours after Metallica’s shortened set for Guns N’ Roses to take the stage. The band had only played a few songs when Axl Rose complained about monitor issues and sound problems. He added that his throat was hurting and left the stage, ending the show. The fans, who were already disappointed by Metallica’s short set, combined with a long wait and then GNR’s lackadaisical and truncated show, hit a breaking point.

Fans erupted into violence inside the only indoor stadium of the tour, storming the stage and merchandise stands. Outside the stadium, people overturned police cars, smashed windows, looted, lit bonfires and fought with police. There were multiple injuries and arrests and the chaos caused more than 400-thousand dollars of damage to the city.

In the aftermath of the riot, the two groups were forced to postpone six shows and cancel one in Vancouver. The tour picked back up over two weeks later in Phoenix. Metallica’s guitar tech, John Marshall, joined the band on rhythm guitar since frontman James Hetfield couldn’t play due to his injuries. Thankfully, his voice was fine, and he fronted the band without his guitar for the remainder of the outing.

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The tension between the two bands was at an all-time high. Metallica felt like GNR could’ve saved the day in Montreal after Hetfield’s accident, and they were bothered by Axl Rose’s nonchalant behavior about the riot while he complained about his voice problems backstage smoking cigarette after cigarette while Montreal was on fire.

Faith No More was Kicked off the Tour by GNR After an Incident

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The final incident to take place on the ill-fated tour was during a September show where frontman Mike Patton of Faith No More, took a bottle of urine a fan threw on stage, opened it and poured it all over himself and Axl Rose’s vocal monitor. The band was immediately fired from the tour and replaced with Body Count and Motorhead.

The Guns N’ Roses and Metallica double bill limped to the finish line on October 6, 1992, in Seattle. It was the last big co-headlining rock show of that magnitude for many years as grunge and alternative rock became dominant. Guns N’ Roses kept touring but kept having issues and eventually parted ways, while Metallica just got bigger and bigger, dominating the metal scene for years. Metallica did the right thing and returned to play two shows at the Montreal Forum in February 1993, offering half-priced tickets for fans, while GNR were banned for life from playing Olympic Stadium. A microcosm of the biggest and most disastrous summer tour of 1992.