GNR Tour Disrupted After Melee : Axl Rose Apologizes for Missouri Concert Riot

Guns N’ Roses canceled a concert tonight near Chicago after the rock group’s sound equipment was destroyed during a melee Tuesday night following an abbreviated performance outside St. Louis.

“It was a full-fledged riot,” Carl Middleman, a reporter for St. Louis radio station KSHE-FM, said Wednesday.

The disturbance erupted at the Riverport Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Mo., about an hour and a half into the concert when Axl Rose, lead singer for the best-selling Los Angeles rock band, stormed off the stage.

Moments before, Rose--one of rock’s most controversial and impulsive figures--dove from the stage in an effort to grab a concertgoer’s video camera himself, according to an eyewitness. But the fan eluded him.

Rose then climbed back on stage. After chastising the security guards for allowing the camera in the arena, the rock singer threw down his microphone and walked away.

Police said that about 2,500 of the 19,000 fans then stampeded the stage, destroyed the band’s drums and amplifiers, tore down chain-link fences, ripped shrubs out of the outdoor theater and demolished two large video screens.

“It was a total melee,” said Middleman, who witnessed the incident from the 12th row of the amphitheater. “I don’t know if Axl was provoked or not, but he seemed to fly off the handle. I think he could have handled himself better.”

Maryland Heights (Mo.) Chief of Police Neil Kurlander was conducting an investigation Wednesday into the matter, but no charges against Rose or the band had been filed, according to the St. Louis County Prosector’s office.

An estimated 60 people were injured, several having to be carried out on stretchers, according to Maryland Heights Police.

The number included 13 law enforcement officers, whose injuries ranged from a broken kneecap to cuts. Sixteen people were booked on suspicion of riotous behavior and released. Physical damage was estimated at more than $200,000.

According to the police report, it took an estimated 400 police with nightsticks and fire hoses about an hour and a half to bring the rioting fans under control.

But Rose, who left the amphitheater with his band as the disturbance grew, called KSHE-FM about two hours after the incident to express his concerns about the riot.

“I regret what happened last night,” Rose told KSHE-FM deejay Jim Ellis.

In a statement to Associated Press after the incident, Maryland Heights police Sgt. John Wachter said, “This is the first incident we’ve seen in which a bandleader attacked someone in the crowd, and that is what precipitated the riot,” Wachter said. “I know groups don’t like to have (their pictures taken), but they should have exercised a little more judgment.”

Along with numerous other bands, Guns N’ Roses has frequently complained about unauthorized camera operators and photographers at concerts.

The band, whose first two albums have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, has often made headlines on stage.

Two weeks ago, the band showed up 2 1/2 hours late for a performance at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum. An angry Rose then went into a tirade against the group’s record label, Geffen Records, and various publications, including Rolling Stone magazine.

Last month, the hard-rock group was fined $5,000 when it ignored a curfew at an Indiana arena. Authorities said they acted mainly because of Indiana-native Rose’s remarks to the crowd, in which he berated the “scared old people” of Indiana, and compared the state to a Nazi concentration camp.

Opening two years ago for the Rolling Stones at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Rose threatened to quit the band, claiming drugs were destroying the group.

Earlier, some of the band’s lyrics were criticized for being anti-homosexual and racist, though Rose denied the charges, insisting the lyrics in question were simply “social realism.”

Rose was arrested last October for allegedly bashing a neighbor with a bottle, although prosecutors later dropped the case for lack of evidence.

Holly Huetter, spokeswoman for Chicago-based promoter JAM Productions, said the Guns N’ Roses’ show planned for tonight in Tinley Park, Ill., will be rescheduled.

The band hopes to have new equipment in place in time for its Kansas City date Friday, a Geffen spokeswoman said.

Guns N’ Roses is scheduled to headline the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa on July 25 and the Forum in Inglewood on July 29, 30, Aug 1 and 3.

“We have every intention of going on with the Guns N’ Roses shows as scheduled,” Claire Rothman, general manager of the Forum, said Wednesday.”

Despite its controversial reputation, Guns N’ Roses has been widely praised by some rock critics as the best entry in the long line of bands that deal with youthful aggression and rebellion in the tradition of the Rolling Stones and the Doors. Its tunes, ranging from “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Mr. Brownstone” to “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” touch on both the temptations and consequences of “fast-lane” behavior.

The group’s snarling new single, “You Could Be Mine,” is featured in the film “Terminator 2.”