Axl Rose Tantrum Led To Riverport Riot & “Fuck You, St. Louis” On Use Your Illusion Album Credits
On July 2, 1991, Guns N’ Roses played at the Riverport Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis and during a performance of “Rocket Queen“, Axl Rose jumped into the audience and tackled a fan who was filming the show with a camera. He had a heated confrontation with the fan before physically assaulting him. After being pulled out of the audience by members of the crew, Rose said: “Well, thanks to the lame-ass security, I’m going home!”, slammed his microphone on the ground and left the stage.
The angry crowd began to riot and dozens of people were injured. Rose was charged with having incited the riot, but police were unable to arrest him until almost a year later, as the band went overseas to continue the tour. Charges were filed against Rose but a judge ruled that he did not directly incite the riot. In his defense, Rose stated that the Guns N’ Roses security team had made four separate requests to the venue’s security staff to remove the camera, all of which were ignored, that other members of the band had reported being hit by bottles from the audience in the arena and refusing to enforce a drinking limit.
Here’s a few photo’s of Axl’s arrest…
Consequently, Use Your Illusion’s artwork featured a hidden message amidst the Thank You section of the album insert: “Fuck You, St. Louis!”
Funny thing is that Axl wore a St. Louis Cardinals hat for a quick second in the video for “Don’t Cry“.
Fuck You St. Louis. Love, Axl
