mymichele's Diaryland Diary
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I can die now.
I went to a Guns N Roses concert on New Years Eve.
To truly appreciate the magnitude this event had on my life, I must take you back in time. 10 years, in fact. (I know alot of you have already heard this, so bear with me!)
In December of 1991, I decided to like Guns N Roses. I just thought it was a good idea, though not a popular one. All my friends were listening to Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer and whoever else was popular in those days, and they didn't much like Axl and the boys.
From the outside, it did look a little odd. A little 12 year old girl headbanging to "Welcome to the Jungle" really isn't that common. But I didn't care. I wanted to be different. I wanted to be a rebel, damnit!
Needless to say, my parents weren't too enthused about these events. They thought I was being too "groupie" like when I started being obsessed with Axl, hanging his picture all over my walls, talking about him constantly, buying everything I could possibly get my hands on that had to do with him. For some reason, I found solace in his tough rock and roll voice. And I thought his rebelliousness (is that a word?) to be refreshing.
The day before 7th grade started, I was listening to my favorite radio station, ZRock, and they were having a contest to win Guns N Roses tickets. This was the concert they had with Faith No More and Metallica, really a pretty cool concert when you think about it. Anyway, I called in on a whim, and BAM! I won! All I could say to the radio guy was "Oh my god. Oh. My. God."
This was to end in tragedy. My parents thought I was too young, and I was forced to sell the tickets for $60 to my next door neighbor. The only comfort I had was the fact they would someday tour again, probably in the next couple of years, and I would go to that.
The years went by. Only a few albums came out, none with original content. They did one with only cover songs, but that did little to satiate my unending desire for more Axl. I would hear stories about how he was hidden in obscurity, holed up in the studio, not letting anyone bother him. Stories of every person in the band leaving for their own ventures did nothing to destroy my hopes and dreams; as long as Axl was still there, that was okay with me. Sometimes my feelings for Axl would wane, but whenever anyone asked me what my favorite band was, my answer for the last 10 years has been "Guns N Roses, babeh!"
No tours were ever planned. No albums ever came out. It was starting to look like I had missed the Guns N Roses boat.
Then, in 1999, a new song came out. "OH my God" was the title, and it was pretty decent. Then there was talk of a tour.
Las Vegas,New Years Eve 2000. I was there. My friends and I were staying at the Luxor. Across the street from the Luxor was the impressive Mandalay Bay. It was not until a few days later that I learned Axl and his new boys had played there. I had missed it, and I was even there. It took me a while to get over that one.
Las Vegas, New Years Eve, 2001. I read on the internet that GN'R were having two concerts in Las Vegas, on the 29th and 31st. I knew I had to go. There was no doubt in my mind that I had to go to this concert.
So, I paid the $215 per ticket. So, I drove 19 hours to Las Vegas, boyfriend in the passenger seat pulling navigation duties. So, I went to the concert. And I saw him. And now I am happy. Now I can die.
Yes, I am back. It was an exhaustive week of driving and gambling and other assorted things, but god damnit, I went to the fucking concert. And it was awesome.
We got to the Hard Rock around 7 PM. The concert started at 10, and already I saw a line outside, so I knew I wasn't going to be in front.
I was a little nervous because I had to get my tickets at Will Call, and I didn't have the credit card I bought them with. This proved not to be a problem, though, and we succesfully got the tickets. I was about to have an orgasm at this point. I had Guns N Roses tickets in my hand! Finally! Good lord!
We went to eat at the Pink Taco, where "Eating out has never tasted better!" I was quite nervous. I held the tickets in my hand even while I ate. I found it hard to just sit there in that chair when in 2 hours, I would be seeing Axl Rose, live and in the flesh.
This is when we start waiting in line. We waited in line for a long time. We made friends with the three 40 year old women behind us. We played paper rock scissors. We poked each other. We did lots of things to pass the time.
My biggest worries about this concert was that Axl would be really late. Or that he would get so fed up with something he'd leave. Or there'd be some kind of technical difficulties.
Well, he was late. about an hour and 15 minutes late. The concert started at 10 but he didn't show up until 11:15. But my god, there he was, in all his beautiful, magnificent glory.
Axl Rose. Mmmmm, Axl Rose. He came out in a jersey of some kind with the number 44 on it, but by the end of the night he had taken that off and put a jacket on with no shirt underneath. MMM. I just get horny thinking about it, with his beautiful body and long hair and nipple ring and oh my holy god!
When he first came on, I couldn't believe it was really him. I could not comprehend that I was standing there listening to "Welcome to the Jungle." It was surreal.
It was a wonderful concert. He sang lots of good stuff, mostly stuff from Appetite for Destruction, alot of stuff from Chinese Democracy, which hasn't come out yet so unfortunately I didn't know all the songs. He sang my namesake, My Michele, which made me all kinds of giggly.
And when it was 12:00, balloons and confetti were released, and he said, "Happy New Year!" Good god! How can a year be bad when Axl Rose is there to wish you a happy new year??!!
And then he said, "I love you, Michelle. I can't see you, but I love you." Which would have been great if my name was actually Michelle. And if I was the Michelle he was talking about. I looked around for this chick so I could kick her ass, but to no avail. And then he played November Rain, which was truly incredible and fantabulous and crazy.
He went on a little rant for a few minutes about how this was one of the only concerts he's actually asked to play, and all this other stuff. It was really cute. Axl Rose... mmmm.
The rest of the band was pretty cool too. Buckethead.. he's a real interesting character, that guy. He wears a bucket on his head! How ingenious. BB said that he was watching him, and the bucket kinda spins around sometimes. I didn't notice that, because I was not watching Buckethead, as one might imagine.
However, I was dissapointed in a few things. First, I kinda wanted to see his tattoos and his big pretty muscular arms, but he always wore a jacket, so I didn't get to see that. He didn't sing Don't Cry, which was dissapointing to me. And there was about a 20 minute period that included a hideously long solo from Buckethead and then 2 or 3 songs I had never heard. This was when I thought BB was about to check out of the place. He looked like he was going to throw up from all the smoke in the place, anyway. But then some lesbians started making out behind him and he was revitalized. It was an amazing transformation.
I heard later that Slash tried to go to the show on the 29th, but Axl wouldn't let him in, which kinda sucks, but what can you do.
So, I come before you now as a changed person. I saw Axl live, my rock and roll fantasy, and it was totally worth not having a hotel to go to afterwards. Yes, we camped out in the cold Las Vegas night. We aren't much for camping though, so we put the tent away and slept in the car after about 2 hours of sleeping in really cold weather.
It was probably even worth the speeding ticket I got in Arizona.
This was good times, people, it really was.
In other, completely different news...
I had to lie to my dad to go to this concert. He didn't want me to drive to Las Vegas, so I said I wasn't going. The whole week we were in Florida, I told him I was just going to Louisiana, and not to worry because I've been there many times before.
Then, in the airport the day we got back from Florida, the day I was supposed to drive to El Paso, he said, "Be safe in Louisana. Call me from a pay phone so I'll have your area code." Doh. Can't do that when I'm in Nevada.
And I had plenty of time to think about this situation, since on Saturday I woke up at 5 AM, drove to Miama for 2 hours, got on a plane for 2 1/2 hours, went to BB's house, and then proceeded to drive to El Paso, which was 650 miles away. I really don't know how we got to El Paso. It was a fucking miracle we survived that trip, really. I had to pull over to a rest stop to take a 2 hour nap at one point, even.
Eventually, after my conscience gets the best of me, I call him and tell him I'm going to Nevada. He pretty much knew this already, but he still gave me grief about it. I didn't know why this was such a big deal until my mom dropped the bomb two days ago, while I was in Las Vegas.
He has prostate cancer.
Yes, his daughter, so appreciative of his love and affection, goes against his wishes so she can see Axl Rose, while he's about to have surgery for god damn Cancer! Oh yeah. I felt like a great daughter after that.
But, the surgery was today. Apparently, they removed all the cancer and he won't even have to have chemotherapy. So that's good. And maybe I can start being a good daughter. That would be nice. A funny thing that came out of that was the fact that my mom bonded with my dad's girlfriend when he was in surgery. That makes me giggle.
So, yesterday we drove from Las Vegas to Amarillo, Texas. That's 900 miles, folks. 12 hours. To pass the time, we listened to George Carlin on my CD player, played a little trivial pursuit, talked about life in general, and played the "How fast can I possibly go without risking my life or getting a ticket" game. I only got up to about 100, and that was only for a few minutes. My little Toyota Rav 4 can only handle so much, you know. Today was another 6 or 7 hours.
So that was my trip. I was in Florida for a week, I was in route to Las Vegas for a week. I saw Axl Rose and learned my dad had cancer. It was an interesting couple of weeks, for sure. We gambled (BB sure does love that $1 Blackjack), but we didn't win anything. We had some buffet fun. It was a succesful trip.
Tonight, I'm going to chill and such. Tomorrow. I will go visit everyone's diaries and catch up and thank you for being such nice readers. I'm back! Muahahahaha.
Mmmm, Axl.
7:07 p.m. - January 04, 2002
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