Guns N’ Roses 1992: The Most Chaotic Concert in Colombia’s History

On a rainy November night in 1992, Guns N’ Roses played the most infamous and chaotic concert in the history of Colombia. The promoters had originally made a deal with the American band to play two nights at the “El Campin” Stadium in Bogota, Friday, November 27, and Saturday, November 28. It promised to be a weekend filled with hard rock music in the Colombian capital. However, world politics had different plans for Colombian Guns N’ Roses fans. 

The Coup attempt 

The troubles linked to the 1992 Guns N’ Roses concert in Colombia started before they landed in the country. Before the Bogota dates, Guns N’ Roses had played a gig in Venezuela where a large part of their sound equipment got stuck. As it turned out, Hugo Chavez had decided to make a coup attempt against the government of President Carlos Andres Perez. This prompted the shutdown of the Caracas airport and subsequently caused the first date of the concert in Bogota to be canceled. 

One of the concerts was cancelled 

Thousands of fans who had waited, saved money, and purchased tickets to see the world’s most notorious band could not do so. Since one of the dates was canceled, the promoters wanted part of the money back from the band. 

On the official ‘Appetite for Destruction’ forum, where fans share stories and memories about the legendary band, there is still a record of the incident. In an interview, Doug Goldstein, the band’s manager for 17 years, shared, “The promoters tried to talk me into giving back half the money and just playing the Saturday show. I blatantly told them “No way”, that we would play on Saturday and Sunday! The promoters opted for one show on Saturday.” 

Guns N’ Roses arrival in Colombia

Despite the cancelation of the first date, the band was received like heroes by a mob at the El Dorado International Airport. Thousands of hardcore fans waited outside the gates for the band to step down from their private jet. The concert promoters took the band to the Tequendama Hotel, in downtown Bogota. As soon as they arrived, Slash and his bandmates started their “show”. 

The promoters had booked two floors at the hotel for the band, and their partying was allegedly on par with the rumors about them. The party at the hotel supposedly involved drugs, alcohol, and prostitutes. There was even an alleged incident in which the ladies who accompanied the band did not receive payment and confronted the band’s management. 

At the time, Colombia was the epicenter of world drug trafficking. Pablo Escobar was still alive (he would die almost one year after their visit), and the Cali Cartel was still operating. Colombia’s context was not a good mix with a band notorious for their hardcore partying. It was almost like their song: “Welcome to the Jungle.” 

Chaos in the hotel… and dressing rooms? 

The band’s eccentric behavior was not limited to the hotel. Guns N’ Roses frontman, Axl Rose allegedly requested an exclusive dressing room for himself inside the stadium. According to the promoters, the locker room of Millonarios F.C., a local football team, had to be reconditioned for the rock star. It cost around COP 13 million (over 42,000 USD in today’s value) to do so, which at the time was a considerable amount of money. Funnily enough, according to organizers, Axl never stepped inside his dressing room as he was always with the band. 

Guns N’ Roses concert in Colombia

The visit of the Guns N’ Roses to Colombia was rejected by the more conservative and religious voices in the country. Their hard rock sound, lyrics, and reputation as troublemakers prompted some to label them as diabolical. Julio Correal, one of the concert promoters, has claimed that a group of religious women were doing a prayer walk outside the stadium during the concert to “keep the evil in check”.

The day of the concert finally arrived. Around 40.000 people had bought their tickets in local stores, record shops, and the stadium’s booths. Some tickets were also claimed by concert-goers at the local rock radio station. Even though it seemed that everything was set, heavy rains in the days before the concert had significantly damaged the stage. The biggest worry for the promoters was that the roof would collapse if it rained during the concert. 

This would prove to be the least of their problems. Before the concert started, those who had bought tickets for the canceled date also wanted to experience the show, which caused a large gathering of people outside the stadium. Many tried to break into the stadium to see the band play. Those who were unable to force their way into the stadium started fighting the police, sparking a riot in which many people got hurt. There was also damage to nearby businesses and homes, and a total of 12 police officers were injured.

A police commander suffered a stroke

The situation was so bad that some promoters inside the stadium communicated via walkie-talkie with the police commander in charge of the concert’s security. The man, who was inside a military-type police vehicle, allegedly suffered a stroke when he saw the chaos outside the stadium. 

Despite the chaos, the legendary band started playing their greatest hits for the Bogota crowd. “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Mr. Brownstone”, “Live and Let Die” and “Patience” all made it to the show. Surprisingly, when the band was about to play “November Rain”, the rain started to pour down. 

The crowd went crazy. But the show, which was due to go on for two more songs, was stopped by Axl Rose. In an interview with Vice, Julio Correal recalls what happened after Axl stopped the concert. 

“Don’t worry, we are not leaving”

Correal claims that Axl addressed the crowd. “Don’t worry, we are not leaving. We’ll be back in a second.” Saying this, he rushed backstage because he knew the band was leaving. According to the promoter, when he got backstage, he saw the band packing their bags and equipment. 

In the interview, Correal claims to have confronted the Guns N’ Roses manager Opie over the band leaving the concert early. He says that, in the heat of the moment, as he was backed by the sound engineers who worked the concert, he ended up headbutting the band manager. 

It was absolute chaos. Guns N’ Roses left the stadium early and rushed to get out of Colombia. Julio Correal told Vice that he had a friend at the airport who said the band’s plane was full of cocaine.

The band loaded their equipment onto the aircraft. Everything was ready for the band to flee, but just before they took off, they were stopped by Colombian customs. They were forced to unload the equipment and the drugs were confiscated.