we moved here recently
In the middle of the month of August 2000 I lived 2 crazy days that i will remember forever. I met my Idol: Slash! I saw 2 of his concert (Snakepit opening for AC/DC) in Quebec City and Montreal and I even met him for real and got my guitar autographed by himself! Here's the story:
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End of Spring 2000.
I learn that AC/DC are coming in Quebec
City for a concert. I think that they are a great band so i decide to get a
ticket. Since i dont go see too many shows, when i go see one, i want a good
seat so i got up very early the day they went on sale (3am!) to make sure i
would have a good ticket. At 10h00am i got it and it was an excellent one: 3rd
row in the middle-right section of the floor, just in front of the stage!
I remember there was some cool people there waiting with me and the opening band was not known yet. Some guy said maybe "Iron Maiden" could do it... it was a rumour. Me and one guy ended up talking about Slash and i was telling me how i loved Slash and GNR and how i was looking forward for the next Snakepit album. But except for joking, i never really thought that Snakepit could open for AC/DC. They were still looking for a label and the AC/DC tour was already all scheduled, i never thought it would be possible so i was just guessing that some shitty band would open just like when i saw Aerosmith.
Rock N' Roll ain't noise
pollution!
End of June 2000:
Finally after weeks and weeks of long wait, Slash
finally signed with Koch Records. The news quickly spreaded on the net with this
incredible rumour: Slash would open for AC/DC. Since i already had my 3rd row
ticket i became hysterical! I was jumping everywhere in the house! But after
celebrating this, i realized it was still "just a rumour" so i had to calm down
a little. I still got a pair of tickets for the AC/DC show of Montreal the day
after to make sure i would not miss Slash.
SLASH!
2 weeks later:
The incredible news was confirmed: Slash will open
for AC/DC for the North American tour starting August 1st 2000. Incredible
Feeling!!
August 10th 2000:
A radio DJ from CHOI 98,1 FM (Quebec City rock
station) called Laurent Boulet sent me an ICQ message, he asked me to call him
immediatly. He wouldn't want to tell me why, he said it was a surprise. So I
called him and he said he had an interview planned with Slash the day of the
show (4 days later) and he told me where and when so I could show up there and
expect to meet him and get an autograph. I was so excited, this guy is really
kind to let me know about this just because he knows i am a big fan. Later in
the evening i thought that i could even try to convince him to go in the studio
while they interview Slash, he told me that it would probably be possible!!!!!!!
Monday, August 14th:
What a day! I had a contact with a DJ of a
rock radio station and he told me, a few days before, that he would interview
Slash and that I could go to the interview with him and meet Slash in the radio
studio, the ultimate experience for a Slash fan! So my weeked was very exciting,
i couldn't wait until the Monday and i did not sleep much! Finally Monday
happened. In the morning i cleaned my guitar and i put it in the car. The
interview was planned for 2pm but i was there much earlier (around 12h30pm). I
was wearing one of my rare Snakepit 1999 shirts. I went near the studio where
the interview was supposed to take place and i met some guys of the radio
station, i asked them if the interview was still at 2pm and they told me "NO"!!
Things changed and it was at 5pm and in the arena. They couldn't assure me that
I could go there for the interview and i had to wait 4 long hours, not knowing
if i was waiting for something or for nothing! Just before 5pm the guys told me
"go at the north-west entrance and the DJ who'll interview Slash will meet you
there. soon".
So i jumped in my car and went there. as soon as i saw that entrance, i saw 4 weirdos coming out of a big taxi. Among them, I immediatly recognized Rod Jackson and Johnny (the bassist) of Snakepit. I honked them and i showed them my index like if i was saying "Don't Move!!!! I'm coming to see you right now". I stopped the car immediatly and went to see them, they were so cool, Rod Jackson seemed very happy to meet a fan and he shook my hand at least 4 times and we talked for 1-2 minutes, he asked my name and stuff like that, he said "have a good show brother!", I shook the hand of the other guys too but... WHERE IS SLASH?? He was not there yet. Since the interview thing was becoming uncertain i asked Rod Jackson if he could let me get in the arena so i could meet Slash to sign my guitar. He said "well slash is coming soon, don't worry he'll sign it just stay here and he'll sign it, don't worry." Then the security guy told me that my car was not supposed to be there and i had to go somewhere else. I went somewhere else close then i took the guitar out of the car and i went where i met Rod and i was waiting for Slash. During when i was waiting, the DJ showed up, I'd like to Thank him for all he did for me! He really did not have to do all this but since he knew i was a big fan he decided to help me out. So me and the DJ were waiting for slash or his tour manager when suddently he got a phone call on his cellular phone, the interview was delayed again! 6pm!! (Some real torture was going on there!!) So i had to sit on the grass and i just waited...
Slash and Rod Jackson,
frontmen of Slash's Snakepit.
At 6pm, nothing happened, i was giving up, very sad and discouraged. But finally FINALLY, around 6h20pm, the tour manager showed up and he invited the DJ for the interview, i got up and i started following them. They decided to change the location of the interview again: They'd do it in the tour bus of Slash. The DJ introduced me to Slash's tour manager but this guy was being a real dick! He said there's no way i could even get close to the bus!! The DJ and I tried to convince him but he did not care at all. He said that the DJ could bring my guitar but me i had to stay where i was (i.e. 500-600 feet away from the bus!). So i watched them walking away for like 15 seconds then i said "fuck! I'm not staying here I'll go near the bus to see what's going on!" so i came near the bus, the tour manager was not happy and i told him to relax, i'd just wait there outside. The few windows of the bus are very dark and it's almost impossible to see through them but some shining things like a guitar, big earings and sunglasses were easily visible!! (So i saw Slash handling my guitar! It was soooooooo exciting!!!). I also saw a nice girl with a cowboy hat near him, i guessed it could be his girlfriend Perla. When i had the impression that slash was looking outside, i was waving at him but i couldn't really tell if he was looking outside or not. But that was exciting cause he was in the bus and he was playing like 90 minutes later so i knew he was going to get out soon!!
After a little while, The hot girl in the bus decided to come out and i was extremely surprised when i saw her walking straight in my direction! She came to see me and gave me a shirt of Slash's Snakepit 2000. She said she saw me with this snakepit '99 shirt I was wearing and she said i needed a new one. I was going to buy one but i got it for free. When i saw her i recognized Perla like i have seen her on pictures before. Some extremely beautiful woman, dressed very sexy, I have to admit that it's rare that women like that come to see me! I shook her hand and I told her (with my "wonderful" french canadian accent)"You're Perla huh?" and she seemed very surprised and asked how I knew that stuff. I told her about how i learned that (from pics taken by Rocky in California after a snakepit 99 show) and i said thanks so much for the shirt and she said no problem and she returned in the bus. A very friendly person!!
Perla, Slash's
girlfriend, in 1999
Later the DJ got out too, with my guitar case and he gave it back to me, I said thank you so much and i opened it and i saw this wonderful silver Slash autograph on my Les Paul. He even did a cool skull drawing with a top hat like his top hat and 2 bones behind it. Awesome. People around me were drooling! (I can't blame them!). They were all like "awwwwwww man you're so lucky..." I almost felt bad for them! Someone said he'd give me 1000\$ for the autographed guitar, it's not for sale.
*** My Slash autographed Les Paul with the new SG guitar i bought the day after (August 15th 2000) ***
*** The Autograph of The Man,
close up ***
Slash signing some
autographs for his fans in Quebec City a few minutes before his show.
But Slash was still in the bus, a few more fans arrived and waited for an autograph too. Finally Slash came out of the bus, i took a picture as soon as i saw him. He looked great! He did not have a ponytail, he had all his big hair that we like in his face! He was holding a bottle of Jack Daniel's and his Top Hat. (Difficult to imagine a more typical Slash!). Quickly many were around him with tickets to autograph, Slash said with his sweet voice something like "hey we'll have to do this real quick alright?" So since i was so lucky i let the other fans meet slash and i just took pictures (I also had to carry this embarassing heavy guitar case), just before slash left i touched his hand and I honestly don't remember what i said to him! I did the best I could to take good pictures of the other fans with Slash. I got their email and i'll give them the picture. I even realized that this cool girl waiting for slash was someone i knew on the internet and I didn't know about it!
*** Slash coming out of the
bus. ***
So after that i went to my car to put my guitar there and i went to my wonderful 3rd row seat. I was SOOOOOOOO close! I talked about slash with the guy near me a few minutes (i met him earlier outside and the day i got the tickets) then Slash's Snakepit started to play! The first song: Life's sweet Drug was new to me but i liked it, awesome hard rock tune really. Rod Jackson was very energetic and he was great. i was standing up but some people were sitting. But me and the people around me were really into it and Rod noticed that. He recognized me and pointed his finger at me! It was so cool (he did it again later!). Slash was of course brillant. Unfortunatly the band can't really control the sound (AC/DC control it) and Slash is not easy to hear cause the drums are too loud compared to him. It's such a feeling to see Slash playing in front of you! Slash was not looking at the crowd too much, he was mostly looking at his guitar or i saw him with his eyes closed often. I wish he looked at me! He did not talk much either. When he talked it was hard to hear. Then they played the great "Been There lately". After slash picked his Snakepit signature guitar to play some slide with wah wah on "Shine", a wonderful tune!!!!!!. they played 'just like anything' and then "Mean Bone". After that we heard those famous "boom boom boom! bo-boom boom"... Mr. Brownstone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The crowd loved it and me too! Something really cool happened during that song. I knew that Jackson liked to imitate Axl's moves during "Brownstone" and i did the same in the 3rd row and he saw me and he pointed his finger at me and said "yeah!!" and he wanted me to keep doing it so everybody can see me doing like Axl, it was very exciting! Even some people around me did like Rod and pointed their finger at me. They closed the set with "Speed Parade".
More autographs before the Quebec City show.
Slash started the set without his hat, he was wearing it for Shine. He got really excited and started banging his head real hard and the hat violently hit the stage. The big bodyguard went to get it but when slash wore it again, I noticed that the hat was damaged (Hey Slash, if your hat is damaged, i could accept it if you dont want to perform with that one anymore!). After a few songs slash decided to play shirtless. Rod kept his shirt only for like 2-3 minutes! Slash was headbanging so much sometimes! it was almost scary!
Then AC/DC came on, I won't review their show here but they were amazing. After the show i tried to meet slash again, i wanted him to sign my top hat. I went near his bus but the bodyguard told me that tonight it would be impossible to meet slash. a few minutes later his bus left... I returned home very happy with my ears ringing because the show was VERY loud!
Tuesday, August 15th:
I saw the Montreal show the day after the
Quebec City show. I did not have 3rd row tickets but seeing the show from the
stands was not bad. I was with 2 fellow GNR fans before the show, we looked for
Slash but we did not see him. But we found his bus (in some private underground
well protected parking), i saw his bodyguard and his rythm guitarist: Kerry
Kelly (we talked with him for a minute outside). During the afternoon I bought a
new guitar because i dont want to play on my Slash autographed guitar anymore!
his fingerprints are still on it! I found a wonderful Epiphone SG just like
Angus Young's guitar for a very good price so i got it. It sounds pretty good
and it's easy to play.
The show was awesome, For Slash, the crowd was very good but not as good as the night before. But during Mr. Brownstone people were going nuts! Even the beer selling guys were dancing and playing air guitar! It was so good to see. During the last song Rod Jackson jumped on the floor to ask to the people to get up and dance cause they were all sitting. He's great with the crowd. Slash moved alot and wore this top hat during all the show and he was shirtless. They played the same songs than the night before. Awesome show, the first song "Life's Sweet Drug" is now in my head all the time even if i heard it only twice! ACDC also did the same show as the night before, it was extremely rock n' roll! Great crowd participation, great special effects (Flames, giant screens, big angus young statue, smoke, big guns, elevators...)
After the show we wanted to meet slash, we were hanging around this forbidden bus parking trying to see him. Suddently a bunch of slash-GNR fans joined us, they wanted to see the man too and they were really cool. we tried to get in but the arena parking employees didn't want us to be there and they immediatly asked us to return on the street. so we were walking around and trying to see slash through every possible hole. Suddently i heard some people walking down the stairs and i went to see who it was. for that I had to climb like 10 feet above the ground on some wire netting. I had my top hat on and a camera in my mouth and i was climbing (at this moment, my nickname "rat" was really appropriate!). We couldn't see anything if we were below 10 feet. So when i was finally able to see. I saw 3 people together, I saw a woman with a cowboy hat, i recognized Perla (Slash's girlfriend). i yelled "hey!!!" then i realized that Slash was with her + the bodyguard. I went nuts! I yelled "SLAAAAAAAASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" and they all looked at me! Slash said "hey!". The bodyguard recognized me and laughed and Perla recognized me too and she told slash who i was. Then i did a very complicated physical effort to be able to manipulate my camera with one hand and my mouth (I'm 10 feet above the parking like a monkey!) and Slash saw that i was tying to take a pic and he waved at me and smiled, so did Perla. I took 2 pictures and unforunatly the first one (and the coolest one) featuring Slash and Perla saying hi to me is totally messed up (damn fence!) but the second one is good (Perla saying hi to me and Slash close behind is smiling. the other fans saw me all excited like that and some of them did like me: they climbed and yelled some words to slash. But we had to return on the ground quickly cause it was so hard for the hands to do that! And slash was leaving anyway.
Picture: Slash
and Perla leaving Molson Center in Montreal after the AC/DC show.
After that the parking employees became more arrogant. They even called the police to ask us to walk away. They never let us reach the tour bus and we were pretty sad when Slash's bus left the building and there was nothing we could do about it! we tried to ask the bus to stop but the driver did not stop and slash's snakepit slowly left the arena... But Slash gave 2 awesome shows here and I'll never forget those 2 days. I can't wait for the next tour. The really cool things are that the crowd seemed to like Slash alot, i saw many people buying Slash's shirts and i saw some real big fans like me so it's good to know we're not alone.
Thanks Slash for signing my guitar, Thanks for the great shows, Thanks to Perla for the nice Slash shirt, Thanks to Laurent Boulet from 98,1 FM who helped me to meet slash and to get my guitar signed. And fuck the Molson Center parking employees! (some of them were cool and doing their job but some were just being real assholes. We were just like 10 fans who wanted to go inside to spend a few minutes with slash before he left... We were not asking for the moon! No need to call the cops!
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Slash and Perla coming out of the bus a few minutes before the show. Slash still spent a few minutes with the fans to sign autographs, very nice guy!
Tickets and guitar pick
scans.
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---Rattus the Rat, Written on August 16th 2000 (with some little updates
later)
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Final comment: Nothing's happening these days with Guns
N' Roses but Slash with Slash's Snakepit is about to help Rock N' Roll to get
back in the spotlight, on the radio and on the charts with "Ain't Life Grand",
his new album, a true masterpiece, personally i think it's the best album ever
released since 1991 (Use Your Illusion). Their first single is already playing
on some radios, the album (label: koch records) is coming out in Japan in a few
days and in the whole world on October 10th 2000. Be ready for that; you won't
find any weak track on it. You'll hear a legendary guitarist, a talented and
very powerful singer and a very solid true hard rock band playing the best new
songs you'll hear this year. My rating of the album: a perfect 10/10! five
stars! Masterpiece! It's so different from all today's boring/horrible music. Be
sure to buy that CD as soon as it's available. You'll be amazed by the music. A
big lesson of talent for all the lazy un-talentend korn/bizkit/gay teen pop
parasites of today's music industry.
"The Snakepit record's not like what everybody else is doing, I don't know
what the fuck everybody else is doing anymore -- it all sounds like shit to me.
But as far as rock & roll music is concerned, it kicks ass."
-Slash,
1999
