25 Years Ago: Axl Rose Injures His Foot During Guns N’ Roses Warm-Up Show (Sound Familiar?)
When Axl Rose broke his foot during warm-ups for this year's Guns N' Roses tour, it was a case of history repeating itself — painfully.
As longtime fans may recall, Rose suffered a similar injury during the last of the three warm-up shows GNR booked at the Ritz in New York prior to embarking on their Use Your Illusion tour in 1991. On the night in question, Rose took a flying leap during the band's performance of "You Could Be Mine," and although the song went on, he quickly knew he hadn't landed correctly.
The incident was captured via the fan-shot footage above, in which Rose references his injury around the one-hour mark. "Have you ever heard the expression 'break a leg'?" he asks the crowd after "You Could Be Mine" wraps up. "Well, I think I just did."
Though Rose's fall wasn't major news and didn't meaningfully impact the tour, it did leave him in a cast for a short period (you can see him being fitted for it). A Circus feature on the group's "year of pain" wonders whether the foot was to blame for Rose's testiness at the tour's opening date — he reportedly responded to a smoke bomb on the stage by shouting "I don't work five years to have some burnt 16-year-old take my eye out!" — and a Spin feature noted he had to cut down on his trademark "sashaying" while he healed.
Rose eventually got back on his feet again and managed to keep his bones intact for the remainder of the tour (although it had plenty of other problems along the way). Whenever Guns N' Roses get around to mounting their next big run of dates, he might want to watch his step — but if he does bust a foot again, at least now he knows he can borrow Dave Grohl's righteous rock 'n' roll throne.
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