Los Angeles Times - October 23, 1989
by Jonathan Gold

No surprises in third night of Stones N' Roses


The third Stones N' Roses show at the Coliseum Saturday was routine as the 47th date on an 80-city tour, a bread-and-butter show in Ames, Iowa, or someplace with a weekend party crowd. Nobody threatened to break down, no one fell off the stage, and the Stones had to manage the blues segment without the help of Eric Clapton. Living Colour's leering dedication of "Glamour Boys" to Arsenio Hall was about as racy as it got.

Guns N' Roses even managed to play a couple of songs without speeches or angst, though the band was kind of listless until Axl Rose woke them up with a little press-bashing 15 minutes into the set -- controversy is to Guns N' Roses what gasoline is to a car. Rose has never been what you'd call publicly repentant about those famous lyrics, but in an apparent show of solidarity with the gay community, he performed "Rocket Queen" clad in nothing but black leather jacket, motorcycle cap and bare-bottom chaps, mooning the audience while Slash soloed on guitar.

The Stones' stage set still looked like a cross between an airport runway at night and the entire city of Irwindale, they still spent a lot of time covering the disco years, and Jagger still told the same jokes before the same songs. (After 26 years, the Stones don't have a lot to get off their chests.) "Dead Flowers" occupied the optional-song spot on the set-list -- you could tell because there wasn't an elaborately timed light show. And the Stones still sounded best where they were closest to the blues.