Guns N' Roses at Slane, 2017: the night we heard the whole show twice
Camping at Slane, we heard Guns N' Roses play their whole set the day before and thought someone was playing a CD, until Black Hole Sun came round three times in a row.
On Saturday 27 May 2017 Guns N’ Roses played Slane Castle, and we were camping beside it for the weekend.
What I remember
We heard the whole gig twice. The first time, we were in the campsite and thought someone was playing a CD. Then they played “Black Hole Sun” three times in a row, and we realised we were listening to a rehearsal.
What’s on record
- Slane was the opening night of the European leg of the Not In This Lifetime tour, and 80,000 tickets sold within a day.
- “Black Hole Sun” was new. Chris Cornell had died nine days before, on 18 May, and Slane was the first time Guns N’ Roses played the song. Axl Rose said “For Chris” as it ended.
- That fits the three times in a row. A song new to the set, on the first night of a tour, is the one a band would run over and over the day before.
What I can’t prove
Nobody wrote about the rehearsal, or about the campsite next door getting the whole show early. That part is only ours.