Sunday night at Busch Stadium felt like classic Guns N’ Roses — chaotic, loud, a little cursed, and still worth the wait. The band’s first St. Louis stadium show in years (and first at Busch) was cut to about 90 minutes by thunderstorm warnings, ending around 9:30 p.m. after they ripped through a tight, hit-heavy set. History with this city is never simple. The 1991 Riverport Riot still hangs over every return. A 2023 Busch date was canceled due to illness. Sunday’s weather delay and early cutoff added another chapter to the “St. Louis curse” lore. Fans who stuck it out got the roar they came for anyway.
Public Enemy opened and did their job. Chuck D, Flavor Flav, and company hit the stage around 6:25 p.m. with a politically charged, high-energy set that included “Harder Than You Think,” “Fight the Power,” “Bring the Noise,” and “Welcome to the Terrordome.” It was a sharp contrast to the hard-rock headliners but it woke the crowd up on a humid August evening. Some fans later grumbled about Flav’s stage comments, but the hip-hop legends earned their slot.
Guns N’ Roses walked out at 8 p.m. to the familiar “Welcome to the Jungle” intro and immediately sounded like they meant it. The current lineup — Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Richard Fortus, Dizzy Reed, Isaac Carpenter, and Melissa Reese — is a well-oiled machine at this point. Fortus, the St. Louis County native, got extra love from the hometown crowd. Slash’s Les Paul work was as reliable as ever, and Duff’s bass locked everything down.
Axl’s voice was the variable, as it often is these days. The Post-Dispatch review called the performance uneven, and that tracks. He hit the high notes on the early Appetite tracks and still has that distinctive snarl, but the stamina wasn’t quite there for a full three-hour marathon. When the weather radar started looking ugly, they wisely trimmed the set instead of risking a washout or worse.
The songs they did play were the ones people actually wanted to hear. “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Mr. Brownstone,” “It’s So Easy,” “Live and Let Die,” “Estranged,” and the newer “Atlas” all landed. “Hard Skool” and “Dead Horse” kept the Appetite/Use Your Illusion energy high. They even squeezed in a Velvet Revolver cover (“Slither”) and “Chinese Democracy.” What got left on the table because of the storms was painful: “You Could Be Mine,” “Civil War,” “Patience,” “November Rain,” “Nightrain,” and the new single “Nothin’.” Those are the songs that usually turn a GNR show into an event. Missing them hurt.
The crowd of several tens of thousands was a mix of die-hards (one fan was seeing his 40th GNR show) and casual Cardinals-stadium concertgoers. People traveled from Illinois and beyond. The rain started around 9:15–9:30, lightning followed, and the stadium emptied quickly once the band wrapped. No riot this time — just wet fans heading for the exits. That’s progress.
Was it a classic Guns N’ Roses night? Not quite. The shortened set and Axl’s mixed vocals kept it from being a 10/10. But it was still a loud, sweaty, guitar-hero reminder of why this band still fills stadiums nearly 40 years after Appetite. They played the songs that matter, Fortus got to play in his backyard, and nobody got hurt. In St. Louis, that’s almost a win.
If they ever come back for a full-length show without the weather drama, it’ll be even better. Until then, this one will live as the night the storms finally beat Axl to the punch.
