Synopsis
Guns N' Roses perform Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" at Wembley Stadium during the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on April 20, 1992. The performance begins with a brief excerpt from Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed" before Axl Rose takes over the vocal. The camera moves between Rose, Slash and the rest of the band as the arrangement builds from a reflective ballad into an enormous stadium sing-along. The closing guitar work and crowd response underline the song's transformation into a full-scale rock anthem.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video documents the band's appearance at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, a benefit event for AIDS awareness held at London's Wembley Stadium. Guns N' Roses performed "Paradise City" and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" during their own set.
- The song was originally recorded for the 1990 soundtrack to the film "Days of Thunder." A slightly revised version was later included on "Use Your Illusion II" in 1991.
- Guns N' Roses had already been performing the song live since 1987. Early performances were often dedicated to Todd Crew, the Jetboy bassist and friend of the band who died in 1987.
- The Wembley performance was released as the B-side of the 1992 "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" single and later appeared on the band's 1999 live album "Live Era '87-'93."
- The concert footage was issued on home video and laserdisc in 1992, helping preserve one of the most widely circulated live versions of the song from the Use Your Illusion era.