Axl Rose Blames Lax Security for Melee : Pop music: Guns N’ Roses singer says Missouri arena staff did a ‘really poor job.’ Officials dispute his version of what caused fans to riot at concert.

Guns N’ Roses’ lead singer Axl Rose blamed “an inexperienced” security staff Thursday for the melee at a St. Louis-area concert this week that caused an estimated $200,000 in damages and injured more than 60 people.

In a phone interview with The Times on Thursday from Chicago, the Los Angeles-based performer said he left the stage after 90 minutes Tuesday night at the Riverport Amphitheater because he felt the venue’s security was doing a “really poor job.”

He said the staff had allowed bottles and knives to be brought into the facility and that one security guard even turned on him when he jumped into the audience to confiscate a concertgoer’s unauthorized camera in the front row. (Cameras are not permitted at most rock shows without special authorization by the acts.)

“I felt completely uncomfortable with the way the (security staff) was responding. . . . There was no respect for the band. . . ,” he said. “I didn’t plan on jumping off the stage to grab a biker and his camera. I didn’t plan on having the security turn on me. The security guys in the front knew exactly what was happening and they were doing everything they could to let that guy go--which fueled my fire to make sure that didn’t happen.”

Shortly after jumping into the audience, Rose, 29, returned to the stage and criticized the security staff before storming into the wings with the rest of the band.

After several minutes, about 2,500 of the 19,000 fans stampeded the stage, destroying the band’s drums and amplifiers, tearing down chain-link fences and demolishing two large video screens, police said.

Lt. John Herzberg, an officer at the Maryland Heights Police Department who was at the scene, disputed Rose’s charge that the security staff acted improperly.

“I don’t think security could have gotten much tighter without actually making somebody take their clothes off,” Herzberg said in a phone interview on Thursday. “I watched the front gate and security was looking though purses and physically frisking people as they came in.”

Rose said he was deeply troubled when he saw video footage of the whole incident after the concert.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” he said. “The only thing I can think of that would be uglier or heavier was like some of the things that have happened in soccer games, where the seats collapsed or something like that. The crowd destroyed the stage.”

Rose said he was amazed at how quickly and unexpectedly things got out of hand.

“We left the stage, then about 15 minutes later it started getting crazy,” he continued. “The cops were running back and forth, trying to figure out if they should arrest me for inciting a riot. . . .

“Finally we decided to go back on the stage and try to calm the crowd down because the police weren’t able to do it and we felt a responsibility to the public because we didn’t want people to get hurt.

“By the time we went out there . . . the drums were damaged and we were told by our crew that we couldn’t play and then the police and the promoter (ordered) us to leave the building.”

Steve Schankman, president of Contemporary Productions Inc., the show’s producer, could not be reached for comment. Greg Hagglund, vice president of marketing for the company, declined to discuss whether the band was told to leave the building. But he challenged Rose’s remarks about security.

“Axl Rose has a right to his own opinion, but our company feels that security at the event was handled in an exemplary fashion,” Hagglund said in a phone interview Thursday.

“We feel the fact that the concert ended abruptly and also that an unidentified member of Guns N’ Roses’ support staff came out and announced to the crowd that the band would return to play contributed to Tuesday night’s unfortunate incident. We also feel it was rather inappropriate for him to jump into the crowd.”

But Babu Barat, an editor of the St. Louis pop music tabloid Just Rock, who witnessed the riot, disagreed.

“I don’t think the fact that Axl jumped into the crowd and hit the guy had anything to do with the fact that the riot erupted,” Barat said. “At least 20 minutes passed between the time Axl left the stage and the riot started. I think what happened is that when the fans realized that the band wasn’t coming back, people said, ‘Hey, I just paid $26 for a show that is not complete.’ ”

Barat also backed up Rose’s allegations regarding lax security at the Riverport concert.

“When I walked in, security guards were not checking people very thoroughly,” Barat said. “I personally saw a number of people in the audience with bottles and cameras.”

Rose said he hopes that rock fans nationwide don’t see the event as a signal that rowdy behavior at concerts is condoned by the band.

He said he could see someone reading about the Riverport disturbance and thinking, “ ‘We should go and get rowdy and really get into it ‘cause anything goes at a Guns N’ Roses show.’ No , we don’t promote that.

“We are one of the few bands that will stop our show two or three times if the crowd is getting too outrageous. We like people to have the greatest, wildest time they can at a concert, but if people are getting hurt, we’ll stop the show.

“I’m sure a lot of people (at the concert) vented a lot of frustration about a lot of things that had nothing to do with Guns N’ Roses cause they found a reason and a place to (do it and had about) 17,000 other people supporting it. The crowd took on its own personality. They were told that if they calmed down, we would come back, but they didn’t care about calming down.”

Doug Goldstein, the group’s manager, said he felt uneasy about security precautions early in the evening when walking around the amphitheater grounds.

“On my first walk-through, I saw this guy with a (buck knife) on his belt and I saw bottles all over the place.” He said one fan jumped on stage during the post-concert disturbance with a six-inch knife, “ready to stab someone.” Goldstein, who worked in concert security for 10 years before Guns N’ Roses, said a member of the group’s own security team subdued the fan.

Herzberg said Maryland Heights Police Chief Neil Kurlander is still researching the possibility of filing an “inciting a riot” charge against the band, but no decision has been reached yet.

Guns N’ Roses canceled its concerts Thursday in Tinley Park, Ill., and Saturday in Kansas City, because the group’s destroyed sound equipment couldn’t be replaced in time. The tour--which will begin a five-night Southern California swing July 25 at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa--will resume Monday in Dallas.