The Loop brought Guns 'n' Roses and Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row fame) to the Allstate Arena last week and it proved to be a bombastic show. Both Sebastian Bach's and Axl Rose's voices and chops were in excellent shape for the sold out crowd. Baz and Axl performed all their hits plus their latest material, including several new tracks from the forthcoming G'n'R effort. The latest word is that we may finally see a spring release for the long awaited (well over 15 years) "Chinese Democracy" disc. As an encore, Sebastian jumped up onstage with Axl and performed a duet on "My Michelle" to the great delight of the concert goers. This latest jaunt is part of a long standing association between the two vocalists. The original (mostly) lineup of G'n'R and Skid Row toured together on the "Use Your Illusions" double-bill back in the early 90's. It was personally pleasing for me to see Sebastian back in action, since we have been friends now for the past 20+ years. Baz was a big fan of my show as a teenager struggling in his first band called Kidd Wikkid. One sunny day while I strolled down the boardwalk on the beach in Toronto (where I was working at the time... the city, not the beach), Baz and his girlfriend recognized me. They tore up to me wide-eyed and he breathlessly introduced himself and told me what a big fan he was. We chatted for quite a while, laughed and got to know each other. Afterwards I passed him my business card and encouraged him to send me a tape of his band so I could hear his work. Several weeks later I received the tape and proceeded to listen to it. To say I was blown away would be an understatement. Of particular note was a song called "Take A Look At Me" which I felt was their strongest. Even though it was a home recording and they were an unsigned band, I started playing the song regularly on my show. I vividly remember the moment I got ready to play the tape for my audience for the very first time... I declared that I believed "that the singer in this next band will be a huge star some day, or I will eat my hat! His name is Sebastian Bach and here's his band... Kidd Wikkid!" Later I learned that Baz had been listening at the time, and began to weep with joy when he heard what I had said on the air. With the exposure on my show, the band quickly secured bigger and better gigs and soon gathered a following in the area. Baz's reputation grew and he later joined a then unknown New Jersey outfit named Skid Row who had heard the buzz about him. The rest, as they say, is history. Sebastian became the star I was convinced he would be and he graciously listed me first in his liner note thank-you's on the debut Skid Row record. To this day at gigs he headlines, he will bring me up on stage, tell the audience the story and exclaim "this is the guy who started it all and believed in me. I love this guy!" Incidentally, the girl he was with that day on the beach later became his wife. Sebastian and Maria have two lovely sons now, Paris and London.