American musician and columnist Duff Mckagan is better known for his 12-year bass run in the legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses. What few people know is that Mr. McKagan and fellow rock icon Mike McCready, who plays guitar for Seattle-based grunge icons Pearl Jam, have a little bit of Costa Rica history in them.

Mr. McKagan grew up in Seattle and knew Mr. McCready from the vibrant rock scene that the Emerald City has always been known for. The former GN’R bass player writes a column in the Seattle Weekly, and in a recent article he described his friendship with Mr. McCready and a trip they made to our country.

It all started after last Christmas when the McKagan and McCready families got together with the Van Horn family from California. The Van Horns decided to pack their bags and come to Costa Rica to “bring rock and roll to Central America.”  Mr. McKagan is referring to the new Luxe Lounge in Escazu. As a joke, the Seattle friends suggested to the Van Horns that they should get their families together on a rock vacation to Costa Rica that would include the reunion of the bands Shadow and Loaded.  The latter band is one of Mr. McKagan’s first projects post-GN’R, after he returned to Seattle from Los Angeles, while the former is McCready’s band from his high school days.

Mr. McKagan initially had some reservations about the Shadow and Loaded reunion tour in Costa Rica.  As he explained in his article:

“The rock shows were risky. I mean, would anyone show up? Maybe they knew of Pearl Jam or GNR or Velvet Revolver, but that rarely equates to someone parting with hard-earned dough to see “some guy from THAT band.”

You can see that Mr. McKagan was not familiar with Tico rock fans or The Species –the dedicated listeners of 91.5 FM who saved their beloved hard rock radio station from demise in the eleventh hour (The Costa Rica Star wrote about The Species in a previous article, “A Tale of Two Radio Stations: 91.5 FM and 95.9 FM”).  Mr. McKagan was apparently pleased:

“The gigs both had lines around the block, and the second (full rock) night sold out. OK. That’ll work.”

The rest of Mr. McKagan’s article details the great time he had with family and friends in Manuel Antonio after the performances.  They had a slight bit of panic up in the zip line canopy tour, but in the end they fared well.

One thing that Mr. McKagan did not mention in his article is the impact he had on Tico rock fans who went to the show, particularly on the members of Cabeza de Vinil, the local band who had the privilege of opening for Shadow and Loaded. An article on music site 89decibeles.com describes the impression Cabeza de Vinil was left with thanks to the charisma and nice-guy attitudes of Shadow and Loaded:

“For Cabeza de Vinil, March 29th and March 30th were historical. Not only did they get to play with rock legends, but they also had a great time with them. Photos, autographs, hugs, e-mail exchanges, coffee, the works…”

Thanks to Mr. McKagan and Mr. McCready for making the dreams of our hard-working Tico rock musicians come true.