Quick question for those who have seen Steven Adler live recently

[Blackstar]

The band (and management) fired Steven, not only Axl. It just happened that during that particular time period Axl wasn't the problem - the band had gotten back together and was functional, except for Steven who had issues.

[gnfnrs1972]

2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

The band (and management) fired Steven, not only Axl. It just happened that during that particular time period Axl wasn't the problem - the band had gotten back together and was functional, except for Steven who had issues.

Axl has always been the problem. I really like his work in the studio and occasionally live. It doesn't mean that he isn't a douche bag though.

[k12]

saw him a month ago in Madison WI, and I honestly think I had a better time than most of the NITL shows I went to, as Izzy said Steven was the "feel" of the band, and going to a rock concert it is all about a "feel" so yea

 

also paid an extra $100 and I got to meet him before the show, got to stand in front of the stage so yea I am sure that helps, but besides that it was an awesome show that I would definitely see again and again

and as far as after the show, I was able to get a Set list at the end of the show that Steven signed while he was on the stage, and after the show the other band members came out and hung out at the side but I am pretty sure Steven did not come out after the show.

[KeyserSoze]

Okay, now that this weekend is over and everything is starting to feel a little less… blurry, maybe I can add a little insight into this conversation since I just saw the man himself, never saw the AFD5 live in concert, and I’ve practically listened to every GNR iteration under the sun..

First off, about the show.

Honestly, I truly think this is the closest you can come as a fan to a 1987-1988 Guns N’ Roses club show. At least atmosphere wise. I walked in 30 minutes till show time, took my place with one person between me and the rail, and had absolutely no expectations and hoped for a fine ass rock show. 

For some reason, people tend to have a negative-bias against something they might consider a “cover band.” In this case, to clarify my statement, a “cover” band could be one or maybe 2 key members from a particularly famous group who went off to make money on the songs they had a hand in making during a specific period with a different lineup, new members, or a whole new band. Think Queen w/ Adam Lambert (“tHaT’s NoT qUeEn”), Journey w/ Arnel Pieneda, Or idk, Guns N’ Roses from 2000-2014. 

On paper, given the definition I just gave you, it seems like this is, for all intents and purposes, a cover band. 4 younger people up front, with Steven on his riser in the back playing the drummers hits of old. The rhythm guitarist had a hat like Izzy, the bass player fit in the least (and not because she was a woman, and an attractive one at that), the lead guitarist was able to perfectly replicate Slash’s tone and had enough fake “relic” marks made on his Les Paul with sandpaper to make even DJ Ashba jealous. And a singer, from Argentina, was able to belt out the lyrics word for word and even replicate Axl’s vocal prowess from the late 80’s.

 

I’m sure any classic rock “purist” would be completely and utterly turned off by my description of events so far, but it wasn’t at all about the way they looked and presented themselves. Even if they ARE hired hands, so what? If they are the vessel through which Steven needs to travel to be back on stage, I’d take it over him being at home on his ass, or worse… 

The sound they made, though! Holy fuck, half-way through Nightrain, which was the second song in their set, I was telling myself that this was it. This is probably the closest I’ll ever get to FEELING something like people may have felt when they saw the AFD 5 in the late 80’s. You know, the feeling that attracted people to this band. And the MUSIC they made. Not singular members of that band or their mindsets. Something I DIDN’T feel when I saw Slash in 2012. That show felt more about the performer and not his history of music, as it should have been. 

There were a couple of songs that stood out to me the most. When they played My Michelle, everything just felt sooooo tight. Adler really did play the fuck out of that song. Go back and actually LISTEN to that song on the record and listen to the way he is playing the shit out of his kit. Rocket Queen was another. It sounded so punctual and not rehashed, sped-up, and “tinny” for lack of a better way to describe it, the way I think Slash’s version, or even the “Three-Union” version does. 

Steven also played some pretty deep cuts that we may never hear from “Three-Union” including Reckless Life and Anything Goes, as well as offering two of his own contributions, ‘Good To Be Bad’ and ‘The One That You Hated.’ 

Steven remained happy and upbeat throughout the whole show. Always smiling and giving the thumbs up and horns. My favorite part of the whole show though was getting to hear Adler play Civil War live, something that has literally only been done in GNR history once… Also, it’s almost like he had something to prove by playing ‘You Could Be Mine’, which sounded completely raw and different then it usually would. 

I wish I could post some pictures, but I'm not sure how to do that. 

 

[Sydney Fan]

Good to hear that you enjoyed the show. Did you speak to any of the band members after the show?. Did they play "think about you"?.

[rocknroll41]

So as of 2019 his band is officially called Steven Adler now, right? Not Alder’s Appetite anymore?

side note: that new singer is so much better than fucking Constantine!

Edited June 24, 2019 by rocknroll41

[Tom-Ass]

3 hours ago, KeyserSoze said:

The sound they made, though! Holy fuck, half-way through Nightrain, which was the second song in their set, I was telling myself that this was it. This is probably the closest I’ll ever get to FEELING something like people may have felt when they saw the AFD 5 in the late 80’s.

Cool review, thanks,, They really do a damn good Nightrain and You Could Be Mine...

[Evan442]

On 6/22/2019 at 7:58 PM, AXL_N_DIZZY said:

I used to be in the “Steven’s not all that” camp- but having seen him at Dodger Stadium 3 years ago- there is an irrefutable energy, and uniqueness to what he does that is quintessential Guns. That doesn’t mean Guns hasn’t had “better” drummers on the stool (it has)- just that there is a certain something to Steven that absolutely can’t be dismissed IMHO. Kind of guy where you could go to 100 concerts and still not see/hear anything like what he brings...

 

I felt that way for years with Alice Cooper. Always had a talented touring band behind him, but I saw the 4 surviving members of the original AC Group play at Alice’s show in nashville 2 years ago and the feel and vibe when those original guys walked out onstage and played THEIR songs far surpassed any virtuoso musician Alice has ever played with.  No one can replicate the feel of the guys that wrote and recorded the music. And I felt the same way when steven came out at the Dodger Stadium shows in 2016

Edited July 2, 2019 by Evan442

[SoulMonster]

On ‎24‎.‎06‎.‎2019 at 3:15 PM, gnfnrs1972 said:

Axl was a hypocrite firing someone when he was the biggest ass out of all of them. 

It was a band decision. Still, it seems Slash was most involved because he was the one having to deal with Steven's state at rehearsals:

Slash: I felt really bad for Steven. He’s saying stuff like “How could they do this to me?” But it wasn’t a matter of how could we do this to him. It was how could he do this to us. He was taken care of by this band. Anybody who thinks we just kicked him out is just somebody who doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about and doesn’t know what went on. We waited for him for a fucking year. How long is a band supposed to wait around? We all wanted to get out and play, and he wanted to play, too. He was just too loaded to do it. Really, we did all kinds of things for this kid to get him back to normal, and he refused. Every time he went into rehab, he took off. I mean, I took off from rehab, but it’s because I didn’t want to be controlled by anybody else. I went and cleaned up on my own. Steven had no control whatsoever. He didn’t want to be in rehab and still wanted to be doing what he’s doing. He thought it was very rock & roll. What do you tell a guy like that? So I just said, “Fuck it, that’s it, I can’t deal with it anymore, we have to get a new drummer" [Rolling Stone, January 1991].

Slash: So a year went by (three visits to rehab) and I finally said, Steven, you've got to go. […] It still fucks with me [Q Magazine, July 1991].

Slash: "That's a sensitive subject. It's because as everybody grew up a little bit and tried to get out of the heroin thing and that whole trip [Steven] just never went along, he never grew up with the band. When I gave up a really serious habit he just kept going, the whole sex, drugs and rock'n'roll concept was pretty much all he could fathom and we couldn't work he wasted a lot of money in the studio with us. We've all gone through our trips and we've all had our fucking problems but we've dealt with it, if not for our personal lives for the band itself. We always took care of him and it stopped the band working for a fucking year. When I came back after cleaning out— and I had a really fucking bad habit with all kinds of shit and lzzy came back and we were ready to go, and having to go through this whole thing with Steve going to the hospital, we were wasting tons of money. The guy is sitting on the stool in the studio with his nose touching the fucking floor, with the whole band just staring at him. We'd wake him up and he'd go 'I'm just tired'. Finally it came to the point where I called him up and said 'Steve, it's over' " [Rip It Up, September 1991].

Even Izzy, who later seemed to have disagreed with the decision, or at least complained about it the most, was informed and supportive of firing Steven when it happened.

Izzy: At this time I had nearly managed to get clean up, from everything. When I was looking at the band, I would see Stevie, who was a good guy, who's been struggling with us during all these years, but couldn't handle it anymore. He was a real millstone, he needed to clean up! Fuck... We all tried to help him, to support him. But no, finally, we'd been on the road with this guy for years and we lived this dilemma: "OK. We leave him six months doing nothing without any guarantee it gets better, or we forget about the double album and we bury the band?" Actually, the industry's machine woke up and the answer was: "We take someone else to cut these records." It's wasn't an easy decision [Rock & Folk, September 1992].

Izzy: I took it pretty hard when Stevie was out of the band. It was pretty upsetting, cos I was watching Stevie trying to get himself together after pulling myself together, and it was kinda hard seeing somebody trying when they're not really ready for it. Weeks and months were going by, we were in that old dilemma; it had been two or three years and we didn't have a f**king album out, we gotta move [Kerrang! September 5, 1992].

Axl seems to have been the least involved, likely because he didn't have to deal with Steven on a daily basis.

Axl: "The misconception is that we kicked him out for the hell of it, and that I was the dictator behind it. The truth is, I probably fought a little harder to keep him in the band, because I wasn't working with him on a daily basis like the other guys were. They grew tired of not being able to get their work done because Steven wasn't capable of it" [RIP, October 1992].

Edited July 2, 2019 by SoulMonster

[Sydney Fan]

"had been two or three years and we didn't have a f**king album out, we gotta move "

a pity thats not the attitude of the band now.

[gnfnrs1972]

7 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

It was a band decision. Still, it seems Slash was most involved because he was the one having to deal with Steven's state at rehearsals:

Slash: I felt really bad for Steven. He’s saying stuff like “How could they do this to me?” But it wasn’t a matter of how could we do this to him. It was how could he do this to us. He was taken care of by this band. Anybody who thinks we just kicked him out is just somebody who doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about and doesn’t know what went on. We waited for him for a fucking year. How long is a band supposed to wait around? We all wanted to get out and play, and he wanted to play, too. He was just too loaded to do it. Really, we did all kinds of things for this kid to get him back to normal, and he refused. Every time he went into rehab, he took off. I mean, I took off from rehab, but it’s because I didn’t want to be controlled by anybody else. I went and cleaned up on my own. Steven had no control whatsoever. He didn’t want to be in rehab and still wanted to be doing what he’s doing. He thought it was very rock & roll. What do you tell a guy like that? So I just said, “Fuck it, that’s it, I can’t deal with it anymore, we have to get a new drummer" [Rolling Stone, January 1991].

Slash: So a year went by (three visits to rehab) and I finally said, Steven, you've got to go. […] It still fucks with me [Q Magazine, July 1991].

Slash: "That's a sensitive subject. It's because as everybody grew up a little bit and tried to get out of the heroin thing and that whole trip [Steven] just never went along, he never grew up with the band. When I gave up a really serious habit he just kept going, the whole sex, drugs and rock'n'roll concept was pretty much all he could fathom and we couldn't work he wasted a lot of money in the studio with us. We've all gone through our trips and we've all had our fucking problems but we've dealt with it, if not for our personal lives for the band itself. We always took care of him and it stopped the band working for a fucking year. When I came back after cleaning out— and I had a really fucking bad habit with all kinds of shit and lzzy came back and we were ready to go, and having to go through this whole thing with Steve going to the hospital, we were wasting tons of money. The guy is sitting on the stool in the studio with his nose touching the fucking floor, with the whole band just staring at him. We'd wake him up and he'd go 'I'm just tired'. Finally it came to the point where I called him up and said 'Steve, it's over' " [Rip It Up, September 1991].

Even Izzy, who later seemed to have disagreed with the decision, or at least complained about it the most, was informed and supportive of firing Steven when it happened.

Izzy: At this time I had nearly managed to get clean up, from everything. When I was looking at the band, I would see Stevie, who was a good guy, who's been struggling with us during all these years, but couldn't handle it anymore. He was a real millstone, he needed to clean up! Fuck... We all tried to help him, to support him. But no, finally, we'd been on the road with this guy for years and we lived this dilemma: "OK. We leave him six months doing nothing without any guarantee it gets better, or we forget about the double album and we bury the band?" Actually, the industry's machine woke up and the answer was: "We take someone else to cut these records." It's wasn't an easy decision [Rock & Folk, September 1992].

Izzy: I took it pretty hard when Stevie was out of the band. It was pretty upsetting, cos I was watching Stevie trying to get himself together after pulling myself together, and it was kinda hard seeing somebody trying when they're not really ready for it. Weeks and months were going by, we were in that old dilemma; it had been two or three years and we didn't have a f**king album out, we gotta move [Kerrang! September 5, 1992].

Axl seems to have been the least involved, likely because he didn't have to deal with Steven on a daily basis.

Axl: "The misconception is that we kicked him out for the hell of it, and that I was the dictator behind it. The truth is, I probably fought a little harder to keep him in the band, because I wasn't working with him on a daily basis like the other guys were. They grew tired of not being able to get their work done because Steven wasn't capable of it" [RIP, October 1992].

Oh! Now I change my mind.

[adamsapple]

Regarding the original question: It might depend on the venue and the size of the crowd, you could try and either hang in there for a bit or just wait at the stage door outside. Good luck!

 

[Sydney Fan]

On 02/07/2019 at 4:13 PM, SoulMonster said:

It was a band decision. Still, it seems Slash was most involved because he was the one having to deal with Steven's state at rehearsals:

Slash: I felt really bad for Steven. He’s saying stuff like “How could they do this to me?” But it wasn’t a matter of how could we do this to him. It was how could he do this to us. He was taken care of by this band. Anybody who thinks we just kicked him out is just somebody who doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about and doesn’t know what went on. We waited for him for a fucking year. How long is a band supposed to wait around? We all wanted to get out and play, and he wanted to play, too. He was just too loaded to do it. Really, we did all kinds of things for this kid to get him back to normal, and he refused. Every time he went into rehab, he took off. I mean, I took off from rehab, but it’s because I didn’t want to be controlled by anybody else. I went and cleaned up on my own. Steven had no control whatsoever. He didn’t want to be in rehab and still wanted to be doing what he’s doing. He thought it was very rock & roll. What do you tell a guy like that? So I just said, “Fuck it, that’s it, I can’t deal with it anymore, we have to get a new drummer" [Rolling Stone, January 1991].

Slash: So a year went by (three visits to rehab) and I finally said, Steven, you've got to go. […] It still fucks with me [Q Magazine, July 1991].

Slash: "That's a sensitive subject. It's because as everybody grew up a little bit and tried to get out of the heroin thing and that whole trip [Steven] just never went along, he never grew up with the band. When I gave up a really serious habit he just kept going, the whole sex, drugs and rock'n'roll concept was pretty much all he could fathom and we couldn't work he wasted a lot of money in the studio with us. We've all gone through our trips and we've all had our fucking problems but we've dealt with it, if not for our personal lives for the band itself. We always took care of him and it stopped the band working for a fucking year. When I came back after cleaning out— and I had a really fucking bad habit with all kinds of shit and lzzy came back and we were ready to go, and having to go through this whole thing with Steve going to the hospital, we were wasting tons of money. The guy is sitting on the stool in the studio with his nose touching the fucking floor, with the whole band just staring at him. We'd wake him up and he'd go 'I'm just tired'. Finally it came to the point where I called him up and said 'Steve, it's over' " [Rip It Up, September 1991].

Even Izzy, who later seemed to have disagreed with the decision, or at least complained about it the most, was informed and supportive of firing Steven when it happened.

Izzy: At this time I had nearly managed to get clean up, from everything. When I was looking at the band, I would see Stevie, who was a good guy, who's been struggling with us during all these years, but couldn't handle it anymore. He was a real millstone, he needed to clean up! Fuck... We all tried to help him, to support him. But no, finally, we'd been on the road with this guy for years and we lived this dilemma: "OK. We leave him six months doing nothing without any guarantee it gets better, or we forget about the double album and we bury the band?" Actually, the industry's machine woke up and the answer was: "We take someone else to cut these records." It's wasn't an easy decision [Rock & Folk, September 1992].

Izzy: I took it pretty hard when Stevie was out of the band. It was pretty upsetting, cos I was watching Stevie trying to get himself together after pulling myself together, and it was kinda hard seeing somebody trying when they're not really ready for it. Weeks and months were going by, we were in that old dilemma; it had been two or three years and we didn't have a f**king album out, we gotta move [Kerrang! September 5, 1992].

Axl seems to have been the least involved, likely because he didn't have to deal with Steven on a daily basis.

Axl: "The misconception is that we kicked him out for the hell of it, and that I was the dictator behind it. The truth is, I probably fought a little harder to keep him in the band, because I wasn't working with him on a daily basis like the other guys were. They grew tired of not being able to get their work done because Steven wasn't capable of it" [RIP, October 

 

https://giphy.com/gifs/eye-roll-court-rock-n-CtfvmbnbJNpD2

Edited July 4, 2019 by Sydney Fan

[GNRfan2008]

On 6/22/2019 at 7:26 PM, The Holographic Universe said:

Not to be negative, but is the only AFD member who hasn’t made a single contribution to music. The guy was fucking lucky he was in GNR. 

That seems like a pretty harsh assessment. Izzy himself has said that they lost much of their chemistry when Adler was fired. You can hear it in the music on the Illusion albums as well. It's not just Izzy trying to be nice to his old friend when he says that. For whatever reason, those 5 guys just had a very special chemistry between them. Musical magic. Duff said the first time they rehearsed together, it was like a lightning bolt. I think we can see that in their work on Appetite. 

[The Holographic Universe]

2 hours ago, GNRfan2008 said:

That seems like a pretty harsh assessment. Izzy himself has said that they lost much of their chemistry when Adler was fired. You can hear it in the music on the Illusion albums as well. It's not just Izzy trying to be nice to his old friend when he says that. For whatever reason, those 5 guys just had a very special chemistry between them. Musical magic. Duff said the first time they rehearsed together, it was like a lightning bolt. I think we can see that in their work on Appetite. 

It’s harsh and yes, Steven was essential to GNR. But he peaked early. 

[Latx]

Good Keyservhad a good time. No HnM for he review.

 

SoulMonster, thnx for that . So I stand corrected too.  I never read this tha behind the scenes, they were waiting and waiting and gave him time.Yeah, my 55 yr. memory and reading SAdlers on line stuff, Axl axed him.

STILL, pity they none knew then what was getting really known to hen and that is he needed long term , a year of detox. All of them .Well Izzy detoxed and detached himself. Drugs are just nasty. Some people can let go and others body and brain, not so easily. Steve falls in that category. The guy spiraled  so downward after  the firing. Too bad the band could have not put him on suspension for a year to get him to see the seriousness of it. The others, minus Izzy, all had issues. Axl s was mostly just being crazy. No one in the band or management thought of firing the lead singer for walking off stages, not showing up, or causing riots that resulted in deaths.  No suspension for him and no warnings. Nothing

  Hypocrites too was that Slash and Duff were big drug users still then and for years after, but they were functional. Functional drug qddicts

 Steve was not,

My parents and friends can hold their liquor. An example here. Me, nah. I learned early on I cannot drink. I have a 2-3 drink maximum and I do not go that far lol. My body cannot handle it. Vomiting, sluring words, talking out of my head....falling down.....needing my toiekt, shower, and bed.  Drinking is not for me.

This band did have something as that 5 original . They were in n a roll as a band.

 I do not know grove, technical, classical whatever. 

Matt, Frank are all good. Great. The drummer is not  that impt as in the band is AR and Slash. The reunion is them. 

Sorry to post a negative here to some fans thinking a reunion will be all 5 for a few songs in some , select shows.

Too bad Steve still cannot let go as in that blabbermouth interview. He is NEVER EVER going to play in that band again even as a guest for a song or two per Duff the Biotch.

It is great AR, Slash , and the other night let SAdler be a cover band using all of GnR songs. I am surprise they have not legally shut him down. Was he are touring GnR  a massive production, 4 year, half a million dollar tour and he is so to speak , undercutting the product.

Weird, you have never seen the  5 guys together on stage. 2 or 3 off them. RnRHofF, 3 of them. They are middle aged AARP , Senior Citizen discount aged now. Let bygones be bygones. 

Maybe letting Steven be a GnR cover band is their way of letting bygones be bygones. 

Reunion is A, S and  the other one.

Izzy has ghosted them all, gone underground, lol. Witness protection Program , LoL, disappearance 

[Stizzy]

Hi Everyone

I'm going to see Steven at a small bar (Whiskey a Go Go type of vibe). I want to get the drum stick he gave me last year signed! I plan to show up early, maybe catch him before he enters or does soundcheck or something. Any suggestions as to how early I should be there if doors open at 7pm? 

Thanks!  

[Stizzy]

On 6/22/2019 at 4:03 PM, KeyserSoze said:

Hey guys, im seeing Steven Adler tonight and was wondering if he hangs out amongst the regular members of the crowd (non VIP) after or before the show? 

I'm bringing my Hatch print from the 2016 Nashville shows to potentially get him to sign it... I have no VIP access or anything, so I'm hoping he comes off stage and chills with the crowd after the show. 

Any help or knowledge will be greatly appreciated... Mods, feel free to move to this a more appropriate thread (hopefully after 8pm central time) 

Cheers!

KeyserSoze, were you able to get Steve's autograph? If so, did you manage before or after the show? Any tips for me? I'm going to a small bar to see him and want to get my drum stick signed!

[31illusions]

Going to see Adler on Fri Aug. 16th in Kansas city. Should be fun. Seen him about 7 years ago in Dallas. After the show him and the band came out to see everyone. Talked with fans and signed stuff. Even got my pic with him! Hopefully this is what he still does.

[Stizzy]

5 hours ago, 31illusions said:

Going to see Adler on Fri Aug. 16th in Kansas city. Should be fun. Seen him about 7 years ago in Dallas. After the show him and the band came out to see everyone. Talked with fans and signed stuff. Even got my pic with him! Hopefully this is what he still does.

Thanks a ton, 31illusions!!