themadcaplaughs

More thoughts tomorrow, but whatever Axl is doing, he needs to keep it up. I’ve never seen him this animated and talkative, and the energy more than makes up for the more iffy vocals. 

Yes, I noticed random words from “Oh My God” showed up on the video during YCBM. In regards to YCBM he said he likes to imagine it’s lines from an episode of The Sopranos, but he knows the song is older than The Sopranos.

I eat my words in regards to crowd. They showed up and it’s the most rowdy crowd I’ve seen at a Guns show. He even said we needed to calm down before launching into YCBM. Only song I could hear him struggling with other than HS was “Better.”

Sending this message from my phone as I had to know what the forum thought of that “Hard Skool”. Beyond the timing, there was some kind of delay that rendered his vocals inaudible at the end. He took it well and said “that was a festive mess.”

Another Izzy shout out during YCBM

And thanks for the well wishes. I do love this band, and haven’t seen them since 2016, so there will be some goodies in the set for me. That being said, I’m also a realist and know they probably aren’t an arena band anymore.

Pleasantly surprised by WVH so far!

Did not pick up any merch. I have loved every single shirt to this point, but tonight’s shirt didn’t do it for me; plus I just dropped too much money on the “Hard School” merch a few days back. WVH took stage 10 minutes ago

Just got here and seated. Overheard some of the staff saying the ticket sales were abysmal. 

Do I smell some money in escrow....lie detector tests....tennis matches? 

Like @RussTCB said, I have consistently held the position on this forum that if they released new music, no matter how inconsequential, I would buy it. I am a man of my word for that (and am proud to be proven wrong for once). 

When I saw them in 2011, Axl said something not even in the realm of possibility. I think it was something like "Ferraria". 

1 hour ago, janrichmond said:

He clearly says Knicks contract, yet he still can't say Ferrer 

He has made progress on being able to say it. Even as recently as 2014, he was screwing up Frank's last name. Now he has it, but just sounds like he has to muster all his concentration to get it right, and still isn't 100% sure. 

4 minutes ago, drlaban said:

The "weird shit" and the drumming are key ingredients to making the albums perfect.

I have no issue with Matt's actual performances. He's a monster drummer. They just sound awful in terms of mixing. 

My gut reaction was Use Your Illusion II, and I voted accordingly. Then I immediately start thinking of "Dust n' Bones", "Coma", and "Perfect Crime" being some of my all-time favorites. Ultimately, I think Use Your Illusion II has the highest highs, but I think the sequencing of Use Your Illusion I remains superior. 

No beef with them celebrating an album anniversary with new merchandise like any other band on the planet, but this stuff just looks atrocious. 

Like many I've had some "what-ifs" and "wouldn't it be cool" hypothetical scenarios with the Use Your Illusion albums (what if they made a great one-disc album, what if it was the "rawer" sounding mixes before Axl added all his weird shit, wouldn't it be cool if Matt's drum sound did not sound like a wet pool noodle hitting cement), but ultimately, they are the albums we got and the albums that satisfied the public at the time. Much like getting an official mix of "...And Justice for All" with bass at this point, it's best just to enjoy what we got: warts and all. 

Ultimately, much like The Beatles' self-title album, the Use Your Illusion fractured mess showing a band in complete disarray that should be complete disasters, yet the disorganization and variety somehow work in the albums' favor. Like the aforesaid album, the most fun has been seeing how my preferences have changed over the years. Songs that I used to love for being in your face with their bad attitude ("Get in the Ring," "Shotgun Blues" and "Back off Bitch") now make me cringe a little. Despite not getting mentioned as much, I feel "You Could Be Mine" remains as great a single for the band as "Welcome to the Jungle" and low key one of the best hard rock songs ever. The Izzy songs that slipped into the background for me in younger years are now the highlights ("Dust n' Bones" might be a "top 5" for me). And of course the performances and emotion behind songs like "Coma" and "Estranged" were those "once in a career" type moments. 

Again, a lot of MSL stuff (although I specifically reading this rumor here as well), but the word was there had already been some start ups and slow downs and panics in negotiations, but the band finally reached an agreement and started rehearsing, just to have a band member throw a public temper tantrum and get kicked out. I'm sure Duff and Slash were concerned of it triggering Axl somehow and having him walk away. 

18 hours ago, Blackstar said:

If that rumour is true (about Axl saying that it would either be Frank and Steven or end of negotiations, and Matt was out of the question), I guess Slash and Duff could have equally said "it's either Matt or end of negotiations", if it was so crucial for them. But they didn't, so it seems that it wasn't such a big deal to them as it was for Axl to keep Frank.

I was the one who mentioned the rumor on this forum, and was always upfront it was a MSL "scoop", so take it with a grain of salt. If it were true, I would imagine it wasn't so much "we're not going to swing for Matt" as it was "it's this or nothing". We've seen a relatively stable lineup for a few years now, but at the time, I'm sure they fully expected the smallest thing would make Axl cancel the whole thing and he'd move on with his life. I'm sure it was "we can play with Frank or no one gets anything". Axl's a delicate piece of paper, and I'm sure everyone walked around on eggshells at the point. I know that whole "Duff threatened to beat up Chris Pittman" rumor was apparently based on the fact that the whole band was legitimately afraid Chris' temper tantrum might cause Axl to bail. 

19 hours ago, janrichmond said:

Slash cut the sleeves off and wears them instead

Flannel definitely looks less bloated; wonder if it cracks jokes between songs...

16 hours ago, janrichmond said:

I get the feeling he's going to have to edit more stuff in this book, it's gonna end up as a pamphlet 

He did say he got fired quite a few times and usually Axl would get him back, that last time he didn't. It was Axl's decision.

Apparently Paul (and multiple people after from the GN'R camp) told him that if he just gave Axl a few days to cool off and then apologized to Axl, he would have been invited back, but Matt said he knew it was time to move on by that point. I do not have a specific source off the top of my head, but know he's said that in multiple interviews. I think he even said when Paul followed him back to the parking lot he said something like "just apologize and it will be cool." From what I remember in the book, the 1994-1997 sessions were all entirely useless. I do not things really moved until all the UYI folks (other than Dizzy) left. 

34 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

DJ didn’t say a word 

I think Trunk mentioned later that DJ did a little more talking that got cut out of the final edit. This was right off the heels of the 2011 Rock in Rio show, so the management was probably doing damage control. All I remember DJ saying was that Rock in Rio had been "fun". 

As others have pointed out, anything coming out "soon" remains laughable in the Guns N' Roses world. That being said, I do not doubt she asked Axl and he said that. If she went out of her way to get backstage at a Guns n' Roses show, actually meet Axl (something difficult to do), and then make up a lie to the world about the band possibly releasing a (relatively) unknown song recorded twenty (possibly more) years ago, well....joke's on us I guess. Seems like a lot of effort to prank a very small portion of the Guns N' Roses fan base still actively awaiting new music. 

Also, as much as I have always laughed at the "Axl looked less bloated and was in a good mood" jokes of yesteryears, I must admit he seems to be having a genuinely great time and firing on more cylinders than he has in a few years. I am truly happy for him and look forward to my show in two weeks. Like, if someone had described to me the vibe of this tour in, say, 2013 or 2014, I would have been completely cool with that. This seems to be the way a legacy rock band should be operating. Obviously, we always want new music, but it is what it is with this band. 

I've wanted to do this for years, but was always too lazy to do it. Thanks so much for putting in the work! 

20 minutes ago, BangoSkank said:

I remember reading this, but not where. Do you have a link to this?

You'd have to search various treads. I could not even begin to tell you where to look. I also remember him saying that Del James was circling the two of them and kept trying to butt in and pull Axl away when he started opening up. Apparently after the third time Del tried to remove Axl, Axl said something like "if you bother us again you're on your own the rest of the night". 

8 minutes ago, guitarpatch said:

I wouldn’t subscribe to the label/album thing. He already said the infamous words “I don’t know if soon is the word”… 

He was flying into the city the evening of the shows and going on hours late. It probably wasn’t the first time he said he was sick or couldn’t perform if that’s the story. It was most likely a disorganized mess plus everyone around him thinking the show would still go on. 
 

Philly just isn’t one of those cities to pull that with. They reacted to the news after being toyed around for the evening. Perfect storm happened and that was it. 2 riots were enough for the promoter. They knew a late cancellation would most likely happen again.
 

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice??? It’s a shame because they were cooking and performing well by Boston and NYC 

This.

As @Dean stated, the official story from Axl was he was sick. At the 2012 show in Philly, Axl even said something like "it wasn't basketball games, it wasn't fur coats". He even obliquely referenced the basketball rumor in the 2008 chats. Someone asked him about being late and he said something along the lines of "I've always been that way. It drove Izzy nuts, but he'd  usually check himself and admit I was doing something important or prepping for the show and not just watching basketball." (Although we've heard from numerous other folks Axl really does just kind of dick around before shows). Also, the whole "I did the right thing, it was the manager who didn't pass along the message" seems to be a fallback for Axl.

My guess would be that even with "big" shows in Boston and New York City, the sluggish sales in other markets couldn't justify the two different riots, which probably chilled some folks' desire to even attend the shows. Easier just to pull the plug. As for why the radio silence, that would not be unusual if litigation was being prepared. I'd also guess the contract itself prevented anyone (including Axl) from talking about what happened. 

When the "Eat My Silkworms" guy met Axl in 2006, apparently Axl was very open about how, after the tour got cancelled, he fell into a deep depression and sometimes didn't get out of bed for days. 

Whatever happened, he kicked ass at that 2012 return show. 

1 hour ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

Axl tweeted this date out specifically and the people behind the HS backing video are flying from Europe to see it. That being said, I think it means fuck all.

Never noticed he specifically tweeted that. Fun to think it might mean something. Back when they announced the 2012 Las Vegas residency, Canter mentioned Axl has always loved Vegas and it might be his favorite place to play. Even if nothing new happens tonight, I imagine it'll be a great show! 

Is there a way we can change the forum so the word "insider" gets changed to something funny? Perhaps anytime someone uses the word "insider", it changes to "absurd?"