themadcaplaughs

Interesting to see people hitting on a point you didn't hear a lot about during the "nu" years; people leaving the show early (or before GN'R even started) because of how late Axl started shows. He got away with it in 1991-1993 because they were the biggest band in the world, but by 2011 people were not having it.

Looking back at that Atlanta 2011 show, the band was ticketed to start at 9:00. There was a local opener at 7:00 (Kelen Heller) who played for about 30 minutes to an almost completely empty arena. The "main opener" (Buckcherry) did not even take the stage until 8:30 or so, and had to resort to typical tricks to pad out time because Axl probably wasn't ready (I think they played "Crazy Bitch" twice and included an extended breakdown and rant in both). Buckcherry left the stage right after 10:00, and GN'R did not take the stage until 11:40. By that point, a small but not insubstantial number of people had left the (already poorly attended) venue when "Chinese Democracy" started. People held on as long as they could, but as the show progressed, you could see visible groups of people heading out to get home at a somewhat reasonable time. A HUGE number of people left after "Sweet Child O' Mine" (presumably the one song they felt they "needed" to hear). By the time it got to the Paradise City, it was right around 2:30 AM and even the floor (which, despite the overall lack of sales had been absolutely packed at the beginning of the show) had huge gaps in it. It really impacted the energy of the show.

It was sad having to see people who probably did want to see the show leave (I completely understood), and it was even more sad because Axl really gave it 100% that night. It was the band's first show in Atlanta since 1987, and Axl made multiple comments throughout the show about how cool it was to finally play Atlanta again, and what a great crowd it was. (After "Rocket Queen" ended, he said something like "we've played 45 minutes. I'm officially doing better than the last time I played here."). 

Compare that to Atlanta in 2016 at the Georgia Dome. The band was scheduled to start at 9:30, and was on-stage by 9:32. By the time the band got to the last song, the venue was still absolutely packed and it really enhanced the energy of the show to have a full house. As a matter of fact, it was still so crowded at the end of the show that it took almost 30 minutes just to get back outside because of the lines. 

2 minutes ago, zombux said:

this photo is supposed to be from Hong Kong 2002 (first show with Richard Fortus, no bootlegs available).

I think this is the only official or semi-official band photo from the Buckethead era.

Was this show the debut of the 2002 braids? 

20 hours ago, NeonKinight said:

BTW, this only known picture of him in 04, am i right?

I think there may have been a picture of him leaving a studio in his Ferrari around that time as well. 

Here it is. For some reason, I thought he was leaving the studio, but it looks like he was just hanging out around the outside of the studio. Looking at Axl in this picture, as compared to the one above, this could have been 2002. However, I have always seen it labelled as 2003 or 2004. 2001/2002 seemed to be the beginning of him freezing like a deer in the headlights every time someone took a photo. 

When I saw them at Philips Arena in Atlanta in 2011, the show undersold so badly that anyone who upper-level seats got rerouted to sit on the ground level seats. Officially, the staff were supposed to say there was water damage or something, but one of the bartenders let it slip that the show sold poorly. In all fairness to the band, I believe the 2011 arena tour occurred solely to settle the Azoff lawsuit, so it wasn't like the band swung for the fences and missed. 

While the cell phone clip was, at best, a cool curiosity, the story of its origin has been the most interesting thing I've read on this forum in a while! 

Also, I've seen a few comments along the lines of "if Guns N' roses played new music, why would people talking." Bear in mind that superfans like us make up a SMALL minority; even smaller when you consider the people a band usually takes backstage to an after party. People at an after party want to socialize, drink, and meet the band.  

I couldn't be bothered to read whatever Fernando spewed on here last time. What exactly did he say about Marc? I know that when the band played The Troubador in 2016, Marc said something about now wanting to go where he is not wanted, so I assumed not everything had been smoothed over with Axl.

I like all three. While I can understand valid criticisms of their roles and fit in the band, but it seems like hating them represents a huge waste of time and energy/

18 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Sorry.............same show as the "LIVIN' THE DREAM!" thing where Axl & Ron were openly making fun of DJ on the A4D blu-ray.

Gotcha. I remember Axl's "livin' the dream" on Appetite for Democracy. That was pretty funny. 

I am like 99% sure the Tommy clap was from a 2014 show. There was also a moment from a 2014 show where Axl and Ron talk during DJ's "Patience" solo, and Axl makes some sort of funny hand gesture. At the time, most people thought they were making fun of DJ, although I always thought it was possible Axl and Ron were just shooting the shit. 

http://freegifmaker.me/images/2ckLv/

3 hours ago, RussTCB said:

It's the same show isn't it? I can't remember exactly either, but I know what you're talking about and it used to crack me up. 

Same show as what? 

On 10/17/2015 at 9:20 AM, RussTCB said:

Lolwut

Does anyone have a GIF of that show where Tommy sarcastically applauds DJ after the "Patience" solo. I want to say it was from a 2014 show, but I cannot find it or remember which show. 

5 minutes ago, cqleonardo said:

any links on that?

https://www.loudersound.com/news/axl-rose-sued-by-guns-n-roses-ex-chris-pitman

"The keyboardist and bassist claims Rose promised him $125,000 for his work during 2011, which he couldn’t afford to pay at the time."

I would imagine...

-Having something of a "family unit" with the Lebeis clan. Even Alan Niven, who had a lot of strong words about Fernando, admitted without hesitation that they play an important role in his life. 
-Therapy and proper medication (not an insult at all. Mental health is important). 
-Slash and Duff being back. No matter what people say, and how happy Axl felt with other lineups, I imagine the shadow of those band members along with the memories of how badly things ended with them ate up a lot of Axl's thoughts. 
-Guns N' Roses pretty much runs today how Axl wanted it to in 1996. He runs the show, but Duff and Slash play an important part. 
-At the risk of sound crass, I'm sure the financial security that comes with the Not in This Lifetime tour help. From various documents, sources, and lawsuits (namely the Pittman suit), it appeared financial problems plagued the various touring lineups after Slash left. From what we heard, the band was essentially in a perpetual loop of debt. They would rack up debt, have to play shows to make money to pay that debt, and then rack up more debt in the process of touring. 

25 minutes ago, cqleonardo said:

I dont understand why he stayed in the label... Why he didnt created his own? he is a business man, I bet he can do that with his team

He was definitely still under contract to Universal in 2009/2010. As far as I know, he still is, but I suppose the Appetite re-release may fulfill his obligations. If he tried to release an album on his own at the time, he would have been sued into oblivion. 

2 hours ago, hollywood_democracy said:

Is this true? Axl actually submitted a product and they rejected it?

The story, was that Axl genuinely did want a follow up album to come out relatively soon after Chinese Democracy; sort of like Radiohead with Kid A and Amnesiac. When Axl said, "same Bat-time, same Bat-channel" regarding a new album in the 2008 chats, he was actually being serious. That, of course, got delayed (my guess would be because the band never toured in spring/summer 2009 as originally anticipated). Apparently in 2010, a few months before the Reading and Leeds festivals, Axl approached the label again about releasing the second album. MSL said it was to be a self-titled album (either Guns N' Roses or GN'R). The label said no. They gave Axl the official reason that it would be too quick of a turn around to promote and release the albums before the shows. After the debacle of the label not promoting Chinese Democracy, Axl felt betrayed and apparently ended the band and cancelled the festival shows on Twitter (which was later attributed to a "hack" after management smoothed things over). The implication has always seemed to be that this was when Axl truly lost interest in releasing new Guns N' Roses music.

I have to say, not bad at all; a lot better than I expected. 

4 minutes ago, GNRfanJen said:

I just wanted to say, it makes me really happy to see all the real fans losing their mind over things like this. This is like, THE holy grail right here. And finally after 17 years it’s been uncovered. It’s just an incredible feeling. I’m so glad to be a fan of this band. 

Honestly, this feels like more of an end to the "Chinese Democracy era" than any of two other big milestones: the release of the actual album or the mega-sets the band played at the 2014 residency. On one hand, I feel bad that a leaked video provides more closure than anything Guns N' Roses has done in the last 17 years, but I do not feel bad watching or downloading it. If they had released this on DVD when the iron was still hot, I would have bought it, and I feel the same goes for anyone in this thread. I know this is completely illogical, but in a weird way, this allows me to move forward with the current lineup's continuing tour with less ill will. We now have the item we thought we'd never see. 

The only comparable feeling I have ever gotten from an artist was when Brian Wilson started performing "Smile" live, and eventually released a modern version of the album.

This recording of "Oh My God" sounds 100% better than the Rock in Rio recording. 

Also, it's endearing that after every song for the first five or six songs, you can see that Axl looks genuinely surprised at how much the crowd loves the show. I remember reading before that he really did feel scared from 1994-2000 that no one would care about his music anymore, and that he was legitimately surprised at how positive a reception he got in the media when he performed with Gilby Clarke at that club in 2000. 

Listening now...too funny. 

I definitely don't remember Axl's wig looking so bad when I saw the show. Buckethead and Tommy look so young. Or more realistically, Tommy doesn't look completely weathered down from his drinking problem yet. Also, I know Robin always played the "Mr. Brownstone" liberally compared to the recording, but he definitely hadn't wrapped his head around it yet. The last little part of that solo sounds DJ Ashba bad at this show (and this comes from a dude who loved Robin). 

Honest to God, Frank's speed from 2016 on never bothered me too much. He played the songs at a more normal tempo from 2007-2014, so Duff and Slash obviously had something to do with the decision (as others pointed out). The only song where I ever notice it would be "Rocket Queen," and I cannot stand the NITL "Rocket Queen" wank, so Frank's speed doesn't make or break the song. 

55 minutes ago, Basic_GnR_Fan said:

I would just like to pay my respects to Tommy Stinson's fat bass lines in Silkworms.

This would be the only positive thing I can say about the song. I cannot believe I'm gong to say this, but the RiR III Version sounded far superior. 

Will it be like when they debuted those two or three new songs in the South American tour in 2014? 

51 minutes ago, Padme said:

Yeah it looks like we're getting NGOGed again 

Just saw this. What ever happened to that guy? 

15 hours ago, Dean said:

That was pretty cool. 31 years for that to be released, so we've only got another 21 to go for Catcher, Better etc 

Yea, pretty much any excitement I may have had for this video ended around the beginning of the new millennium. Honestly, the last time I can remember honestly thinking about this video was when Sebastian Bach mentioned it on the Eddie Trunk interview with Axl in 2006 (and now I feel old realizing that occurred 12 years ago). 

Badass! Thanks so much for all the hard work.