BangoSkank

I so fucking agree - sad what the industry has come to. I remember when GNR played MSG in 2017 (?). They were doing four or five nights. I live in NJ and could have easily made it there. But I went to zero because anything decent was $300-$400. Now, I've reserved myself to a shitty nosebleed day of for my one of my favorite bands. And honestly, I could afford some of this, but it's really just principle. That is just so goddamn much.

And I get there are costs to cover and that's hard with inflation, gas prices, and covid insurance. But still, it's deflating. 

58 minutes ago, WildStar said:

This list is hardly an experience. They are mostly pointless 

You pick your ticket up from a VIP booth! I couldn't care if I got my ticket from a donkeys barn.

You get your photo taken infront of a poster saying VIP. Wow

You get to ask some random bloke how long it takes to set up the lighting. Who gives a shit.

Another FN Laminate! No comment 

The chance to spend more money on more shit merch. So kind 

2 whole beers. Wow leave the car at home

And a DJ playing GNR CDs while you sit on a seat with a GNR cushion. Take my money now!

For the KISS $1000 Package you get a photo with the band and get to watch the soundcheck

 

I 100% agree, but people are STILL going to buy them and give organizers (and Fernando) no reason to not do shit like this again. 

36 minutes ago, PatrickS77 said:

Yeah. That sucks. And less and less favourable to the average man. Imagine buying that shit and then you can't go. They won't even let you return it or transfer it to someone else.

Yeah, if it were off-setting the cost of regular tickets I'd actually kind of like them. But I suspect they're not and are just another sign of shows becoming elitist. 

Here's the $1300 "Welcome To The Jungle" Experience:

Thanks for this - truly any inside info. from 2000 - 2014 is super interesting to me. 

I don't know.

Favorite Released: Shackler's Revenge. This is the type industrial metal madness that I loved about this era. I do wish he'd gone solo because it may have freed him up more to pursue this type of sound with less judgement from the general public. I know we have Ron's solo on the album and I know he's likely playing what Buckethead wrote, but my God, I'd love to hear Bucket playing on this.

Favorite Unreleased: Devious Bastard (for similar reasons as to why I love Shackler's).

Least favorite of both: This I Love. This is truly the only song in the Guns catalog I do not like. Robin's solo is fantastic, but Axl's lyrics sound like a heartbroken teenager's diary. I love when he belts out with rasp, but hoo doggie, I just cannot get past the words and rhyme scheme. After hearing about this legendary song title for years when it was finally released I just went, "Damn."

13 hours ago, willl said:

His weight.

I've never once considered Axl to be even slightly overweight, dude has always just looked healthy to me. He may carry a bit more weight now that he's not 20 years old but he's never been overweight in my opinion.

Yeah, truthfully I find the weight comments to be super tasteless. It's wild that people say it so often and no one calls them out for being an asshole. So fucking what if he put on weight - he's 60. He's also by no means fat. I do think in 2011 he was out of shape to an unhealthy degree (and he clearly hadn't rehearsed), but 2016 on he's seemed fine.

19 hours ago, DoMw94 said:

Honestly? The singing.

He's an older fella who we know for a fact is coached, warms up, and warms down. It's obvious he sings the way he does for a reason.

There's also no chance a human being can sustain singing the way he did for 40-odd years without damage.

Yes, he sings differently to how he did back in the day, but he's not stupid. Obviously there are reasons for it.

It's either look after his voice and sing the way he does, or be even worse. I know which of those two options I'd rather have...

100% - He even said in the China Exchange press conference that he knows fan don't like his clean voice, but it hurts him to sing with rasp (paraphrasing). It is what it is. 

1 hour ago, invisible_rose said:

100% this. Regardless of what any of us think about TB's ability to manage the band, those guys have been there for Axl through thick and thin and he's always been protective over them.

Axl gets a lot of shit for being a volatile character, but it is only seemingly when he's crossed. Until that point, he's clearly a very loyal friend.  

Yeah I fully agree - TB is horrendous with fan interactions (and I speak from experience), but you can see that they really have helped Axl through a lot and he deeply cares for them. The video of him defending Beta at the airport comes to mind. Of course people want to paint it as "Look how reactive and crazy Axl is," but if someone did that to my mom or a mother-figure to me I'd do the exact same thing. 

We honestly probably wouldn't have Axl performing today without Beta & Co.

8 minutes ago, EvanG said:

His cornrows

Honestly, I agree - they were sick and I give him credit for sticking with whatever fashion he wants despite what anyone says.

For me, there are many, but one is stopping the show when people are either throwing things or messing with someone else in the crowd.  

I’m not talking about him leaving the stage entirely and never coming back ala St. Louis, but mostly on the ‘06 tour when someone threw a bottle of piss at Tommy or here:

https://youtu.be/D2HuEwWtApk?t=133

I do not think he should stand for that. And I believe Lemmy gave him the advice to not stand for it either. 

Let the record show there is plenty that I don’t support him on too. For example: lateness.

Drugs and creative differences. And to tell Axl if anyone ever leaves to label what he does as another band. 

"There are 52 Tuesdays Left in 2023"

It's probably a combination of things. Izzy not happy with the money, Axl & Co. not comfortable with relying on him, etc. 

5 hours ago, whatashame said:

give me the entire 2002 tour in pro shot and GNR can retire forever

Throw in Axl's autobiography where he talks about this period in depth and, man, I'm inclined to agree.

20 hours ago, invisible_rose said:

It's only 27 shows though and I'd imagine the figure is based purely on ticket sales. You then have merch etc on top. I'd love to see a full breakdown of the accounts though, purely out of interest to see how many people have fingers in the pie. 

I really would too. The financial breakdown of live music seems both meticulously put together and completely convoluted to me.  Band, promoter, hangers-on, lawyers, etc.

16 hours ago, kiwiguns said:

It's not about them.. 

It's supply and demand. 

Clearly promoters around the world see the demand and the value. 

It's the tour promoter who takes on the financial risk, not the band as they get paid regardless. 

If the tour is successful, the promotor makes a profit. If its not, the promotor makes a loss or in some cases the promoter will cancel the shows, often based on ticket sales, as they won't make a profit to cover the artists up front booking fee and guaranteed payment. The promotor can be legally liable and obligated to pay the booking fee as per written agreement aka a contract. 

The tour promoter covers the cost of the bands tour expenses via the upfront booking fee. The band would then have  set costings factored in to cover there own traveling costs mainly crew and personnel. 

The actual band members or artist would be on a set retainer in terms of direct remuneration. I would think, the big 3 would have received a larger percentage of the over all up front booking fee profits.. 

The band doesn't pay for hotel accommodation,local transportation (from the hotel to the venue etc), flights etc. Thats covered by the tour promotor. 

 

 

 

Right, so I guess my question is that $93M in ticket sales goes to the promoter or does the band, management, etc. share in that? 

I really don't mean to sound naïve, but is $93 million really that much for a tour this scope? An international tour, with private jets, big staffs, tons of crew, the record company, Axl, Slash, & Duff getting guarantees, the rest of the band, the promoter...

I know they're not hurting for money, and that is obviously a ton of money to me, but I really wonder how much there is to go around when you consider everything listed above.

12 hours ago, AXL_N_DIZZY said:

Have absolutely zero information to share- but I do recall at least one of the rumors in the subsequent weeks was that Bucket, and Robin got into some kind of disagreement/minor fracas backstage at MSG. Personally, I always assumed the Philly Riot was some combination of whatever that was, and Axl generally not feeling up to it that particuar evening (tired/sick/unmotivated once the big MSG show was over, etc.).

Yeah, from what I remember reading about the "two camps" is that there was some friction there because Robin was there first and was the lead guitar player, then Bucket showed up and the sound of the new music started to be built around him and the tension arose from that. 

The next time Tommy Stinson plays locally at a small venue I am going up to him and offering to buy him drinks if I can ask him questions about this era of the band. 

2 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

We fans have a "happy anniversary" of riots, just one of the things that make me love this band lol

The really weird thing is I look back on it kind of fondly now.

5 hours ago, Spoon87 said:

Absolutely fascinating era, I would still really like to deep-dive in all that and read everything about these years. 

Maybe someday we'll get that Axl biography. 

Completely agree - it's by far the most interesting time in the band's history to me. The only real resources I've seen on it are Chinese Whispers and a thread on here from an inside source describing two different "camps" in the band and the two not really liking each other. 

Shame that Axl has said he doesn't want to release a book - I almost want that more than a new album.

5 hours ago, mystery said:

It's underestimated just how much the music landscape changed in the early 2000's and how detrimental not having Slash in the band was seen by the general public. Axl also still had the reputation from the UYI tour which he only helped perpetuate with the Philly riot.

Guns N' Roses also weren't quite old enough for full nostalgia so they were caught in this middle ground of not fitting in with the current rock scene while also not being at that Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin level of legendary status.

Although I supported him keeping the name at the time, he absolutely should have gone solo. He'd have less financial support, but I think his life would have been easier. 

7 hours ago, mystery said:

That riot fucked up a lot of the 2000's for them. I'm always interested in Axl disappearing from 1994-2000 but this was a second recluse period where he wasn't seen publicly from 2003-early 2006.

In between you had Axl voice a character for GTA: San Andreas in 2004, Mike Piazza leaking some then unreleased Chinese Democracy tracks on Eddie Trunk's radio show in 2003, a cancelled appearance at Rock in Lisboa in 2004 due to Buckethead's departure, and Slash drunkenly showing up at Axl's house in 2005.

It was so dark in this time - people were scrambling for any piece of information they could get. There was also, if I'm not mistaken, Axl playing the album in a strip club. 

18 hours ago, denin said:

Short answer: Axl felt too sick to show up.

Longer, speculative answer: Goldstein (Merck) were informed about this in the wee hours after the MSG show. The management got anxious, as the artist had used up all of ClearChannel's goodwill by arriving late to the opening riot in Vancouver. Come showtime in Philly, they still kept a helicopter, the promoters, and the audience waiting.

Axl kept telling them that he's too ill to replicate the performance he'd just pulled off the other night. He was likely worried about his voice, too. Tour planning and itinerary had sucked, anyway. He would make it up to the Philly crowds on the next of these two back-to-back shows. Or so he thought, maybe.

I can buy all this. The part that sticks out to me in Axl's answer years later as odd is when he said, "Clear Channel wanted the tour to fail." While they may have been disappointed, frustrated, and thinking it'd be easier if it ended, there is no universe where they wanted that major tour to collapse and end up in litigation for years.

18 hours ago, Bitchisback said:

My first GnR concert 🥲

Same. My second concert ever. First one was Live - a band you could argue is currently more fucked up than GN'R.

Normally I would in no way advocate them doing this, but after reading the article: good.