Guns N' Roses - o2 Dublin September 1st

[Nobodys_Fault]

And, do you really think that the band can tell the material a bottle is made of as it is whizzing by them?

Ali

Yes... they can. For one a Glass tumbler (which would have been the only thing allowed in the venue) does not fucking wizz past anything. That's the very reason they are the only thing allowed.

[axl_on_drums]

Glass bottles were everywhere (must of been snuck in)

Also people were spotted pissing in plastic cups in the smoking area

[bangit]

Wrong, it clearly takes around 45 mins at least depending on the venue etc. I agree axl shouldn't have let it ruin it for the true fans but i'm not sure how i'd act in that situation to be honest are you?

I've been to enough concerts in the last 20 years, & have seen bands with far more elaborate staging than what Axl has going on, to know that it doesn't take 45,60,90,120 minutes in between sets. There may be certain times when it isn't Axl's fault for the late start, but I'd bet those times are very few and far between.

Bands opening for GNR being told to extend their set isn't anything new either. Sebastian had talked in the past about times Skid Row played songs twice because they had been told to extend their set when they opened the UYI tour.

When I saw Manson in 97, people were throwing bottles & stuff at him for his whole 60 minute set. He kept playing, and when he was done he told the crowd "You're all a bunch of pussies with really bad aim!" Perhaps Axl should give it a shot....

Agreed AXL needs to find another way of dealing with this, it will happen again and it could completely ruin this tour and future tours / album sales etc...... I'm just saying that it does take a chunk of time to change over so this needs to be considered. I watched them at leeds and it did take 50 minutes plus to finish then the band were on within 10 minutes. Maybe this is a delay tactic? who nos, i couldnt give a fuck about the lateness to be honest. Anything around an hour is fine in my opinion for a rock show with no curfew.

[no1gooner]

If a glass bottle or dangerous object had hit him or anyone in the band, but it didn't. Very different story.

Sorry Conor, but the above is kind of a flimsy argument. How would someone on stage know that there were ONLY plastic bottles in the crowd. And, do you really think that the band can tell the material a bottle is made of as it is whizzing by them?

Ali

On top of that, why does it matter what is being thrown. Does it really have to be dangerous to justify them walking off? Even if liquid is hitting them they have every right in the world to leave the stage. None of you would put up with that as a performer. Don't try to act all high and mighty and pretend you would.

here,here. it was pobably bottles of piss, judging by some of knackers i saw on my way in.

[Ali]

And, do you really think that the band can tell the material a bottle is made of as it is whizzing by them?

Ali

Yes... they can. For one a Glass tumbler (which would have been the only thing allowed in the venue) does not fucking wizz past anything. That's the very reason they are the only thing allowed.

Absurd. In the heat of the moment you are not going to analyze the material the bottle is made of as it's flying by. Completely ridiculous assumption. Still, like I said, that doesn't preclude anything else from being grabbed and thrown. What would you do? Wait around and hope and see if only plastic bottles are thrown? Self-preservation is a natural instinct.

Ali

[Naupis]

I am amazed reading through comment sections at the various articles posted at the number of people happy Axl had piss bottles thrown at him.

Axl had better hope that vigilante justice does not catch on as it seems there is a ground swell of support for the promoter and fans who have started "fighting back" against the late starts.

He is badly losing the PR war right now as he is being savaged by the press.

He's needs to get some professionals in there to get this situation under control before "pelting Axl with Piss" becomes a new European sport the next month if things stay as they have been.

[Guest RonMexico82]

The clearly different point of view between those who were at the gig to those who were NOT speaks volumes. I'll post my thoughts later and if it matters I was sober for the gig (long story)

[tat2d1]

Anything around an hour is fine in my opinion for a rock show with no curfew.

Thing is, just because Axl doesn't have a curfew, doesnt mean the town or venue he's playing in doesn't. Axl needs to realize that just beacause he's Axl Fuckin' Rose doesn't mean he's exempt from having to follow certain rules. This isn't 20 years ago, in general people appear to be less tolerant of diva like rock star behavior.

One thing that I guess I just dont get is: Whenever a celebrity gets in some trouble & gets some bullshit fine, or loose sentence just because of their fame OR they just use their fame to get away with BS that none of the rest of us could get away with, we all get pissed and talk about how much bullshit it is, that people shouldn't get away with things just because they're famous or have $ to buy their way out of trouble, BUT when it comes to Axl Rose doing things like that, people rush to defend him. I'm tellin' ya, Axl could shit in some of you people's mouth & you'd smile & call it a Snickers bar.

[Nobodys_Fault]

And, do you really think that the band can tell the material a bottle is made of as it is whizzing by them?

Ali

Yes... they can. For one a Glass tumbler (which would have been the only thing allowed in the venue) does not fucking wizz past anything. That's the very reason they are the only thing allowed.

Absurd. In the heat of the moment you are not going to analyze the material the bottle is made of as it's flying by. Completely ridiculous assumption. Still, like I said, that doesn't preclude anything else from being grabbed and thrown. What would you do? Wait around and hope and see if only plastic bottles are thrown? Self-preservation is a natural instinct.

Ali

If security had've been doing there job then there would have been nothing else to grab and throw, which in fairness it now seems they weren't. Another thing - Did the 02 turn on the house lights and start ushering people to the doors? Because that certainly wouldn't have helped either.

Look, i'm in no way saying that Axl is 100% to blame but he certainly could've handled things better. Imagine if the news story's this morning read:

Axl Rose wins over hostile Dublin crowd: Plays through initial barrage of plastic

Or better again:

Axl Rose arrives on stage on time: Wows Dublin crowd

But no. Instead we get shit like this:

Axl Rose tries Dublin's patience, sends crowd home‎

[Conor]

And, do you really think that the band can tell the material a bottle is made of as it is whizzing by them?

Ali

Yes... they can. For one a Glass tumbler (which would have been the only thing allowed in the venue) does not fucking wizz past anything. That's the very reason they are the only thing allowed.

Absurd. In the heat of the moment you are not going to analyze the material the bottle is made of as it's flying by. Completely ridiculous assumption. Still, like I said, that doesn't preclude anything else from being grabbed and thrown. What would you do? Wait around and hope and see if only plastic bottles are thrown? Self-preservation is a natural instinct.

Ali

If security had've been doing there job then there would have been nothing else to grab and throw, which in fairness it now seems they weren't. Another thing - Did the 02 turn on the house lights and start ushering people to the doors? Because that certainly wouldn't have helped either.

They did turn on the house lights, and I don't know about ushering people out because I was at the front anyway, but I saw some of the security guards point to doors and waved people to them from the front but quickly laughing afterwards so I assumed they were joking.

[Sunn]

Funny, I probably hadn't thought about GnR for 15 years or so until I saw something in the news about the Dr. Pepper / new album deal. My first thought - and I mean this seriously - was "Huh, they're still around?"

Of course, they were and they weren't.

There's no comparison, at least in my real life, with the knowledge about this band and its history by forum members here and anyone I know.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if a lot of the people who go to these concerts are just going to a concert. I went to a local concert on Tuesday that was decided the night before. It was a "sure, sounds fun" kinda idea. It was a band I knew of, but didn't really know anything about as they aren't my favorite. Couldn't quite a few be going to a Guns concert the same way?

There are, imo, three bottom lines.

One - shit gets thrown at concerts, as wrong as it is.

Two - the performer better learn to deal with it or stop performing.

Three - in this instant info age of twitter, Facebook, etc., bands have to realize that the official version isn't going to mean a whole lot when hundreds who attended are saying something else.

[axl666]

Bad press on o2 has now gone worldwide:

http://news.google.ie/news/more?q=guns+n+roses&hl=en&prmd=nivl&resnum=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dgGyY_xCPRh5OAMabyHvzv1U_aGAM&ei=9g6ATLL8C8yBswbX8PzkDw&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&cd=1&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQqgIoADAA

[no1gooner]

And, do you really think that the band can tell the material a bottle is made of as it is whizzing by them?

Ali

Yes... they can. For one a Glass tumbler (which would have been the only thing allowed in the venue) does not fucking wizz past anything. That's the very reason they are the only thing allowed.

Absurd. In the heat of the moment you are not going to analyze the material the bottle is made of as it's flying by. Completely ridiculous assumption. Still, like I said, that doesn't preclude anything else from being grabbed and thrown. What would you do? Wait around and hope and see if only plastic bottles are thrown? Self-preservation is a natural instinct.

Ali

If security had've been doing there job then there would have been nothing else to grab and throw, which in fairness it now seems they weren't. Another thing - Did the 02 turn on the house lights and start ushering people to the doors? Because that certainly wouldn't have helped either.

They did turn on the house lights, and I don't know about ushering people out because I was at the front anyway, but I saw some of the security guards point to doors and waved people to them from the front but quickly laughing afterwards so I assumed they were joking.

i was seated and didn't see any stewarts asking people to go at any stage.

[Naupis]

Guns N' Roses Walk Off Stage, Victory for Bottle-Hurling Fans Everywhere!

Let's just say Axl Rose isn't too welcome in this jungle.

Twenty minutes into their concert in Dublin last night, Guns N' Roses cut short their set after fans—and we use that term extremely loosely—refused to stop throwing plastic bottles (not to mention all manner of invectives) at the band.

"Stop," Axl told his bandmates midsong before going on to address the rowdy crowd.

"All right, here's the deal. One more bottle, we go home. It's up to you. We would like to stay. You want us to stay? We want to stay. We want to have some fun. You want to have fun? If you don't want to have fun, all you gotta do is let us know, and we got no problem, we'll go on our way."

Apparently, the audience did not want to have fun. And let the group know by booing and, yes, throw yet more bottles with unknown liquids (any guesses? We're thinking the bathroom lines were short that evening) at the stage.

"Have a good evening," Axl said, leading the band offstage.

A venue worker who undoubtedly fell victim to the short straw then came onstage with the unenviable task of having to blame "technical difficulties" on the disruption.

As in technically, Axl's a douche?

"We're trying hard to get Axl to come back onstage," another worker announced a little later. "I would ask you please to refrain from throwing items at him. If you bear with us for five minutes…thank you for your patience, it's appreciated."

Well, five turned into nearly 60, but the group eventually—and contractually—returned to the stage. The promoter forced the volatile band to finish out its set, albeit to a much more scaled back (OK, nearly empty) venue.

Rose & Co. ultimately wrapped their set around 1 a.m. for the loyal few who remained and refrained from launching projectiles.

While Axl has yet to comment on the incident, the promoters and O2 venue joined together to defend their booking:

"No artist should be subjected to missiles and unknown substances being thrown at them," they said.

Incidentally, this isn't the first bit of concert trouble Guns N' Roses has endured this week. The band's sets were cut short at Britain's Leeds and Reading music festivals after the band started late and were not allowed to extend the cities' performance curfews to complete their entire set.

Axl responded to those incidents with a lengthy Twitter rant on Tuesday, calling the festivals a "cash grab" that had "no respect for the fans or the band."

Maybe he picked up a few pointers?

http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/b198645_guns_roses_walk_off_stage_victory.html

That is from E!, the major entertainment channel out there.

They are trumpeting it as a victory that Axl was pelted with piss bottles.

If it wasn't already, this situation is officially a crisis if the narrative has gotten that bad about Axl that people are being cheered for pelting him with piss.

[Orsys]

And, do you really think that the band can tell the material a bottle is made of as it is whizzing by them?

Ali

Yes... they can. For one a Glass tumbler (which would have been the only thing allowed in the venue) does not fucking wizz past anything. That's the very reason they are the only thing allowed.

Absurd. In the heat of the moment you are not going to analyze the material the bottle is made of as it's flying by. Completely ridiculous assumption. Still, like I said, that doesn't preclude anything else from being grabbed and thrown. What would you do? Wait around and hope and see if only plastic bottles are thrown? Self-preservation is a natural instinct.

Ali

And to add to Ali's post, Axl stopped the song after the first things were thrown and told the audience, in a very polite way that they weren't going to tolerate it and the next thing would result in them going. I do think Axl did some dickwad things last night, but at that point, they were on stage, they were performing, and the idiots threw things after he warned them. So he wasn't a total dick. I actually think the warning part was more than fair to the audience. When the next thing was thrown the people around the guy should have stopped him, but Axl can't tell them to do that because he would be encouraging possible violence. Security failed at this point, but the ultimate loser is the guy who threw the bottle after the warning.

[irishguns]

Hi all,

I don't post much on this place as I try to just enjoy the band for what they are and not get involved in the political stuff. I've been a lurker on here since 2002 and have always supported the band and Axl through everything and defended them without a second thought to friends who like to say the usual shit about "its not Guns N' Roses", Axl is a prick yada yada yada.... I drove 100miles to get Chinese Democracy because I heard of a shop that was selling it a day early, And I queued for 7 hours in the blistering heat at the 06 RDS gig just to get into the pit so you could say that I'm a pretty hardcore fan!!

Ever since this tour was announced I had been hoping for an Irish gig and was delighted when the O2 date was announced I had planned to go to Belfast but I had a thesis due for college the following day so it wasn't an option. Having watched 100s of videos of the bands performances on this tour I was really physced about this gig. But what a let down it turned out to be now Ive no problem waiting for the band to come on I know its a constant cause for debate on here but I knew this when I bought my ticket, I don't understand people who get pissed off about it ... they know the score if they dont like it then they shouldn't buy a ticket. Waiting an hour or 2 for Axl and the band to come on and give a mindblowing performance is nothing compared to the years I spent waiting for the opportunity to see them in the 1st place. They were an hour late coming on and I do believe it was due to genuine technical difficulties because the roadies were doing a lot of set up work and when Axl came on it was clear he was having some problems with hearing himself/the band so I don't think people should necessarily hang Axl for that! There was some booing but from where I was standing by the opening chords of WTTJ the band had won the crowd over. I got a clear view of the plastic cup being thrown at Axl and I knew straight away what was going to go down, At first I didnt necessarily think it would be such a bad thing as often times an event like this can fuel an even more intense performance, but it wasn't to be.

Axl seemed to be pretty pissed off and the second cup thrown at Richard Fortus was all he needed. Now to be honest I cant blame the guy he is up there giving it everything only for some fuck head to throw shit at him it must be a bad experience and to be honest he was right to go off stage until the situation was taken care of. But when he came back on I have to say I lost a great deal of respect for the man, the crowd really got behind him cheering the band big time and chanting 'Axl Axl Axl' but it was to no avail he stood in the one spot all night and never interacted whatsoever with the audience it was down right disrespectful towards the 99.9% of genuine fans who had travelled from all over the country to see him. There was no issue whatsoever with any bad behavior from the crowd after the band came back on and afaik the trouble maker had been ejected but Axl insisted on just giving the bare minimum nothing more it was very much like a work to rule he refused to do a solo before NR, did no singalong for KOHD and even gestured to Frank when the band were playing an extended outro to Nightrain. I would have even forgiven him for all this if he had of said to hell with it and performed PC properly but it was more of the same - the shortest version of the song I ever heard followed by him just walking off at the end and even still the crowd was on his side.

I'm sorry Axl yes you shouldn't have to put up with some asshole throwing shit but coming back on and letting that stupid fuck get the better of you and ruining the whole show for every other member in attendance was every bit as disrespectful to me personally and everyone else in the audience who came to see you and your band perform as the person who threw the cup was to you.

I've always managed to see things from Axl's point of view - I believe that he is often misunderstood and I cant begin to imagine the amount of bullshit he has to put up with and perhaps Ive always viewed him with rose tinted glasses because as a performer he is nothing short of mesmerizing, but last night changed that I can honestly say that I enjoyed the show more when he and the bad vibe he brought with him were off stage as the band is amazing and tried their best to counteract Axl's buzz kill. It was almost as if he thought the show would have been great if it wasn't for the fans being there.

On a better note Id like to mention Richard Fortus he is often the forgotten guitarist of the band but last night he was superb and his interaction and dedication to the crowd was great.

Finally Axl you looked for an apology from the Reading promoter for your fans. For what its worth I think you should do the same and apologise to the Irish fans who came to your show cheered their brains out for you all night and didn't get anything in return.

[ManetsBR]

The stage was actually pretty much set up before Danko came on. Roadies fixed a few things here and there

but were pretty much just stalling for time. They only needed fifteen to twenty minutes to set up everything.

I'm fairly sure I saw about half of them standing around doing fuck all. Guns were clearly late. Why is everyone ignoring the fact that Del James told the bassist from Danko Jones to extend the set?

Because that could prove something went wrong backstage.

The worst blind man is the one who doesn't want to see.

The promotion confirmed that the band was 41 LATE.

The gap between Danko Jones was of 1h26 minutes. Danko Jones finished at 21h00. Guns N' Roses was set to play at 21h45. See the 45 minutes I've been talking about? That's what it takes to get the stage ready. But they only got on stage at 22h26. So they were 41 minutes late.

Sometimes the gap is really only to set the stage. The Guns N' Roses production is huge, and many times people say that the band was late, but they couldn't have gone on stage yet because the stage was not ready. Actually, that happened in almost all Canada concerts, the 1st leg of the Europe Tour and Leeds too.

I've seen many concerts, and the last, apart from Guns N' Roses, were Metallica and AC/DC, and the gap between the opening act and the main act was also near 45 minutes.

But not yesterday. The band was late yesterday. 41 minutes. That caused the booing and the crowd anger. But the crowd is not right neither, they could have hurt someone, a slippery stage is very dangerous. Look at Bono and Tyler, they both felt off stage recently and it wasn't even wet, and each's band tour had to be cancelled.

Nobody is right on the incident. Not Guns N' Roses for being late. Not the crowd for throwing bottles and cups of water and piss on the stage.

But I give Guns N' Roses the point for coming back, they did what they were meant to do, give the crowd a concert, a great concert. I'm sure that the people who stayed had an amazing time, Guns N' Roses is the best live act nowadays.

And when you buy a Guns N' Roses you have to expect the unexpected.

Rock on Guns N' Roses.

Edited September 2, 2010 by ManetsBR

[The_Terminator]

Axl's Vocals were fucking shit hot on Jungle!

[bangit]

Hi all,

I don't post much on this place as I try to just enjoy the band for what they are and not get involved in the political stuff. I've been a lurker on here since 2002 and have always supported the band and Axl through everything and defended them without a second thought to friends who like to say the usual shit about "its not Guns N' Roses", Axl is a prick yada yada yada.... I drove 100miles to get Chinese Democracy because I heard of a shop that was selling it a day early, And I queued for 7 hours in the blistering heat at the 06 RDS gig just to get into the pit so you could say that I'm a pretty hardcore fan!!

Ever since this tour was announced I had been hoping for an Irish gig and was delighted when the O2 date was announced I had planned to go to Belfast but I had a thesis due for college the following day so it wasn't an option. Having watched 100s of videos of the bands performances on this tour I was really physced about this gig. But what a let down it turned out to be now Ive no problem waiting for the band to come on I know its a constant cause for debate on here but I knew this when I bought my ticket, I don't understand people who get pissed off about it ... they know the score if they dont like it then they shouldn't buy a ticket. Waiting an hour or 2 for Axl and the band to come on and give a mindblowing performance is nothing compared to the years I spent waiting for the opportunity to see them in the 1st place. They were an hour late coming on and I do believe it was due to genuine technical difficulties because the roadies were doing a lot of set up work and when Axl came on it was clear he was having some problems with hearing himself/the band so I don't think people should necessarily hang Axl for that! There was some booing but from where I was standing by the opening chords of WTTJ the band had won the crowd over. I got a clear view of the plastic cup being thrown at Axl and I knew straight away what was going to go down, At first I didnt necessarily think it would be such a bad thing as often times an event like this can fuel an even more intense performance, but it wasn't to be.

Axl seemed to be pretty pissed off and the second cup thrown at Richard Fortus was all he needed. Now to be honest I cant blame the guy he is up there giving it everything only for some fuck head to throw shit at him it must be a bad experience and to be honest he was right to go off stage until the situation was taken care of. But when he came back on I have to say I lost a great deal of respect for the man, the crowd really got behind him cheering the band big time and chanting 'Axl Axl Axl' but it was to no avail he stood in the one spot all night and never interacted whatsoever with the audience it was down right disrespectful towards the 99.9% of genuine fans who had travelled from all over the country to see him. There was no issue whatsoever with any bad behavior from the crowd after the band came back on and afaik the trouble maker had been ejected but Axl insisted on just giving the bare minimum nothing more it was very much like a work to rule he refused to do a solo before NR, did no singalong for KOHD and even gestured to Frank when the band were playing an extended outro to Nightrain. I would have even forgiven him for all this if he had of said to hell with it and performed PC properly but it was more of the same - the shortest version of the song I ever heard followed by him just walking off at the end and even still the crowd was on his side.

I'm sorry Axl yes you shouldn't have to put up with some asshole throwing shit but coming back on and letting that stupid fuck get the better of you and ruining the whole show for every other member in attendance was every bit as disrespectful to me personally and everyone else in the audience who came to see you and your band perform as the person who threw the cup was to you.

I've always managed to see things from Axl's point of view - I believe that he is often misunderstood and I cant begin to imagine the amount of bullshit he has to put up with and perhaps Ive always viewed him with rose tinted glasses because as a performer he is nothing short of mesmerizing, but last night changed that I can honestly say that I enjoyed the show more when he and the bad vibe he brought with him were off stage as the band is amazing and tried their best to counteract Axl's buzz kill. It was almost as if he thought the show would have been great if it wasn't for the fans being there.

On a better note Id like to mention Richard Fortus he is often the forgotten guitarist of the band but last night he was superb and his interaction and dedication to the crowd was great.

Finally Axl you looked for an apology from the Reading promoter for your fans. For what its worth I think you should do the same and apologise to the Irish fans who came to your show cheered their brains out for you all night and didn't get anything in return.

great sensible review, nice 1.

[smelltheglove]

Axl's Vocals were fucking shit hot on Jungle!

except for the part where hes completely out of time with the band.....

[bangit]

Axl's Vocals were fucking shit hot on Jungle!

except for the part where hes completely out of time with the band.....

lol, and he got the fucking lyrics wrong too!

[The_Terminator]

Axl's Vocals were fucking shit hot on Jungle!

except for the part where hes completely out of time with the band.....

True, but he made up for it with "Watch it bring you to your fuckin' KNEES" B)

[appetite for illusions]

Axl's Vocals were fucking shit hot on Jungle!

except for the part where hes completely out of time with the band.....

Definetly a problem with the monitors

[The_Terminator]

Axl's Vocals were fucking shit hot on Jungle!

except for the part where hes completely out of time with the band.....

True, but he made up for it with "Watch it bring you to your fuckin' KNEES" B)

As in the lyrics monitors? I'm surprised the dude needs them...

[gunsguy]

Axl's Vocals were fucking shit hot on Jungle!

except for the part where hes completely out of time with the band.....

True, but he made up for it with "Watch it bring you to your fuckin' KNEES" B)

As in the lyrics monitors? I'm surprised the dude needs them...

No, his ear monitors