GUNS N' ROSES Guitarist Says READING Festival Promoter Is 'A Selfish, Money-Grubbing Prick' - Aug. 28, 2010

[Chris 55]

GUNS N' ROSES Guitarist Says READING Festival Promoter Is 'A Selfish, Money-Grubbing Prick' - Aug. 28, 2010

GUNS N' ROSES guitarist D.J. Ashba has slammed the organizers of the U.K.'s Reading festival for forcing the band to cut its performance short last night (Friday, August 27) at the event, allegedly due to curfew issues. In a Twitter posting, Ashba writes, "Apparently the promoter has had a personal grudge with GUNS N' ROSES stemming from eight years ago [when the band last played the Leeds festival]. If this was the case, why book the band? He knows our show. Let me guess... To take our fans' money and then not allow us to give them a show that they paid for. This was clearly not a curfew thing because after cutting our power like a selfish, money-grubbing prick, he allowed music blasting through out the venue 'till the early morning. For us this was all about the fans, the show and the music. For the promoter it was all about the money and not about the fans or the music. The promoter was already being a cocky f$#k in the press before we arrived. So yes, we went on a little late, and for this we apologies. However, our fans paid to see a show, and that's why we showed up, to give them just that. Sad that this promoter's music festival has little to do with the fans or the love for music." He added, "Last night was insane! They pulled the power, but failed to kill the connection as 90,000 people sang 'Paradise City'."

GUNS N' ROSES reportedly started its Reading festival performance at 10:30 p.m. — more than an hour later than scheduled — and was given an extra half hour to play, until roughly midnight.

In a statement to BBC News, the Reading festival organizers said, "GUNS N' ROSES wanted to 'extend' the new agreed curfew but were prevented from doing so in order to comply with the entertainment licence issued by Reading Council."

GUNS N' ROSES played the final song of its set, "Paradise City", with no guitars and the crowd shouting along despite the lack of sound with Axl Rose singing through a megaphone, according to BBC News.

Eight years ago the Axl Rose-fronted band was over two hours late at Leeds, and it landed the festival in hot water with the local council.

As previously reported, GN'R's late start at the Rock 'N Rev Festival in Sturgis, South Dakota on August 13 — where the band came on at around 1:00 a.m., nearly two hours after previous act ALICE IN CHAINS — was apparently due to a technical issue and not Axl Rose's well-known tendency to start shows hours behind schedule.

According to the Rapid City Journal, festival official Dan Catullo said that a switchover from festival sound equipment to GUNS' own gear took longer than anticipated and also caused complications with the festival's video crew, who were filming the event.

Catullo said that Rose, who is notorious for showing up late or not at all for concerts, was "the most insanely professional gentleman that I ever met. He came and did his job exactly as contracted."

The long delay led to a large portion of the crowd leaving before GUNS came on, while others hurled beer cans and other objects at the stage.

source: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=145230

[Black Sabbath]

Why are the posters on Blabbermouth so miserable with their lives?

[Chris 55]

Why are the posters on Blabbermouth so miserable with their lives?

Meh, just people who bitch at shit no matter what the story or who it's about.

[GET OFF AXLS BACK]

Why are the posters on Blabbermouth so miserable with their lives?

They have always been annoying self obsessed little cunt fucks

[Black Sabbath]

Exactly. I swear, the fucks sit around all day just ripping on every single artist, especially older ones (i.e. Ozzy, Axl, etc.) "Ooooh, fuckin retir. You piece of shitttt! you suzkkkkkkk lollzlzllzzz!" Goddamn... I wish I could kill them all.

[The Black]

I agree about the Blabbermouth posters being rather immature almost all of the time.

However most of them make a good point.

Try not to see this from GNR's point of view, but from the festival's organiser. They get a strict curfew, one that once gone over can put the festival's license for future events at risk.

If I would've been in the organiser's shoes, I would've done the same.

Just to clarify the situation even more, back in March this was already an issue as you can read here= http://www.nme.com/news/guns-n-roses/50428

To quote the article:

"I think I'm going to tell them they're playing the day before [laughs] it's the easiest thing really," Benn joked. The stories of Axl Rose turning up onstage late are the thing of legend but I'm led to believe he's got a new manager and I've been given wonderful assurances it won't be an issue this time."

[The Sandman]

"According to the Rapid City Journal, festival official Dan Catullo said that a switchover from festival sound equipment to GUNS' own gear took longer than anticipated and also caused complications with the festival's video crew, who were filming the event."

The two side screens went down at one point, also one of the parts of the main screen broke and stayed that way for the duration. Entirely plausible.

[JAC185]

Reading, mainstage in particular, gets worse every year.

[RocketKing99]

Reading, mainstage in particular, gets worse every year.

At least yesterday it was a bunch of hipster-indie bands... GNR was the only band that made it interesting.

[axl_on_drums]

Reading, mainstage in particular, gets worse every year.

At least yesterday it was a bunch of hipster-indie bands... GNR was the only band that made it interesting.

Hey Now!

QOTSA were playing too

[justmike66]

promoter warned and stuck to his guns and hes the prick ?

[wight gunner]

promoter warned and stuck to his guns and hes the prick ?

Actually he is a prick, should have threatened to pull the plug at 11.30 as stated and then go back saying he "negotiate" an additional 30 minutes.... :devil:

He'd have gotton off lightly then, his stance has made the situation worse for Reading, but has done a blinding job of putting GnR in the spot-light by Axl refusing to short change the fans shocker. Still dangerous rock1

[Allen8R]

promoter warned and stuck to his guns and hes the prick ?

Well, if he continued to blast music through the stereo, explain to me how that wouldn't make him a prick.

[Princess]

Reading, mainstage in particular, gets worse every year.

At least yesterday it was a bunch of hipster-indie bands... GNR was the only band that made it interesting.

Hey Now!

QOTSA were playing too

.... exactly - hipster-indie bands

[justmike66]

Well, if he continued to blast music through the stereo, explain to me how that wouldn't make him a prick.

you never been to a concert ??? the music played between sets is not comparable to the live music in terms of dbs .. regardles my post said he warned of latness and stuck to his guns period so calling him a prick really holds no water imo

[DocBrown]

Well, if he continued to blast music through the stereo, explain to me how that wouldn't make him a prick.

you never been to a concert ??? the music played between sets is not comparable to the live music in terms of dbs .. regardles my post said he warned of latness and stuck to his guns period so calling him a prick really holds no water imo

That might make sense, if he wasn't letting bands on the other stage play after GNR was shut down. The guy was just on a power trip.

[Allen8R]

Well, if he continued to blast music through the stereo, explain to me how that wouldn't make him a prick.

you never been to a concert ??? the music played between sets is not comparable to the live music in terms of dbs .. regardles my post said he warned of latness and stuck to his guns period so calling him a prick really holds no water imo

Yes, i've likely been to more concerts than you have been alive in years, both inside and outside venues. If noise was a problem, it sure as hell wouldn't have mattered if it was coming from a stereo or the band. I realize that the band would be much louder, but if a stereo wouldn't have been the same problem, I wouldn't have got a $250 fine for louod music coming from mine last night.

[justmike66]

Well, if he continued to blast music through the stereo, explain to me how that wouldn't make him a prick.

you never been to a concert ??? the music played between sets is not comparable to the live music in terms of dbs .. regardles my post said he warned of latness and stuck to his guns period so calling him a prick really holds no water imo

That might make sense, if he wasn't letting bands on the other stage play after GNR was shut down. The guy was just on a power trip.

fair enough but again the dbs from the smaller stages compared to the main stage is two diff ballgames i wasnt there either so im just going buy what ive read , why would he book gnr to possibly sabatoge his own event ? if they went on on time or even close all of this may have been avoided .

[justmike66]

Yes, i've likely been to more concerts than you have been alive in years

im glad you said likely .. it would take me quite awhile to recall all the concerts ive been to in my 44 years on this earth .. but perhaps you have .. my most mermorable is seeing queen during their hotspace tour , whats yours ?

[Guest]

After having a whole day to digest the situation here are my thoughts:-

-Whether Guns were late on because of unforeseen circumstances or they just thought they'd make people wait, I do not know. If it was the latter, then well it's not exactly professional and perhaps for being a Guns fan for such a long time, waiting 1 hour is no big deal. But that's just the way Axl does things.

-The promoter is not a 'prick' for pulling the plug. I continuously hear "oh he should have let them finish their set, it was only another 15 mins anyway". He already extended it beyond the original cut off point before. Guns were properly informed that they needed to be on at a certain time and what the curfew was- if they fail to be able to meet those demands then fair enough but it's not the promoters fault. You can't expect him to bend to Guns N' Roses will in expense of such an event as Reading and Leeds. I personally feel curfew times are a crock of shit anyhow but hey ho, that's a completely another discussion. The main issue here is- every promoter in the world knows Guns N' Roses reputation and especially Axl's. If you have such strict curfews then why are you booking a band that is late on a consistent basis?

For me, if Guns could have hit that stage earlier then they should take the brunt of the responsibility for this debacle. This whole situation would have been avoided if they had and blaming Reading is just a complete cop out of accepting the fact that you started your set an hour late. As a long-term Guns N' Roses fan lateness doesn't bother me but when you've been warned that the plug will be pulled if you overrun then you only have yourself to blame. That being said, the tour promoter can only have himself to blame for even believing Guns might turn up on time. If you're gonna book this band you must be prepared to go the whole mile. If you're not going to, then this situation was always going to occur.

[ThinkAboutYou]

promoter warned and stuck to his guns and hes the prick ?

Well, if he continued to blast music through the stereo, explain to me how that wouldn't make him a prick.

Maybe the deal is for live music to stop

Councils can be a pain in the ass about live music being played over a certain time

Either way cuting the music for one song or two is abit stupid since they would be over in 10 minutes

[star]

promoter warned and stuck to his guns and hes the prick ?

Well, if he continued to blast music through the stereo, explain to me how that wouldn't make him a prick.

Maybe the deal is for live music to stop

Councils can be a pain in the ass about live music being played over a certain time

Either way cuting the music for one song or two is abit stupid since they would be over in 10 minutes

The band were given an extra 30mins to perform, which was something.

[Guest Len B'stard]

So basically, it's OK to be a stickler for rules yourself, chucking out fans for having cameras, pissing and moaning everything someone throws something on the stage and making a general fuss about "your way" of doing things well perhaps other people have ways of doing things too, perhaps they have a set of rules too, perhaps that's what it's about to be a professional.

Nobody would do that shit? Please, bands have come and gone and are still around that have done a lot more to make a stand against a lot huger issues than that...The Clash forewent royalties on the first 100,000 units of their album Sandinista just so they could sell a triple album at an affordable price, THAT is doing shit, playing after someone pulls the plug on you for 3 minutes is all you did so lay off the whole fuckin' we're such rebels bit

Not abiding by the rules laid down by the venue you're playing at just cuz you can't be bothered to get your ass to your gig on time, THAT is selfish, not doing what you fucking said you would from the jump. If you don't wanna follow the rules, don't play the game.

Edited August 28, 2010 by sugaraylen

[snakepit_uk]

if the band turned up on time rather than an hour late then it wouldn't be an issue at all. they can't say shit about being selfish.

[SunnyDRE]

The promoter is a prick?

This guy is probaly doing someone a favor **scratch my back, I'll scratch your's**, by even scheduling GNR.

He could have booked 10 other bands in their place, got the same amount of ticket sales, and not have to put with this headache.