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

Chris 55

By Chris 55
in 2010

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The Sandman LEGEND

The Sandman

Posted
Posted

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.

Really?

Arcade Fire and Blink-182 were the other two headliners... and to be fair, most days were very thin on the ground with decent or indeed well-known groups generally. I mean, you often expect that - but in past years it certainly has been more stacked.

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Black Sabbath LEGEND

Black Sabbath

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Posted

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

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

Axl had already short changed the fans by showing up an hour late knowing that he'd only get to play half a show.

They played an hour and a half, and going by what you're saying, they would have played 3 hours? No.

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kyrie Senior

kyrie

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Posted

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 :rolleyes:

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.

Wait wait wait... throwing out fans for having cameras? When did this happen? Oh wait, you mean in 1991? When the band had their own photographer and someone had a professional camera in the venue?

You could at least try and be accurate. GN'R's had zero problems with cameras in the past 10 years. All kinds of people record the show and you know what? Unlike a LOT of bands, GN'R hasn't had a problem with photos, or video clips, or ENTIRE BOOTLEGS being traded on these boards and youtube. So lets try and be a little more accurate, shall we? Have you BEEN to a show in the modern era at all? Cameras have not been an issue, thousands of people bring them. Venues may have their own rules but the band has been cool with them. Hell Ron was even asking for bootlegs at one point for something he was doing.

Throwing shit at people on stage? You want to compare THAT, a safety issue, to this?

Come on, it's apples and oranges. I get that you're trying to make a point, but you're not exactly chosing the best examples.

Also, interesting that the people interviewed from Reading said they don't care about the noise since it's once a year, that they actually enjoy the show, AND it's now come out that the promoter's license was never at risk and it would have just been a bigger fine.

And we still don't even know why the band was late.

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star DEMI-GOD

star

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Posted

If the video screens cause so much hassle, why not drop’em. From what I could see of the ‘This I Love’ big screen film footage showing some female, it didn’t add much to the song. During festival situations, and huge banner would do. Slash is still doing that now. He has a huge banner at the back of the stage showing his latest album cover. The music counts more than the FX.

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kyrie Senior

kyrie

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Posted (edited)

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

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

Axl had already short changed the fans by showing up an hour late knowing that he'd only get to play half a show.

They played an hour and a half, and going by what you're saying, they would have played 3 hours? No.

I said "knowing" he'd only get to play half a show. As in he was told the curfew was 11:30 and he started at 10:30. If the promoter had stuck to his guns as he was more than entitled to the show would've been cut in half. Unless there was a massive delay in changing the stage sets then I fail to comprehend why the band showed up an hour late. Perhaps you can clarify that no?

I'll normally defend Axl every step of the way but for the life of me I cannot find any justification for what happened on Friday, and believe me i'm trying.

According to the guy in the main reading thread with the guest pass photo the band was onstage at 9:30 by the side of the stage, including Axl at one point... perhaps the promoter could clarify that? It's awefully funny that he hasn't said anything about the reason. If it was the band, wouldn't he be screaming to the heavens? Also someone posted that Queens ran 15 minutes late, so GN'R was going to be a minimum of 15 minutes late getting onstage (albeit they were an hour, but when you factor that in - 45 minutes late, I've waited longer on a lunch date for someone).

Edited by kyrie
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Jackie Moon FRONTMAN

Jackie Moon

Posted
Posted (edited)

If the video screens cause so much hassle, why not drop’em. From what I could see of the ‘This I Love’ big screen film footage showing some female, it didn’t add much to the song. During festival situations, and huge banner would do. Slash is still doing that now. He has a huge banner at the back of the stage showing his latest album cover. The music counts more than the FX.

a recent review said slashs download show wasn't in the same league as axls reading show. thats why.

guns is putting on what has been called the best stage show ive ever seen. the video montages might be a bit unnecessary but you know this is axls style, he does things big.

Edited by Jackie Moon
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jonx12 Full

jonx12

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Posted

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

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

Axl had already short changed the fans by showing up an hour late knowing that he'd only get to play half a show.

They played an hour and a half, and going by what you're saying, they would have played 3 hours? No.

I said "knowing" he'd only get to play half a show. As in he was told the curfew was 11:30 and he started at 10:30. If the promoter had stuck to his guns as he was more than entitled to the show would've been cut in half. Unless there was a massive delay in changing the stage sets then I fail to comprehend why the band showed up an hour late. Perhaps you can clarify that no?

I'll normally defend Axl every step of the way but for the life of me I cannot find any justification for what happened on Friday, and believe me i'm trying.

According to the guy in the main reading thread with the guest pass photo the band was onstage at 9:30 by the side of the stage, including Axl at one point... perhaps the promoter could clarify that? It's awefully funny that he hasn't said anything about the reason. If it was the band, wouldn't he be screaming to the heavens? Also someone posted that Queens ran 15 minutes late, so GN'R was going to be a minimum of 15 minutes late getting onstage (albeit they were an hour, but when you factor that in - 45 minutes late, I've waited longer on a lunch date for someone).

I don't think we will ever find out. The promoter probably knows that if it all goes to hell this evening and it ends up in court its better that he keeps his mouth shut. There was a blog article in the Guardian yesterday that said Guns didn't get paid for their set, if true, it could get messy.

Personally I still think it was either technical problems or contractual issues that caused the delay. When the BBC went live at 22:30 the presenter said they couldn't show any footage due to 'contractual reasons'. The TV listings/info were changed around 21:30 when Guns were scheduled the play. Axl also tweeted "Bkstage at Reading. Tour's ON! Our apologies 4 any inconvenience. Peace!" almost two hours before they went on, which implies that they were having a problem (if he was referring to Reading and not the confusion caused by his previous tweets).

So either Gun's didn't read their contract properly, showed up, found out that the set was going to be broadcast live and tried to change the terms/renegotiate at the last minute, hence the delay. The BBC presenter implied that they would 'hopefully be able to bring us something' which, if this is what happened would seem to indicate that a compromise was reached, i.e you play, we get to broadcast it later once you have signed off on the footage etc. Or Reading and the BBC screwed up. I find the latter hard to believe, give the amount of overpaid execs/lawyers the BBC have.

Anyway, thats just my theory. Its probably complete crap.

Jonx

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wight gunner Newbie

wight gunner

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Posted

What odds on the Band getting on stage on time and playing a marathon of a show 25+ songs and aiming to bust the curfew yet again? There then would be " we turn up on time and the show still get the plug pulled, I don't want to see you lot in trouble, but we've got 6 or 7 more songs to play....." :drevil:

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