The U.S. tour is selling miserably....

[Dazey]

Lol at everybody saying this tour is a failure when the U.S. leg hasn't even started yet. Obviously not every show will be sold out. Sell outs are rare these days for every band.

As for the whole late talk show, I hardly ever see people promote a tour, but maybe that's because I don't watch late night that much. And when's the last time Axl ever went on a late night talk show? Did he during the Illusion tours?

The difference during the Illusion tours is that GnR were a massive deal back then. The biggest band in the world who could fill Stadiums the world over. This incarnation needs promotion because they simply aren't a big deal anymore!

[Changes]

Lol. Who goes on late night talk shows just for a tour?

Roger Waters.

Nuff' said. That's a great example of a modern rock tour that was a roaring success, and was properly promoted. Unfortunatly, our guy thinks the media is the Anitchrist on steroids who will seek to destroy him any way they can. We get half-full arenas.

To be honest, the media actually is the antichrist on steroids when it comes to Axl. But an appearance would of course make relations better and not worse.

[packersnroses]

Lol at everybody saying this tour is a failure when the U.S. leg hasn't even started yet. Obviously not every show will be sold out. Sell outs are rare these days for every band.

As for the whole late talk show, I hardly ever see people promote a tour, but maybe that's because I don't watch late night that much. And when's the last time Axl ever went on a late night talk show? Did he during the Illusion tours?

The difference during the Illusion tours is that GnR were a massive deal back then. The biggest band in the world who could fill Stadiums the world over. This incarnation needs promotion because they simply aren't a big deal anymore!

Obviously GNR isn't going to be as big as they used to be. Am I the only one who's OK with that?

[Ali]

Right, and seeing empty space wouldnt affect my opinion of the show or the band's performance. It'd just be nice to see a little effort from Axl as far as promotion goes, you know?

Lotsa bands release new singles to support their tour. I just don't get why that's so far from the realm of possibilities with Axl, especially when you consider all the stuff he allegedly has 'in the can'.

On one hand, I understand wanting to see your band be successful. But, on the other hand, and I mean no offense, but unless you have a vested financial interest in their commercial success, why should any of us worry about it?

As far as a new single, yes, that would be great. But, who knows what's going on with the label right now and the possibility of a follow-up album?

Ali

If you book a big venue and aren't even close to filling it - it is a failure. A failure means people involved in the production and performing will probably be disappointed. People turning up expecting to get an arena show but getting something less attractive will probably also be a bit disappointed. And being part of disappointment is of course not preferable to the opposite.

Yeah, that's a HUGE stretch right there with your attempt at connecting the dots. I saw GN'R in a half empty arena in 2006 and the band played their asses off with a ton of energy. I couldn't see any impact from attendance, or lack thereof, on the performance. Big stretch you're making there and based on what I've witnessed, I don't think it's valid.

Ali

What is the big stretch? You were talking about how the "miserable sales" that the OP wrote about was nothing to care about. How can "miserable sales" not be a failure and how could "miserable sales" not affect those who thought they had a certain amount of fans but did not at all? Of course it is a disappointment.

How? Let me explain. Unless it affects the performance quality, ticket sales have no discernible impact on those that did buy tickets. Unless you are affected directly, either by the performance quality or by having a vested financial interest in ticket sales, you're not impacted one iota by ticket sales. I'm not claiming that the band was not disappointed or affected emotionally by less than desirable ticket sales. None of us would know. I'm saying that unless the quality of the performance is affected, and I noticed no such effect in 2006, there is no impact to any of us as fans that go to the shows.

Ali

You really just don't get it do you? This band shouldn't be playing arenas if they can't be bothered to put in the hours to do the promotion to fill them. Let me spell it out for you okay? Sold out tours generate interest in the band and lead to more attention and more fans. This is the only way to ensure moving forward and not stagnating or dropping off the radar. Once again Axl hasn't done the promotion and once again that's led to disappointing sales. He claims to have loads of new material yet the highlight of this umpteenth leg of the CD world tour is the resurgence of a song first released 20 years ago.

If you set out to do something such as a tour in this case and make available a certain number of tickets the tour IS a failure if you only sell half of those tickets. Yes I'm sure the band have a deal in place where they get paid regardless of attendances which is maybe why Axl doesn't bother making the effort to promote the tour. We all know you're incapable of criticising anything the man does but it's getting to the point where you're embarrassing yourself with denials of the blatantly obvious! To put this in context let's use an analogy huh? If you run a business selling a certain product and routinely only manage to sell half your stock would you say you were a successful business man?

It's common sense! If he can't fill 15,000 seat arenas he either needs to promote more or book smaller venues. Let's put it in a nutshell here. You go up to anybody in the street with the simple facts that out of x amount of tickets available for a tour only half of them have been sold and ask them if they would consider that a successful tour and you know as well as I do what the answer will be. Make no mention of GnR, just tell them the numbers simple as that. I know that amongst you and some of the others on here this constitutes a roaring success but you need to stop kidding yourself you really do!

What the hell? You're having a completely different discussion, making a completely different argument than what I'm discussing. I "get it" just fine, I'm just not talking about what you're pointing out You're the one who isn't "getting it".

I never mentioned anything about the relative success or failure of a tour. I was talking about whether or not ticket sales or lack thereof at a particular show affects those who do attend the show.

Christ almighty. Learn how to read and properly comprehend the post you're responding to before you make completely off-topic response next time. Where's the face-palm when you need it?

Ali

[Dazey]

Obviously GNR isn't going to be as big as they used to be. Am I the only one who's OK with that?

That's not the point of the thread. The question was why isn't Axl doing any promotion when ticket sales appear to be slow?

[packersnroses]

Obviously not every show will be sold out. Sell outs are rare these days for every band.

Are there any sellouts in the U.S. yet? In 2006 there were several.

Early this year Chris Cornell sold out every gig for his Songbook tour

Arenas or theaters?

[Changes]

Lol at everybody saying this tour is a failure when the U.S. leg hasn't even started yet. Obviously not every show will be sold out. Sell outs are rare these days for every band.

As for the whole late talk show, I hardly ever see people promote a tour, but maybe that's because I don't watch late night that much. And when's the last time Axl ever went on a late night talk show? Did he during the Illusion tours?

The difference during the Illusion tours is that GnR were a massive deal back then. The biggest band in the world who could fill Stadiums the world over. This incarnation needs promotion because they simply aren't a big deal anymore!

Obviously GNR isn't going to be as big as they used to be. Am I the only one who's OK with that?

Judging by the venues booked, not even the band itself is OK with it.

[Nick85]

To be honest, the media actually is the antichrist on steroids when it comes to Axl. But an appearance would of course make relations better and not worse.

Yeah, they crucified him after Rio. But I gotta say, he kinda earned that. He was completely out of practice, out of tune, forgot lyrics and wouldn't sing or move at times because he was pissed. But Axl's solution to not speak to anyone, or performing to promote the band at the cost of running GNR into obscurity at home certainly doesn't help the situation.

[Ghost_Guns]

I know if Axl and co. did do a live appearance..all this whoring himself nonsense would cease. Look at that thread about the VMA's, I can't believe how many praised that appearance. It would be no different. I for one would love to see the band on any one of those late night talk shows. So would probably 99% of people on here. Yeah percentages...1% sticking to their delusional guns.

[WhazUp]

Obviously not every show will be sold out. Sell outs are rare these days for every band.

Are there any sellouts in the U.S. yet? In 2006 there were several.

Early this year Chris Cornell sold out every gig for his Songbook tour

Arenas or theaters?

Theaters but then he later sold out a bunch of arena gigs with Soundgarden

[Dazey]

Obviously not every show will be sold out. Sell outs are rare these days for every band.

Are there any sellouts in the U.S. yet? In 2006 there were several.

Early this year Chris Cornell sold out every gig for his Songbook tour

Arenas or theaters?

If it was theatres then surely that's something Axl needs to consider. I'd rather go to a full 3,000 capacity theatre show than a half empty arena. No matter what some people here say playing to a half empty arena DOES affect the quality of the show!

[Zint]

And when's the last time Axl ever went on a late night talk show?

[Nick85]

Ah, the days where band members other than Captain Ahab had a say...

[packersnroses]

Obviously GNR isn't going to be as big as they used to be. Am I the only one who's OK with that?

That's not the point of the thread. The question was why isn't Axl doing any promotion when ticket sales appear to be slow?

Who cares? If radio and local tv commercials are promoting, then I can guarantee you that people who would want to go to the concert already know about the concert.

GNR are in the middle of touring now. God forbid let's stop this tour now so Axl can come up with a promotion plan so that every motherfucker in the world knows that he is touring.

Also, let's go ahead and cancel all the arena dates and change them to theaters so

they can be sold out. YA!

So the point of this thread is to bitch about promotion? Original!

Edited October 19, 2011 by packersnroses

[Changes]

Obviously GNR isn't going to be as big as they used to be. Am I the only one who's OK with that?

That's not the point of the thread. The question was why isn't Axl doing any promotion when ticket sales appear to be slow?

Who cares? If radio and local tv commercials are promoting, then I can guarantee you that people who would want to go to the concert already know about the concert.

GNR are in the middle of touring now. God forbid let's stop this tour now so Axl can come up with a promotion plan so that every motherfucker in the world knows that he is touring.

If Axl presented himself and his band in a positive light more people would probably be interested in going. An ad probably mostly speaks to the ones who know beforehand that they would want to go see GN'R. But at this point people need some reminding as to what is so good with them and many definitely need something to not just go "that Axl Rose is pathetic, I heard this and that about him, I'm not going to that stupid show". Him actually presenting himself to the public would be a good start.

Edited October 19, 2011 by Changes

[Nick85]

Some other big name openers that aren't named Sebastian Bach might spice things up a bit. Any word on those yet?

[Dazey]

Obviously GNR isn't going to be as big as they used to be. Am I the only one who's OK with that?

That's not the point of the thread. The question was why isn't Axl doing any promotion when ticket sales appear to be slow?

Who cares? If radio and local tv commercials are promoting, then I can guarantee you that people who would want to go to the concert already know about the concert.

GNR are in the middle of touring now. God forbid let's stop this tour now so Axl can come up with a promotion plan so that every motherfucker in the world knows that he is touring.

Also, let's go ahead and cancel all the arena dates and change them to theaters so they can be sold out. YA!

Missing the point again I see but I guess that's deliberate at this point. Fact is he can reach millions of people with a couple of well timed late night talk show appearances and it's not whoring himself out at all! Letterman, Leno, Fallon. Any of those would be perfect and totally different to a few 30 second radio and TV spots. That's not real promotion you need to actually get your hands dirty and make some effort. Axl had a full year nearly to prepare for this tour and all it would've taken on his part would be two or three well timed 15 minute talk show appearances on the big talk shows with maybe one classic and one or two good new songs to play them out at the end of the show. Hey presto people understand who's in the band, that they're still making music and if he makes the effort even that he's still got it. Why is that such a bad thing? If he brings his 'A' game it can only be a positive thing for the band and this tour I can't understand why it wouldn't be? The ONLY reason at this stage I can think of is that he doesn't want to publicise the new guys in the hope that some people will still buy tickets expecting to see the old guys at the show.

[Ali]

Some other big name openers that aren't named Sebastian Bach might spice things up a bit. Any word on those yet?

Buckcherry for several dates at the start of the tour.

Ali

[RJ88]

more fans =/= better show

[RussTCB]

I agree with you to an extent. I could give a fuck what people are or aren't into.

However...

Selling tickets to fill arenas is essential. Because I have a feeling if this tour flops, chances are they'll be done touring the states. They would literally become the laughing stock if they started playing 200 seaters, and I don't think axl would settle for that. Think the haters and media are on fire with the band now? I can only imagine what it will be like for the band if another tour flops. In my most honest opinion, I don't think they should be going on tour again without something new to at least perform. People in the states aren't gonna pay to go to the same show they barely cared about going to in 2006.

I can dig that, but again, I'm not into this band for "people" or what they think.

I honestly hear that "If the tour fails they may never tour the US again" argument, but my thing is this; I have no control over that so I'm going to enjoy what I can when I can. Mine isn't to wonder why or how Axl Rose, Guns N' Roses or any other band does things, ya know? I just roll with what happens and discuss the things I like and I don't like.

The US tour hasn't even started yet and doesn't for what, another week and a half? They're running radio and tv spots like other bands do so far and they're on tour in other countries so they really can't be doing any tv shows to promote the tour so far in the US being that they're elsewhere.

We'll have to see what happens. I'm not expecting any promotion like that but if it happens, cool. I know this, my fiancee and I are going over to Chicago to meet a buddy and check out the show. All 3 of us are pumped and it's gonna be epic whether it's 20000 people or just us and GN'R. Same thing in Detroit except I'm bringing more people to this one.

[packersnroses]

The ONLY reason at this stage I can think of is that he doesn't want to publicise the new guys in the hope that some people will still buy tickets expecting to see the old guys at the show.

That's too cute.

[Ali]

I agree with you to an extent. I could give a fuck what people are or aren't into.

However...

Selling tickets to fill arenas is essential. Because I have a feeling if this tour flops, chances are they'll be done touring the states. They would literally become the laughing stock if they started playing 200 seaters, and I don't think axl would settle for that. Think the haters and media are on fire with the band now? I can only imagine what it will be like for the band if another tour flops. In my most honest opinion, I don't think they should be going on tour again without something new to at least perform. People in the states aren't gonna pay to go to the same show they barely cared about going to in 2006.

I can dig that, but again, I'm not into this band for "people" or what they think.

I honestly hear that "If the tour fails they may never tour the US again" argument, but my thing is this; I have no control over that so I'm going to enjoy what I can when I can. Mine isn't to wonder why or how Axl Rose, Guns N' Roses or any other band does things, ya know? I just roll with what happens and discuss the things I like and I don't like.

The US tour hasn't even started yet and doesn't for what, another week and a half? They're running radio and tv spots like other bands do so far and they're on tour in other countries so they really can't be doing any tv shows to promote the tour so far in the US being that they're elsewhere.

We'll have to see what happens. I'm not expecting any promotion like that but if it happens, cool. I know this, my fiancee and I are going over to Chicago to meet a buddy and check out the show. All 3 of us are pumped and it's gonna be epic whether it's 20000 people or just us and GN'R. Same thing in Detroit except I'm bringing more people to this one.

The bolded/italicized portions pointed out for truth. Well said, Russ. Very well said. I've been hearing the "if the tour fails they may never tour the US again" argument for almost a decade now. Whatever. All I know is that half-empty or not, the band plays their asses off with tons of energy when I have seen them.

Ali

[Dazey]

The ONLY reason at this stage I can think of is that he doesn't want to publicise the new guys in the hope that some people will still buy tickets expecting to see the old guys at the show.

That's too cute.

I know it's ridiculous but that kinda proves my point. There's NO good reason not to make an effort and promote things in that case.

[ThinkAboutYou]

His letting the music do the talking Wasnt the Slash pissing his pants story his promo?

Edited October 19, 2011 by ThinkAboutYou

[Nick85]

Some other big name openers that aren't named Sebastian Bach might spice things up a bit. Any word on those yet?

Buckcherry for several dates at the start of the tour.

Ali

Yeah, we've known about those 5 dates for a month now. I'm surprised we havent heard about any other openers, what with the states tour starting next week and all. There was some talk about Bas, but he just tacked on more November dates of his own the other day. Kinda hard to book bands that matter on a whim. Especially bands that might sway someone to buy a ticket when otherwise they wouldn't.

Edited October 19, 2011 by sofine11