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GN'R Plan Late Shows In Advance


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Source: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/guns-nroses-late-show-was-planned-13-hours-in-advance/

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Guns n’Roses road crew working at the band’s Glasgow show were told to expect a late start – THIRTEEN HOURS before Axl Rose and co hit the stage.

The news calls into question the frontman’s insistence that he doesn’t mean to keep fans waiting, and it simply happens by accident.

GnR played in the Scottish city on Friday as part of their current UK tour. The band and staff arrived on the Thursday evening, more than 24 hours ahead of showtime.

But next morning local crewmen were invited to a production meeting and told to come to work two hours later than scheduled.

One of the workers, who has supplied his name, tells Classic Rock: “They called us in at 9am and said the call-back would be at 12.30am, when it was meant to have been 10.30pm.

“Our job was to help load the band’s gear out into 10 articulated lorries. You would normally expect to go back about half an hour before the band finishes playing, so you’re ready to get to work the moment they come off.

“That means Guns n’Roses knew at 9am they weren’t going to finish playing until at least 1am – and actually they finished at 1.30.

“Crew don’t normally speak out because it’ll cost you your job. But disrespect breeds disrespect. I’m not the only one who was left fizzing-mad.”

GnR’s timekeeping is notorious. They regularly keep audiences waiting for two hours or more – and when Rose finally appears he’s been known to stop songs and threatens to walk off if the crowd don’t stop expressing their upset.

Last November Rose told Eddie Trunk he was trying to address his timekeeping because he’d realised it was affecting his road crew, saying: “The crew were very supportive of me and they weren’t getting enough sleep. Things start going wrong. People are making mistakes. You’re making mistakes, they’re making mistakes, and nobody even knows why.”

But he added: “I lived right behind my school and I couldn’t make it to the classroom. I’m running down the street with wet hair trying to tie my tie with a sandwich in one hand. It’s a lifelong thing.”

The previous month, responding to criticism after being two hours late for their Rock in Rio show, a post on GnR’s Facebook page said: “Treat yourself don’t cheat yourself thinking you’re gonna go to school or work or whatever you ‘normally’ do the next day. This is Guns n’Roses and when the time is right the stage will ignite.”

In Glasgow’s SECC on Friday night around 12,000 fans waited until 11pm for a show that was meant to start at 9pm, in a venue where the price of a drink averages £4.30. It operates an 11pm curfew policy, meaning performances are normally supposed to end at that time. By 1.30am only a skeleton bus service was operating in the city while the subway and train services had closed down for the night.

Reporting on GnR’s Newcastle show two nights earlier, the Independent said: “You can get away with almost anything in pop – that’s kind of the point – but contempt for your fans is a cardinal sin. Asked for a reason for the insanely late hour at which Guns n’Roses deign to take the stage, his PR people replied simply: ‘No statement I’m afraid.’”

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Axl's late starts are nobodies fault but his. He plans them well ahead? Nooo, really...Did anyione think otherwise? Dude likes to pull power plays at our expense.

Also- love to hear Thal or anyone elses side to these late starts....

Edited by Snowmass
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Honestly, as surprising as it is, there aren't nearly as many late-start complaint articles in the US as there are from Europe. I wonder why that is?

Prob cuz in Europe more people use public transport.

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Honestly, as surprising as it is, there aren't nearly as many late-start complaint articles in the US as there are from Europe. I wonder why that is?

I think it's a cultural thing. I notice it every time I go to Europe (I'm Canadian) and the U.S. Americans, and this is a generalization, are more use to socialization happening later than earlier. Most American cities have very late last call by-laws or none at all. In Europe, particularly England, most socialize at a much earlier hour. An example of which is most bars cut off alcohol sales around 11:00 pm in London (and perhaps the rest of the U.K as well, not too sure about that). I think us Canadians sit in the middle as we're influence by both our American neighbours and English lineage.

Essentially, British do not party or socialize as late as Americans do and hence suffer greater irritation when Axl decides to start shows later than what they're normally accustomed.

Cheers,

Andrew

Edited by downzy
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I could understand bitching on the UYI tour, but it's been 20 years.. when will people let go and accept that a GN'R show starts at 10:30/11. Make plans around that, if you can't, don't go. The band do their thing and if you like it you go, if you're offended you don't. This '2 hour wait' thing is bullshit as well, they've addressed this and moved Thin Lizzy up so there's an hour or so between them and Guns, pretty much standard turnover between support and main act.

Also if they really do have a source that's part of GN'R road crew, which shows has he been working for the past 20 years? They've been late on 90% of em, he can't surely only have started to notice and take offense now?

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Axl's a straight up liar..

Good point. Love this quote from Axl on TMS "“The crew were very supportive of me..." apparently not so much anymore. Actually they should just not show one day, then sit back and watch Axl's tantrum. And since he's a liar and "Slash lies" maybe they can now get along......?

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Guest Satanisk_Slakt
The news calls into question the frontman’s insistence that he doesn’t mean to keep fans waiting, and it simply happens by accident.

Yeah, no shit. :lol:

This was a total surprise.

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Honestly, as surprising as it is, there aren't nearly as many late-start complaint articles in the US as there are from Europe. I wonder why that is?

I think it's a cultural thing. I notice it every time I go to Europe (I'm Canadian) and the U.S. Americans, and this is a generalization, are more use to socialization happening later than earlier. Most American cities have very late last call by-laws or none at all. In Europe, particularly England, most socialize at a much earlier hour. An example of which most bars cut off alcohol sales around 11:00 pm. I think us Canadians sit in the middle as we're influence by both our American neighbours and English lineage.

Essentially, British do not party or socialize as late as Americans do and hence suffer greater irritation when Axl decides to start shows later than what they're normally accustomed.

I think you're a little wide of the mark there buddy, if you think most bars in Glasgow had stopped serving booze at 11pm on a Friday night! :lol: The locals would burn the city to the ground! :lol: In England we have 24 hour licencing for bars, clubs and stores so it depends where you go but in most cities or reasonable sized towns the bars and clubs will serve until 3am at least with a lot opening later. The issue isn't so much the late gig finishes or times people like to socialise, it's the fact that most of these reports are from gigs on a work night when people have to get home before public transport ends for the night. There's also the fact that we're a nation of drunks who won't take the car to a show if we can help it so we don't have to stay sober. :lol:

Edited by Dazey
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The news calls into question the frontman’s insistence that he doesn’t mean to keep fans waiting, and it simply happens by accident.

Yeah, no shit. :lol:

This was a total surprise.

Yeah, did anyone seriously believe there just happened to be circumstances out of the band's control at every single gig?

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These UK shows seem to be starting between 10:30 11:00, and finish around 2. Is that really all that late? Like most people I know that go out for a good time , especially on the weekend that would be nothing out of the ordinary ,say if you were at a club or a party.I saw them in Halifax in 2010 and they went on at appx the same time. There may have been 45mins between Bach and GNR,no big deal. I just find its really blown out of proportion,its like people are left out in the cold for days.

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I think it's a cultural thing. I notice it every time I go to Europe (I'm Canadian) and the U.S. Americans, and this is a generalization, are more use to socialization happening later than earlier. Most American cities have very late last call by-laws or none at all. In Europe, particularly England, most socialize at a much earlier hour. An example of which most bars cut off alcohol sales around 11:00 pm. I think us Canadians sit in the middle as we're influence by both our American neighbours and English lineage.

Essentially, British do not party or socialize as late as Americans do and hence suffer greater irritation when Axl decides to start shows later than what they're normally accustomed.

I think you're a little wide of the mark there buddy. We have 24 licencing for bars, clubs and stores over here so it depends where you go but in most cities or reasonable sized towns the bars and clubs will serve until 3am at least with a lot opening later. The issue isn't so much the late gig finishes or times people like to socialise, it's the fact that most of these reports are from gigs on a work night when people have to get home before public transport ends for the night. There's also the fact that we're a nation of drunks who won't take the car to a show if we can help it so we don't have to stay sober. :lol:

LOL, I was just gonna say something about this too. I'm American, have lived in Canada for 12 years, and have been to Europe on several different occasions, and I've never noticed these differences in "socializing hours." And clearly downzy has never been to spain.

EDIT: let me add that I've seen GNR in Canada on several occasions, and have still had issues with transit etc. shutting down before the show ends.

Edited by nambis
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Axl's a straight up liar..

Good point. Love this quote from Axl on TMS "“The crew were very supportive of me..." apparently not so much anymore. Actually they should just not show one day, then sit back and watch Axl's tantrum. And since he's a liar and "Slash lies" maybe they can now get along......?

I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure Axl was talking about the venue crew, and not the Gn'R crew. Same goes for the article.

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The news calls into question the frontman’s insistence that he doesn’t mean to keep fans waiting, and it simply happens by accident.

Yeah, no shit. :lol:

This was a total surprise.

Yeah, did anyone seriously believe there just happened to be circumstances out of the band's control at every single gig?

Funny. That's about it- consistantly/every night only Axl (and whatever GnR he's with) have these "out of the bands control" events. Good humor.

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These UK shows seem to be starting between 10:30 11:00, and finish around 2. Is that really all that late? Like most people I know that go out for a good time , especially on the weekend that would be nothing out of the ordinary ,say if you were at a club or a party.I saw them in Halifax in 2010 and they went on at appx the same time. There may have been 45mins between Bach and GNR,no big deal. I just find its really blown out of proportion,its like people are left out in the cold for days.

On a Friday in Glasgow or London it's not late at all. On a Tuesday in Newcastle it's pushing it a little. Not that it's especially late but at the time of the morning you can't get home from the gig in a lot of cases. If you know the score you take a day off work and book a hotel but if you're one of the 99% of people at the show who don't live on these forums there's a very good chance you don't know that! :)

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Guest Satanisk_Slakt

I think it's a cultural thing. I notice it every time I go to Europe (I'm Canadian) and the U.S. Americans, and this is a generalization, are more use to socialization happening later than earlier. Most American cities have very late last call by-laws or none at all. In Europe, particularly England, most socialize at a much earlier hour. An example of which most bars cut off alcohol sales around 11:00 pm. I think us Canadians sit in the middle as we're influence by both our American neighbours and English lineage.

Essentially, British do not party or socialize as late as Americans do and hence suffer greater irritation when Axl decides to start shows later than what they're normally accustomed.

I think you're a little wide of the mark there buddy. We have 24 licencing for bars, clubs and stores over here so it depends where you go but in most cities or reasonable sized towns the bars and clubs will serve until 3am at least with a lot opening later. The issue isn't so much the late gig finishes or times people like to socialise, it's the fact that most of these reports are from gigs on a work night when people have to get home before public transport ends for the night. There's also the fact that we're a nation of drunks who won't take the car to a show if we can help it so we don't have to stay sober. :lol:

LOL, I was just gonna say something about this too. I'm American, have lived in Canada for 12 years, and have been to Europe on several different occasions, and I've never noticed these differences in "socializing hours." And clearly downzy has never been to spain.

EDIT: let me add that I've seen GNR in Canada on several occasions, and have still had issues with transit etc. shutting down before the show ends.

I must say that what he says fits in on Sweden though. At least where I live. During the week the town is completely empty on the evenings here. Barely anyone go out and drink on a weekday here. The pubs usually closes around 10-11 Sunday-Thursday here. It's a small town though, but every time I've been in America I've thought about how weird it felt that everything was open so late on weekdays as well. Not only in the big cities, but in small towns as well.

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It's well known that Axl is nocturnal. Coming on at 11:00pm for him is like somebody else coming on at 5:00 or 6:00. It is what it is, I really don't understand why people continue to make such a big deal about it.

The one issue that I do understand is getting home afterwards. In certain cities like Toronto, New York, London, there is 24-hour public transit so it's not a big deal. In some cities, however, trains or buses home stop at a certain time so people can be stranded. However, they can always take the car or get into a taxi.

Tickets should say start time 9:00pm. The opener comes on around 9 or 9:15, plays for an hour, GNR comes on around 11. Sippin a drink and feeling fine.

Edited by axlsalinger
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