Has anyone here ever met Axl??

[Ragnar]

Amir, SLAA, Son of a Guns that I know of. BBA????

I wish...I wish..keep on wishing.

I`ve never met him

[Guest NGOG]

A ton of people have met him since the 2012 tours, where he has been going post-show to engage with people @ the back of the venue.

I personally find the encounters from 2006 and before more intriguing, when there was a personal struggle to release Chinese Democracy.

Gunsguy, Randy Lahey, Revolver (who inadvertently incited a mini-riot here because of his meeting).

The 2002 stories of encounters with Axl are most interesting. I remember one where a fan served him @ a casino and both discussed Chinese.

[Apollo]

brainfart pwned again? hahaha. thanks for the post HRS!

Too funny.

Some people care more about insulting people than they do just having conversations about the band this forum is dedicated to.

Thanks for the detailed description HRS, that is some great insight into Axl.

MUCH much more than people who met him (or any musician) for a couple minutes before/after a show. You can't meet somebody for 30 seconds at a meet-and-greet and then use that 30 seconds to characterize the person's personality. They are essentially being paid to meet you, and they want to keep you as a fan so you'll continue spending money on their band, so obviously they are going to be friendly.

Walk up to these guys when they are grocery shopping, at the club or out watching an NBA game and try and "hang" with them and see how they react. Celebrity worship is just weird.

[Amir]

Twice.

First time was barely 24 hours after seeing him live for the first time at Bercy in Sep '10. Long story short, I managed to get into the L'Arc gig (a few girls tried to get me in earlier when their friends couldn't, bouncer was having none of it, couple of guys who were invited got bored around midnight and asked me and some fans if we wanted wristbands fo 10 euros!!!!), got to the front, couldn't believe what was happening. After the end of the gig (grabbing Axl's hand along with a bunch of other fans was euphoric), I left the club quickly because I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb

I saw some fans waiting around the back, they said they were gonna wait for Axl. It was about 3:30 at this point, and I thought, what the heck. DJ came out around 4:30-5:00, was cool, signed autographs for fans. Afterwards, someone handed us setlists of the gig (per usual, not the actual setlist that was played that night, a "guideline", interesting to see "I.R.S." was on it).

5:30, door opened. Axl was there. With some blonde chick (Taylor Momsen, maybe? Axl, you old dog ). Looked at fans for a sec, then came up and smiled, and signed autographs for everyone on the setlists. Cracked the joke he made at one of the Japan gigs in '09 about Bob Dylan just wanting royalties from KOHD, then shook hands with us all. Someone asked about a new album and Axl said something about "well, we've just go to figure out what our deal with the label is". I remember shaking his hand last and holding on for an awkward amount of time and him kinda staring at me... Wished I had a camera on me, couple of people did but their batteries ran out and I was so pissed :/

Luckily, I got my chance after the Glasgow gig, and, well, SLAA tells the story well and Axl_morris got some video. Only thing I can add is that after letting SLAA and Conor get their photos taken before me, Axl was like "Hey, now this guy <pointing at me> was singing along to all the songs". I blurted out that Chinese Democracy is actually what got me into GNR. He looked a bit confused and weirded out and replied "Oh, well that's... nice." He was really cool with all the fans, I've got a couple more photos I can probably upload of him just smiling and laughing with fans.

On another note, there's a pretty funny story behind what happened when Axl saw this sign when I went to EXIT in Serbia...

[Guest NGOG]

Axl didn't really conform to the contrived meetings that had you had to formally pay for. He actually defied it by going out the back of the venue to people that gathered in the small hope he would eventually emerge for his mode of transport to the parties/hotel.

Edited February 5, 2013 by NGOG

[Amir]

I somehow managed to get inside before I was supposed to without realising it, and casually walked up to the front of the stage where there were about 5 other fans and Bumblefoot. I showed Bumble my sign and said I wanted to show it to Axl during the gig.

This was his reaction:

Great guy, Bumble, really friendly. Chatting to all the fans, got asked to do a quick interview by some local journalists.

During the gig, I didn't hold the sign up until about halfway through. At one point Axl finally seemed to notice, he looked down with a stern expression on his face. Next thing I knew, his London security guy (the huge bald bloke with "Land of Hope and Glory" tattooed on his forearms) came up to me and asked "Is this your sign?" I said yes, and he asked if he could have it. I was nearly shitting myself, I thought I'd pissed Axl right off!

I saw him then take it to Beta. Beta looked at it and shooked her head and laughed, and when Kat Benzova saw it she bent over laughing. I saw Jarmo grin at it as well.

Here's Beta holding it up for Kat to take a photo of:

[Tabitha27]

I somehow managed to get inside before I was supposed to without realising it, and casually walked up to the front of the stage where there were about 5 other fans and Bumblefoot. I showed Bumble my sign and said I wanted to show it to Axl during the gig.

This was his reaction:

Great guy, Bumble, really friendly. Chatting to all the fans, got asked to do a quick interview by some local journalists.

During the gig, I didn't hold the sign up until about halfway through. At one point Axl finally seemed to notice, he looked down with a stern expression on his face. Next thing I knew, his London security guy (the huge bald bloke with "Land of Hope and Glory" tattooed on his forearms) came up to me and asked "Is this your sign?" I said yes, and he asked if he could have it. I was nearly shitting myself, I thought I'd pissed Axl right off!

I saw him then take it to Beta. Beta looked at it and shooked her head and laughed, and when Kat Benzova saw it she bent over laughing. I saw Jarmo grin at it as well.

Here's Beta holding it up for Kat to take a photo of:

Ron is super nice

[volcano62]

I somehow managed to get inside before I was supposed to without realising it, and casually walked up to the front of the stage where there were about 5 other fans and Bumblefoot. I showed Bumble my sign and said I wanted to show it to Axl during the gig.

This was his reaction:

Great guy, Bumble, really friendly. Chatting to all the fans, got asked to do a quick interview by some local journalists.

During the gig, I didn't hold the sign up until about halfway through. At one point Axl finally seemed to notice, he looked down with a stern expression on his face. Next thing I knew, his London security guy (the huge bald bloke with "Land of Hope and Glory" tattooed on his forearms) came up to me and asked "Is this your sign?" I said yes, and he asked if he could have it. I was nearly shitting myself, I thought I'd pissed Axl right off!

I saw him then take it to Beta. Beta looked at it and shooked her head and laughed, and when Kat Benzova saw it she bent over laughing. I saw Jarmo grin at it as well.

Here's Beta holding it up for Kat to take a photo of:

That's awesome man!

[Mastodonny]

I met axl in Indy a couple of years ago. He was very nice and a gracious host.

[useyorappetite]

Why would del james stop axl from talking to people? Do they actually think they're his babysitter? WTF

[Tabitha27]

Why would del james stop axl from talking to people? Do they actually think they're his babysitter? WTF

From what I remember HRS when he initially told this story and by the picture that Axl took holding that eat my silkworms sign, Axl was pretty drunk and so was Sebastian Bach and Del was probably just making sure Axl didn't say too much because we all know when we drink alcohol, we are more open to talk about stuff we probably wouldn't sober.

But I will let HRS expand on this and correct me if I am wrong.

[November_rain]

I almost met him in the 2006 tour when I saw him backstage.

[Carburetta]

I wouldn't say I met him, but I was there in Glasgow and had my photo taken, was pretty awesome.

[Amish]

I LIVED with the guy for four years until he finally found me in his attic.

[cheesecake]

Amir, SLAA, Son of a Guns that I know of. BBA????

I wish...I wish..keep on wishing.

I`ve never met him

I'm sorry, my bad, I think I must have mistaken you for Gunsguy

[gunsguy]

Yes

[dalsh327]

Why would del james stop axl from talking to people? Do they actually think they're his babysitter? WTF

He sounds like the Debbie Downer of GNR prob. because he's not able to drink with them. I'd be grouchy.

[Randy Lahey]

Lots of people on here have met Axl. I met him at an After Party. The thing that struck me the most was just how funny he is. He was telling lots of stories and bahaving in pretty much the exact same way as in this video clip below.

[AndreCC]

I'm guessing Bonham too since he had a picture in Axl's plane

You serious???

Yes! I'm pretty sure i saw a pic of Axl on a plane with the crew, band and sebastian's band and Bonham is standing on the back of the plane. So if he got that close i'm pretty sure he met him

[The Real McCoy]

Me, Real McCoy, and GNRSkidRow1 met him at the UCAP show in Philly about a year ago. Totally fucking surreal experience.

This.

Greatest night of my life.

[adamlacy]

I will be trying my hardest this tour, I've met everyone except him!

[Sprite]

I did in las vegas a few months ago. Got a picture.. he is very nice.

[saber_]

brainfart pwned again? hahaha. thanks for the post HRS!

Too funny.

Some people care more about insulting people than they do just having conversations about the band this forum is dedicated to.

I didn't insult anyone. I just am calling bullshit on HRS's story in general. I strongly believe there's some embellishment and exaggeration going on there.

Interesting that you look the other way at people insulting me, even though I insulted no one. It's okay though, you're the one who accused the mods of deleting a thread they didn't, because as is typically the case, you're just on autopilot.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Why would del james stop axl from talking to people? Do they actually think they're his babysitter? WTF

From what I remember HRS when he initially told this story and by the picture that Axl took holding that eat my silkworms sign, Axl was pretty drunk and so was Sebastian Bach and Del was probably just making sure Axl didn't say too much because we all know when we drink alcohol, we are more open to talk about stuff we probably wouldn't sober.

But I will let HRS expand on this and correct me if I am wrong.

yeah, he was drunk. but no more than anyone else. certainly no more than quincy jones. i think del was trying to keep axl safe, just because his attitude can be so unpredictable, and little things can set him off. i could see how a fan with good intentions could unintentionally create a shitstorm for del and team brazil to have to manage later. baz was there, and i talked to him for a few minutes, mainly about how i wanted to say hi to axl. he warned against it, and for a while i didn't... but after a while i thought, fuck it, i may never get the chance to say hi to that guy again, and for better or worse, i want to know what he's like.

i remember he did strike me as very boyish. almost childlike. and i don't mean that in an insulting way. just kinda sweet. he was having a good time at the party, and had a good laugh about eat my silkworms, which he knew about and thought was funny. but he also talked a lot about being depressed and stuff, which i mentioned earlier. he made a couple of racist cracks about latino help at the party, which i figured was probably par for the course. it wasn't anything especially malicious. just what you'd expect from a small town white boy who grew up in the midwest in the 80's. i would have been disappointed to hear a friend say it, but actually found it kinda amusing considering it was coming from axl rose.

Edited February 5, 2013 by HisRoyalSweetness

[Facekicker]

Team Brazil wouldn't like that.