Axl Interview, Detroit Radio, 2002

[Gackt]

I dug the new style of the band for a fresh new start, opening the booklet for ChiDem shows you what should have been

[mikeman5150]

2 hours ago, SWINGTRADER said:

 

The promoters had already decided early on that the plug would be pulled after MSG.  Axl had no say on that matter.

 

I do remember that soon after the MSG show, the press reported that Axl was devastated by Howard Stern's reaction towards the show. The word is that Axl couldn't wait to hear what Howard had to say about the show, as he was expecting positive comments from Howard, what he got instead was Howard bashing the hell out of the show. Particularly on how ridiculous Axl and his band looked.

What about the next night in Philadelphia when Axl didn't show up? Was that the promoters decision too? I always heard that it was because of the late starts and the two riots that clear channel entertainment pulled the plug. I could be wrong though. 

[RussTCB]

3 hours ago, SWINGTRADER said:

You must have been at MSG or Boston. The attendances were atrocious everywhere else and that is why the plug was pulled. The only reason the tour lasted as long as it did was because promotion was trying to hang on till they made it to the MSG show( since it was sold out). The philly riots were the final nail in that coffin.

 

I had bought tickets for the San Diego show, but the tour never made that far and I got refunded by Ticketmaster.

Nah.... You don't have your facts straight. The tour was canceled because of what went on in Philly. Maybe know what you're talking about in the future prior to posting horseshit as facts. 

[RONIN]

3 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Nah.... You don't have your facts straight. The tour was canceled because of what went on in Philly. Maybe know what you're talking about in the future prior to posting horseshit as facts. 

So they got cold feet after the very first show? I know Axl's reputation was pretty bad after the Illusion tour, but it seems odd that the promoters were so skittish given what a mega band GnR were even in 2002...

[RussTCB]

Just now, RONIN said:

So they got cold feet after the very first show? I know Axl's reputation was pretty bad after the Illusion tour, but it seems odd that the promoters were so skittish given what a mega band GnR were even in 2002...

First show? Phillip wasn't the first show. Philly was was after the they sold out MSG two nights in a row. 

[RONIN]

17 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

First show? Phillip wasn't the first show. Philly was was after the they sold out MSG two nights in a row. 

Ahh my mistake, I was thinking of Vancouver - I remember the first show of the tour ended up in a riot. Care to speculate on why this particular tour was so ill-fated? I didn't even hear about the band being on the road until months after it was all over - I remember being bummed that I hadn't bought tickets. 

There is a lot of mystery with this tour - especially with Axl - hard to tell where his head was at during this period. 

Edited October 16, 2017 by RONIN

[mikeman5150]

I just checked the Wikipedia page for this tour and it said there was 5 shows on this tour that were sold out. I don't think that's too bad.

Russ, are you sure there were 2 MSG shows? On wiki it looks like it was philly that was 2 nights. But I know you can't trust everything on wiki.

[lpgnr]

There was only 1 show at MSG.  I went to 6 shows on that tour (Pittsburgh, Albany, Boston, Hartford, NYC, and Philly), and I had tickets to two other shows (2nd Philly show and DC that were cancelled).  The arenas were mostly filled, if not sold out, for Pittsburgh, Boston, Hartford, NYC, and Philly.  Albany was about 60% full, as most of the upper deck was empty.  They were definitely more than 1/4 full.  

[-W.A.R-]

6 hours ago, SWINGTRADER said:

 

It is true. I heard the show the following day after the concert. To be honest, I also expected Howard to say something nice, but that wasn't the case.

 

Howard saw Axl as a big douche at that point, and he always blamed Axl for the GNR break up.  He never hesitated to bash Axl whenever Slash visited the studio. Slash to his credit, never took the bait.

Howard is a hypocrite on that because here he is kissing Axl's ass...essentially saying he makes the band and he should be taking a bigger percentage.

 

 

[ludurigan]

3 minutes ago, -W.A.R- said:

Howard is a hypocrite on that because here he is kissing Axl's ass...essentially saying he makes the band and he should be taking a bigger percentage.

 

 

can u imagine how many people said that to axl over the years

[DieselDaisy]

6 hours ago, Gackt said:

I dug the new style of the band for a fresh new start, opening the booklet for ChiDem shows you what should have been

One thing I did like about the c.2002 period was the ditching of the skeletons in favour of sometime a little more conceptual, i.e. chinoiserie iconography, and dare I say 'artistic' - does anyone remember that t-shirt featuring the Chinese soldier?

2016-17 the skeletons returned en masse!

[estrangedtwat]

This one?

[DieselDaisy]

1 minute ago, estrangedtwat said:

This one?

 It was a different one I meant but that is also a good example. The one I recall featured a larger profile of a PRC soldier.

[estrangedtwat]

Well the most famous one was the 01-01-01 Vegas shirt.....cool as hell, but it was actually a Japanese soldier.  Woops.

[DieselDaisy]

24 minutes ago, estrangedtwat said:

Well the most famous one was the 01-01-01 Vegas shirt.....cool as hell, but it was actually a Japanese soldier.  Woops.

He is actually a kamikaze pilot,

He is tying the hachimaki which is a type of bandana ritually worn before kamikaze.

[RussTCB]

7 hours ago, RONIN said:

Ahh my mistake, I was thinking of Vancouver - I remember the first show of the tour ended up in a riot. Care to speculate on why this particular tour was so ill-fated? I didn't even hear about the band being on the road until months after it was all over - I remember being bummed that I hadn't bought tickets. 

There is a lot of mystery with this tour - especially with Axl - hard to tell where his head was at during this period. 

Oh jeez, who knows lol. I mean, like everything, doesn't it just come back to Axl? lol. I'd imagine he just wasn't feeling it for whatever reason, so he took his ball and went home. 

6 hours ago, mikeman5150 said:

I just checked the Wikipedia page for this tour and it said there was 5 shows on this tour that were sold out. I don't think that's too bad.

Russ, are you sure there were 2 MSG shows? On wiki it looks like it was philly that was 2 nights. But I know you can't trust everything on wiki.

No, you're totally right. Just one MSG show but it was definitely sold out. 

[Iron MikeyJ]

I heard this interview LIVE. I was also at this concert, and it has 1/2 full at BEST.

[RussTCB]

11 hours ago, ZoSoRose said:

He says Robin and Bucket didn't know each other before the Vegas show

 

FFS Axl  

Just now listening to this interview for the first time in forever and I just caught that. That's just ridiculous. 

[AXL_N_DIZZY]

11 hours ago, RONIN said:

I heard the 2002 arena tour sold pretty badly -- 1/2 filled arenas was the word used when you read up about it. The rumor is that Axl was shocked by the lack of interest in the band. In his mind, he was still Axl from 1993 and assumed there would be much fanfare for his return. What's interesting is that his 2001 warm up shows were very well received by the press, particularly the HOB show. I guess the MTV VMA's must have turned the tide against the band. Better fan service might have helped here potentially.

Yep. I think Axl’s return was well-received in 2001. Hard to get better reviews than what was put out there by the N.Y. Times, Rolling Stone, MTV (Loder review of RIR III). Just think a ton of momentum was lost when the 2001 Euro Tour got canceled for whatever reason (Bucket sick, Axl unaware of tour, etc.). Lots of people saying- “Different line-up- same ol’ unreliable Axl.”. 

I actually wouldn’t underestimate impact of 9/11 either. The “return” of an early 90s rock icon (and just about anything else in pop culture) was going to seem pretty trite and unimportant for several months in that context. 

Add in the “misfires” at the VMAs and Vancouver riot in ‘02 and it was already back to the drawing board before the tour even “made it” to Philly. 

[RussTCB]

33 minutes ago, AXL_N_DIZZY said:

Yep. I think Axl’s return was well-received in 2001. Hard to get better reviews than what was put out there by the N.Y. Times, Rolling Stone, MTV (Loder review of RIR III). Just think a ton of momentum was lost when the 2001 Euro Tour got canceled for whatever reason (Bucket sick, Axl unaware of tour, etc.). Lots of people saying- “Different line-up- same ol’ unreliable Axl.”. 

I actually wouldn’t underestimate impact of 9/11 either. The “return” of an early 90s rock icon (and just about anything else in pop culture) was going to seem pretty trite and unimportant for several months in that context. 

Add in the “misfires” at the VMAs and Vancouver riot in ‘02 and it was already back to the drawing board before the tour even “made it” to Philly. 

Agree with this. In many ways the entire story of GN'R can be summed up with what went on between 2001 and 2002 :/

[Jordan Rose]

11 hours ago, RONIN said:

I heard the 2002 arena tour sold pretty badly -- 1/2 filled arenas was the word used when you read up about it. The rumor is that Axl was shocked by the lack of interest in the band. In his mind, he was still Axl from 1993 and assumed there would be much fanfare for his return. What's interesting is that his 2001 warm up shows were very well received by the press, particularly the HOB show. I guess the MTV VMA's must have turned the tide against the band. Better fan service might have helped here potentially.

No way of knowing but I wonder how much damage the VMAs did. I remember being so beyond excited and would have taken anything but as Axl said it/he was a "catastrophe." My heart just sank. I can only imagine a casual Guns fan who might have bought a ticket otherwise just checking out. 

 

11 hours ago, mikeman5150 said:

Axl said somewhere that after the MSG show, the band was as good as it could get and it was time for them to cut their losses. 

The report was he said "It's not going to get any better than that" with the implication it was said in the context of him not wanting to go on if the critics/people were going to trash his/the ban'd best effort.

11 hours ago, SWINGTRADER said:

I do remember that soon after the MSG show, the press reported that Axl was devastated by Howard Stern's reaction towards the show. The word is that Axl couldn't wait to hear what Howard had to say about the show, as he was expecting positive comments from Howard, what he got instead was Howard bashing the hell out of the show. Particularly on how ridiculous Axl and his band looked.

I don't remember this at all. Can you remember where this was reported. I've read Chinese Whispers several times and don't think it's in there. 

10 hours ago, Raykugen said:

It's very sad to hear Axl being so happy about releasing 3 albums in a non stop proccess... it's been 15 years and just one album..

It's just such a tragic waste of talent. And even if he does eventually release the stuff he's already recorded I can guarantee first hand a lot of it he wont be able to sing any better than he manages Twat.

8 hours ago, RONIN said:

Ahh my mistake, I was thinking of Vancouver - I remember the first show of the tour ended up in a riot. Care to speculate on why this particular tour was so ill-fated? I didn't even hear about the band being on the road until months after it was all over - I remember being bummed that I hadn't bought tickets. 

There is a lot of mystery with this tour - especially with Axl - hard to tell where his head was at during this period. 

Not that hard: "We should have called this 'The Reunion Tour' because i've managed to find enough pieces of my mind to be here." (paraphrase).

You can totally tell he wasn't in a strong space. The same guy Moby talked about as being like a beaten dog, emotionally reserved and damaged. He seemed a lot more together when he came back in '06 and to be fair, has gotten better ever since. But yeah, his own lyrics in Scraped, Madagascar tell you how he felt round about this time. Mired in denial, afraid, life's a catastrophe...

Overall I think the biggest single reason (besides Axl himself) for things going to hell and him ending up where he is now is Bucket leaving before Rio 2004. Because it's a fair assumption that he would have come out in 2004 the way he eventually did in 2006: slimmed down, badass rocker look back, trained raspy vocals, the old Axl back. And had Bucket been with him the album could have come pretty soon after.

[soon]

14 hours ago, janrichmond said:

I have watched a few nuGuns shows recently

     

[KiraMPD]

5 hours ago, -W.A.R- said:

Howard is a hypocrite on that because here he is kissing Axl's ass...essentially saying he makes the band and he should be taking a bigger percentage.

Eh... you can't really take anything Howard Stern says at face value. His entire career is based upon stirring shit in order to get more "controversial" interviews. He thrives off of schism and being a dick. 

 

[RussTCB]

12 hours ago, Raykugen said:

It's very sad to hear Axl being so happy about releasing 3 albums in a non stop proccess... it's been 15 years and just one album..

Every time I hear him talking like that during that era, it bums me out even more. 

[themadcaplaughs]

It was a risky tour, playing arenas that big with a whole new lineup. The Las Vegas shows were going to receive rave reviews and heavy attendance because they were playing small venues to rabid fans. A festival show is also not the most accurate gauge of interest because you have people there for other bands and people who just see a music festival as a "place to be." 

As someone who worked in concert promotion at the time, I remember the general consensus was that the band bit off more than it could chew with those shows. Obviously, there were some sell out shows, and the Madison Square Garden gig was a cool surprise, but a lot of the shows sold very sluggishly and the band seemed to pick some truly bizarre places to play. I have to assume Clear Channel's hope was that, as the tour picked up momentum and shows got good reviews, more people who were initially hesitant to see the band would buy tickets at a later time. Unfortunately, the trifecta of the disastrous VMA performance, the Vancouver riot, and the pretty terrible reviews at the Tacoma show (which ended up being the de facto first show of the tour) really turned off the general population. 

As the tour went on, the reviews did get better and better, and after Madison Square Garden, I remember there was genuine media interest in that lineup, but for Clear Channel I'm sure it was too little too late. A lot of the initial shows undersold, and they were probably looking for any excuse to pull the plug on the tour. When Axl bailed on the Philly show, they wasted no time in cancelling the whole thing. 

Edited October 16, 2017 by themadcaplaughs