STEVEN ADLER: "Izzy is just as heartbroken as I am that the three of them decided to leave us out and bring three strangers in–who are those people?"

[StrangerInThisTown]

6 minutes ago, WhazUp said:

That photo would be a lot less cringey if Axl was at least there! lol but without Axl this photo might as well have been just a bunch of random guys walking down the street being asked to hold the signs

"GNR fans meeting Dizzy Reed" perhaps lol

[action]

29 minutes ago, WhazUp said:

That photo would be a lot less cringey if Axl was at least there! lol but without Axl this photo might as well have been just a bunch of random guys walking down the street being asked to hold the signs

that photo would have been less cringey if all they ever did was directing people to a real GNR concert.

the one mistake was, when someone gave them guitars, sticks and.... eh a towel

[RONIN]

1 hour ago, killuridols said:

The irony of it.... huh?

Until not so long ago, everybody was asking to themselves "Where's Axl?" and even the fans feared of having their show cancelled at every minute.

But Izzy and Adler are the unreliable ones

It's always a double standard here.

Basically if you're not Axl/Slash - you need to be damn near perfect or a lot of fans will discredit you depending on the whims of their dear leaders. If Axl/Slash were on good terms with Steven you would see an instant about-face from half the people here.

If Duff wasn't a partner, I'd love to see what the comments here would be like supporting his exclusion. I can take a stab:

"Who cares about an ex-alcoholic has-been who releases crap solo albums and peddles his book and connection to punk rock to anyone who will listen. He's just in it for the money since he's a businesssman now. He's an average bass player - Tommy ( or insert random replacement) is way better."

Currently Steven is just a junkie who is always whining about the past. Funny because Slash was arguably a bigger junkie that also whined about Axl and GnR from 1995-2012. Remember his Velvet Revolver press tour for Contraband and all the whining he did about Axl and old GnR? But that guy wasn't living in the past, only Steven. Slash is still the same stuck in the past cock rocker he always was. Versatility isn't his strong-suit. He's not that different from Mullethead Steve. Just a better networker and businessman. But let's pretend otherwise. 

As for Izzy being unreliable - consider the irony of the statement given Axl's past.

Who was the first guy to submit his material for Use Your Illusion? Who was the guy showing up to rehearsals and gigs first for Illusions? He quit in part because he was sick of being the only guy who gave a shit enough to bother showing up on time. He was also sick of being the only guy in the band who cared about the fans and wanted to actually learn new songs for them when the redhead was running off to his psychic 30 minutes into a show. Slash and Duff meanwhile were content getting drunk and high. Izzy being a flake and Izzy honoring his commitments are not mutually exclusive. If he's contractually obligated, he'll be there or he gets a gigantic fine (like what Axl would face now if he tried his old tricks again).

Just have the decency to admit that you're on Team Axl or Slash and that the others aren't as important to you. At least that's a valid reason for your opinion. But throwing the other guys under the bus for reasons like being a broken record, or talking too much (yeah - that's the problem in this band, people talk way too much), being a junkie, getting injured, not being reliable, etc just seem like lame excuses. 

Also - how hard would it have been for these guys who have raked in tens of millions to throw the fans a bone and give them a single AFD 5 show - they could have even done it at the Troubador (forget dignifying AFD 5 with a stadium show) and been done with it. At least the stuck in the past fanbase who bought 30 million copies of AFD would have gotten a decent send-off party. And these are the people some of you are defending. People who don't give a fuck about the fans. Whatever Steven or Izzy are - as per Marc Canter, they've actively sought to reunite the band in the past - they cared more about it than Axl, Slash, and Duff. And Izzy does not need the money unlike Steve or any of the other 3 - he's just fine without GnR as we can all see. It is what it is folks. 

The two GnR former members that actually are interested in fan service are ironically the two people who get bagged by fans here. Classic. And for the record, Adler is not my favorite GnR drummer and I think the guy can be irritating. But the level of disrespect and lack of perspective from some fans is surprising here.

Is it that hard to believe that Axl,Slash and Duff cut out these two former members to maximize their profits? So it's more believable that Adler's back injury/annoying personality and Izzy's "reliability issues" are the main reasons they're not in this reunion? Really? 

Edited April 13, 2018 by RONIN

[auad]

6 minutes ago, RONIN said:

It's always a double standard here.

Basically if you're not Axl/Slash - you need to be damn near perfect or a lot of fans will discredit you depending on the whims of their dear leaders. If Axl (or Slash) were on good terms with Steven you would see an instant about-face from half the people here.

If Duff wasn't a partner, I'd love to see what the comments here would be like supporting his exclusion. I can take a stab:

"Who cares about an ex-alcoholic has-been who releases crap solo albums and peddles his book and connection to punk rock to anyone who will listen. He's just in it for the money since he's a businesssman now."

Currently Steven is just a junkie who is always whining about the past. Funny because Slash was arguably a bigger junkie that also whined about Axl and GnR from 1995-2012. Remember his Velvet Revolver press tour for Contraband and all the whining he did about Axl and old GnR? But that guy wasn't living in the past, only Steven. Slash is still the same stuck in the past cock rocker he always was. Versatility isn't his strong-suit. He's not that different from Mullethead Steve. Just a better networker and businessman. But lets pretend otherwise. 

As for Izzy being unreliable - consider the irony of the statement given Axl's past.

Who was the first guy to submit his material for Use Your Illusion? Who was the guy showing up to rehearsals and gigs first for Illusions? He quit in part because he was sick of being the only guy who gave a shit enough to bother showing up early. He was also sick of being the only guy in the band who cared about the fans and wanted to actually learn new songs for them when the redhead was running off to his psychic 30 minutes into a show.  Izzy being a flake and Izzy honoring his commitments are not mutually exclusive. If he's contractually obligated, he'll be there or he gets a gigantic fine (like what Axl would face now if he tried his old tricks again).

Just have the decency to admit that you're on Team Axl or Slash and that the others aren't as important to you. At least that's a valid reason for your opinion. But throwing the other guy under the bus for reasons like being a broken record, or talking too much (yeah - that's the problem in this band, people talk way too much), or him being a junkie, getting injured, not being reliable, etc just seem like lame excuses. 

Also - how hard would it have been for these guys who have raked in tens of millions to throw the fans a bone and give them a single AFD 5 show - they could have even done it at the Troubador and been done with it. At least the stuck in the past fanbase who bought 30 million copies of AFD would have gotten a decent send-off party. And these are the people some of you are defending. People who don't give a fuck about the fans. Whatever Steven or Izzy are - as per Marc Canter, they've actively sought to reunite the band in the past - moreso than the other 3. And Izzy does not need the money unlike Steve or any of the other 3 - he's just fine without GnR as we can all see. 

The two GnR former members that actually are interested in fan service are ironically the two people who get bagged by fans here. Classic. And for the record, Adler is not my favorite GnR drummer and I think the guy is annoying. But the level of disrespect and lack of perspective is surprising here. It is what it is folks. Is it that hard to believe that Axl,Slash and Duff cut out these two former members to maximize their profits? So it's more believable that Adler's back injury/annoying personality and Izzy's "reliability issues" are the main reasons they're not in this reunion? Really? 

great post

[janrichmond]

@RONIN 

6 minutes ago, RONIN said:

Just have the decency to admit that you're on Team Axl or Slash and that the others aren't as important to you.

Team Slash AND team #realguns 

[WhazUp]

14 minutes ago, RONIN said:

He's not that different from Mullethead Steve. Just a better networker and businessman. But lets pretend otherwise. 

Except Steven himself even stated that when he was on tour with Loaded back in 2013 he was still drinking and Duff did not like that

Slash has been sober since the mid-2000's, well over 10 years.  I don't think it is a stretch to see that someone who hasn't been sober for a long period of time, and was still drinking as recent as 2013 (2016 was only three years apart at that time), could be seen as a different case entirely.  Throw in the back injury, and I can easily see and understand why it would be the safer choice to go with Frank for the tour, when you have such financial deals and shows at stake I would understand why they went with Frank even without Steven's back injury

Not that I wouldn't love Adler with GNR, his coming on stage with the guys made my night when I saw them in 2016.  But I can easily see why bringing Adler on full time is not the best idea.  And unfortunately it has nothing to do with his musicality (which is still there and still amazingly kickass)

Edited April 13, 2018 by WhazUp

[DieselDaisy]

I remember the opinion on Slash, and by affiliation Duff, during the Buckethead era - back in the good olde days of gnronline - went something like this,

''Cheesy hair rocker who is butt hurt about Nugnr. Axl will release layered masterpieces like Pink Floyd and NIN which will be superior to Slash's 1980s cheese. Slash is playing clubs. Axl is playing to millions of screaming fans at Rio. Buckethead is a better guitarist technically. Axl cares about expanding his music unlike Slash who just peddles the same poodle rock''.

Then when Izzy started guesting with Rose in 2006 (and again in 2012) you began to see this opinion surface,

''Izzy has always been closer to Axl than Slash. If you look back on the albums, Izzy was far more important than Slash ever was. Axl and Izzy wrote all the songs. Izzy didn't sue Axl like Slash and Duff did. Izzy isn't bitter. His solo albums are decent also and not poodle rock like Snakepit. Izzy also kept himself out of Velvet Revolver and the Hall of Fame as he knew they would suck ass and offend Axl''.

[Kickingthehabit]

1 hour ago, killuridols said:

The irony of it.... huh?

Until not so long ago, everybody was asking to themselves "Where's Axl?" and even the fans feared of having their show cancelled at every minute.

But Izzy and Adler are the unreliable ones

Axl knows that he himself is a pain in the ass. The guy's not a complete dope. But he's not going to work with people who make his life even more difficult. That's why he can work with Slash and Duff. They know how to run an organization and make Axl's life much easier.

[RazorGunner]

 

Highly ironic and more than a little sadly amusing how Adler constantly states that GNR needs to do the 'right' thing, while he is saying all the wrong things. 

[killuridols]

12 minutes ago, Kickingthehabit said:

Axl knows that he himself is a pain in the ass. The guy's not a complete dope. But he's not going to work with people who make his life even more difficult. That's why he can work with Slash and Duff. They know how to run an organization and make Axl's life much easier.

I am not one of the idea of hiring Adler for a whole tour like NITL, but a one time show he can do it without causing any trouble. After his participation in the Argentina shows, he played a whole show in Buenos Aires with a local band and it was great, he did great, not a single problem.

Steven wouldn't make Axl's life more difficult just for playing a couple songs in some shows. What makes it difficult is Axl being programmed to hate on Steven and well, I can understand that they don't get along with each other, but people here saying bollocks about Steven are just talking out of their asses.

[DieselDaisy]

2 minutes ago, RazorGunner said:

 

Highly ironic and more than a little sadly amusing how Adler constantly states that GNR needs to do the 'right' thing, while he is saying all the wrong things. 

Adler did all the right things leading up to the NITLT and immediately after he played in Argentina with the three. He basically followed the typical gnr ''media blackout'' modus operandi. We didn't hear a peep from Adler. We didn't hear anything when he injured himself; we initially found that out through rumour.

And what did he receive for his troubles? Two songs. Two guest appearances (reduced to one by Argentina). Two guest appearances in his own band!! He had to endure the indignity of watching some random guy play his material instead, sans these two/one songs when Adler was wheeled out like a performing monkey. 

[RONIN]

16 hours ago, jekylhyde said:

Steven Adler: tells everybody he's been sober for this many years, has no resentments, poses friendly with Frank and Melissa.

Also Steven Adler: smokes pot after the first show, airs dirty laundry in public, belittles people behind their backs.

Would you, being 50+ and having your own things to deal with too, want to tour with this kind of a person?
 

Slash has done the exact same thing - check any interview of his post '97-2012. Slash has even backstabbed Duff and Matt to Beta of all people (allegedly). One minute he has no resentment, the next minute he hates the redhead and his own bandmates in VR. One minute he's clean, the next minute he's in rehab. Feelings are complicated and old habits are hard to kick. The only guy with a shred of integrity that hasn't acted like a hypocrite in this band is Izzy. 

Your point is noted about Steven being more susceptible to substance abuse than any of the others though. I'd agree there.

11 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

From guns perspective or at least Axls... Steven has always been a handful, he has always given him trouble... Frank has been a loyal and easy to work with drummer who just does his job and gets on with it... Easy decision, regardless of who makes AFD songs swing better.

Anyone who tells Axl the truth and confronts his BS is a handful whether it's Steven, Matt, Izzy, Alan Niven, Slash, or Duff. Anyone who is a yes-man for Axl is always preferable. This is a well documented fact that each and every original GnR member has confirmed about Axl in various interviews over the years. If they haven't contractually muzzled Steven, he will speak. Izzy won't because he's more than likely done with all of them and no longer cares. 

Quote

As for Izzy, in the last 25yrs he has shown absolutely no interest in touring in any way as heavily as what gnr did on that nitl tour. He jumps in and out , changes his mind and and then the rest of them have to pick up the pieces. He wrote some of their best songs, and he's undeniably one of the key ingredients to the gnr sound, but Richard plays great, shows up on time and does his job without giving any hassle... Again easy decision... With or without classic gnr writing credit credentials.

This is a weak excuse. Maybe Izzy is enjoying semi-retirement, something Axl was enjoying from 1994-2002. Him not needing to tour (which is generally financially motivated) is not really evidence that he's not up for doing a tour under the right circumstances and for the right reasons. Reliability issues ( a farce but I digress) can be solved with an airtight contract which I guarantee is what Slash and Duff have as a hedge against Axl going diva on NITL.

Quote

I can see why Adler is upset, but when you actually look at it, it's obvious why the whole thing didn't work this time around (betond just the financial reasons). It also doesn't help his case in the future with the judge (Axl) for him to be spouting off... If he wants to be part of the gnr circle then he like everyone else, has to keep his bad thoughts to himself or he gets the corn. Not saying that's right, but it's just the reality of how gnr and a lot of high profile bands are run.

Maybe there is no future for Adler in GnR and that's why he's speaking his mind now. For him to be talking like this, it means that all doors to GnR are shut. He rejected whatever pennies they threw at him to show up and play one song at a random gig overseas. Steven finally found some self-respect and is done with GnR (as it currently stands anyway) would be what I infer from the recent run of interviews.

Edited April 13, 2018 by RONIN

[Bluefish18]

1 hour ago, auad said:

great post

It always is with Ronin.  I now come here every few days and just look for his posts.  

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, RONIN said:

Just have the decency to admit that you're on Team Axl or Slash and that the others aren't as important to you. At least that's a valid reason for your opinion. But throwing the other guys under the bus for reasons like being a broken record, or talking too much (yeah - that's the problem in this band, people talk way too much), being a junkie, getting injured, not being reliable, etc just seem like lame excuses. 

I agree with this. People have to to be more honest or come up with better arguments than repeating, for example, that Izzy sold his share. We don't even know if Izzy's and Steven's exclusion have anything to do with the partnership and the back injury respectively.

1 hour ago, RONIN said:

Also - how hard would it have been for these guys who have raked in tens of millions to throw the fans a bone and give them a single AFD 5 show - they could have even done it at the Troubador (forget dignifying AFD 5 with a stadium show) and been done with it. At least the stuck in the past fanbase who bought 30 million copies of AFD would have gotten a decent send-off party. And these are the people some of you are defending. People who don't give a fuck about the fans. Whatever Steven or Izzy are - as per Marc Canter, they've actively sought to reunite the band in the past - they cared more about it than Axl, Slash, and Duff. And Izzy does not need the money unlike Steve or any of the other 3 - he's just fine without GnR as we can all see. It is what it is folks. 

There is a valid counter-argument here though, imo. Let's assume that they did that one show, at the Troubadour or as an anniversary show at The Apollo. Do you think that the hardcore AFD5 fan base would be fine if that show was followed or continued by the "lame" NITL shows with the hired hands? I think not, and people who say they would have to be honest as well.*

EDIT to clarify: * I don't mean you, since you're not talking from a stuck-in-the-past POV.

 

Edited April 13, 2018 by Blackstar

[DieselDaisy]

It is ironic that this partnership agreement which consisted of multiple lawsuits between Slash/Duff and Axl is now used as a sort of ''badge of loyalty'' means of defence for the non-inclusion of Stradlin and Adler. Slash and Duff sued Rose for control of film licences and fleecing them out of royalties. They later sued Rose again when he switched publishing to from ASCAP to Black Frog, claiming that Rose fleeced them out of $92,000.

This was the Partnership Agreement until a very late date!

[MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle]

11 minutes ago, RONIN said:

This is a weak excuse. Maybe Izzy is enjoying semi-retirement, something Axl was enjoying from 1994-2002. Him not needing to tour (which is generally financially motivated) is not really evidence that he's not up for doing a tour under the right circumstances and for the right reasons. Reliability issues ( a farce but I digress) can be solved with an airtight contract which I guarantee is what Slash and Duff have as a hedge against Axl going diva on NITL.

I don't get the 'Izzy is unreliable' argument either.  If anything, I think Izzy may be as obstinate as Axl in that he named his price and won't budge from his position one iota, and Axl won't budge from his.  That's my speculation anyway.  Everything comes down to money with these guys.  

Mind you, GNR aren't unique in that regard.  Look at what happened with Fleetwood Mac firing Lindsey Buckingham a few days ago, and they're going to replace him with Mike Campbell and Neil Finn??? For crying out loud...replace Lindsey Buckingham?  

It's a stark reminder that the artists we love so much don't exactly stop mid-argument to say, but think of the fans!  At this stage, I'm feeling relieved that no one's been fired from Guns yet!  

Did we find out why Izzy allegedly walked out of a NITL soundcheck?  I've been out of the loop a few months and recall reading about that somewhere here, but don't know anything beyond he apparently walked out?

[RONIN]

1 hour ago, WhazUp said:

Except Steven himself even stated that when he was on tour with Loaded back in 2013 he was still drinking and Duff did not like that

Slash has been sober since the mid-2000's, well over 10 years.  I don't think it is a stretch to see that someone who hasn't been sober for a long period of time, and was still drinking as recent as 2013 (2016 was only three years apart at that time), could be seen as a different case entirely.  Throw in the back injury, and I can easily see and understand why it would be the safer choice to go with Frank for the tour, when you have such financial deals and shows at stake I would understand why they went with Frank even without Steven's back injury

Not that I wouldn't love Adler with GNR, his coming on stage with the guys made my night when I saw them in 2016.  But I can easily see why bringing Adler on full time is not the best idea.  And unfortunately it has nothing to do with his musicality (which is still there and still amazingly kickass)

I agree with you that Steven is too much of a wildcard to entrust with a full-time position for the NITL tour. He's publicly said that he would have been fine with Frank playing the CD songs on tour. Frank could have been the back up drummer in case things went south. If Steven messed up, he could have been thrown off the tour for a legitimate reason. I really don't think having a backup drummer on a mega-tour like this is an unreasonable proposition.

It appears though that he wasn't even given a chance to really be a part of this whole thing. His only chance to participate was to do it on Axl's terms (one or two songs at a handful of random gigs). That's essentially the contention here. There's this notion here that he needs to be grateful and kiss the floor for even being given a chance to participate which is frankly absurd. Most reasonable people would at least want this former original member to have a chance to play as much as he could manage on this tour and expect the partners (within reason) to make this happen. I don't believe they made the effort  and the more information that leaks out about the semi-reunion only seems to confirm this. 

Given what we know, I don't believe the partners really made much of an effort to include Steven and Izzy on this tour in a way that was respectful to them. I think many of the sharper fans here probably saw this coming as soon as the reunion was announced. It's a money grab through and through imho. And that's okay. Most of us will take what we can get with this band. That's really what it has come down to at the end of the day since expectations are generally bottom of the barrel when you're a GnR fan.

[RazorGunner]

40 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

Adler did all the right things leading up to the NITLT and immediately after he played in Argentina with the three. He basically followed the typical gnr ''media blackout'' modus operandi. We didn't hear a peep from Adler. We didn't hear anything when he injured himself; we initially found that out through rumour.

And what did he receive for his troubles? Two songs. Two guest appearances (reduced to one by Argentina). Two guest appearances in his own band!! He had to endure the indignity of watching some random guy play his material instead, sans these two/one songs when Adler was wheeled out like a performing monkey. 

 

Adler should thank his lucky stars, the powers that be at GNR, (and Slash) - that he was offered any guest appearances with the band at all. 

They weren't obligated to offer him anything at all, and had every reason not to-'all things considered'.

Realistically, it isn't "his" band, and hopefully everyone has enough evidence now just why it isn't a particularly savvy business decision to include Adler in any future plans. You don't bite (or talk shit about) the hand that feeds.  

Far too many years of his victim mentality and whining.

 

Edited April 13, 2018 by RazorGunner

[DieselDaisy]

5 minutes ago, RazorGunner said:

 

Adler should thank his lucky stars, the powers that be at GNR, (and Slash) - that he was offered any guest appearances with the band at all. 

They weren't obligated to offer him anything at all, and had every reason not to-'all things considered'.

Realistically, it isn't "his" band, and hopefully everyone has enough evidence now just why it isn't a particularly savvy business decision to include Adler in any future plans. You don't bite (or talk shit about) the hand that feeds.  

Far too many years of his victim mentality and whining.

 

Rose wasn't obligated to offer Slash anything considering the latter sued Rose on multiple occasions, as well as sniping at him in interview. Vice versa Slash was not obligated into rejoining Axl considering the latter had voiced obscenities about Slash (''Cancer'', ''...in my ass'').

[EvanG]

I can’t believe people are talking about this for the millionth time because of a new Adler quote. Oldest Goat is right.

[RONIN]

38 minutes ago, MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle said:

I don't get the 'Izzy is unreliable' argument either.  If anything, I think Izzy may be as obstinate as Axl in that he named his price and won't budge from his position one iota, and Axl won't budge from his.  That's my speculation anyway.  Everything comes down to money with these guys.  

Exactly how I think it went down. Izzy probably had terms that he wouldn't budge from and when he saw what the partners presented to him, he walked. Simple. He's the one guy in this band who doesn't need this reunion. 

Quote

Did we find out why Izzy allegedly walked out of a NITL soundcheck?  I've been out of the loop a few months and recall reading about that somewhere here, but don't know anything beyond he apparently walked out?

Nada. All we have is that Alan Niven soundbyte which people either buy or reject depending on where your fan loyalties lie. There's more to this story with Izzy and Steven though. I imagine there may have been another attempt made to re-negotiate with Izzy that ended up falling through.

46 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

It is ironic that this partnership agreement which consisted of multiple lawsuits between Slash/Duff and Axl is now used as a sort of ''badge of loyalty'' means of defence for the non-inclusion of Stradlin and Adler. Slash and Duff sued Rose for control of film licences and fleecing them out of royalties. They later sued Rose again when he switched publishing to from ASCAP to Black Frog, claiming that Rose fleeced them out of $92,000.

This was the Partnership Agreement until a very late date!

Excellent point.

46 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

There is a valid counter-argument here though, imo. Let's assume that they did that one show, at the Troubadour or as an anniversary show at The Apollo. Do you think that the hardcore AFD5 fan base would be fine if that show was followed or continued by the "lame" NITL shows with the hired hands? I think not, and people who say they would have to be honest as well.

Well that's true but they didn't even bother to try did they? That's why there is a lingering feeling of a missed opportunity here. 

I think if they had announced a one-off AFD 5 show to celebrate their legacy and given the fans a final chance to see this legendary lineup - some hearts would have been healed in the fanbase. It would have been a great PR gesture from the partners as well. Some of the fans who don't care for Adler could even legitimately have said that he had his moment to shine at last and it would be founded in some sort of reality. 

You have to consider Blackstar, what would it have cost these guys to make this happen? Izzy has always been down for a one-off reunion. Steven will play for free. Can you imagine either of these guys playing hardball tactics with the partners and trying to negotiate a permanent place on tour? There's just no plausible excuse for why Axl and co. didn't make this happen aside from the obvious - they didn't care enough to do it because they knew it had no bearing on their bottom line financially. And they were right. 

Edited April 13, 2018 by RONIN

[RazorGunner]

1 minute ago, DieselDaisy said:

Rose wasn't obligated to offer Slash anything considering the latter sued Rose on multiple occasions, as well as sniping at him in interview. Vice versa Slash was not obligated into rejoining Axl considering the latter had voiced obscenities about Slash (''Cancer'', ''...in my ass'').

 

Very true, but the issue(s) between Axl and Slash don't have anything to do with Adler. 

I'm personally very glad that Slash and Axl found a way to get past all the problems and work together again. 

The smart business decision would be to keep Adler far away from GNR, despite all the newfound nostalgia fans he has now that weren't around when he was fired, there wasn't much of a reaction at all then- but the internet wasn't around then either. 

[Blackstar]

2 hours ago, RONIN said:

You have to consider Blackstar, what would it have cost these guys to make this happen? Izzy has always been down for a one-off reunion. Steven will play for free. Can you imagine either of these guys playing hardball tactics with the parners and trying to negotiate a permanent place on tour? There's just no excuse for why Axl and co. didn't make this happen - they just didn't care enough to do it because they knew that it had no bearing on their bottom line financially. And they were right. 

I think that maybe they -not only the partners, but also the promoters/LN - were afraid of what I pointed out earlier: that the one-off show might make the other shows illegitimate in the eyes of the fans and the press. It could work if the NITL lineup had new material to present (which would make it more legit) and the AFD5 gathered for a handful of shows to play AFD in its entirety (with the ticket prices up to the sky, of course); or if they found a way to include Izzy and Steven in some capacity for the whole tour.

We also know that Axl doesn't have a "do-it-for-the-fans" mentality (although I agree with others who say that the reunion with Slash was partly because he thought it would make the fans happy).

Lastly, given that we have very little information, we can't be 100% sure that they didn't try at all. Maybe there is behind the scenes stuff about the Apollo show that we don't know about.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Blackstar
added

[RazorGunner]

1 minute ago, Blackstar said:

 

Lastly, given that we have very little information, we can't be 100% sure that they didn't try at all. Maybe there is behind the scenes stuff about the Apollo show that we don't know about.

I agree with this- 

All the details haven't been made public, so that's a lot of unknowns thrown in the mix that just might affect people's perceptions if they were known. 

 

[DieselDaisy]

17 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

Nail it to the door of the church!

Like Martin Luther. You both hate the Pope also so...