Official: Band Balked at Alcohol Ban

[jack99]

DATE: November 8th, 2006

TITLE: Official: Band balked at alcohol ban

TEXT:

Guns N' Roses and state fire marshals disagree on who is to blame for the rock band's decision to call off its show at the Cumberland County Civic Center Monday night.

The band, through a press release issued Tuesday, blamed the decision on a pair of overzealous state fire marshals. Nelson Collins, supervisor of licensing and inspections at the State Fire Marshal's Office, said he was doing his job when he let band managers know performers wouldn't be allowed to drink alcohol out of bottles on stage.

Collins said Guns N' Roses' management objected.

Guns N' Roses canceled its performance at the civic center at 5:30 p.m. Monday, 2‡ hours before the show was scheduled to begin. The decision angered fans, many of whom blamed the band's lead singer, Axl Rose, who has called off shows before.

Collins and another fire marshal, Robert Cadigan, "made it impossible for the band to perform their show to the usual high standards that their fans deserve," according to a press release from the band's management

agency.

The statement implies the two attempted to subject Guns N' Roses to rules that were not applied to Clay Aiken and Green Day, two acts that have recently performed at the civic center. The management agency

did not identify a specific rule it thought was unfair.

Collins said he believed a prior dispute over the band's pyrotechnics show had been settled and the alcohol

restrictions were the main issue before the show. He said Green Day agreed to the alcohol rule and Clay Aiken did not have a pyrotechnics show, so fire marshals weren't needed at his performance.

It is illegal for entertainers to drink alcohol while they work in Maine, Collins said. The fine for violating the

rule is $250, he said.

Collins said fire marshals, who would report alcohol violations at a concert, haven't had issues with bands

objecting to the law in the past. He said he tried to convince the band's management during a midafternoon meeting Monday to have the musicians limit their alcohol consumption to backstage. He said the band's managers balked at the idea.

Some of the band's past cancellations -- most notably in Vancouver and Philadelphia -- caused riots. Fans on

Free Street Monday were angry, but not violent.

Rose was not in Portland for the discussions between inspectors and the band's managers, Collins said. He

travels by plane while on tour and wasn't scheduled to arrive in Portland until Monday night, civic center

General Manager Steve Crane said during an interview a little more than an hour after the cancellation.

Staff Writer Elbert Aull can be contacted at 791-6325 or at: eaull@pressherald.com

SOURCE: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/061108gnr.html

RELATED DISCUSSION: http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?showtopic=83724

[madison]

Another article on the fall-out from the Portland no-show...

DATE: Nov. 13, 2006

SOURCE: Portland Press Herald

Axl's addiction: Blaming everyone but Axl

Colleen Stone, MaineToday producer

13 November 2006

Portland Press Herald

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us again, well, shame on you - again. Guns N' Roses fans and former fans were singing that tune following the last-minute cancellation of a show at the Cumberland County Civic Center last week. Fans, some who'd driven for hours to see the band, were told just 2-1/2 hours before the show was to start that it was off and were given no explanation, other than the decision was the band's.

It didn't take long after a Portland Press Herald story ran about the debacle for the comments and theories to start flying at MaineToday.com. Faster than you can say "Cold November Rain," they were voicing their anger about the unexplained cancellation and the inconveniences that it caused.

Sam, who'd driven from Jackman, might have been one of the most inconvenienced fans, saying, "Don't we at least deserve a show???????? Thanks for long drive & no show, I guess I have to look on the bright side, at least we didn't crash."

At least some people could find a bright side to the situation.

Soon, fans had found a press release on the band's Web site explaining that they'd canceled the show due to "limitations imposed by local fire marshals." The limitations, it turned out, involved alcohol being consumed on stage. After that revelation, all bets were off.

One fan, j, thought the decision displayed not only a lack of professionalism, but a lack of respect for their fans:

"Gn'R should never be invited back to Maine. The band obviously could not compromise on terms of the concert. Which shows to me that they don't care if they have fans here."

Some were more blunt about what it demonstrated. Said G n R Fan, "Sadly, Axl has some serious issues and for his own sake, he needs help. If he wasn't a rock star, he would never get away with his antics and still hold down a job."

Perhaps it's time for an intervention. We can gather the members of Def Leppard, Poison and maybe Whitesnake and invite Axl to somewhere like Becky's Diner for breakfast. Actually, no. Make that dinner. He'd never get up in time for breakfast. Then, over steak and eggs (actually, I think he might be a vegetarian now; make that "feak" and eggs), we recommend treatment.

But what for? Alcohol dependency? Chronic failure to appear at scheduled shows? (More than one fan told stories about other shows they'd been to that he'd either shown up late for, skipped out early on or - surprise - canceled.)

Some seemed to think he could use a stint of rehab to treat his dependency on lame excuses. Jim was one person who'd had enough of them: "He was obviously embarrassed by the low number of tickets sold and too lazy to even bother. So blame everybody else like he's done for 20 years. Just like his former band mates are at fault for the original lineup not being together anymore."

Bizzy was one of a few people (actually, I think exactly three) who thought people were giving Axl and company too much guff for the cancellation - and for the band's apparent need to Perform While Intoxicated, or at least in possession of alcohol: "These people have been producing shows and creating music for many years. Who are we to judge that they could possibly do their jobs better if they did or didn't do something."

Hemingway was known to drink while writing, after all. For the record, this column is far better with a glass of wine.

Another fan, Axl Is God (I think God may beg to differ, but we'll let Them hash that out when the time comes), thought all the complaining was a bunch of sour grapes:

"You people are just jealous that Axl is better than you."

Axl may well be better than many people (though that's setting the "better" bar pretty low), but that doesn't mean people don't have the right to be angry about his antics - and for being dealt the equivalent of a middle finger by a performer they had paid good money to see.

Still others questioned why anyone was still paying money to see the bands in the first place; hadn't they gone out with acid-washed jeans and unlaced Reebok high tops? And besides, the new Guns N' Roses is barely a shadow of its former self, with most of the original members having moved on.

John Extreme put it, well, extremely:

"Should not the Axled-one be checking into geriatric assisted living? The dude is 60 years old or something."

Ouch.

Other fans were far more kind. Maybe far too kind. Jeannette was already looking ahead to a show in Illinois:

"If I can get the $120, I'll be up there at 9 a.m. waiting to get in and up close this time. I'll wait all day, and if he cancels, I'll be broken-hearted, but I will always be his fan."

Rest easy, Axl.