• Tweet

Things are just not going well for Axl Rose and the rest of Guns N’ Roses at the start of their European trek.

At the Reading and Leeds Festivals in UK a week ago, grunge rock legends Guns N’ Roses were welcomed with bottles plunging from the audience and a resonating “boo”  after taking the stage an hour later than scheduled, or perhaps, an hour later than what was announced, whichever you would want to believe.

The unfortunate and chaotic scenario happened for the third time when the band graced the stage of the O2 in Dublin last night, September 1, once again an hour late.  Apparently, GNR’s “Welcome to the Jungle” performance was perfectly suited for what was transpiring that evening, but lead singer Axl Rose was in no savage mood.  “If you don’t want to have fun, all you’ve got to do is let us know. We’ve got no problem — we’ll go on our way”, Rose addressed the crowd and disappeared on the stage for a whole hour.  The band returned 30 minutes before midnight to finish off their set.

The next day, event promoter MCD and O2 reps issued a statement for the fans who attended the event.  They apologized for the delay but they also condemned the potentially dangerous or harmful fit the audience threw at the band, “no artist should be subjected to missiles and unknown substances being thrown at them”, the reps stated.

But Rose was not to be silenced.  In his Twitter page, the vocalist tweeted that they were not the cause of the delays and blamed the promoters, organizers, managers and agents for the misappropriation of time per band and the misinformation that was spread through the media.

Rose thanked the fans for their support but apologized to them as well, saying that both the fans and all the bands are just victims of such music events that Rose described as “a cash grab with no respect for the fans or the band”.  He event went on to slam the performing industry itself as spearheaded by managers, organizers and promoters, stating that he and the band had no say whatsoever on the shows they were “legally obligated to honor…whether against our will or better judgment”.

GNR’s European trail continues two days from now, on September 4 in Rome.  The tour concludes with a show in Barcelona on October 23.