Guns N’ Roses 2012 European Tour kicks off tomorrow night in Moscow and one week from today, they’ll take the stage at Dublin’s O2 Arena with Thin Lizzy and Vengeance & the Panther Queen as special guests. It’s been two long years since their last Irish shows and this writer for one is dying to welcome them back to the Emerald isle. Home of Paradise City, Guinness and a welcoming crowd.
Old Tickets There decided to celebrate and have a bit of fun with NME’s recent ’18 Reasons why Axl Rose is a….’ can’t actually remember what they were aiming at. Either way, let’s see why Axl Rose is as big a legend as he is.
18: His Attitude
Nuff said really – Axl’s attitude is second to none. He doesn’t let people push him around or tell him what to do, something the population of the Ireland (and indeed the world) could do with a little bit more if we’re ever to convince the courts to hang / castrate the remaining members of Finna Fail, the ‘bankers’ and Dana.
17: Tommy Hilfiger-gate
Axl Rose got into a fight with Tommy Hilfiger, do you care? It lasted all of two seconds in a pub. Imagine that, a small scuffle in a pub. Tisk, Tisk, Tisk!
16: He’s not a one-woman man
Axl Rose in proper rock star fashion sleeps with a lot of women. If you were single, had lots of money and were the front man of Guns N’ Roses, you’d do the same. If not, you’d still try your darndest! Not NME though, they have a very strict Morrissey A-Sexual policy. Keep on keepin’ down the big fella lads, he’ll only land ye in trouble with mommy.
15: Bob Guccione Jr-gate
Axl Rose got into a fight with Bob Guccione Jr. Do you care? Yes you do because that fight got taken into the awesome ’Get In The Right’. Weighting in at 850 lbs, Guns N’ Roses’. How many of you have had fights turned in to savage songs?
14: Scared of seaweed? WTF?
Apparently Axl doesn’t like seaweed….do you care? Suppose, it’s horrible slimy sh*t. Some people like to bath in it, other people like to whip themselves in worship to God or the Gods of Berlin’s nightlife. Let the man have his pet-fear. Mine is rats, some people keep those as pets. Basic message, people like / hate random sh*t – except at NME where they favor A-sexual men and a confrontation free environment….except of course when they write hate blogs J
13: His non-existent sense of humor?
He told me this joke one time, you would have sh*t yourself. Prove me wrong!
12: He’s got no Patience
Miss-heading heading here, I believe it’s Slash’s fans that have no patience. Axl will distill his talent until it’s perfect.
11: Metallica-gate
Axl Rose and Metallica do not get along so well. Guess it just p*ssed off Metallica that they had to open for Guns way back in 1992. People think it’s because of Montreal, but Metallica’s ‘A Year and a Half In the Life of’ video will show otherwise.
10: He hates poodles
Cannot blame the man, what a waste of life. Silly looking dogs for Beverly Hill wannabes.
9: Not a fan of ‘fans’ …. getting this shit kicked out of them.
A few years back, Axl stopped a show to kick out three security guards after witnessing them getting extremely rough with fans in the front row. Axl stopped the show, pointed to the three men and demanded they be removed. Once they left, Guns carried on. Uncle Axl has your back! Watch the video below if you like (you won’t find this one on NME)
8: Velvet Revolver-gate
Band members fall out. One crowd starts a new band – they have a cyber-spat. Six trolls all doing their best.
Also, Scott Weiland did make that whole comment about being remorseful towards Axl once he learned firsthand what it was like to be in a band with certain old Guns…. Ahem (link – http://gnrdaily.com/news_detail.asp?id=1984 )
7: It’s hard enough remembering lyrics…
A lot of artists use monitors for lyrics. Legendary bands and those that can afford them of course. When you write songs and make a successful career out of that art it doesn’t suddenly mean you’re memory is gifted with the space of terabyte memory stick. When Axl sits in front of one with glasses on and reads them off, then we’ll worry.
6Nirvana-gate
Nirvana is a harsh word. Basically Axl Rose told Kurt Cobain to shut Courtney Love up. Now honestly, wouldn’t we all have loved if it had worked? Maybe Kurt wouldn’t … well, you know, and maybe Courtney Love would actually have shut the f**k up. If you’re listening love, do us all a favor and shut the f**k up you twisted, dried up *insert words commonly used aside ‘epidemic of the late 1980’s* *insert word often associated with degenerate scum who ((should resort to)) sell(ing) their body for sex and almost always follows the first expletive word*
5: White dreads
Axl is so cool he braved the media and put his head in dreads! Didn’t last long, but fair play for trying something new!
4: Terrible dress sense
Terrible, sorry that’s an NME typo. Awesome was the word we were going for there. Axl’s dress sense on tour has always been something that gave Guns some of their character. Mixing and matching everything from SWAT gear, to kilts, to union jack jackets and bandanas. Axl has been at the forefront of everything that was cool about the late 80’s and 90’s and now he’s doing it for the new millennium. The infamous yellow jacket was worn at a very wet show and doesn’t make regular appearances so don’t judge an Axl by an NME.
3: ‘Chinese Democracy’
First they released the (arguably) biggest rock album in history, follow that with a massively successful EP and then two massive double albums that spawned numerous successful singles and were chock full of fan favorites. Then there was the covers album, live album, greatest hits and eventually, the most anticipated album in music history. Impressive?
During its conception, announcement and eventual release, Chinese Democracy amassed more stories than the folklore of a small European country, provided music analysts with world breaking stats (most expensive album in history..yaday..etc) and countless comparison arguments (Beatles entire recording career was completed in half the time of the recording of Chinese Democracy… Remember that?). Ex-members, managers, session players, friends and family of the band were inundated for a decade+ about the album. It’s been toured since 2002 and finally saw release in late 2008. Upon the album’s release, there were rumors that the record company had simply snapped the mix from Axl’s hand and gone ahead with the release he did not endorse. In response, Axl snubbed all partnerships and release hysteria and basically dropped off the face of the planet for several weeks before finally re-emerging to answer fans questions…directly. No middle man, nio pushy agenda ridden media drone – Axl went online directly to Guns N’ Roses fan forums and spent several hours a night for over a week talking to fans, answering their questions and giving his version of events for the first time in roughly two decades.
The album could have been the biggest seller of 2008, but due to Axl’s refusal to acknowledge its release, it managed the number 3 on the US Billboard Top 200 and debuted in the top 5 position of 26 different sales charts. In the four years since it’s release, Chinese Democracy has started to win original naysayers over with some critics begin to voice the opinion that it stands the test of time extremely well and the more you distance yourselves from the line-up controversy, the album stands out as the gem it truly is.
2: Cornrows
After trying the dreads, Axl went for cornrows and they actually looks pretty savage.
1: Guns N Roses
Love him, hate him – Axl is the spirit of Guns N’ Roses. After Izzy, Slash and Duff all quit, Axl was left without the core lineup that helped write those magic songs and make them famous. Fortunately, he was able to replace them all with extremely talented, sh*t coll musicians including Tommy Stinson from The Replacements. DJ Ashba from Sixx:AM and Beautiful Creatures. Guitar virtuoso, song writer, producer and all round legend – Ron Thal. The incredible Richard Fortus who doubles as lead and rhythm in Guns three guitar attack lineup. Richard has played The Psychedelic Furs and Thin Lizzy as well as Guns. Live drummer Frank Ferrer has been with the band since 2006 when he had to jump in to fill the gap left by Brian Mantia who left the tour after he became a father. Frank has since become the backbone to their powerful live sound and has extensive touring / recording experience. Dizzy Reed (Rock N’ Roll inductee and twenty two year Guns N’ Roses veteran) is still there providing backing vocals and keyboards with a little help from Chris Pitman who plays keyboards, bass, 12 string guitar and mellotron (sher why not?). Chris has also been involved in writing some of the highest profile tracks on Chinese Democracy as well as playing on them all.
Together they make up a band of younger, aggressive musicians who aren’t afraid to explore new sounds and shake up the confines that some fans wish to banish Guns to. Life changes, if you don’t change with it you gain two things – moss and guided tours. Guns N’ Roses are still fresh, still fighting fit and sounding better than ever. The man who wrote / co-wrote 46 of Guns N’ Roses 64 studio tracks still stands tall as leader of this great band and one of rock n’ roll’s greatest legends.
GUNS N’ ROSES: LIVE @ THE O2 DUBLIN – MAY 17th. TICKETS ON SALE NOW
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