Guns n roses Leeds + reading attendance
 

Guns N' Roses warned to be punctual for Leeds and Reading
by James Lawrenson, Posted Aug 24, 2010

Filed under:Festival News

Guns N' Roses have been threatened with having the sound cut on them if they arrive late on stage at the Leeds and Reading festivals.

The last time the band played the festival, in 2002, they rocked up more than two hours late on the Leeds leg. Unsurprisingly, the local council at the time were not best pleased.

Melvin Benn, the head of Leeds and Reading festival, told the BBC: "If Guns N' Roses decide to take to stage as late as they did in Leeds some years ago then the performance just won't happen."

"I've had a very heavy warning from the local councils. There is a curfew -- it's a very strict curfew."

Under the terms of their licence festivals are usually fined if they breach their curfew, a fate which Benn is trying to avoid.

Benn said: "We got away with it once. We won't get away with it for a second time. Unfortunately, if the band chose not to take to the stage on time there's really nothing I can do. I won't be allowed to break the curfew."

"The truth is -- it's threatening the viability of the festival. It threatens the licence. It really is quite important."

Last week, as Spinner reported, fears that Guns N' Roses had cancelled all their upcoming appearances had to be assuaged, after Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked and a tweet issued stating that "All upcoming Guns N' Roses dates are officially cancelled."

Presuming the band are punctual they will headline Reading on Friday (27 August), and Leeds on Sunday (29 August).

I had to double-check the date of this story--Axl's STILL pulling that late crap? Last I heard, he didn't show for a gig in Canada. He was from 30 to 90 minutes late three of the four times I've seen GNR--worst case of stage fright EVER. Most amazing of all, there are still musicians who are willing to be seen with him! http://www.rocktivity.com/Graphics/eew.gif

I saw some clips from a few years ago, and if people think Jon's voice was bad in recent years, they should listen to Axl and then see how they feel. Has he got any better?

U're prob talking about the 2001 tour, yes his voice was weak back then. His improved a lot now

Most recent GNR concert

Why anyone bothers to go see that loser, I'll never understand. He should be playing clubs at most.

Not sure if its the quality of the recording or not but that sounded terrible!

Having checked out the other Sturgis vids (posted by different people), I can only conclude that Axl has a problem hiring top-drawer production people.

I wish Axl would piss off, Guns N' Roses had one good album and he's still milking it.

I hope they get booted off the bill and Queens Of The Stone Age headline.

Well thats pretty sad considering how he used to be.

He had 3 brilliant albums!!! The Spaghetti incident was OK but not as good as the first 3.

Axl's music was NEVER the problem--Axl was. I've called GNR "the best rock band that should have been."

Which in turn were not as good as the depth and vision of Chinese Democracy.

Aloha !

What's the depth of Chinese Democracy apart from it showing Axl's disturbed mindset he seems to be in? Where the UYI just had good lyrics the lyrics for Chinese Democracy seem to be so full of hatred that it's unpleasant to listen to if you know the history of the band.

The fact that the vision the band had with Appetite For Destruction made it the awesome album that it is. Chinese Democracy is all that Appetite lacked.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Reading Festival is live on BBC 3 ... G NR is listed as coming on from 10.30pm tonight... Looking forward to watching.

Dawn

Don't think that's gonna happen Dawn. The BBC have a habit of advertising certain things while not showing them at all.

This is from The BBC Twitter tonight

We Can't Bring You Any Guns N Roses tonight, but hope do so at some point. #bbcrl #readingfestival

I can't imagine Axl allowing footage go out without him seeing it first, we might get something on the website tomorrow.

Aloha !

Axl does allow any footage to be shown from a show, he's always up for live broadcasts.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Well The BBC have just said that Axl has refused to let the show be broadcast.

its getting really anonying, they say its live but its from earlier in the evening...... its the same on the website..... http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/festivals...andleeds/2010/

Wonder when GnR will be on ....

I wanted to watch the libertines also but if you click to watch it on the wesbite its a documentary about the band and Pete drug head ... like we dont know it all before... :rolleyes:

edit site says libertines will be on bbc tomorrow.... and just explains why they can show some of the other acts due to foul language etc.... :? G n R were definitely scheduled for tonight.

Dawn

From what I heard earlier, they were at least 45 mins late so it's debatable whether they got to do a set at all as the curfew was very strict.

They've been on and played a full set.



1.Intro
2.Chinese Democracy
3.Welcome To The Jungle
4.It's So Easy
5.Brownstone
6.Sorry
7.Richard Fortus Solo
8.Live And Let Die
9.This I Love
10.Rocket Queen
11.Dizzy Solo
12.Street of Dreams
13.You Could Be Mine
14.Street Of Dreams
15.Ashba Solo
16.Sweet Child O' Mine
17.Axl solo
18.November Rain
19.Better
20.Paradise City (acoustic)

3 solos in one show,must have been exciting. Does Axl play a guitar solo or piano?

thanks .. did you see it.. what did it sound like ? Videos are going up on u tube of the set by I cant seem to play them as u tube isnt working :mad:

Dawn

I hear that at the Reading gig at the end Axl shouted at the crowd with a mega phone.

I believe this show was a complete disaster?

Apparently, Axl came on an hour late, and then they had to cut the set short because of a curfew, so Axl's microphone wasn't working and neither was the equipment, so he got a megaphone and carried on singing and was refusing to get off the stage.

And then, the crowd started shouting 'Storm the stage' so the security guards had to step in and everything...

Nah, just got that off the BBC website.

As has been said, the band turned up fashionably late (again) The promoters gained a special extended curfew time from Reading Council to allow them an extra half hour.

The band carried on playing after it and as they kicked into Paradise City the head of the festival cut power to the amps. Axl got a mega phone and carried on singing with crowd participation.

That's just pure Axl, he'd rather make a few headlines than give the fans a full show.

He is such an arrogant dickhead.

The BBC have put up highlights of the set on their site - http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/festivals...ts/gunsnroses/

It'll also be on the Red Button on Friday.

I just got back from leeds a couple of hours ago and can honestly say Guns & Roses were brilliant! Yeah Axl is a dick for being late, the solos get a bit much etc but the hits were brilliant, brilliant gig :D

On Monday 30th August 2010, @axlrose said:

Don't know what it is w/us or these last 2 shows. Takes the fun out it 4 everyone fans, band n' crew alike but whatever. So u know, we allegedly had a deal in place pre show w/the city at least at Leeds to do a bit longer performance that was either miscommunication, someone wasn't informed, changed their mind, didn't care or was a con. Regardless the nonsense just seems so unnecessary but w/out real management or industry presence is unfortunately beyond r control. We hope the fans feel they got at least what they could from us under the circumstances as 4 us all things considered that's the main thing. The rest is filler. Anyway, enough rambling. Peace, thanks 4 understanding n' what we did manage to get done out there was a blast! The crowds n' fans were amazing!! And in r opinion (not that apparently it means much) u deserved better!! Thanks again!!

Axl-

Talk about sounding like a broken record -- here we go again! It's somebody else's fault, something was "miscommunicated," and securing more playing time is supposed to be "justification" for starting late. THOSE are GNR's "greatest hits" -- and Axl's been singing them for DECADES!
http://www.rocktivity.com/Graphics/boring.gif

So turn up on time and give them a proper show you waste of space.

He was warned that both venues have strict curfews and that if he over run the power would be turned off. So he has no reason to complain. The man is a dick head!

Like most bands that started out in the 80s are doing...

Its unfortunate about what happened at Reading, cause from what i've heard and read the leeds show was very good, and will obv be forgotten now

Guns N' Roses Blast Reading and Leeds Festival OrganisersPosted on Aug 31st 2010 6:00AM by Julian Marszalek Comments (1)
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A furious war of words has erupted between Guns N'Roses singer Axl Rose and the promoters of last weekend's Reading and Leeds festivals following the band's two disastrous performances on Friday and Sunday nights (Aug. 27 and 29) respectively.

As reported on Spinner, Guns N'Roses had the plug pulled on them at the Reading Festival after taking to the stage an hour later than scheduled, thus potentially breaking strict curfew laws, while their performance at Leeds saw the band arrive a half hour late.

Posting on Twitter, Rose claimed that his understanding was that Guns N'Roses could play 23 minutes beyond the 11.30pm curfew, a claim strongly denied by festival boss Melvin Benn. He fumed, "So u know, we allegedly had a deal in place pre show w/the city at least at Leeds to do a bit longer performance that was either miscommunication, someone wasn't informed, changed their mind, didn't care or [it] was a con."

The claim has been strenuously denied by Benn. Speaking to NME.com, the promoter dismissed Rose's claims saying "bands often say things like that when they are curtailed."

He added, "There are rules we have to abide by here in the UK, they're very clear rules. It's not personal, I think the band are great."

It's doubtful that the feeling is mutual. Leaving the stage at Leeds, Rose said, "Be safe getting out of here. And for the problems with the cops and the promoters, f--- you."

From what I've read about the Friday night at Reading, leave it at that.

Caught November Rain from Leeds on Sunday on BBC3, wasn't too bad as it goes. The crowd were into the song and loved every minute! They didn't appear to get booed as they did at Reading.

They only got booed at Reading just as they entered the stage because of the delay.

It was funny during Queens Of The Stone Age's last song, the band stopped for ages until the crowd went silent then the lead singer just said "Guns 'N' Roses, the crowd booed like crazy.

When did Axl get so fat? He looks like Mick Hucknall now.

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/wen...enn2880802.jpg

Found a video of Axl talking on the mega phone -
Nutter :)

On Tuesday 31st August 2010, @axlrose said:

Our start times at the Reading and Leeds festivals factually had nothing to do with us as the previous bands (who were great by the way) came off stage when they did and we went on within' our contracted and documented changeover time period.

Whatever other nonsense anyone's choosing to write would appear intentionally false.

Having the fans or our show penalized for how the event was ran or simply the natural flow of events those evenings and for such minimal amount of overtime along with distortions and falsehoods by media, the promoter and or event organizers regarding the events seems a bit draconian and more than unfair to the fans.

A simple question: If you are aware of our changeover time, the average length of our show and the general nature of how these types of festivals run all of which are no big secrets...why book us?

Is it simply because the lineup on our nights at both festivals sold well? So it's a cash grab with no respect for the fans or the band and somehow an unwanted inconvenience for the cities and law enforcement? If we're not wanted and just being used to line someone else's pockets or for fictitious tabloid fodder at the fans and our expense we're fine with going elsewhere. God forbid we would force ourselves on anyone. It's not that kinda party.

I didn't organize, arrange, authorize, have knowledge of or was even consulted about our being booked for these shows till after the fact nor did I choose to work with anyone I'm aware of other than our manager who was involved in arranging these dates. Yet it would appear we're amazingly often legally obligated to honor such arrangements whether against our will or better judgment. That's simply and unfortunately how this business often works with the artist and imo seems is legally supported to benefit managers, agents, promoters and ticket vendors.

With how the fans and we were treated in the past I had what I feel were legitimate and now proven justified apprehensions. Yet we gave 100% and from where we stood it seemed as if the both the fans (who rocked!) and our camp were having fun and making the most of things.

Why (and what would appear intentionally) risk having it go bad for everyone? Imo that's where true recklessness and negligence at both the fans and our expense would seem to be.

Anyway...thanks again to all the fans who made our nights!!

Peace!!

Axl-

Your start time has nothing to do with you, Axl? I'll be sure to try out that line the next time I'm late for work--"The fact that everyone else showed up at 9AM has nothing to do with me!"

YOU penalized your fans, Axl, when you contributed to the "natural flow of events" by not being able to start on time!

I have an even simpler question: Given your track record, why should you EXPECT to be booked? So that you can do a little "cash grabbing" of your own?

If you don't want to do a gig, JUST SAY NO. If you don't want your management doing things without clearing them with you first, take away their authority to do so -- though at this point, I imagine you're at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to finding management who is WILLING to work with you.

And now I'm supposed to forgive you for beating me up, pretend it didn't happen, and wait for you to do it to me all over again? Axl should be the poster child for abusive partners. I'm glad I was smart enough to jump off the GNR bandwagon eighteen years ago!