VR was never the biggest band in the world.  If you're going to be Guns N' Roses, then you need to be Guns N' Roses and accept the expectations that go along with that.  If you're going to kind of be Guns N' Roses and call mediocre at best tours a success, then it's time to stop being Guns N' Roses.

Gas - I read through both my posts and neither one even used the word fact.  Here is a fact though:  Pollstar is not an accurate representation of the success of a tour.  Read what Pollstar is.

The US tour attendance was sparce, shows were cancelled because not enough people were going, tickets were sold at a discount and given away at the shows that weren't cancelled, yet still they couldn't "sell' out a show they were giving tickets away for.  If you call that success, you need to raise your standards just a little bit.  russ loves the new band, but he can admit what happened in a a decent size market.  Chicago was just as bad.  They weren't alone.  One of the shows that was cancelled sold so few tickets that people were allowed to trade those tickets for a show at another venue.  I guess there weren't a lot of tickets sold there either if they could accomodate an entire other show's tickets.  But don't let the details get in the way of a good story about a "successful" tour.

The lack of ticket sales wasn't a rumor.  They blocked off large sections of mid size arenas and called the shows sell outs.  russ wouldn't be saying that they blocked off the upper deck in Detroit if it didn't happen.  That wasn't an isolated incident.  The shows that were cancelled early in the tour were due to ticket sales.  The supposed album cancellations were because of lack of ticket sales.  They couldn't even give tickets away or sell them at a huge discount to fill some of the places they played.  The Maine show was because of poor ticket sales no matter what a fire marshall did or didn't say.  The few shows that sold well were never cancelled, yet cancellations happend at a lot of shows that weren't selling well.  You can't possbily think that is coincidental.

If the album was good, it would sell.  The Axl fans downloaded it because deep down, they really don't give a fuck about Baz.  It's really that simple.  The same exact thing would happen if the other band members moved on.  A select few would follow them, but most would ignore everything they did outside of GnR.

Axl wouldn't immediately have the same problem, though he would if he were to ever release a second album (I know, ha ha).  Axl is just as irrelevant as Baz and VR - the only difference is the curiosity factor towards what CD is like there was a curiosity with Contraband.  Once that's gone, it's over and THAT is why we don't have CD yet.  Axl knows this.  The ONLY things he has going for him at this point are the curiosity factor towards CD and the possibility of a reunion with the original guys.  That is why there's no CD and that is why he never shoots down the reunion rumors.  Baz doesn't have either, so he tried to use Axl to sell his record and it didn't work.  Axl fans downloaded it instead.  What did he really think was going to happen?

I couldn't believe they just said he left in 96 with no mention of his current or even recent activities.  Whether you like it or not, at least acknowledge the album exists.