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Re: 2006 Tour Retrospective - Resurrected
Thanks to BP for preserving this from ROV; figured I put it back up for shits n' giggles. I actually worked on the syntax and some additional notes on the original post afterwards, so perfectionism probably demands me to go through it again at one point.
Anyway, for those in need of a recap, here it is.
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I figured I'd connect a few dots regarding the 2006 North American tour, since there's enough information to be pulled from different sources and enough time has passed to look into it objectively. I try to point out when I'm assuming or speculating something, other times I'm merely listing factual events. Two things, put side by side, might be seen combining into a third matter, which has so far eluded awareness; or it could be written out as plain coincidence. I don't believe in coincidences much.
Anyway, this is your paranoid android speaking, coming to you live on a rainy night.
By the time GNR made it across Europe, the album was late. The single was planned to come out on Labour Day (09/04), almost immediately after Axl would've finished recording vocals in a London studio space. California dates were booked mid-August, on both sides of KROQ Inland Invasion (9/23). The announced gigs ran from 09/16 to 10/05, but Merck basically admitted that KROQ was supposed to be the official kick-off of the North American tour, with the club dates serving as warm-ups. The record would've likely come out in early October and the band could've steadily added / tried out new song options to the setlist during the intervening weeks. Axl visited the VMA's on 08/31. If they would've stuck with the original plan, he could've said something like 'Look out for the first single off Chinese Democracy coming out on Labour Day'; maybe even played a little teaser of the song on live network TV.
That would've been a pretty good setup for the album. Inland Invasion, the first real CD show, would've been streamed all over the web, and everybody even remotely interested would've gotten free dips on what this band was all about.
But trouble began. As we all know, the London break never came. Because of this, the VMA's were basically about introducing The Killers and giving out cryptic statements. The single release was pushed back, possibly into early/mid October, as it seems they would've liked to get it out just before going on a full tour. Subsequent dates were now being booked from late October onwards; it's possible that between the 10/05 and 10/20 dates the band was supposed do gigs in the mid-West - lazy man's damage control plan simply blotted them out. There could've been a 'warm-up tour', a little *bump* along with a single release in early October, and after that the body of the full tour would've remained unaltered.
In any case, the KROQ date lost a great deal of its original meaning. Everybody still waited for Axl to bring home the bacon before 09/16. Instead, just before Inland Invasion, he asked for all the remaining Cali dates to be postponed. Four were moved to January, one to December (I'll get back to that later). It was then, around Inland Invasion when Axl got "two or three very productive days under his belt." Afterwards, Ron told the fans that he'd attended a party in Axl's Malibu mansion the day before his birthday, which would make it 09/24; the night following the gig.
"When it hit midnight and officially became my birthday, I was over Axl's house enjoying a wonderful barbeque with the band, crew, friends, family - last thing I remember was having a hot-pepper eating contest with Caram (Chinese Democracy studio engineer) and playing pool with Baz..." - source
Note the crucial names Ron drops. Caram Constanzo, the main engineer - and our beloved Baz. Later on, the Rolling Stone blurb would arrive with Baz giving some other details on the very same party.
Following Guns' headlining gig in San Bernadino, California, on September 23rd, Axl threw a party at his mansion and played the full album in his poolroom for visitors, including his friend Sebastian Bach, former singer of Skid Row. 'It was mind-blowing,' says Bach, who is opening for Guns n' Roses on their upcoming North American arena tour. 'It's a very cool album - it's badass with killer screams, killer guitar riffs, but it's got a totally modern sound. The word for it is '˜grand.' It's fucking epic. He's reinvented himself yet again.' The album includes some tracks that have been played live or leaked onto the Internet, including the poppy 'Better' and the hard-hitting 'I.R.S.' 'There's this one song called '˜Sorry' that's almost like doom metal with Axl singing really clean over this grinding, slow beat that is fucking mean,' says Bach. 'I cannot get it out of my head.' - source
After KROQ, Axl had a full album to preview with atleast rough mixes of the songs. It's possible that the vocals for Sorry had just been completed. Caram Constanzo was there, so Axl could've walked from his home studio into the BBQ party with a new song at hand. Again, everything started to look peachy. These rough mixes might've been the ones that drew Universal seriously back into negotiations regarding the CD promotion, videos, et al. The '13 Tuesdays' phrase first came out in late September press release; Axl and Merck were probably both all smiles when they read it - it certainly seemed like they had pulled it off. RS reported that Andy Wallace (Nirvana's Nevermind) had begun the mixing. The new single was possibly set to come out on 10/23 to coincide with the tour launch - it would also explain where RS got their 11/21 release date for the album. With Axl having "two or three days of work left to tidy things up", both goals were, again, well within their reach.
In October, Axl got sloppy again. Robin, Ron and Frank recorded some additional material, which apparently was not crucial for the album. Two weeks into the month, the opening date was postponed from 10/20 (Jacksonville) to 10/24 (Sunrise). This could've been the last attempt to buy Axl every possible minute of potential studio time before the single would have to be turned in (not to mention that he specifically stated the tour to begin on 10/24 at the VMA's). Merck even admitted to having considered further postponing the tour start, possibly all the way to November. Meanwhile, Universal bid their time, making sure they wouldn't raise a finger to help out before the album was delivered. Now, now they were fucked.
Axl was pissed about the way things were going. On 10/29 in Puerto Rico, during the fourth gig of the tour, he had his setlist rant. Obviously, it hurt to acknowledge the fact that the fans were expecting brand new songs. Two days later, on the eve of the following gig, Del James posted his 'View from the Side of the Stage' blog, featuring the infamous setlist picture. Del's post read like no-one had the right to criticize the way GNR does things, and it was pretty straight-on continuation to Axl's most recent rant. Del also referred to some new (old) songs that might be added to the setlist in the future; adding that "telling you now what the songs are would be rude". Conveniently, a picture of the Estero gig (10/27) setlist was included.
The legendary Prostitute and a completely new song, If The World, had been ready to be played in public all along. Axl would've probably preferred to do IFW instead of a rant, but what can you do. Also, in the current situation it's very likely one of those two was (and might still be) set to be the first single. It's tempting to go with Prostitute, knowing it's reputation, but one can never be sure with these things.
While Del was distracting everybody, Merck was busy booking studio time in New York. You'd think Axl could've spared a few night of partying for a good cause; hell, he could've even celebrated the MSG gig (11/10) as the night he finished CD. If he would've come through, the single could've been out by Thanksgiving. Around this time, Merck (who'd backed Axl despite everything so far) might've hinted Axl that they don't really need all eight weeks to release the album by Boxing Day, three is sufficient. Thus, he once again might've sugarcoated things for Axl by giving him all the way to around 12/05 to finish up with those two-three days.
Beta later claimed that Merck's last GNR show took place in Halifax (11/20). Was this the eve everybody had been hoping for since KROQ? Maybe it took for the date to hit them to realize that CD wouldn't be coming out in 2006 in any shape or form. Beta went on to say Merck was fired before Thanksgiving. Cleveland (11/24) saw Axl calling out Eagles of Death Metal, who actually could've been collateral damage. The fact that Merck would've been shown the door just days before might've increased tension amongst the whole crew, with Axl serving as the hood ornament. Moreover, I sort of think that even though Merck was fired (according to Beta) before Thanksgiving, he was still handling his duties for the time being, keeping a brave face and saying nothing of consequence.
The tour went along smoothly, all things considered. In Portland (12/11), after performing Better, Axl mentioned that he's learned that he's supposed to say things like "that's a song from our forthcoming album...". Very cryptic, again. The following day (12/12), Merck sent out two proposals for a CD press release to the rest of the GNR camp. There had been some fairly detailed discussions regarding the future/release of the album. Axl proposed a release date of 02/06/07, his 45th birthday. Merck was rooting for 03/20/07, with a new tour starting in Dubai just before that. BTW, I believe he was plugging the Desert Rock Festival, which took place on March 10th-11th.
Another thing that happened on 12/12 was the unceremonious cancellation of the Fresno concert. Ironically, it was originally set for 09/27, being the first gig after Inland Invasion. No reason was ever given. Axl had a distraction with the magnitude comparable to the wall of China.
On 15/12, Axl published his letter, announcing a release date which, in retrospect, looks like an amusing compromise between the suggestions of himself and Merck (in January, The New Guns would post of a Moscow date initially set for 02/24/07, which could've very well been a replacement for Dubai - the timelines match). In order to save face, he gives out a release date. He cancels the remaining dates, since it would be a bit embarrassing to come back to finish the big comeback tour after Christmas without a record. He calls the management disrespectful, saying that there were "unnecessary and avoidable complications on our tour having to do with the tour routing, scheduling and album and video plans that wreaked havoc on all involved".
It's hard to say how much truth there is in this entire summary, but I do agree with Axl that there were complications, both unnecessary and avoidable.
- Mikkamakka
- Rep: 217
Re: 2006 Tour Retrospective - Resurrected
Good summary with very likely specultaings. My only problem is that as it seems the mixing was nowhere near to be done in 2006 despite Baz's 'Axl played us the whole album' comment. We all know that Axl played 'the whole album' in strip bars in the early 2000s. Alright, Axl had his 2 or 3 day work left, but it cannot mean more than working on 2 or 3 songs. The others should have been done with 99% completed mixing. 
But as is seems they weren't or Axl changed his crazy mind again and started to rework 'finished' songs (like Bumble adding sleaze guitars etc.) so they had to redo the mixing.
Re: 2006 Tour Retrospective - Resurrected
Alright, Axl had his 2 or 3 day work left, but it cannot mean more than working on 2 or 3 songs. The others should have been done with 99% completed mixing.
That's exactly the one thing I can't seem to wrap head around. If they were confident that the record could be finished with 2-3 days of studio work by Axl, it translates as having 2-3 songs with unfinished vocals. Record them, mix the remaining songs with the new vocals, release the album. The work could've been completed in a relatively small amount of time as the majority of the album should've been mixed by then.
What we got was Axl indeed recording vocals in January, and entering the mixing stage in February. Ron did indeed add in guitar tracks in Jan, which definetly made the mixing process longer than what was planned, as they had to open up otherwise (presumably) finished tracks and figure some things out all over again. However, I'm pretty confident that even in this situation, the album may have been completed in time for the summer tour.
However, before any album can be released, it requires two-three months with the label, which sets up the promotion, manufacturing et al. This process doesn't commence before Universal and Axl have an agreement. Axl might've very well postponed further talks with the label (as Merck was no longer keeping an eye on things) until he was absolutely done with the album. Touring to pay to bills and keep the band alive throughout the summer, in varying degrees of talks with Uni from August onwards. Possible? Perhaps, but even in the best case scenario, we're still some three months away from an album release.
No announcement in March will likely push the release into next fall, the earliest. Wonderful.
Re: 2006 Tour Retrospective - Resurrected
No matter how much I believe in this band or this project, this type of thing has me thinking the worst at this point. Taking for granted that the label has what Guns N' Roses feels is a finished album, I believe the only thing holding it up is the fact that they believe what they have isn't good enough to sell.
I've been saying this for ages. The leaked songs aren't very good for the most part. They have flashes, but they are way too busy to ever be taken seriously. This is a world of short attention span theatre - nobody wants an 8 minute TWAT no matter how much I happen to like that song. Lets look at this realisticly: completely new band from the one that had success, several members coming and going for years, songs with way too much going on, key contributors no longer in the band, 15 years of building expectations (whether fair or not), off and on moderately successful tours (at best), no management team, constant shots being taken at the fans by Axl's representatives, Axl only making the news for biting people or canceling shows, music industry falling apart, etc. Add all of this up and it doesn't spell a successful future. I don't think a Guns N' Roses with Axl and Slash could survive all of this - there's little chance an Axl only band can.
Re: 2006 Tour Retrospective - Resurrected
It's pretty clear that Better was/is supposed to be the first single and half of America's already heard it due to the poor was 2006 was handled. There's no way it's gonna have the same impact it would've if it were a fresh, new thing no one had ever heard.
Instead of radio stations being like "HERE IT IS! BRAND NEW GUNS N' ROSES!!! AND IT ROCKS! THIS WAS WORTH THE WAIT FOLKS! IT'S CALLED 'BETTER' AND WE CANNOT WAIT TO HEAR THE REST OF THE ALBUM WHICH COMES OUT XX/XX/XXXX!!" they say "So... we can play this now. We had it a few years back, but ya know how Axl is. The lawyers came down on us and it's been sitting here. Well... that's ironed out and we can play it now. So here it is... Axl and his new Guns N' Roses. Hopefully the album actually comes out on xx/xx/xxxx.... but who knows".
Yeah, the way radio stations were forced to stop playing the track and that whole Harley/Better fiasco literally killed any potential that song had.
- Gunslinger
- Rep: 88
Re: 2006 Tour Retrospective - Resurrected
Great post sic. Reading it really points out two things very clearly. One is they dropped the ball not releasing the album (if indeed one actually exists) in 2006. After screwing up a optimum time to release the album in 2002 it was an impressive feat to create this much buzz four years later and it will likely never happen again.
Second, it appears every effort has been made to delay this album over and over again. The most probable reason for a scenario like this would be if the album wasn't finished, the artist involved felt the album wasn't good enough or (worse yet) the record company didn't feel the material to be good enough.
"Legitimate" delays can happen of course but the only reasonable thing to do in that case would be for Axl to speak up. He has a great deal at stake here and it makes no sense to simply be silent. I have a hard time believing the idea that its just a matter of wanting to promote the album the correct way. What promotion could anyone do that wasn't already acheived perfectly back in 2006?
- Boston George
- Rep: 1
Re: 2006 Tour Retrospective - Resurrected
My fear is that we've heard the "best of the best" and there's nothing else to sell the album on.
Yeah, I definitely agree with you there. I know we've heard rumors that these aren't his "big guns" but what do we really expect him to say ? "If you guys aren't digging these songs, you'll definitely be disappointed by the rest." 
It's pretty clear that Better was/is supposed to be the first single and half of America's already heard it due to the poor was 2006 was handled. There's no way it's gonna have the same impact it would've if it were a fresh, new thing no one had ever heard.
Again, I agree. "Better" isn't a bad song, but it's already run it's course, imo. I mean, if we were to hear "Better" on the radio in 2009, 2010, or even now for that matter, how disappointing would that be? I don't care if he does add an extra layer of synth or an additional versus. It is what it is, and that's old news already.
