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Re: Dublin, Ireland - September 1, 2010 (The O2)
I left after Sorry and the band walkout. People throwing bottles is not cool, at all. You know what else isn't cool?
1) Keeping the audience waiting until 10:30pm in a venue with an 11:30pm license, just days after the show was stopped at Reading because they started late and broke the curfew. It's understandable that the audience who paid €80 a ticket would be worried that the same thing would happen again.
2) On which subject… every other band on the face of the planet is able to come out and play in a timely fashion. Why not GN'R? Half of the gigs on this tour have started late, and Axl's offered a Completely Reasonable Explanation in each case; that's a lot of Completely Reasonable Explanations, though. Coupled with Axl's own admission that he's a night owl and an alternative explanation does seem to offer itself. There is clearly a problem somewhere, a failure in the chain of command between management, the venues/promoters and the band. This needs to be fixed. NOW.
3) I appreciate that Axl hasn't had to hold down a 9-to-5 job since, what, 1985? While we'd love to stick it to the Man like rockstars, the sad fact of the matter that he just doesn't seem to have grasped is that if we turn up late to work in the morning because of his gig overrunning, WE GET FIRED.
3) Those people chucking bottles? They were at the front. While I don't condone their actions, these are the people who paid €80 a ticket, hiked the mile out of town to the venue, stood in line for hours to get a place at the front, stood there for hours with only the O2's shite overpriced beer to drink and then faced the very real prospect that the show might have been cut short by the venue's license. Yeah, I can see why they might be aggrieved, even if their way of expressing it wasn't on. But they weren't the only angry people in the crowd; from where I was standing the chorus of boos was deafening. Which leads neatly on to…
4) Completely misjudging the mood of the crowd. When DJ was teasing out the opening notes of WTTJ, the crowd were booing. And he carried on trying to milk it like a mug. Ya know what? People who've been waiting for that long just want the band to get on with it. Oh, and when the crowd was angry, rather than try to harness that energy with something like YCBM or Shackler's, they… played Sorry. A slow song, whose lyrics could very easily be interpreted as an almighty Fuck You to the paying audience.
5) Speaking of which… Sending a roadie out to dust Dizzy's piano while the crowd's waiting will not win you any friends among the crowd.
For my own part, I bought a ticket on Seatwave for £130, then paid to travel to Ireland, spending about a third of my monthly wages after paying my rent. Oh, and then struggled out of bed to go to the gig after having the flu for two days. It's fair to say I did everything a fan could possibly do to support this band, and I've been royally shafted.
fantastic post. absolutely fucked up. there are genuine fans who get shit on 'cause of 3 or 4 idiots throwin shit & head honcho idiot axl.
i was surprised at how many people were heading to work the next morning - at both shows. would axl never ever try & put himself in the punter's shoes? his problems n ego are just that much bigger than everyone elses.. it must be such a drag trying to get 13,000 people off who want to see you, somehow the guy manages to fuck that up. regularly.
Re: Dublin, Ireland - September 1, 2010 (The O2)
I left after Sorry and the band walkout. People throwing bottles is not cool, at all. You know what else isn't cool?
1) Keeping the audience waiting until 10:30pm in a venue with an 11:30pm license, just days after the show was stopped at Reading because they started late and broke the curfew. It's understandable that the audience who paid €80 a ticket would be worried that the same thing would happen again.
2) On which subject… every other band on the face of the planet is able to come out and play in a timely fashion. Why not GN'R? Half of the gigs on this tour have started late, and Axl's offered a Completely Reasonable Explanation in each case; that's a lot of Completely Reasonable Explanations, though. Coupled with Axl's own admission that he's a night owl and an alternative explanation does seem to offer itself. There is clearly a problem somewhere, a failure in the chain of command between management, the venues/promoters and the band. This needs to be fixed. NOW.
3) I appreciate that Axl hasn't had to hold down a 9-to-5 job since, what, 1985? While we'd love to stick it to the Man like rockstars, the sad fact of the matter that he just doesn't seem to have grasped is that if we turn up late to work in the morning because of his gig overrunning, WE GET FIRED.
3) Those people chucking bottles? They were at the front. While I don't condone their actions, these are the people who paid €80 a ticket, hiked the mile out of town to the venue, stood in line for hours to get a place at the front, stood there for hours with only the O2's shite overpriced beer to drink and then faced the very real prospect that the show might have been cut short by the venue's license. Yeah, I can see why they might be aggrieved, even if their way of expressing it wasn't on. But they weren't the only angry people in the crowd; from where I was standing the chorus of boos was deafening. Which leads neatly on to…
4) Completely misjudging the mood of the crowd. When DJ was teasing out the opening notes of WTTJ, the crowd were booing. And he carried on trying to milk it like a mug. Ya know what? People who've been waiting for that long just want the band to get on with it. Oh, and when the crowd was angry, rather than try to harness that energy with something like YCBM or Shackler's, they… played Sorry. A slow song, whose lyrics could very easily be interpreted as an almighty Fuck You to the paying audience.
5) Speaking of which… Sending a roadie out to dust Dizzy's piano while the crowd's waiting will not win you any friends among the crowd.
For my own part, I bought a ticket on Seatwave for £130, then paid to travel to Ireland, spending about a third of my monthly wages after paying my rent. Oh, and then struggled out of bed to go to the gig after having the flu for two days. It's fair to say I did everything a fan could possibly do to support this band, and I've been royally shafted.
Sorry you had such a shitty night. But you should be used to it, after all this is GNR 
Re: Dublin, Ireland - September 1, 2010 (The O2)
What a terrible couple of weeks, I cant believe there are people out there who think this is all great, its rock n roll and theres no such thing as bad publicity.
I'm reading on htgth people saying "oh its takes time to set up GnRs equipment after the support band, an hour and a half is fair enough". What? Everything is set up during the daytime, its just a case of dismantling the supoort bands equipment. After reading umpteen reports from this tour I believe the the stage crew are sometimes ordered to take their time and try to appear busy cause Axl simply doesnt want to go on yet.
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Dublin, Ireland - September 1, 2010 (The O2)
Nah, the support crew genuinely have a lot of stuff to do, checking and rechecking the kit. And I think Axl might have actually hurried onstage; there was a guy trying to fix his monitor onstage during CD. But, y'know, I'm not sure that the guitarists *need* seven guitars each; one of DJ's Les Pauls sounds much like another. And they could've had roadies out sorting Dizzy, Pitman and Frank's kit out during the support set if they were running late; if they feel it's disrespectful to the support act, then drop a curtain and do the setup behind it. And don't waste time DUSTING DIZZY'S FUCKING PIANO.
Re: Dublin, Ireland - September 1, 2010 (The O2)
Nah, the support crew genuinely have a lot of stuff to do, checking and rechecking the kit. And I think Axl might have actually hurried onstage; there was a guy trying to fix his monitor onstage during CD.
Sounds like someone just woke up.
"Alright boys, what'd I miss.. yawn"
- estrangedpaul
- Rep: 5
Re: Dublin, Ireland - September 1, 2010 (The O2)
Yeah I think Axl made it to the venue just before going on stage. Danko Jones dragged out his set to an hour and half. Clearly the promoters asked him to because Axl wasn't gonna make it any time soon. He started telling loads of funny stories - he must not have had many songs left. According to MCD, Axl was due to go on 45 minutes before he actually went on. His earpiece still wasn't on properly when he went on stage.
The rest of the guys were awesome, but I'm sick of Axl. Surely after a few songs, when people got back into it and no more bottles were being thrown; he could have started enjoying himself. Instead he just stood there looking bored the whole gig in order to make his point to the crowd who paid him to be there.
A lot of Irish people are pissed off and looking for their money back:
- estrangedpaul
- Rep: 5
Re: Dublin, Ireland - September 1, 2010 (The O2)
A lot of people are saying that if Axl just apologised for being late and promised a full show, everyone would have been fine and got on with it. The audience felt disrespected and humiliated by Axl.
