TheSundanceKid wrote:

Clearly, it has to do with what I would guess: anxiety, stage fright, psyching  oneself up to perform & getting into that zone / mind frame.

Him being an anxious sod before showtime has always played a part. When I saw them in '06, he was still en route from London (another country!) during the warmup band. Good show, tho, but that tardiness has also gotten gigs canceled. There are also the numerous instances, mostly during the UYI tour, wherein he excused himself from showing up on time in order to watch the fireworks, have a go at the casino, etc. Meanwhile, the rest of the band were getting wasted and the audiences riled up.

It's always been a trade-off between overcoming actual pre-show issues and his handlers allowing petulant behaviour. Del James' enabling article is prolly the most embarrassing example in recent memory.

How hard is it to allocate the necessary prep time for a show in advance and do what's needed to perform - and take the stage within a reasonable timeframe? Guns is always an Axl show in that, and the mental issues have unfortunately included selfishness. In the past, he's needed to be the main attraction and wanted to be waited on.

To his credit, he's been improving in that sense in the recent years. That's another reason why AC/DC is good news - Angus would kick him to the curb for the diva behaviour he's demonstrated in Guns over the decades.