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Re: The last minutes in Philly
Sic, I tend to believe Axl was paid a big advance on the tour (like Geffen did on the next Gnr record), then once things didn't go as planned CC tried to strong arm Axl and ask for some money back. Axl got pissed, said fu, CC said fu back and they cancelled it. You don't just not show up for a sold out show.
Definetly, definetly. MSG was the zenith of the '02 tour. The band was gelling and they'd just began getting great reviews. A sold-out show in Philly with a solid performance would've turned heads, as Axl could've proved the past show wasn't a fluke.
And then there was this:
GUNS '˜N' ROSES TO ATTEMPT WORLD RECORD IN PHILADELPHIA
Guns '˜n' Roses will attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records in Philadelphia, PA, when they become only the second act to play back-to-back shows at the First Union Center (December 6) and trek 758-feet, nine-and-a-half inches across the parking lot to the neighboring First Union Spectrum (December 8). Tickets for the newly added second date go on sale on Saturday, November 16 at 10 a.m. - 11/11/02
More mighty fine publicity to take advantage of. Even after the riot, people were still expecting good things from Axl. MSG had sold out, with Boston, Philly and Chicago all selling over 11,000 tickets well in advance. By the way, how many remember they were lined up to play in Col. Sanders' neighborhood? Not Louisville, but Lexington, anyway. There was a date chalked up for 11/22/02, which is still visible in the early press releases.
I can understand why Axl might've wanted to start his tour in smaller, more out of the way places like Fargo in order to have the band grow their tour legs and ease off the edges, so that they'd peaked in front of the mass audiences. That particular lineup had played only six shows so far, five of them on festivals in very friendly markets. While a good way to warm up, it's still hardly sufficient to make it a routine. I can imagine (and this comes from experience) that when the band arrived to do a show after a long hiatus with new crew personell/band members, there's a whole of technical issues that suddenly become a big deal, a lot of things that need to be ironed out in a live setting. Unless you do a rehearsal in a live venue (like bands such as NIN have done in the past), you'll have to wait until the day of the first show to really work out the bugs in the system.
But MSG stood as proof that Axl's mic problems and similar issues had by then been taken care of to a satisfiable degree. The band finally had everything going for them, with several shows still lined up in East Coast metropolitans. If Axl had gotten depressed over how the tour was going, you'd think he would've done so a whole lot earlier.
This is why CC throwing a wrench into it seems so plausible. And that was a result of poor planning, over-confidence in the AFD lineup (on behalf of the promoters) and quite simply, greed. If Axl truly had a claim in his contract to get over $400k per show, it just goes on to show how ClearChannel was duped (by their own money-hungry attitude, or the snakeoil salesmen Mercuriadis and Goldstein) into signing on to the tour.
Of course Axl's not the innocent one here. At times during the tour he seemed completely off his trolley, willing to do live interviews only if the pre-presented questions would steer away from topics such as Slash, showing up late, ranting on stage against the very former band mates whom he'd little before boasted to have gotten over... And Vancouver was just embarrassing. If the whole band would've been en route and would've been delayed by bad weather, that's one thing. But with the band actually on the venue, celebrating Robin's birthday, one has to wonder whether first show jitters took the better of Axl, making him to postpone his flight to the last possible minute.
That's something Axl still apparently does. I understand he arrived to Helsinki (07/05/06) from London via helicopter, while everyone (incl. me) were already waiting for him in a sold-out arena. So it might've been bad weather combined with just general tardiness that made Vancouver end the way it did.
if axl stayed home cuz he was mad at the promoter...its still not right...all those people were excited to see that gig
Well, that's Axl for you. Face it, the man can be pretty headstrong in such a situation. During the UYI tour, fits like that were unfortunately rather common. Not to mention he's done with Universal numerous times.
Axl's one of those guys who often seem to go on with emotion rather than reason. I've met similar types in the music world, they can be pretty aggravating to work with.
Re: The last minutes in Philly
i was there that night. had the perfect night planned. me, my dad, my bro, my future bro-in-law, and 4 good friends all sitting in the 1st row of the 2nd level, close to the stage in section 224. i even rented a limo so we'd all be together all night with no worries about driving.
my friends had never seen GnR, but had heard me talk about how great their live shows were for years. and this was the night they would finally get a taste.
i knew we were screwed when i got inside, found some other friends that were there, and they told me how long MMM had been on.
seeing the riot from up above was quite a scene. i also saw people breaking off the seats in the 2nd level and throwing them down below (just the cushion seat with the metal/binoculars underneath). those things must weigh a good 5lbs or so.
