Fellow performers decried Guns n Roses' defiant behavior at the Leeds Festival as "disrespectful" and "boring." Guns n Roses ran over their allotted performance time in 2002, and were told before they even came to the show that, if they ran over again, organizers would pull the plug -- which is exactly what happened. The band continued to play acoustically, with Axl Rose singing through a megaphone. Rose loudly criticized organizers and demanded an apology to the fans. He later reiterated his frustration on Twitter.
Other performers called Axl Rose and Guns n Roses "a joke," and one told them to "grow up," but stunts like this are exactly what today's rock music is lacking. Rose's defiance was not meant to anger, inflame, nor disrespect fellow "artists" (which I use very loosely), it was a message to the organizer, and others, that Guns n Roses is The Talent, and they damn well better be afforded such lofty status because, without them, there would be no show; without the band, there would be no festival, nothing to promote, nothing to manage, nothing to organize.
OTOH, I absolutely see the other side of this debate. Showing up an hour late, then making fans wait half an hour for the band to take the stage is bad form, but in this particular case, I think Axl Rose was making a point more than just "acting-out." I could be wrong -- wouldn't be the first time (though it is rare) -- but that is what I took from the numerous reports I've read on the matter.
Today's rock n roll needs more "fuck you" defiance; more of a point than simply appealing to the masses and making money.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
A rambling melange of pop-culture.
1 comment:
In a completely different show of stupidity, Rose stood-up Dublin fans for a full five hours before taking the stage momentarily, only to complain of "technical difficulties." Several hundred fans left en masse.
When GnR finally started playing, fans pelted the band and stage with objects and booed loudly. Rose threatened to walk off after the second song, making good on his promise only two songs later. An announcer asked the audience to refrain from throwing things at the band and Guns n Roses returned to play until 1am.
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