Guns N’ Roses Make No Apologies before Making Excuses
If you’re planning on attending a Guns N’ Roses concert any time soon, you better be prepared to sit around and wait for the rock group to show up, right? That’s the mentality fans have taken lately with GNR, as ever since Axl’s comeback, he’s been notorious for showing up late — very late — to his shows. But what if he didn’t take the stage until almost 3 a.m.? Would that be reason to get a bit more frustrated than one normally would with the rocker’s usual tardiness? Fans in Rio think so, as that’s how long the band made fans their wait recently.
The Rio de Janeiro, Brazil concert took place on October 2, and Guns N’ Roses didn’t even show up onto the stage until 2:40 a.m. This left fans infuriated, as most undoubtedly thought they’d be home well before then. The band at first appeared unapologetic, as they usually do when there’s a backlash for them repeatedly appearing late. They took to their Facebook page on October 7 to pretty much yell at fans for not being ‘true rockers’ and that fans shouldn’t be thinking about what they’re doing the next day (meaningless things, according to the band, such as work and going to school.) In that Facebook statement, the band also suggested that their fans go watch sitcoms or ‘hit a cinema somewhere’ if they want to watch 8:00 shows.
Doesn’t sound too apologetic or sympathetic towards the fans, does it? Perhaps someone told the band however, that the Facebook statement wasn’t great for PR, as they released a second statement on October 11. This one was a bit gentler, but the band still did not hold themselves accountable.
Instead, they blamed the opening act, System of a Down, of having a too-lengthy performance and an ‘extensive stage production’ that took a very long time to take down. They also took the Milli Vanilli route, blaming it on the rain and saying that their sound equipment suffered water damage. According to that later statement, when the band took the stage (just as soon as they could,) they played for two and a half hours in the pouring rain. Something that apparently, fans should just be grateful for. Never mind the fact that they paid to be there and it was the middle of the night.
Categorized in: Concerts