Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club

[Morgbug]

Thankfully I passed.  I'd like to see the show but I opted to wait and see if I could snag free tickets rather than shelling out.  I'll live if I don't go and see Axl et al. but it's looking like the choice was wiser than originally thought.

[Matt]

And some word today on why the Portland (Maine) show was canceled the other night--from Axl himself!

MESSAGE FROM AXL:

I would like to apologize to all of the fans in Maine for the show not happening last night. It was important for us to play there and it is a shame that what should have been a great night for all of us was not possible due to the actions of two people.

I agree with, and ultimately take responsibility for, the end decision not to jeopardize the safety of the fans, the crews, the bands and myself as a result of the methods of these particularly draconian authorities. We are not trying to get away or get out of anything or pull a fast one by combining ticket sales as has been speculated.

There are reasons that I have not spoken more about Montreal and Philadelphia that have been extremely complicated and are not legally resolved behind the scenes to this day and could have possibly jeopardized the future of Guns N' Roses.

We have chosen to take the public heat for these events in order to have another shot at the future today with a new album.

The professionals around me felt that Portland was a potentially explosive situation that could have had a somewhat similar result based on the behavior of the two aforementioned fire marshals (it's not my first barbeque!) had the fans been given entry to the building and the show started. In respect of these opinions, our fans, the people of Portland, and the bands scheduled to play with us that night, unfortunately the only sensible decision was not to take that chance.

We hope to find another way to play for you in the future. Thanks for even trying to see us. It sincerely is much more than appreciated.

And, since that's characteristically cryptic, here's an "alternate viewpoint," from a Portland newspaper:

Official: Band balked at alcohol ban

Guns N' Roses and state fire marshals disagree on who is to blame for the rock band's decision to call off its show at the Cumberland County Civic Center Monday night.

The band, through a press release issued Tuesday, blamed the decision on a pair of overzealous state fire marshals.

Nelson Collins, supervisor of licensing and inspections at the State Fire Marshal's Office, said he was doing his job when he let band managers know performers wouldn't be allowed to drink alcohol out of bottles on stage.

Collins said Guns N' Roses' management objected.

Guns N' Roses canceled its performance at the civic center at 5:30 p.m. Monday, 2‡ hours before the show was scheduled to begin.

The decision angered fans, many of whom blamed the band's lead singer, Axl Rose, who has called off shows before.

Collins and another fire marshal, Robert Cadigan, "made it impossible for the band to perform their show to the usual high standards that their fans deserve," according to a press release from the band's management agency.

The statement implies the two attempted to subject Guns N' Roses to rules that were not applied to Clay Aiken and Green Day, two acts that have recently performed at the civic center. The management agency did not identify a specific rule it thought was unfair.

Collins said he believed a prior dispute over the band's pyrotechnics show had been settled and the alcohol restrictions were the main issue before the show.

He said Green Day agreed to the alcohol rule and Clay Aiken did not have a pyrotechnics show, so fire marshals weren't needed at his performance.

It is illegal for entertainers to drink alcohol while they work in Maine, Collins said. The fine for violating the rule is $250, he said.

Collins said fire marshals, who would report alcohol violations at a concert, haven't had issues with bands objecting to the law in the past.

He said he tried to convince the band's management during a midafternoon meeting Monday to have the musicians limit their alcohol consumption to backstage. He said the band's managers balked at the idea.

Some of the band's past cancellations -- most notably in Vancouver and Philadelphia -- caused riots. Fans on Free Street Monday were angry, but not violent.

Rose was not in Portland for the discussions between inspectors and the band's managers, Collins said. He travels by plane while on tour and wasn't scheduled to arrive in Portland until Monday night, civic center General Manager Steve Crane said during an interview a little more than an hour after the cancellation.

[name]

What a load of bull****.  I seriously doubt that one single fan was there to see GNR drink alcohol on stage.  If that had gotten dropped from the show, who gives a  ****?  Who would have even noticed???


Axyl basically says in the same breath "I take responsibility for the cancellation" and "we wouldn't budge on the alcohol rule and we knew you'd riot if we cancelled a show over alcohol, so it's not our fault that these two fire marshalls actually read the code."

Dumbasses.  Lots of alternatives:

Do the show, drink offstage if you really need to be drunk to perform, move on.
Do the show, drink tea onstage from a bourbon bottle if you really feel like that's part of your artistic image, and move on.
Do the show, drink offstage, and tell the fans that the ******* firemarshalls won't let you drink onstage so they'll just have to live without that charming part of your usual performance, and move on.
Do the show, drink onstage. pay the ******* $250.00 fine, and move on.

By either Axyl's or the fire marshall's account, there was no reason to cancel.  That venue should sue the piss out GNR for breach of contract.

[BillCable]

Axl was a prima donna being a prima donna.  Nothing new there.

[S_A_Longhorn]

Watch a sober Guns N Roses performance?  Where's the fun in that?  I would ask for a refund if that did happen!

[Matt]

There's some word today about a "mystery shipment" of an album to HMV stores for next week.  The band is "The Far Downs" and the album's title is "Blue Trees And Green Grass."  Apparently nobody's ever heard of this band before, so people are assuming it's actually Chinese Democracy in disguise.  And since we've already been making the comparisons to Star Wars in this thread. . .  Blue Harvest, anyone?

Thirteen Twelve Eleven Ten Nine Eight Seven Six Five Tuesdays left until Christmas!

[S_A_Longhorn]

There's some word today about a "mystery shipment" of an album to HMV stores for next week.  The band is "The Far Downs" and the album's title is "Blue Trees And Green Grass."  Apparently nobody's ever heard of this band before, so people are assuming it's actually Chinese Democracy in disguise. 

I'm still surprised there is no publicity about this.  Where did you read this, MATT?  Perhaps I will be listening to the new album when I am running around on Black Friday??

[Matt]

I'm still surprised there is no publicity about this.  Where did you read this, MATT?

Initially on Wikipedia, and then I went to a couple of the unofficial GN'R boards, which was where it apparently originated.

Perhaps I will be listening to the new album when I am running around on Black Friday??

If you mean Black Friday 2007 or Black Friday 2008, then yes, perhaps.

[S_A_Longhorn]

There's some word today about a "mystery shipment" of an album to HMV stores for next week.  The band is "The Far Downs" and the album's title is "Blue Trees And Green Grass."  Apparently nobody's ever heard of this band before, so people are assuming it's actually Chinese Democracy in disguise.  And since we've already been making the comparisons to Star Wars in this thread. . .  Blue Harvest, anyone?

Anymore info on this?  Tomorrow is the "big" day...

[Matt]

Anymore info on this?  Tomorrow is the "big" day...

Right, and I was kind of saving this so I'd have something else to post tomorrow along with the Tuesday countdown, but what the hell:

Guns N' Roses album pushed to 2007

Axl's label admit not knowing a thing about a November release

Guns N Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is now odds on to his records shops in 2007 after the band's label admitted this week they were none the wiser to a November release schedule.

Axl Rose had recently revealed his intention to get the $15m, ten-year-old project onto the shelves before the end of the year, and a press release for the Chinese Democracy Tour at the beginning of October 2006 also stated that "there are only 13 Tuesdays left between now and the end of the year" - dropping a hint that the album would be released on a Tuesday between October 3rd and December 19th.

However, it looks near impossible that the album will be released in time for Christmas as the band's label, Universal Records, claimed this week that they had yet to received any information regarding a release date. With a likely four to six week turnaround required from GNR's management delivering the masterwork (not to mentioned publicity and promotion) it looks extremely unlikely the set will drop now until February, with January a traditional dead-zone for big new albums.

So you're more than welcome to go out and scour your local record stores for the "secret" Axl Rose Band album tomorrow.  I'll stay here.  Let me know what you find. 

In other news:

A new live DVD is in the pipeline for February.
Guns 'N' Roses - Live In Chicago" will be released on February 5th 2007 (we're sure of that), and was recorded at Chicago's Allstate Arena.

Tracks included on the set are Nightrain, Mr. Brownstone, Live And Let Die, Attitude, Its So Easy, Wild Horses, Patience, Double Talkin Jive, Civil War, Welcome To The Jungle, November Rain, You Could Be Mine, Godfather Theme and Coma.

This is apparently the April 9, 1992 Chicago show, which was just a few days after I saw 'em in OKC and one of the three or four shows where "Coma" was played.  There were several songs played after "Coma," though, so I don't know if the tracklist above is just incomplete, or if we're only getting a partial show.  The tracklist at GNRontour.com says that the pro-shot video (which was stolen and bootlegged years ago) is incomplete.

[Diddly]

So are you going to restart the countdown for Christmas 2007?

[Matt]

So are you going to restart the countdown for Christmas 2007?

I don't think so, unless Axl goes to the media multiple times in 2007 and says, as he did all throughout 2006, that "the album will be out this year."

Thirteen Twelve Eleven Ten Nine Eight Seven Six Five Four Tuesdays left until Christmas!

Maybe I could do a reverse countdown, however. . .

[S_A_Longhorn]

My first real disappointment today......but only for like a second or two. 

[Matt]

Thirteen Twelve Eleven Ten Nine Eight Seven Six Five Four Three Tuesdays left until Christmas!

[Matt]

Thirteen Twelve Eleven Ten Nine Eight Seven Six Five Four Three Two Tuesdays left until Christmas!

Sorry, Virginia, there is no Axl Claus.  But here's some news on an album that will actually see the light of day sometime next year:

Velvet Revolver Rediscovers Inspiration On New Album

December 01, 2006, 4:50 PM ET
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Hard rock combo Velvet Revolver is eyeing a mid- to late-spring release for its second RCA album. The group is recording in Los Angeles with producer Brendan O'Brien, who stepped in for the band's original choice, Rick Rubin, after that arrangement "did not work out," frontman Scott Weiland tells Billboard.com.

"All of our hopes have even been elevated over the past three weeks," he says. "We were really excited about six months ago, when we first began writing. Then we really kind of flat-lined for a while. We didn't know which way we were going. There was a definite loss of inspiration for a bit there. It has a lot to do with chemistry. Once Brendan came on board, I guess it was kind of like a shot in the arm. It was a new energy."

"We thought we'd just kind of give it a shot and see if Brendan was available, and just by chance, the artist he was supposed to be working with didn't pan out," Weiland offers. "So he was available during the exact time we really needed him. He flew out within a week and it has been amazing. [Bassist] Duff [McKagan] came up to me and said, 'You know, I didn't know what it was like to really have a producer before.'"

And though Weiland told Billboard.com last year he intended to weave an overall concept throughout the album, he has since "thrown that idea out the window. In my opinion, there are so many schlock concept albums that have come out in the past year," he says, without naming names. "The ground is way too over-fertile with concept records. I prefer to write a lean and rather vicious rock'n'roll record. I think that would be a better contribution to rock'n'roll at this moment."

And from Matt Sorum's blog:

Hey Friends,

 Looks like The Velvet Revolver are finally going to start recording the album.
 We have 18 songs ready
And we are all very excited.
Producer Brendan O'Brien
 Has been in Preproduction with us at Scotts Lavish studios for the last three weeks.
We have been working 6 days a week, and let me tell you that man has wiped us into shape.
This will be a killer album I promise you.
 We are planning to record
Right up to Christmas and then finish up just after the New Year.
 Making plans for touring
In the spring.
 I know it has takin a little while but Its going ROCK.

 Can't wait to get back out on the road with all you great Fans.

See ya soon,

Matt

And from the official VR MySpace blog:

We've been writing songs for a few months now, and we've been in pre-production with the great Brendan O'Brien hashing out the tunes for the past few weeks. We'll be going into the recording studio next Monday the 11th to start recording the new album, with Brendan producing.

As you may know, Brendan has done a lot of amazing records, including ALL of the STP albums, so expect nothing short of fantabulous.

The new songs are sweet and we can't wait for ya'll to hear 'em.