Review: Robert O’Connor
Pictures: Aaron O’Connor & TBC
After the glories in Belfast, it seemed all the headlines and controversy was behind Guns N’ Roses and their European tour could finally go off without a hitch, but as the main man says – “You never can tell”. Tonight’s Guns N’ Roses show in Dublin is without a doubt the most controversial show The O2 arena has seen in it’s short life. Forget the booing at Cat Stevens and the awful press surrounding Whitney Houston’s performance in April, this is the show people will remember until another band actually instigates a full blown riot.
Arriving at the O2 purposely late to avoid the tedious stylings of Danko Jones (having seen and been bored silly of them the previous night in Belfast) we find them still on stage but actually managing to get the crowd going. Paying tribute to musical heroes like Johnny Cash, Randy Rhodes, Darrell ‘Dimebag’ Abbott, Ronnie James Dio and a hundred others before declaring Phil Lynott the true King of rock n roll, the band seem to be digging deep to impress the Irish crowd long after their set was due to finish. This is after all a Guns N’ Roses show so a support playing longer than scheduled is no surprise but unlike Belfast the mood doesn’t seem quite to jubilant. The majority of people in attendance, all working with children age, seem to have travelled up from the country for tonight’s show and things are running a lot later than some would like.
With the support finished, it’s time for the stage changeover and hopes beginning to rise. 20 minutes later, roadies still work on the finishing touches as cheers break out randomly around the sold out arena. Another 20 minutes later discussion breaks out about Guns late start habits and some attendees with more than their drink limit start angrily denouncing Axl Rose and his working quirkiness. Another 20 minutes later, things begin to turn ugly. The room fills up with shouting, massive boos and Mexican waves around the seated section. As the house-lights dim, little changes and the band arrive to a mixture of loud booing and cheers and their opening song Chinese Democracy does little to calm the audience. Even the opening chords to Welcome To The Jungle are met with an even mixture of boos and cheers. This is where things begin to go seriously wrong. Three objects are thrown from the crowd directly at Axl within the space of ten seconds,the the music stops and he makes an announcement to the crowd.
“STOP! Right, here’s the Deal. One more bottle – we go home. It’s up to you. We would like to Stay, you want us to stay? We want to stay; we want to have some fun. If you don’t want to have fun all you gotta do is let us know and we got no problem, we’ll go on our way. Start Over.”
With that, the band relaunch into WTTJ but trouble is now firmly in the air and Axl’s warning does little to ease the restless audience. It’s So Easy follows and a pissed off Axl can be seen to give more than a normal effort into the line “I see you standing there, you think you’re so cool. Why don’t you just, Fuck Off!’ flipping off the remaining nay sayers in the crowd. The classic Mr. Brownstone goes off without a hitch but still didn’t relieve the tension in the room and Axl’s unapologetic Sorry from Chinese Democracy lands like a lead balloon. Afterwards, Axl introduces guitarist Richard Fortus for a solo and as he turns around to depart the stage, he is once again struck by an object from the crowd. With that, the singer says goodbye to the crowd, announces the show is over and the band walk off.
This is meet by massive booing from the now pissed off audience. The lights remain dark and people that aren’t roaring insults at the stage are deep in GN’R conversation about the possibilities of the band actually returning to finish the set. As most GN’R fans know, Axl will almost never return to a stage after walking off and right now, Goldenplec cannot think of one time he’s actually done it before.
After a period of waiting, an official spokesperson announces the crew are working through some “technical difficulties”, an announcement that is meet with a burst of laughter from the crowd. Seeing the tension. Denis Desmond from MCD takes the mic to inform the crowd they are trying their best to get Guns N’ Roses back on stage and asks the crowd for calm and not to throw any objects. The House lights are turned on and several thousand people depart assuming the show is well and truly over. Outside, security guards scramble to remove all fencing from around the arena and smoking areas for fear of a mass exit and possible riot while departing fans roar their disapproval at Axl’s treatment of the crowd. Back inside the bars and merchandise stands are closed, fans stand around not knowing what to do, smoking openly in the middle of the floor unable to restrain their anger towards the band, especially their lead singer.
Out of nowhere, the house-lights are turned off, the cameramen take their positions, roadies quickly remove all chucked water bottles, glasses from the stage and the band reappear, jumping around and smiling. Axl begrudgingly reappears and the band sombrely start into Live And Let Die, which is met with a nervous relief and quiet excitement from the remaining crowd members. Axl remains standing at the back of the stage, away from the shower of bottles many in the crowd were sure would arrive if the band actually returned. Fortunately the lesson seems to have worked as no more flying objects appear and the booing seems to stop completely. Axl remains at the back of stage for almost the entire night moving only to walk away occasionally during song breaks and solos and to take his piano for November Rain (not including his solo this time).
Like the majority of the crowd, Axl looks upset, pissed off and in no form to be performing after the fiasco that had occurred earlier in the night but his voice is strong, soaring, deep and shirking. Every note is delivered perfectly and if he was more animated, no-one in the audience would have known there’d ever been a problem. With their singer in auto-pilot, the band double their efforts to win over the crowd playing as tightly as possible while still gearing people up. New guitarist DJ Ashba runs from side to side singling out fans and showing his obvious appreciation for their cheers and support while Ron Thal and Richard work mostly in the centre, urging the audience to forget the trouble and enjoy the night as much as possible
Leaving the stage around 01:00am, the band manage to play almost their entire set and Axl once again speaks to the crowd to wish us a good night. The band forego their usual collective bow and Frank Sinatra’s My Way comes over the PA as the house lights go up. Show over, people leave quietly in a mixed state of disillusionment, disappointment tiredness and for some, a secret thrill that they had attended what will surely become a highly talked about Guns show. The majority of people just leave happy enough just to have seen the band play their full set. Now, to find a taxi.