Here Today... Gone To Hell!

2006 has been a great journey for Guns N' Roses so I decided to write this recap. Enjoy.  :)

"Guns N' Roses: A look back at 2006"
By: Eric Fishbein

If you trace back one year from today, you would find nothing but empty Guns N' Roses forums, an official site not updated for years, and not a sign of what was about to hit us. The words Chinese Democracy were still in the back of the minds of every single Guns N' Roses fan, and we hoped, that just maybe 2006 would be a lucky year. As I write this, on December 20th, 2006, the last day of the U.S Tour, I look back at what this year has given us in the world of Guns N' Roses.

Back in January, Guns N' Roses were gearing up for what was sure to be an intense year. Axl was being sighted and photographed for the first time in 4 years, first at the Korn tour announcement party and he even appeared in Rolling Stone when he mentioned 3 of his favorite tracks on the album, "Better, There Was A Time, and The Blues". Mid-February is where the excitment began. 4 studio demo's from what was said to be for Chinese Democracy leaked onto the internet. The songs were coincidentally, Better and There Was a Time, as well as I.R.S and Catcher In The Rye, a song which featured Brian May. The fans were overwhelmed and overly-excited at how great these tracks sounded, and now had hope that Chinese Democracy was getting closer, and that it was going to live up to it's fame. Shortly after, GN'R announced that will be be touring Europe.

Now, I'll fast forward to May 12th, 2006. A week before, we had a lengthy radio interview with Axl on Eddie Trunk's program where Axl told us just what we wanted to hear, "The album will be out in fall, late fall." He also mentioned that the current line-up has a new addition but was going to keep it a surprise. The week leading up to the 12th was complete mayhem, filled with rumors of the new guitaris and alot of anxious yet scared fans. There was no way we could know what to expect. That night will be a milestone for Guns N' Roses. I feel it was the first time Guns N' Roses felt like a band in over 13 years.
May 12th, 14th, 15th, and 17th gave us a complete mindblowing week. Guns N' Roses played 4 shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City accompanied by new guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. Everybody worried that Axl would sound like the helium-bound, squeky voiced guy that he sounded like in 2002, but we were in for a shock. His rasp was back, black leather jacket on, and he sounded and looked like the badass mother fucker that we all know and love, Axl Rose. The biggest surprise of the year came on May 17th, when Axl invited ex-member, Izzy Stradlin on stage to guest on tracks Think About You, Patience, Nightrain, and Paradise City. It was a moment that will never be forgotten in the history of Guns N' Roses.

The 4 night stint at Hammerstein Ballroom was over, and the Guns N' Roses fans could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The event that occured on May 18th was not only bizzare, and entertaining, but it deffinetly helped promote that GN'R are back. Guns N' Roses were set to perform a surprise acoustic gig at a club in New York for Rossario Dawson's birthday party. Axl moved Tommy Hilfiger's girlfriends drink so that it wouldn't get knocked over, and Tommy decided to push Axl and start a scuffle. Axl was heated but played it cool, and Tommy was kicked out of the club, and then they performed an awesome acoustic set. This was all over the media and deffinetly showed the public that Axl and Guns N' Roses are back and this is something the media still make reference's to today.

The new guitarist, Bumblefoot deffinetly became a quick fan favorite, showing us his savage skills on guitar, and his dedication to his fan-base by answering all of his email's personally. Axl was also different in the sense that he seemed much more mellow. He doesn't get upset or rant nearly as much, and is always cheerful on stage. Lead guitarist, Robin Finck's appearance has also changed since the last incarnation of GN'R and his style is now, in plain terms, a hippee. So anyway, GN'R flew across the pond to start their European Tour, which the first date was in Madrid, Spain.

The next step for GN'R was to play the famous Rock In Rio Festival in Libson, Portugal. They rocked it hard as thousands of us internet fans sat with our faces to our computer monitors, watching the show live via webcast in awe at how fucking awesome Guns N' Roses is. The tour continued very smoothly, with dates selling out, playing huge festivals, and making new fans every step of the way. They have added new songs Better and I.R.S to the setlist and new songs, The Blues, Chinese Democracy, and Madagascar which were played on the 2002 tour are still on the setlist, and tweaked to sound even better than they did before. There Was A Time, a complex song was played only twice. Izzy started showing up as a guest to play a few of the classics, which was a great treat to the fans! All was well on the GN'R night train, until they reached Sweden.

Axl was approached by a security guard in a hotel lobby after a drunken night out, and was told to keep it down. One thing led to another and Axl was being thrown to the ground by the security guard which he responsed by biting the guards leg. He was put in jail for the night, and all of us fans freaked out. We feared the worst, and we knew what could have happened had he been kept in jail and had to cancel shows. Luckily, he was out with only a fine and once again, we could breathe some fresh air.

The European tour ended with a 2-nighter at Wembley Stadium, and another surprise acoustic gig. 2 songs left in the set for the last night, Axl was sick and couldnt go on, but long-time friend, Sebastian Bach saved the day and finished off Nightrain and Paradise City. It was an extremely succesful tour, one of the biggest of 2006, and Guns N' Roses and their fans were happy as could be. The only thing we had on our mind now was Chinese Democracy.

GN'R were back in the U.S and preparing for the U.S tour. The fans waited impatiently for any news on Chinese Democracy but there was a dry-spout. The dates were being announced and the American fans were pumped to get a taste of Guns N' Roses! A few warm-up dates took place in Vegas and California, and then they played at Inland Invasion in Californa, which was also broadcast over the net. Now GNR were on break for a month. At this time, they were working on finishing up the album, as we later find out in a statement from Merck. Something very surprising that also happened during this time was the launch of the official website www.gunsnroses.com which was very exciting for us!

The U.S tour kicked off in Florida towards the end of October, and GNR sounded even tighter than in Europe! Some nice changes were the occasional You're Crazy and Down On The Farm added to the setlist, and a more frequent Used To Love Her. The band was sounding great and played a sold out spectacular night at Madison Square Garden. They played dates in Canada, and then back to the westcoast.

The entire year, we were promissed by manager Merck Mercuriadis that Chinese Democracy was to be released in 2006 and Axl mentioned it in interviews as well. Merck even went as far to say "There are 13 Tuesdays left in 2006, and you will see the record on one of them." and "It might just show up in stores one day, unannounced.", which made it seem like this whole thing was a joke to him and as if he was teasing us fans that are drooling over the meer thought of one day having Chinese Democracy. Something happened now that was completely unexpected and nothing short of extradinary.

Axl Rose issued a statement telling us that he is going to set March 6th as a tentative release date for Chinese Democracy and will do whatever it takes to reach this date. There are minor touches that need to be done to the C.D and then they will give it to the record company and gear it for 8 weeks of promotion. Furthermore, he goes on to tell us that Merck is fired (which Beta later explains happened before Thanksgiving) and that the way Merck went promoting the CD was ridiculous and not what they want to do. He also mentions a possible video in the works. They cancelled about 5 of the 8 remaining tour dates so that they can finish the album and have it turned it to the record company in time, and he also apologized for not having it out before 2006, which was the plan when he first agreed to the North American tour. Merck then stated that he thinks Chinese Democracy is one of the all-time greatest records and he also states that the reason Axl couldnt do the finishing touches was because of a lack of musical inspiration, but it seemed like just another 'Merck-ish' B.S story so HTGTH decided to not even have it posted on the site.

Tonight is the last night of the tour, and 3-nighter at Gibson Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and the first 2 nights, Izzy came back to play some tunes, like he did in Europe over the summer. Tonight marks a milestone for GN'R, the magnificent 2006 tour will end, and the door will shut on 2006. We all look forward, anxiously to 2007, as we continue our wait for the one thing we've been craving since we first heard those sacred words; Chinese Democracy. Lucky for us, the album is months away from being in our CD players and the hair on my body stands up just thinking about it. 2006 has been so great, a GNR fan couldn't even ask for more, and for that I am thankful. I would like to thank Axl, Guns N' Roses, Beta, and every GN'R fan for making this experience so great. 2006 is about to end, and though it's the same band, 2007 will be much different and it will be a very interesting journey. What's next on this long endless Guns N' Roses journey? Chinese Democracy.

cool EFISH!! i'll read it later, looks like a good read  8)

  :beer:

I'm still reading it, but damn, it's a great recap and brings back some memories.

Finished, great read, really sums up the last year for me  : ok:

good one EFISH  :peace:

Fucking great, EFISH. Really brings back the memories.  Last year i wasn't sure if i would be seeing GNR at all but now, i've seen them two times.  It really has been an amazing experience, even without an album.

Just one correction, Axl was spotted at Korn's tour announcement party in January. I think that was the first sign of what was to come since he spoke to Rolling Stone and there were new photos...

Also, you could add the announcement of GN'R playing in Europe. The first dates were announced in February.

At least for those of us who are on this side of The Pond, that was exciting news.  :)

It's been an amazing GN'R year, that's for sure.





/jarmo

That's a great read dude. If Ud said to any GN'R fan this time last year that ALL that was gonna happen, they woulda thot U were high!

2006 has been a great fucking year, now let's make 2007 even better!! Roll on CD!! ?:peace:

Ok, I'll go and fix that real quick now, thanks. I just did this off the top of my head, so I knew I may have made a little error. And damn right, this year has been absolutely nuts. Let's hope 2007 brings us more Guns N' Roses! (of course it will ;D)


Edit: Fixed.  :)

Cool... :smoking:

Efish, cool read.

If I'd have to suggest one correction, it would be atleast mentioning Inland Invasion by name. It was the only other webcast this year, and their first big stateside show on the tour.

Thanks man, great writeup!  I love Guns N' Roses more than ever right now!!

You know what would be really cool to see as a "Year end HTGTH perspective" would be a graph of the site's traffic over the last 18 months. ? Doesn't have to include numbers, not trying to invade your privacy, just a line graph showing the trend in traffic and then mapped to key events over the year. ? The prior 6 months provided a baseline.

Done.  ;)

Thanks for the kind words everyone.  :D

Yo Eric,
 ?That was a great synopsis...but there's even more! ?How 'bout the softer side of Uncle Axl that the mainstream media hates to recognize with Axl. ?The visit to the child's cancer clinic in the U.K. along with the appearance at the Waldorf Astoria in NY City to find a cure for Parkinson's. ?An impromptu performance of Live and Let Die at the request of Michael J. Fox is pretty fuckin cool shit!

 ?The list could go on and on. ?Rock on EFISH!

-Axl4Prez2004 ? 8) ?

Great read, one more thing.  Izzy was at all 4 shows wasn't he?  Not just the 17th.. 

Yo Mr. Prez, I guess I could, but I think I'm just gonna stop editing it now. Nothing personal, just to be easier on myself. :D

Only the 17th. :)

Nope.  I was there on the 15th and he was there.

Seriously, that was awesome stuff. ?2006 has been an awesome year. ?In 2002 I loved the band...now looking back, to say that in 2006 the whole band has taken things to a whole new level is an understatement!!! ?I can't wait for 2007. ?:peace:

awesome read Efish!!! brings back so many memories.. : ok:

you know, the only other major thing that stuck in my memory that i didn't see there is Axl's appearance in the MTV Awards.. and all the useless speculation that preceeded it, with everyone thinking they might perform and whatnot haha, i remember all that crystal clear :hihi:

No offense, but you are wrong.
http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=29671.msg575455#msg575455

Ah yeah, I was thinking that because it was something most us fans will remember, but it really had nothing to do with the GNR journey this year, so I didnt include it. It is funny to look back on though, 100 pages of speculation and all he said was "Do You know where the fuck you are? Here's The Killers."  :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

brings back some good mems man.. well done
brought a tear to my eye ?:'( :)

That was a really nice read, Mr Eric ''The Lord Of The Updates'' Fishbein

I loved it.

Thank you. And your forum kicks some serious asses  : ok:

lol - you're right! ?

Very cool. When I will hold the Chinese Democracy in my hands, I will melt

yeah true, it wasn't at al lrelevant in the end, but for us the fans was a big deal haha, but i agree it doesn't belong in the recap

wow, it is surreal to look back and see everything we've been through.. and thanks to the wonders of the internet a lot of us that couldn't be there in all those key moments still have memories to cherish: being here reading through every bits of news and rumors, watching the bootlegs... 2006 was awesome, and, personally, i hope 2007 is even better and gives me the opportunity to see them live :peace:

FISHHH

it was alright... coould have been 'better' ya know...

: ok:

The quotes from Merck about the album release date are incorrect, you shouldn't write it in quotes if its not exactly what he said

just saying is all  :yes:

EFISH, that is well done, my man....It has been a phenomenal year...Let's hope this is only the beginning

I didn't read it...but I can say that it's complete shit.

Kidding of course.  Great summary of one awesome year!

Great read, but I think you should add something about Baz and how Axl and him hooked up again before the shows at Hammerstein, and plus without Sebastian, we wouldnt have got the Trunk interview. And mention how he has performed on My Michelle at virtually every show, and how he has been a positive thing for Guns' fans, supporting Axl and hyping the album and shit. He's been a vital part of this year too.

awesome write-up, dude! :yes:

maybe even mention lars playing OTGM a few nights ago  : ok:

this time last year i thought CD would come out on 2012, when the Mayan calender ends and its supposed to be "the end of the world as we know it"

but within this short year i've attended the first concert of my life (gnr may 12) and have seen guns 3 times and i had SO much fun at the guns show cuz the fans and the band was so badass i got hooked to concerts and ended up seeing all my favs like aerosmith, motley crue, tool and iron maiden as well.. this has definitely been an awesome year for me to be a rock n roll fan

Great review, shows how packed a year it was for GN'R. What happened the last 15 years now? Ach never mind, Chinese Democracy is round the corner and always look to the future!
Great seeing one of my fav bands live (twice), and hopefully many more times in the future.
Just small correction, the played 2 nights at Wembley Arena, not the stadium. Hopefully one day Axl will get back to playing the stadium though!

2006 was a amazing year! Im sure 2007 will be even better! We all have waited a long time for this and it seems surreal that its actually happening! Good writeup EFish thanks to you and the others that helped to keep the board updated during the shows. People like you are who make this board what it really is THE BEST FUCKING PLACE ON THE NET FOR GUNS!  :beer: