preface: Drive from Zurich to Nickelsdorf (10hrs), camping for in the baking heat for 4 days (thanks for the advice to drink enough, jarmo
), 2 cold showers (no hot ones available), a Metallica/Motorhead night, and an afternoon with Die Krupps, Apocalyptica, Oomph! and the Bloodhound Gang. Ok, Tool played right before Gn'R, but I didn't see half of their show cause I was busy beating up their fans on my way to front row.
In the afternoon I was watching other shows from the back, and I saw a guy with a Gn'R VIP badge, so I walked up to him and talked for a while. His name was Kevin, and he's the bus driver for Sebastian's band. We chatted for quite a while, and here's some of the stuff that I remember from what he told me:
- Sebastian sleeps in a Hotel every night, while his band sleeps on the bus
- at some point, the hot water tank under the bus broke, and all their luggage and merchandise was wet. So in the backstage area you'd see drying tshirts everywhere (Supposedly that was when they were playing in Berlin)
- it took Sebastian 2 hours to check into the Hotel in Vienna, cause he didn't like the first 2 rooms they showed him
- Axl is a recluse, even in the backstage area, where it would be safe, and always has his bodyguard with him even there. He has 5 personal assistants.
- Axl and Sebastian hang out a lot together, they go clubbing (but only in the VIP area of the clubs). In Budapest (or Prague? Don't remember) they wanted to go clubbing at 4 in the morning and then stayed for 2 hours
- Axl doesn't seem to be hanging out with the rest of the band
--> That's only what the guy told me, I don't know if it's true, I didn't make it up, and please
don't start discussing that stuff ("i think axl should blahblahblah, don't you think Sebastian and Axl blahblah"). Simply take it for what it is.
During the Tool set, I got to 2nd row, and 1st row only during the show when the Tool fans left. I also was recognized by someone from this board (Kathrin?), and I still have your pen - sorry you were gone after the show, so I couldn't give it back
Gn'R hit the stage on time, set list was nothing unusual (see updates thread in the main Gn'R section). My cell phone hadn't liked the heat, half of the keys didn't work anymore - so you all should give
kudos to jarmo for figuring out what I was texting to him (eg. sdge mgr = stage manager). I was pretty fucking busy with the texting and taking pics, but the show rocked!
Axl was in great mood, laughed a lot, but talked very few. Not even the usual jokes.
As mentioned in the updates thread, after LALD Axl came out with some dude & walked to the front of the stage where he put his arm round said dude's shoulders and leaned onto him. He said that this was Tom Mayhue, their stage manager, and that it was his birthday. Ppl started singing Happy Birthday at that sentence, but Axl started it over and then the dude left again.
Some time during the show, the security ppl jumped into the crowd and dragged out a guy with a videocam (the band didn't seem to take notice). Note: Bootlegging from the pit is not a good idea.
When Sebastian came on stage Axl told the band not to start the song when he got on stage, cause they "had to do something else first". Then he said that since it was past midnight, it now was somebody else's birthday now (Dizzy), and that someone should give the dude a cupcake. But since there were no cupcakes, Sebastian suggested somebody give him a cheeseburger. A roadie came out and gave Dizzy a beer. Then the crowd sang another Happy Birthday for Dizzy.
After My Michelle, Axl asked if we were ready for some more friends from the old days "if he's still here", and then Izzy came out. A lot of people seemed to be very happy that he was there, and there even was an Izzy-Izzy chant for a while. He didn't move much, but seemed to be happy. The band seemed to be ok with him, Tommy, Ron, and Robin would walk over to him n' stuff.
Was a great show - the friend that I'd dragged to the festival (she's more into the Placebo/Starsailor kind of sound) is now a new Gn'R fan
, she came out two thumbs up and grinning all over her face.
After the show, Kevin the busdriver caught up with me and we had a drink or two while he was waiting to pick up the band to take them to the airport. He's a cool dude, and I hope he reads this and I want to say Hi!
aftermath: three hours of sleep in the car, 10 hours drive back, washing the car and giving it back to my brother (thanks to him for letting me have his baby for the weekend!!).
I took some
pics. You can do with them whatever you please as long as you don't use them for some sort of thing you're gonna sell or otherwise make money with (if you copy them, a note about the copyright belonging to me would be nice, still).
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