Funny Axl Story

[prairie]

So I'm playing cards at the Hard Rock in Vegas Saturday night, waiting to go see Them Crooked Vultures. Gersh (Dave Grohls Drum Tech) winds up playing at our table. Now I'm not even thinking about GNR at this point, I ask him what time he expects the band to be on. He replies, they will be on at 9:00, they won't be pulling an "Axl Rose". I laughed and told him I'd seen two GNR shows this year, and both of them started on time. He became quite interested and asked how the shows were, I raved about how good they were, and how happy Axl looked. Gersh goes on to tell me he was actually the drum tech for Brain at the GNR Joint gig. He tells me he was set up behind the Brain, Oh My God is being played, when he see's Axl run behind Brain, grab the laptop that controls the teleprompter, and smashes it on the floor. Meantime the dude working the laptop was scambeling to save the hard drive. Apperently the lyrics to Oh My God weren't showing up on the teleprompter.


prairieboy,

[axlrosegnr]

Haha, I was at that show and Oh My God was like the 4th or 5th song or something and i remember Axl throwing down his mic and running off stage. That's awesome, lol.

[willow]

i always wondered why he was so upset. During that you could see Axl and Robin behind the drums. It looked like they were trying to calm each other down. Robin had been acting funny tell then too. He actually looked sick to his stomach the first few songs.

[prairie]

Do you guys remember if that happened at the first or second show.  Because as near as I can tell, the second show was the last time "Oh My God" was played live, coincedence? lol

prairieboy,

[Jdog0830]

Thats crazy!!!
And I never knew Axl needed a teleprompter but you learn something new every day!





Joe

[jarmo]

And I never knew Axl needed a teleprompter but you learn something new every day!

If he needed it, the would stand and read the lyrics line by line...

That's not the case. But I guess it's a nice back up.

It's been like that since the 1990s... But people make a big deal out of it even today.


I'm surprised you never knew this.



/jarmo

[CheapJon]

I'm surprised you never knew this.



/jarmo

well it is jdog, he has been hanging with cocaine and hookers since he was 15

[willow]

Do you guys remember if that happened at the first or second show.  Because as near as I can tell, the second show was the last time "Oh My God" was played live, coincedence? lol

prairieboy,

It was the first night. and a lot of artist use them. It isn't really to remember the words but to remember where they are in the song. they Put so much into performing they get distracted.

[AXL DEMOCRACY]

So I'm playing cards at the Hard Rock in Vegas Saturday night, waiting to go see Them Crooked Vultures. Gersh (Dave Grohls Drum Tech) winds up playing at our table. Now I'm not even thinking about GNR at this point, I ask him what time he expects the band to be on. He replies, they will be on at 9:00, they won't be pulling an "Axl Rose". I laughed and told him I'd seen two GNR shows this year, and both of them started on time. He became quite interested and asked how the shows were, I raved about how good they were, and how happy Axl looked. Gersh goes on to tell me he was actually the drum tech for Brain at the GNR Joint gig. He tells me he was set up behind the Brain, Oh My God is being played, when he see's Axl run behind Brain, grab the laptop that controls the teleprompter, and smashes it on the floor. Meantime the dude working the laptop was scambeling to save the hard drive. Apperently the lyrics to Oh My God weren't showing up on the teleprompter.


prairieboy,

Great and true story.  It was at the first of two shows at The Joint, December 29, 2001.  I was front row on Robin's side - Axl stomped the shit out of his mic and mic "pack" and then returned to the stage looking for someone to rip a new asshole.  That show as very tension filled.  That was also the scene of Axl's famous rant against Doug (who was standing on the side of the stage!) and the record company.
After the 31st show, Del gave me the first of several sheets to the handwritten lyrics of "Oh My God" that Axl wrote up in his hotel room to have re-put in the computer/teleprompter.

[Voodoochild]

What did Axl say about Doug and the record company?

Do you guys remember if that happened at the first or second show.  Because as near as I can tell, the second show was the last time "Oh My God" was played live, coincedence? lol

prairieboy,

Well, I remember reading here the reviews and people said Oh My God was one of the best performances of the second night.

[AXL DEMOCRACY]

Axl talked about how Doug was messing up a lot regarding the inner workings of G N' R - more "inside" references than anything which made the rant even more alarming in a way.
He also referenced Alan Niven and said "remember him Dougie!?" 

Axl was in a foul mood that night, understandably so with all the audio issues they were having.  He basically stood on the stage the whole night with his arms folded and just going through the motions which I had never seen before then or have since.

That second night at The Joint however was a great show.  Couldn't compare to the 0.1.01.01 show (nothing can or will) but that second night the band was so on and sounded amazing in that venue.  And yes, they finally played "Oh My God" "error" free for the first time!  And it sounded absolutely killer.

[Nytunz]

People who got to se the 2 first shows with GNR after 1999 are the most lucky bastards i know! There is something
really special about just mentioning them! Hope we get to see some footage from the shows !

[sandman]

i was at the Joint show on 12/29/01. i remember Axl being in a foul mood, but it was still an incredible show. he put alot into the performance and the band sounded awesome. i wouldn't say he stood around the whole time. i was veyr close to the front on robin's side and i remember him walking over to our side of the stage several times. he did go on a rant, and i'm sure this is documented somewhere (i may be off here) but i remember him saying something about "...my former friends...." and how they "tried very hard to prevent me from being here tonight."

it was a great rant, and a great show. more than worth the flight out to vegas for 2 days of craziness. 

[ChiDem2010]

his rant about 'former friends' and that they 'tried very hard to prevent me from being here tonight' was from Rio 3 wasnt it?

[PolarBearWitchHead]

i was at that show, it was the show on the 29th.  he didn't even sing more than the first couple lines of oh my god and that was pretty much it, lots of stomping back and forth on the stage

[dash]

any youtube videos of this show?

[One.In.A.Million]

any youtube videos of this show?

No I don't think so.

It is my understanding that the HOB 01.01.01, and the two Joint shows that followed have no video footage at all thats accessible.

About my thoughts on the story, I have to say good on Axl. I don't blame him for being pissed off when you have faulty equipment on an important comeback show. I saw GN'R at the joint in 2006 twice, but I would have loved to have seen them there back then as well. 

[sandman]

his rant about 'former friends' and that they 'tried very hard to prevent me from being here tonight' was from Rio 3 wasnt it?

you might be right. i think i might be mixing up some different rants. i'm almost positive he mentioned something about his former bandmates though because i remember people started booing. i actually remembered people yelling "shut up and sing" and have wondered for the last couple years if he may have heard that and if it is at least part of the reason for that line in "sorry."

[Voodoochild]

Maybe he ranted about that again in the Joint. But that was really fucked up to people to yell at him like that... Disrespectful bastards who didn't even know how lucky they were to be there.

Those gigs were also special because they were the last Paul Tobias show and the last ones with OMG and Silkworms. I wish we had at least an audio bootleg of one of the nights.

People who got to se the 2 first shows with GNR after 1999 are the most lucky bastards i know! There is something
really special about just mentioning them! Hope we get to see some footage from the shows !

The 2 first shows with GNR after 1999 were HOB (with audio bootleg) and RIR3 (with proshot and soundboard recordings).

[Jdog0830]

I'm surprised you never knew this.



/jarmo

well it is jdog, he has been hanging with cocaine and hookers since he was 15

Ah so true I am full of ignorance sorry for a stupid post





Joe