The following is a post published on Rock in Rio's blog. It's a new section that will tell stories from the festival told by the people who were on the inside and saw everything from a perspective that us, the big audience, didn't have the chance to see. The first post is about Axl Rose and the 2001's performance. Sorry for the not-so-great translation! I'm kind of in a hurry here...
MEMORY ? A REMARKABLE NIGHT WITH AXL ROSEIn this section you will go through the Rock In Rio?s time tunnel, remembering remarkable moments from the festival from a different point of view, because the stories here told come directly from the people that makes this event happens for more than 25 years.
And debuting this section is Axl Rose and his come back to the huge shows on Rock in Rio 2001, for the delight of more than 200 thousand people at Cidade do Rock on the night of January 14th. Absent from the stages for seven years then, no one knew what to expect from the Guns N Roses? performance, neither the audience, the producers, nor even Axl himself.
Everything started with the interest from the band itself to come back to play at the stage that, ten years before, had consecreted the band in two historical concerts. This interest quickly became reciprocal and, negociations made and everything checked, there was only the final ?yes? from Axl Rose left to set on the stone his come back in great style. The time was short and the organization needed an urgent answer to close the festival?s line-up, however, before endorse his come back, Axl wanted to consult his ?spiritual guru? to see if his comeback would be successful. Confusions and consultations aside, it all worked out at the end, and on January 12th of 2001 Axl Rose was already in brazilian ground, and the countdown to his show had already began.
Moments before his presentation, two requests tested the organization's competence: the band?s manager asked for the scheme that was already done for Axl?s arrival to be changed, asking for a helipad closer to the stage; besides, the band?s security chef decided to prohibit whatever kind of photography, including from the audience, warning that Axl and the band would only take the stage after all the photographers that were already close to the stage to take their shots were removed.
Providential changes and requests accorded as possible, there was only the waiting before the spectacle. The Rock in Rio were ready to welcome Axl Rose and Guns N? Roses? come back. But were Axl and Guns ready to come back to the musical scene right on Rock in Rio?
A few minutes after the end of the performance, it was possible to answer this question, and in a very positive way. It was a remarkable concert, not just for the memorable performance from the band and it?s frontman, but also because of the connection between the audience and the singer, with a synergy capable to transform the performance into a mutual show between the band and the audience.
Thousands of people got emotional ? specially Axl Rose. So much that, at the end of the concert, he called to the stage the brazilian Elisabeth Lebeis, his personal assistant (that were being ?like a mother? to him), to translate his appreciation towards her and the brazilian public.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVxxWxFo30Y&feature=player_embeddedAnd after saying goodbye to the audience, Axl took a big group of journalists to the hotel he was hosted for a chat. Arriving there, everyone sat by the pool, where Axl made a huge Caipirinha, squeezing the lemons with his own hands in an ice bucket for champagne. The star told about his whole life, career and personal dramas to the presents, in a chat that lasted until the break of dawn. The chat ended with a golden key the night that?s safe into Axl?s memory, the journalists? and all the spectators who had the oportunity to participate of this historical moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcMW31wtwpk&feature=player_embeddedSource:
http://www.rockinrio.com.br/memoria-uma-madrugada-para-se-lembrar/
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