Entertainment Weekly GNR VMA 2002 story

[WAR41]

In the Sept 7 issue of Entertainment Weekly the wildest VMA moments are ranked.  Axl at the 2002 VMA's came in at #12.  Here is a story that I don't think any of us have heard before:

Axl Rose Goes Awol

"Jimmy Fallon was the host, and we weren't going to tell anybody about [Guns N' Roses' surprise performance] - he just teased it.  We're in the final commercial break, and Axl's bodyguard Earl says that Axl went to take a walk because he was nervous.  I was like, 'That's fine, but he couldn't take the walk at 9 or 10? It's 11 frickin' o'clock!' And at about 11:07p.m., we hear from Earl that Axl's back in the building - and sure enough, they closed the show."

[One.In.A.Million]

Love this story, makes me smile, must have been unbelievable to have been there. The VMA 2002 performance just rocks, always loved it and always will. Jimmy Fallon did an awesome job of am ping Guns up, and thought he was the perfect host to introduce GN'R. 

[LIGuns]

/I would watch just about every awards show back than hoping for Axl's return..When that goof came on w/ the GN'R Civil War t-shirt n' stated have some Patience I was sooo psyched...Wasn't the best performance, but it was still great..From B-Head to Robins Industrial look that band surely lacked a stylistic identity...Would love the current GN'R to show up n' show the masses how it's done!! Perhaps another medley: CD, SCOM,Sorry,WTTJ/PC!! Or just CD!!

[willow]

Jimmy is the greatest! I so loved the way he played that out. and as for Axl, hell everyone gets nervous sometimes. lol

[LongGoneDay]

Fallon did a good job with that introduction. I remember being so excited to finally see GN'R back on stage, then so disappointed by the awful performance.
I think I turned it off before Paradise finished. Luckily they got their act together, and more than made up for it when I saw them in NYC four years later.

[GnR-NOW]

The VMA show really wasn't that bad ....

[Halo69]

The surprise thing was awesome... the performance was embarrassing. Axl wasn't in shape

[One.In.A.Million]

I can never get why some people hated the performance, it rocked. The way the band looked was the way GN'R was in 2002, they represented something completely different. Also Axl wasn't out of shape at all, in fact he was in his prime and still is. The opening WTTJ scream was incredibly long, and made the performance more challenging than it should of been. Don't forget the way Axl still ran around the length of the stage, it's not easy to do. I think the reason why people jump to conclusions is because of the shock at seeing the way the band looked compared to a standard rock n roll band. But this is why I love Guns, they've always been different and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[AxlReznor]

My problem with the performance wasn't the way the band looked or played. I loved the eccentric look of GN'R in 2002, and thought they played most songs incredibly well (even if I wasn't a fan of the way Buckethead played a lot of the lead). My problem is that Axl sounded absolutely awful... it was the absolute worst performance to have broadcast all over the world as the first introduction of that line-up to most of them.

I'm only glad that by 2006 all of those issues had been resolved. They became one of the greatest live bands in the world again at that point.

[BumbleBuzz]

It was a great performance at the time but it's just a shame things didn't come together well enough to capitalize on this. You have to wonder, when GNR were originally approached and booked, was it done as a joke? And if it was, was it done because someone clueless MTV guy figured "yeah, Slash is still in that band, right?"

I also agree with the guy that Axl sounded terrible at the time and the band's look was just more Marilyn Manson then it has ever been in their history, so from an image point of view, they could have picked a better moment....like 2006

The problem is that following that performance there should have been the kind of tour in Europe that they did in 2006. Even if the US tour ended in poor form, because Axl didn't want to tour - or the riots happened, whatever the reason - they still should have kept the momentum. The problem, was that by August 2003 (a year after the VMAs, Axl was considered to have been dead and buried again by the mainstream media)

The album could have been released, in some form (and should have been) on the back of this performance...a tour (a world tour) should have followed. I remember trying to find info on the Chinese dates at the time, when Fortus joined the band, and it was really difficult...2002 was still an infancy year for the Internet in my life, no Internet on my phone (cause I wasn't rich) and I still had dial up...so, my two cents, it was a great opportunity but also a lost one