Ah, G N' R, you've done it again!

[Spiff]

From Blabbermouth:

GUNS N' ROSES Cancel Philadelphia, Angry Fans Riot - Dec. 7, 2002

GUNS N' ROSES fans at Philadelphia's First Union Center began rioting after being told that the group were a no-show Friday night (Dec. 6).

About 30,000 people in the center were informed over the public address system at approximately 11:15 p.m. that a band member had fallen ill and the concert had been postponed.

The show by Axl Rose and his group was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m.

The opening acts for the evening, CKY and MIX MASTER MIKE, performed as scheduled, with the latter ending his appearance at around 9:15-9:30, according to eyewitness reports.

GUNS N' ROSES played in New York City's Madison Square Garden Thursday night. Tickets for that show sold out in 15 minutes with the other cities doing close to capacity business, according to the band's official web site.

The group are set to perform another Philadelphia date at First Union Center on Sunday, Dec. 8. It is not presently clear if that performance will go ahead as scheduled.

The following first-hand account of the Philadelphia GN'R no-show was sent to BLABBERMOUTH.NET by Inter Sandman Chapter Head Zach Smith:

"I went to the GUNS N' ROSES show tonight at the First Union Center in Philly, it was sold out and everything. Well, I got there at around 8:30 and MIX MASTER MIKE was still on stage. He kept saying how GUNS N' ROSES would be on in a minute, yet never left the stage for another 30-45 minutes. Everyone started kidding around saying that Axl wouldn't show up again. Well, MIX MASTER MIKE ended at around 9:15-9:30. At 10, no sign of the show starting. Word was spreading that Axl hadn't arrived yet. Then we found out that the First Union Center had put a stop on all beer sales — kind of odd for them to do so before the main act went on. So it got to be 10:30, and still no band - people were starting to see what was coming. In between every song that was being played, the booing got louder and louder, and chants of 'asshole' began that were really loud. At that point, you knew GUNS N' ROSES wouldn't be playing. Finally, when people saw the soundboard guys cover up their equipment, all hell broke loose. People started ripping binoculars off the seats and throwing them down on the floor, people were chucking their drinks and food at security around the stage as they took the equipment away, people rushed the stage, a fight broke out, folding chairs were turned into launching pads. An announcement FINALLY came on at around 11:15 saying that the show had been cancelled due to 'health reasons' and that tickets were valid whenever the show would be rescheduled. That really set people off, and chairs started flying at the soundboard and up on stage. It was not a pretty site. However, a good amount of people did leave and outside seemed to be quite calm in comparison to what was happening inside. There was a large police presence outside, but thankfully they were not instigating anything with angry fans. Who knows what happened, but I can tell you while I'm shocked, I'm certainly not surprised. I also think Philadelphia fans handled the situation quite well considering the circumstances and the past history with riots."

 

[Winmar]

That's good for PR, GnR! Sounds rather badly handled. Good on the fans for rioting!

 

[spawn]

Well colour me surprised...

 

[spawn]

Oh, ill just add, I really hope the band member who was ill gets better soon. Poor guy.

 

[Mariner]

well, here in Belgium we also had to wait on him took him 1 hour and a half too late to arrive in time (Axl)
and he was gone straight after the gig as well, no-one of the journalists had the opportunity to talk to him! Fuckin rockstar!

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

That's 2 shows already in the last month they've not showed up at.

 

[Southy]

fuckin hell no wonder we just keep ignoring him...

 

[Soul of a new Machine]

Ill? Piss off, it's lies
They did the same thing in Montreal in 1992 when James Hetfield got burned severly by pyrotecnics. The riot was disastrous, both inside and outside.
I fucking hate Axl Roses, he should be beaten to death until death follows :zombie: uke:

 

[Blitzkrieg]

They are really starting to ruin any chance of an Axl Rose comeback that they might have had on the cards...

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

I think anybody hearing him sing now and seeing the band play live is enough to ruin that chance

If Sebastian sings with the 4 ex-GnR dudes, THAT will be a better form of GnR!

 

[spawn]

Dont any of you even CARE about the poor sick band member?

 

[Spiff]

Everyone knows that Dizzy Reed=GNR. Without him they're nothing, so as soon as he quits then Axl may as well call it quits for good.

 

[spawn]

Slash should have played in Poison anyway!

 

[Mariner]

Originally posted by spawn
Slash should have played in Poison anyway!

oooh nasty!
Well in Canada Vacouver he didn't come as well, because the weather was too bad..... I know one thing for certain! I'm not going to buy the next album because such people don't deserve it

 

[Spiff]

GNR have cancelled the rest of the North American tour now:

GUNS N' ROSES Tour Cancelled!!! - Dec. 8, 2002

The remaining shows of GUNS N' ROSES' North American tour have been cancelled, according to Pennsylvania's CKY, who were tapped to provide support at all the dates through Jan. 3, 2003 in Los Angeles, California.

The following is a message from CKY posted in the "Band Journal" section (dubbed "Shit Talk") of their official web site:

"GUNS N ROSES TOUR CANCELLED!! TYPICAL. And freakishly EXPECTED. Haha. They really fucked the Philly fans over, really bad idea… I wouldn't suggest they come back... So… we are going home after over 50 shows... from our own headlining shows to Tony Hawk's boom boom huck jam tour on to a month of the fucked-up GNR tour, it has been great... CKY did play in NYC at Madison Square Garden (legendary) and in Philly at the cancelled FU center show on Friday. So we played the (2nd) cancelled show that resulted in a Philly riot... Part of history… Glad to be part of it… More history to come... We are definitely psyched to take a short break and get back to more playing and fucking shit up the way we like it. Better the change."

 

[Mariner]

Originally posted by Spiff
Everyone knows that Dizzy Reed=GNR. Without him they're nothing, so as soon as he quits then Axl may as well call it quits for good.

Wrong: Slash & Axl = GnR

 

[Mark]

WITHOUT THAT CHUBBY BIKER-CUM-KEYBOARDIST WITH THE BEARD THEY'RE NOTHING!!

 

[spawn]

 

[Winmar]

 

[Mariner]

Originally posted by Mark
WITHOUT THAT CHUBBY BIKER-CUM-KEYBOARDIST WITH THE BEARD THEY'RE NOTHING!!

Oh come on ... what has he done for the band?
He wasn't even present at Appetite for Destruction
And for present time: Slash quit the band because he wanted to do more bluesy hardrock (as they did with Use Your Illusion) and Axl wanted to do more electronic stuff, as they do now. WTF has Dizzy Reed to do with that