MISC. GN’R NEWS

It was another wild and crazy weekend in the world of Guns N’ Roses, as Axl backed out of the Live Earth event, Slash seemed to admit that the split with Axl was his fault, and VR record sales failed to live up to expectations. More after the jump.

• In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, Slash made this bizarre statement regarding his quitting GN’R: “…I feel content in doing what I’m doing and sort of letting bygones be bygones. Although I think [Axl is] probably still pissed at me for a lot of things. But I’m like, whatever… It probably is my fault. Whatever, I’ll let it go.” Coming more than a decade after Slash jumped the Guns ship, when most have pretty much taken it as a given that Axl’s insanity was the reason for Slash’s decision to leave the band, this seems like an odd time to take a portion of the blame, no?
• Velvet Revolver’s Libertad sold around 100,000 copies in its first week, down from the 256,000 Contraband sold during its initial release. Is this because of the poor choice of first single? Because interest in VR is waining now that they curiosity factor involved with any supergroup has subsided? Just another symptom of general record sales malaise?
• Finally, as pretty much expected, Axl Rose’s appearance at Al Gore’s Live Earth event proved to be a non-starter, with Rose releasing a typically bullshitty-smelling press release to explain his absence from the concerts. However, some fans found a hidden message in said press release:

Guns N’ Roses or myself will not be performing at Rio Live Earth or Live Earth for a couple of reasons. The first is that we were not asked until the last couple weeks while we were on tour in Australia and have upcoming sold-out dates already rescheduled in Japan. Our gear is already en route to Japan for these shows. We have attempted to find a solution to be able to perform in Rio, but unfortunately none has been suggested .

I was asked to perform individually with Lenny Kravitz by the promoters and Mr. Gore. As we were working this out, Lenny unfortunately became injured and temporarily canceled his involvement from the event. According to the promoters, by the time they had reconfirmed Lenny’s performance, there wasn’t enough time to arrange flights for myself to Brazil and then to Japan for our upcoming shows. Unfortunately, I was not informed that Lenny’s performance was reconfirmed until our own explorations and in following the media surrounding the event today, which is Saturday morning here in Australia and Friday in Brazil.

Guns N’ Roses or I were not asked to play anywhere else such as Japan or Australia (as we are already in the regions on tour) and in which we have formally offered to perform but the offer of our involvement was declined.

We wish all involved, the performers, the organizers, the fans and audiences around the world all the best and a very successful event.

Thank you,
Axl Rose

-AR