Axl on kroq!

[sic.]

Fans in the US are different and much more informed then our European friends...

Fans in the US are much more informed in what way??!!  Am intrigued...

I guess we Europeans tend to be less informed. They only played a total of 3 gigs back here in 2002. This summer a lot of people got a chance to see Axl for the first time since the UYI tour, but I guess that doesn't have anything to do with it, huh?


edit.

Selling out Madison Square Garden is not hard when 11 million people live in that city and you get 20,000.  What is hard is selling out the place in the middle of Idaho.

Which is why I wonder they didn't stick with the safe bets, as they were knowingly touring without an album back then. Why bother throwing in a Monday evening gig in Idaho?

[babydolls]

I understand what you are saying more now smoking guns - I dont have a great deal of knowledge of venues and their capacities across the US apart from the obvious ones.

i think the way forward for Gnr is to use the smaller venues to their advantage and present their current AMAZING show to the homecrowds and then work on the bigger scale tours in US and OZ etc with the weight of more new tracks (ie new album...) behind them.

 

[ppbebe]

In the US, fans are fickle and it can be "what have you done for me lately."

GH. 

sic, which info do you think is hotter and fresher?

[sic.]

^Come again?

Which and which? Me confused.

[requiem156]

no, it makes absolutely no sense at all to tour the US without an album.

Really - so you think that more people will come out to see them play IRS and Better than those that come to see Jungle, Night Train, November Rain, etc.? I'd like to share your optimism, but I can't. If it was that simple, I'm sure that the album would come out tomorrow. As you are probably aware, most touring bands that were huge in the 80's are doing more business with the classic stuff from their catalog than new songs.  Metallica has played all of Master of Puppets at shows, Anthrax has played all of Among the Living, Queensryche is playing Mindcrime, Iron Maiden's last tour was a greatest hits tour with material from their 80's albums, Alice in Chains is touring on their hits with a new lead singer(!), when Van Halen toured last, they weren't touring behind a new album. Bon Jovi has been huge for years - do you think that people who go see them want to hear "Have a Nice Day," or "Livin on a Prayer?" Same with Def Leppard. Same with the Rolling Stones. By all means - prove me wrong - I'm not a fan of the nostalgia thing myself, but those are my observations.

[ppbebe]

blame it on the system of Us radio. Once you had a hit album more than a decade ago, you'd be labelled as a classic band to be captured by the classic rock stations that play only classics. If this is true, something should be done.

^Come again?

Which and which? Me confused.

refering to this line.

I guess we Europeans tend to be less informed.

[sic.]

refering to this line.

I guess we Europeans tend to be less informed.

Right.

Smoking Guns was suggesting one of the reasons US audiences will move slower than the European ones is that they lived through the 02 tour. This means a lot of AFD, a few CD tunes, etc - which people wouldn't be too eager to experience again.

My take was a bit ironic; as far being informed you could roughly divide this summers European audiences in half. Those, who didn't know too much about the 02 tour and were thus expecting a decent amount of AFD, and those who did - and went anyway. So I don't think US fans are anymore informed than their European counterparts. It's the same thing everywhere - without a new album, people will expect mostly AFD. The US will in this sense behave the same way.

Most potential concert-goers back here know by know that it's Axl-only from the original lineup, that there is no new album as of yet, how much more informed could an average joe be?

no, it makes absolutely no sense at all to tour the US without an album.

Really - so you think that more people will come out to see them play IRS and Better than those that come to see Jungle, Night Train, November Rain, etc.?

Smartass. He'll never be completely ridden of AFD, of course he'll have to keep some of those tunes in the setlist. But with a new album, they could get away with something like a handful oldies, depending how much they'd like throw in.

Metallica has played all of Master of Puppets at shows, Anthrax has played all of Among the Living, Queensryche is playing Mindcrime, Iron Maiden's last tour was a greatest hits tour with material from their 80's albums

Metallica played Puppets during their Escape from the Studio tour, on the road between albums. Anthrax has played Among the Living because its an Among the Living -lineup's reunion tour. Queensryche was garnering interest for Operation: Mindcrime II, and like Metallica, had already toured with their previous album. Same goes for Iron Maiden, a greatest hits tour between new studio albums. Alice in Chains, a reunion tour.
 

[theillusion]

If Guns N Roses tours the USA again for the second time "TWICE" with no "CD/Single" it will be the biggest mistake in the history of Guns N Roses    

[requiem156]

blame it on the system of Us radio. Once you had a hit album more than a decade ago, you'd be labelled as a classic band to be captured by the classic rock stations that play only classics. If this is true, something should be done.

Exactly - how do you market new material by a band like GNR? It sounds easy because they are huge, but it is harder than it seems at first. Classic rock stations, which is where they get a lot of their airplay, aren't going to touch the new stuff. Alternative stations also won't go near it because it is GNR(although I was surprised to discover that VR pulled off alternative airplay - maybe there is a chance). On top of that dilemma, they are not going to sound like the GNR of yesteryear, so at least a few old-school fans are going to be alienated. It's a tougher situation than some people realize.

[requiem156]

Metallica played Puppets during their Escape from the Studio tour, on the road between albums. Anthrax has played Among the Living because its an Among the Living -lineup's reunion tour. Queensryche was garnering interest for Operation: Mindcrime II, and like Metallica, had already toured with their previous album. Same goes for Iron Maiden, a greatest hits tour between new studio albums. Alice in Chains, a reunion tour.
 

I'm not denying any of that. However, it doesn't really change my point - there is a bigger demand for that stuff than for new material.

[Smoking Guns]

Fans in the US are different and much more informed then our European friends...

Fans in the US are much more informed in what way??!!? Am intrigued...

I guess we Europeans tend to be less informed. They only played a total of 3 gigs back here in 2002. This summer a lot of people got a chance to see Axl for the first time since the UYI tour, but I guess that doesn't have anything to do with it, huh?


edit.

Selling out Madison Square Garden is not hard when 11 million people live in that city and you get 20,000.? What is hard is selling out the place in the middle of Idaho.

Which is why I wonder they didn't stick with the safe bets, as they were knowingly touring without an album back then. Why bother throwing in a Monday evening gig in Idaho?

Sic, you are dead on, I don't get it either. ?I don't think the US will go for another Appetite Rehash except for large market areas.

[Ali]

I think if Alternative stations were playing Velvet Revolver, and they were, there is a good chance they'll play the new GN'R material.  Especially considering the new material isn't in that same blues-based hard rock style.

I wouldn't worry about it, especially when you consider the fact that the leaked demos got played on some major stations here in the US.

Ali

[requiem156]

If Guns N Roses tours the USA again for the second time "TWICE" with no "CD/Single" it will be the biggest mistake in the history of Guns N Roses? ??

And, of course, you have objective support for this statement...because no one likes the AFD material anymore, and no other band has done this sucessfully.

[Smoking Guns]

refering to this line.

I guess we Europeans tend to be less informed.

Right.

Smoking Guns was suggesting one of the reasons US audiences will move slower than the European ones is that they lived through the 02 tour. This means a lot of AFD, a few CD tunes, etc - which people wouldn't be too eager to experience again.

My take was a bit ironic; as far being informed you could roughly divide this summers European audiences in half. Those, who didn't know too much about the 02 tour and were thus expecting a decent amount of AFD, and those who did - and went anyway. So I don't think US fans are anymore informed than their European counterparts. It's the same thing everywhere - without a new album, people will expect mostly AFD. The US will in this sense behave the same way.

Most potential concert-goers back here know by know that it's Axl-only from the original lineup, that there is no new album as of yet, how much more informed could an average joe be?

no, it makes absolutely no sense at all to tour the US without an album.

Really - so you think that more people will come out to see them play IRS and Better than those that come to see Jungle, Night Train, November Rain, etc.?

Smartass. He'll never be completely ridden of AFD, of course he'll have to keep some of those tunes in the setlist. But with a new album, they could get away with something like a handful oldies, depending how much they'd like throw in.

Metallica has played all of Master of Puppets at shows, Anthrax has played all of Among the Living, Queensryche is playing Mindcrime, Iron Maiden's last tour was a greatest hits tour with material from their 80's albums

Metallica played Puppets during their Escape from the Studio tour, on the road between albums. Anthrax has played Among the Living because its an Among the Living -lineup's reunion tour. Queensryche was garnering interest for Operation: Mindcrime II, and like Metallica, had already toured with their previous album. Same goes for Iron Maiden, a greatest hits tour between new studio albums. Alice in Chains, a reunion tour.
 

Sic, you translated my thoughts better than I could ever have. ?That was my point. ?I saw GNR in Detroit, a large US city. ?Seats 20,000. ?Only about 10,000 showed up. ?I saw VR in the same Venue a year later and they had more fans then GNR... ?I guess cause they had new music? ?I don't know. ? If they are not going to do an album, do safe bets. ?Also, it would have been better for GNR to tour US in the summer. ?Fall time you have to compete with Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, and everything else. ?I think a summer tour would have been more successful, like what happened in Europe. ?Plus we know for sure there is no album, when the tickets went on sale in Europe, we thought the album would be released at some point during that tour. ?We were wrong. ?I don't know. ?I am so sick of it almost.

[sic.]

Metallica played Puppets during their Escape from the Studio tour, on the road between albums. Anthrax has played Among the Living because its an Among the Living -lineup's reunion tour. Queensryche was garnering interest for Operation: Mindcrime II, and like Metallica, had already toured with their previous album. Same goes for Iron Maiden, a greatest hits tour between new studio albums. Alice in Chains, a reunion tour.
 

I'm not denying any of that. However, it doesn't really change my point - there is a bigger demand for that stuff than for new material.

But there's always room to balance out the audience favorites with new material. Your examples don't really count in this case, since they're either reunion tours (which tends to mean a lot of oldies) or greatest hits tours. I saw Tool this summer. They started the set with Stinkfist and 46 & 2, after which Keenan unceremoniously announced: "New album, new songs. Just how it goes." They didn't touch Aenima for more than three tracks.

Plus we know for sure there is no album, when the tickets went on sale in Europe, we thought the album would be released at some point during that tour.  We were wrong.  I don't know.  I am so sick of it almost.

We all thought RIR5 would be the day of CD, only it turned out to be the introduction of GNR 3.0. But the tour was a success regardless, there's no denying of that. The band gelled in again, Ron was solidified into the lineup, etc, etc. A lot of good things happened during the summer from a fans POV. Now there's a band that is able to tour behind CD properly, which is something that couldn't be said about the '01 and '02 lineups. I'm not defending Axl in particular here, just saying that after all these false starts it does make sense to have a summer tour and measure the beast.

Of course, this is only sensible if CD does drop this fall. Axl said that in May. This month, he quipped about adding more new songs to the setlist. No sense in doing so without a release around the corner.

All I'm saying is, let's wait for Inland Invasion. That should reveal Axl's gameplan. If it's 02 revisited, it's his call (as well as his potential career suicide).

[ppbebe]

In a sense this is the reunion between GNR and the fans.
People discover GNR anew and then the new story starts. 

So I don't think US fans are anymore informed than their European counterparts.

Or rather, europeans are more updated as of now. I just pointed that out, sic.

[requiem156]

In a sense this is the reunion between GNR and the fans.
People discover GNR anew and then the new story starts.?

This is my point, sic. You're saying that the other bands are on reunion tours. What are GNR doing if not capitalizing on nostalgia at this point? Since there is no album out yet, how would you describe it? I don't think that Tool are comparable to GNR's current position, since they are a)not from the 80's, and b) have a new album that opened with sales over 5 million units in the 1st week. You're not going to catch Radiohead opening with Creep either, but they are in a completely different position as well.

[sic.]

GNR is capitalizing on nostalgia at the moment, yes. Their setlist is something of a greatest hits with some new songs thrown in, yes. Why? No new album to represent.

I merely used Keenan's quote to point out that when the album drops, I suspect GNR will behave like any other band. They'll tour the album, not greatest hits, because that's part of the whole point - getting publicity to the latest release. You previously implied other bands are also relying on nostalgia, because they have no choice - I simply pointed out your examples didn't have new studio albums to tour with at the moment. GNR is in the same situation.

[the dirt]

Their setlist is something of a greatest hits with some new songs thrown in, yes.

Yeah, new songs like the blues and Chinese Democracy, songs that we heard for the first time over five and a half years ago.

[ppbebe]

Their setlist is something of a greatest hits with some new songs thrown in, yes.

Yeah, new songs like the blues and Chinese Democracy, songs that we heard for the first time over five and a half years ago.

As I said earlier, the us air system is making things difficult for a "classic band" to start a new game.
If the system was the chinese government the audience/fans would be Chinese people. It should be changed at some point.
But how?

Democracy. of the people by the people for the people. It takes time.

I believe GNR is making it.