GUNS N’ROSES are to rehearse in Ireland before their forthcoming European tour, MCD promoter Denis Desmond has said.
The band announced a somewhat surprise concert at the O2 in Dublin for May following on from their disastrous performance at the same venue two years ago when singer Axl Rose (pictured) walked off stage and thousands of fans left the arena.
Their O2 concert on May 17th is anticipated to be the first of a series of shows the band will perform across Europe this summer.
It will take place almost 20 years to the day after their headline concert at Slane Castle in 1992.
Desmond said the request to play in Ireland came from Rose himself because the singer felt they had “unfinished business”with their Irish fans.
“We want to keep it simple. The thing is that it is a great show. He [Axl Rose] wants to come back.
“It was his request. The easiest thing for him to do would be to go ‘Oh I’m never coming back again after what happened’ but he wants to come back.”
They are also likely to use their time in Ireland to rehearse songs for an anticipated follow-up to their last album Chinese Democracywhich took 13 years to complete. "The band like Ireland, they like playing here," Desmond added. "I think he's going to come back and deliver an 11 out of 10 show."
Guns N’Roses will play the O2 in the full realisation that if they do not finish their set, they will not be allowed to leave the building as happened the last time they played.
The band walked off stage at their previous Irish concert after fans, who were agitated by their late arrival on stage, ignored a warning from Rose not to throw bottles on stage.
After a fan threw a water bottle during the intro to the second song Welcome to the Jungle, the singer announced: “Here’s the deal, one more bottle, we go home. We want to stay.
“If you don’t want to have fun just let us know. We’ll be on our way.”
Three songs later, another object was hurled onstage. Rose said goodnight, the group stopped the show and left the stage at 10.50pm to a cacophony of boos and cat-whistles.
Desmond appeared on stage and told the crowd he was endeavouring to get the band back on stage. He pleaded with them to refrain from throwing things up on stage.
Security refused to allow the band to leave the arena and they came back on stage at 11.10pm and finished a set which only concluded at 12.53am to a half empty arena.
Desmond cautioned that Guns N’Roses fans had to make allowances for the band’s habitual lateness coming on stage, but he did not anticipate a repeat of what happened at the O2 in September 2010.
“It was a one-off. Lightning doesn’t strike twice,” he said.
Axl Rose is the only surviving member of the original Guns'N’Roses line-up while keyboard player Dizzy Reed played at Slane Castle on the Use Your Illusions tour.
The original band members will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April leading to huge anticipation among their fans that they will put their well-documented differences behind them and reunite on stage for that event.
