Our summer of discontent continues: Axl Rose’s Guns N’ Roses simulacrum was pelted by water bottles during a Dublin concert last night, after the always-fashionably-late band took the stage at its customary hour past scheduled start time, angering fans. (Only a few days earlier, the band pulled the same shit during gigs at the Reading Festival and a subsequent night in Leeds, resulting in organizers pulling the plug on its performances.) Rose brought things to a halt in the middle of “Welcome To The Jungle” to admonish the crowd, saying, “"Here is the deal. One more bottle up here and we go. We don't want to go. Your choice.” Naturally, another bottle soon followed, and exeunt Roses, pursued by promoters who refused to let them leave until they finished the gig. Here's some video of the incident. (Rose stops things around 1:30.)
Unfortunately, by the time the band returned to the stage an hour later, the lights had already come up and thousands of people had left, leaving the group to play to a mostly empty venue—and the weird thing is, that report comes from an actual Irish politician, Senator Michael McCarthy, who is one of several actual, real-life politicians weighing in and demanding that the band refund tickets, as well as issuing statements. About a Guns N’ Roses concert. As opposed to the States, where we typically leave this kind of thing to the Internet to sort out. Anyway, in the wake of similar incidents involving Tila Tequila, Method Man, and even Justin Bieber, clearly “throwing shit at concerts” has become some sort of modern-day mosh pit, possibly deserving of its own New York Times trend piece. And you know, kids, this is why we can’t have nice things. Or even Guns N’ Roses concerts.
