‘Guns’ Tour Shot Down

Clear Channel Entertainment nixed Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy tour about a month after it began due to a number of disturbances that have taken place. The latest incident occurred Friday night when a riot broke out at Philadelphia’s First Union Spectrum arena resulting in 15 people being taken to the hospital and minor damages to the arena. Fans were ready to rock and looking forward to watching Axl and crew perform after the opening acts of Philadelphia-based band CKY and an hour long set by DJ Mix Master Mike of Beastie Boys fame.

After Mix Master Mike left the stage, an hour and ten minutes went by leaving the crowd restless. Finally, it was announced that the show had been cancelled due to an unidentified member of the band’s illness. Fans went wild and began throwing beer cups, bottles and ceiling tiles down to the stage – which in turn fell on fans in the lower sections. In the lower sections, fans were throwing chairs towards the mixing board. Fights broke out and the fans were chanting obscenities directed toward the band. The latest riot comes on the heels of a riot that broke out in Vancouver after Axl was unable to make the show due to bad weather. The fans went wild and police were forced to detain the crowd with pepper spray.

Interscope Records, the band’s label, and Clear Channel did not disclose why the rest of the tour dates were cancelled. There were fourteen scheduled tour dates through January 3 and all tickets will be refunded. The comeback of Guns N’ Roses was not well received after a decade. There were several glaring problems with their attempted comeback – 1) It was not the original Guns N’ Roses; 2) Axl is still the egomaniacal head case he was when the band first split several years ago. Taking one member of one of the 80’s and early 90’s most popular bands and slapping him together with random greats from other bands does not Guns N’ Roses make.