Guns N’ Roses, hatta rock bile dinlemiyor olsanız da rock müziğinin en büyük fenomeni Axl’ı biliyorsunuzdur.. Axl asidir, her şeyi bildiği gibi yapar. Kurallara uymaz, kendi kurallarını koyar. Kimseyi sallamaz, burnunun dikine gider. Sonunda dünya yıkılacak olsa, yine bildiğini yapar.Mesela bir St. Louis olayı vardır 1991′de. Sahne önündeki seyircinin kamerayla çekim yapması üstüne, güvenliği olayı durdurması için uyarmış; güvenlik sallamayınca da sahneden seyircinin üstüne uçmuş; adama dalmış ve kamerayı almıştır. Bu bile kesmemiştir Axl’ımı, sahneye geri döndüğünde konseri yarıda bırakıp çekip gitmiştir. Kızışmış kalabalık gaza gelip ayaklanma çıkarmış, konser salonunu yakıp yıkmıştır.
Böyledir Axl, istemediğinin yapılmasına dayanamaz; çeker gider. Basar gider diyorum; ama Axl yaşlanmıştı aradan geçen yirmiye yakın senede. Uzun zamandır uslu çocuktu. 2010 dünya turnesinin Güney Amerika ve Uzak Doğu ayakları pek bir sakin geçmişti. Ne olduysa Avrupa ayağının geçen ayın sonunda Britanya’da tekrar başlamasıyla oldu! Muazzam grup, önce Reading sonra da Leeds festivallerinde ”headliner” olarak çağrılmıştı. İki festivali de organize eden gerizekalı organizatör, Reading’den bir hafta önce “Guns N’ Roses’ı uyardık, 2002′deki gibi yine sahneye geç çıkarlarsa, normal sürelerinin sonunda elektriği keseceğiz” gibi aptal bir açıklama yaptı. Adama sorarlar, “be hey gerizekalı organizatör, sen ne zaman gördün Axl’ın sahneye vaktinde çıktığını; adamların olayı bu”!! Şarkılarında bile söylüyorlar bunu: “the show usualy starts around seven, we go on stage around nine“!! Ayrıca, Guns N’ Roses’ı görmek istiyorsan sebat edeceksin, bekleyeceksin, herkese nasip olmaz!
Neyse, aptal organizatör dediğini yaptı ve Guns N’ Roses sahnedeyken elektriği kesti. Sanki Axl’ı durdurabilecek! Axl’ım aldı eline megafonu, bateri kaldığı yerden devam etti; gitarlar akustiğe döndü ve şarkıyı 90.000 kişilik koroyla tamamladılar. Budur olay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcGHmO9qA4I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd2xVtDdY8k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOpEiwl99ts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6nKJnbRNg0
Reading’ten sonra sıra gelmişti Leeds’e. Grup yarım saat kadar geç çıktı sahneye. Aptal organizatör yine vaktinden önce indirmeye kalktı bizimkileri. Axl da dayanamadı, patladı en sonunda: “We would like to play a few more songs for you tonight. But someone is telling us the show’s over. This war ain’t over yet.”
Leeds’ten sonraki konserler Belfast ve Dublin’di. Belfast kazasız-belasız atlatıldı; Dublin’de işin rengi değişti yine. Birkaç gerizekalı konserin başında sahneye bira şişeleri fırlatmaya başladı. Axl’ım uyardı beyinsizleri: “One more bottle and we’re goin’ home“!! Mallar, laftan anlamadı ve aynen devam etti. Axl da konseri daha başında bırakıp gitti kulise. Serserilerin dağıtılmasından sonra, binbir ısrar-ricayla anca döndü sahneye Axl’ım.
Britanya’da yaşananlar Avrupa turnesinin sonraki konserleri için resmen iştahımı kabarttı. Axl yine aynı Axl. Asi, başına buyruk! O rock’ın gerçek kahramanı! Bakın neler yazıldı Axl’ın bu haftasonu yaptıklarından sonra; hepsinin altına imzamı atarım!
Rock music has lost it’s way – Rock is now dead. Rock N Roll hall of fame, award shows – heritage bands reuniting, greatest hits set-lists, staying together for the ‘career’, money, album after album of repeated glory day styles, follow the rules, adapt to the industry’s expectations, the fans expectations, pander to the press, bad mouth your band mates and still stick together because there’s no-where else to go. Bands are old, rock is old and it’s fans, it’s bands and the industry built around them to exploit and drain what ever profits it can has finally destroyed what was once a perfect machine for encouraging rebellion. A style designed to give kids a voice to express their views, their difference of opinion and the things the mean the most to them.
Rock N’ Roll, Punk, Rap, Heavy Metal all evolved in each generation to suit new fans, new young people and their lives but the spirit of rock n roll has always been carried over and that message is simple – Don’t Follow The Rules and fuck society, fuck the industry, the government and fuck you, I’ll do what I want.
That message has become a cliché, a punch line for the marketing and advertising industry every time a twenty two year old college grad is given the new Motorhead album to push. The people running things, the bands involved and the new breed of fans, raised on ageing fogies playing greatest hits tours every year while struggling younger bands repeatedly get passed up so rich musicians can make more money. These days bands have to sound like Coldplay or Arcade Fire to get ahead, music that your gran, neighbours and teachers can sit back with, sip wine to and discuss the banking crisis. Very rock n’ roll eh.
Then you take Guns N’ Roses. Old Guns N’ Roses. Slash, Duff, Axl, Izzy and Steven and Appetite for Destruction. Sweet Child O Mine, Welcome to The Jungle and Paradise City. massive. Then Later with Don’t Cry, November Rain, Live and Let Die, You Could be Mine…just as massive. They had it all and could still be out there today, like every single other heritage rock band making money, touring Appetite for Destruction and a choice selection from what ever Appetite rip off they released that year and pandering to the fans every whim and wish. The so called ‘Most Dangerous Band‘ could be there in the O2, top hat, American flag shorts and all, like nothing ever changed in the past twenty years.
Wake the fuck up, things change and people move on.
Slash is gone, playing American anthems to stadiums, selling guitars for Gibson, living up in every respect to the stereotype cast on him. Discussing reunions and his love for Axl. Duff is around, playing in second rate punk bands, writing for Playboy (he’s a journalist now don’t ya know) and still playing with Slash and Matt Sorum in Guns N’….sorry, I mean Velvet Revolver. He likes to discuss reunions occasionally aswell. Steven, poor Steven plays in Adler’s Appetite, a band that until recently exclusively played Appetite For Destruction at every show. Again, he mentions the idea of a re-union at every given opportunity.
Axl does not discuss reunions, he does not give interviews, he does not play national anthems to baseball stadiums full of 40/50 year old Americans who point and remember he was the guy who sang Sweet Child O’ Mine. He keeps the band fresh. He works on his music in his own time, he tours and plays shows ranging from 2.5-4.5 hours with a new band of incredibly tight musicians playing half hits and half new material. He goes on stage when he’s ready, he releases his music when he’s ready and he does what he likes, when he wants to do it. Not when people tell him he should do it.
Rock N’ Roll is rebellion and Axl Rose rebels against pretty much every rule in the book, whether it’s the industry making them, Society making them, the fans making them or his band making them. He will give you a fantastic show as long as you don’t throw shit at him (by the way, how many of you would remain in your chairs at work if customers came along throwing bottles and coins at you with a spot light in your face blocking your view?? Ya, fuck off!).
Axl Rose is the last true hero of rock n roll because he’s the only one famous enough still telling pressure and rules to go fuck themselves and anyone that can’t see that has no business being a fan of rock in the first place. Fuck off and listen to Radiohead and leave Rock N Roll alone for people with some balls.
Originally posted 2010-09-02 17:13:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
İçten içe seviniyor; ama her sene bu haberler geldiği ve hep hüsrana uğradığımız için görmezden geliyor, bu yazki Avrupa turnesi tarihlerinden uygun düşenleri ayarlamaya çalışıyordum.
