Guns N' Roses sit down demo closes Reading Festival's opening day

Published 28 Aug 2010 01:00 7 Comments

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Biffy Clyro on the Main Stage

THERE was a bizarre end to the opening day of the Reading Festival with organisers pulling the plug on headline act Guns N' Roses.

Having taken to the Main Stage around an hour late, the American rockers played until midnight - half-an-hour after the festival's curfew.

Then, after leaving the stage, the band reappeared and tried to play an encore. But their attempts were futile as organisers had already cut the sound, prompting the group to hold a short sit-in on stage before finally calling it a night.

The performance itself was average, with lead singer Axl Rose, the only original member of the band, leaving the stage at least five times to change outfits.

Their better moments included Sweet Child O' Mine, Live And Let Die and, with Axl Rose sat at the piano complete with his trademark bandana, November Rain.

Preceding Guns N' Roses on the Main Stage were Queens Of The Stone Age, who delivered a performance of real quality as the sun set over the Richfield Avenue site.

Their set was filled with some of the band's greatest hits including Little Sister, The Lost Art Of Keeping and Feel Good Hit Of The Summer.

Pausing halfway through, frontman Josh Homme said: "Look around you, it's beautiful. I love this festival so God damn much. It's perfect."

Earlier Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro returned to Reading Festival for the eighth time in their 15 year career, ripping through a Main Stage set which had the delighted crowd singing along from start to finish.

Stripped to the waist, the tattoo-clad lead singer Simon Neil, who had dyed his hair and beard blonde, was sporting a pair of bright pink trousers.

Stand-out tracks included Mountains, Many Of Horror and The Captain.

Other highlights included Lostprophets on the Main Stage, Mumford And Sons, who seemed genuinely excited at having packed out the NME/Radio 1 Stage, and Reading's very own Amy's Ghost, who drew a crowd of around 1,000 for their lunchtime slot on the BBC Introducing Stage.

Amy's Ghost lead singer, Amy Barton, who lives in Southcote, said: "It was wicked. We have been really looking forward to it and didn't know what to expect. We have been coming here for years but never thought we'd actually play."

* Saturday's line-up includes The Libertines, Dizzee Rascal, Pendulum, Bad Religion and Main Stage headliners Arcade Fire.

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 28 Aug 10

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Rick
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Aug 28, 11:19
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Was you not at the show?nnAxl's voice was fantastic, he has always changed clothes during a set aswell. nnBut as per usual lets slate Axl Rose because it's trendy, people read this crap and would believe it as there's nothing else to base it on.nnI had the misfortune of sitting through QOTSA, terrible. The reason the drums and bass are so loud is to hide what a distinctly average garage band they are

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Leslee
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Aug 28, 12:07
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I could hear them (well the bass beat) from from my lounge 3 miles away from the site. I pity the residents living nearer.

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laz obiat
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Aug 28, 15:51
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loved the proper unplugged version of Paradise City n Patience

on a pitch dark stage

end people blame Axl

well he wanted to play

all it needed to release a mute button on the FoH desk

well well

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topdog
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Aug 28, 17:32
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When the lights and sound were switched off Axl had no-one to blame but himself. Despite warnings from the organisers and the council not to be late he couldn't muster enough respect for his audience to do this. He was lucky that the whole set wasn't cancelled, as had been threatened.

Starting late isn't rock and roll - it just shows contempt for the fans who have paid to be there. Breaking the curfew brings the festivals license under threat means the viability of future events is brought into question.

As far as even being 'Guns n Roses' - after so many group members have been replaced, it's more of a tribute act than a serious group. Axl has been flogging a dead horse for far too long.

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Charlie O
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Aug 30, 12:36
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Amy and the ghosties were awesome!! I've never seen such a HUGE crowd at an introducing stage especially so early in the day, it was brilliant. And Guns and Roses were a big pile of excrement x x x x

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CharlieO
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Aug 30, 12:36
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Amy and the ghosties were awesome!! I've never seen such a HUGE crowd at an introducing stage especially so early in the day, it was brilliant. And Guns and Roses were a big pile of excrement x x x x

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zacabi
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Aug 30, 18:37
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Funny festival moment #26 - About four songs into Guns'n'Roses' disrespectfully late set, a man dressed as Slash, complete with curly wig, topper and inflatable guitar, stomps past, away from the gig, towards another tent, guitar slightly deflated, looking somewhat less than impressed. The ultimate damning indictment! Said it all, really.

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