September Pain for local Guns N'Roses fans
It was case of September Pain as opposed to November Rain for nine members of the Dromard GAA Club, who travelled with Eddie McGovern to Dublin last week to see Guns N'Roses play the O2.
Following only five songs the band walked off the stage leaving the audience bewildered and frustrated. Among the Dromard group who had travelled to Dublin earlier that Wednesday was Peter Masterson.
"For us it was the last day of summer and it was a great occasion. The thought of seeing Axl Rose and Guns N'Roses in the O2 was very exciting. I had seen the Horseslips there earlier this year and the sound and everything had been amazing," said Peter.
However, the experience did not live up to the expectation.
"The sound was terrible. It sounded like mime for the first couple of songs," said the Dromard man. "The crowd had been waiting for something like four hours to see them and in the heat they were frustrated, especially as the product was not what they expected. They started to throw plastic bottles at the stage."
At this point Axl Rose advised the crowd that they had a choice. If they kept throwing items (later confirmed to be plastic bottles), the band would simply go home. A few minutes later Axl and his band walked off the stage, leaving a bewildered audience of some 14,000 people.
"I left along with thousands of others," said Peter. "I went down to Eddie Rockets and there I had salt rubbed in the wound when I had to pay p7.50 for a burger and chips! I got a phone call then from Ronnie Blakely to say that the band was back on stage again."
When Peter returned to the O2 there were still thousands of fans outside the door.
"These are die-hard fans," he said. "It was crazy. The band were playing inside but they refused to go in and see the concert."
Peter, and the eight other members of the Dromard GAA Club paid around p71.70, while others paid p81 for their tickets.
"That was just the price of the ticket," said Peter. "For others it was a lot worse. I met people who had travelled from England and Europe to see them."
Following the fiasco, Peter says that he would find it hard to even buy a CD of Guns N'Roses, much less another concert ticket.
"Axl Rose is living on a legend. He was a megastar. He was up there with Jagger and Hendrix but now he's a sad figure on the stage. I would find it hard to go to a Guns N'Roses' concert again."
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Weather for Longford, Ireland
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: North west
