Axl Rose fueds with Eagles
Axl Rose is no stranger to feuds — and his latest is with Eagles of Death Metal, the band that was due to support his Guns ‘n Roses on a 15-date tour.
On the first night of their three-week stint, the band which features Queens of the Stone Age mainman Josh Homme, was dropped from the tour.
The audience at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena greeted the band not with “deafening boos, but lots of grumbling and grousing and… indifference”, a local critic, John Soeder, told MTV.com.
The Eagles, not currently featuring Homme in its live lineup, followed a well-supported set by former Skid Row vocalist Sebastian Bach.
Prompted by the audiences’ muted response, Rose announced that the band would be dropped from the bill.
Following a two hour wait between the Eagles’ set and the headline act, the Guns ‘n Roses singer asked the audience: “So how’d you like the Pigeons of Shit Metal?”
“Don’t worry, that’s the last show they’re playing with us.”
The Eagles of Death Metal, a band trading heavily on irony, responded to the unceremonious dumping with typical humour, releasing a statement heavy on Guns ‘n Roses song titles.
“At first the audience refused to welcome us to the jungle, but by the time we took our final bow, it had become paradise city,” the group said in a statement issued on November 27.
“Although Axl tried to November rain on our parade, no sweet child o’ mine can derail the EODM night train. We say live and let die.”
No announcement has been made on a replacement for Eagles, fronted by the handlebar-moustachioed Jesse “The Devil” Hughes.
Freed of their Gunners commitment, the band are set to go out on their own tour, while Rose’s group are still rumoured to be releasing their long-delayed ‘Chinese Democracy’ album before the end of the year.
The Eagles set was met with “a few boos, some spare applause, but definitely no cheering”, Nate Harris, who attended the show, told MTV.
“Axl seemed like he was in a bad mood,” added the fan.
“One of the first things he did was kick out someone who was in one of the first few rows during the opening song. He came back to the ‘Pigeons of Shit Metal’ bit all set long.”
Rose also targeted the live sound man, calling him “useless” and glaring at him, according to Harris.
The dreadlocked singer, however apologised to the crowd for his behaviour, thanking them for putting up with his bad day, Harris added.
