2012.05.25 - SECC Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland

Rockers Guns 'n' Roses request 20 models to fill front row of their gig at Glasgow SECC
May 21 2012

ROCKERS Guns’n’Roses have requested the front row of their Scots gig is filled by stunning models.

The legendary band, fronted by Axl Rose, contacted a model agency to demand 20 of their prettiest girls for their gig at Glasgow’s SECC on Friday.

Sources claim the Sweet Child of Mine and Paradise City rockers are keen to have eye-candy in the front row during their gig.

The band’s promoter invited 20 models, from All Talent – The Sonia Scott Agency, to join them backstage after the concert.

The band will then party into the night with the girls.

A source said: “The band’s promoter contacted Sonia and asked if she could provide the band with models for the gig.

“He asked Sonia for 20 of her prettiest models to stand in the front row and wow the band while they’re performing.

“The girls have then been invited to join Axl and the boys backstage for drinks and they’ve even asked Sonia if she can arrange a party for the band.”

Our source revealed the band have a soft spot for Scottish girls.

They added: “Axl and the rest of the band love girls from Scotland and they want to party in Glasgow. No other band has ever requested models from the agency to party with a rock band before, so this a first.

“But then again, it is Axl Rose.”

Layla Ferguson, 19, of Bellshill, Kyleen McKerlich, 23, from Kyle of Locklash, and Annie Voigt, 22, of Arbroath, are among the girls chosen to party with the band.

Layla said: “I’m really excited about meeting the band.

“I don’t know much about them really – my mum and dad are more into them – but I’ll listen to their songs before Friday.”

Annie added: “I’m a secret rock chick so I’m going to rock out.

“I’m the envy of all my friends.

“I can’t believe I’m going to meet the band.”

Hey all, I have nothing to do with this - dailyrecord.co.uk/showbiz/music-….Nor do I decide when the shows start - when you're waiting, so am I.

— Bumblefoot (@bumblefoot) May 21, 2012

Guns n’ Roses - SECC, Glasgow, Fri 25 May 2012

By Paul Little

Good old Axl Rose. Anyone concerned that his famous ability to rub people right up the wrong way has evaporated as he enters his 50s would have found their faith restored during this leg of Guns n’ Roses’ latest arena tour. As he’s done at every other date this year, he kept the fans waiting … and waiting … and waiting. Eventually he took to the stage at half past ten for a show that wouldn’t finish for another three hours, which was a pain-in-the-arse length for many here, despite the fact most seemed happy to go along with it.

Get your head round the borderline effrontery of his timing choices and the fact this isn’t really Guns n’ Roses at all – at least, not if you’re expecting the long-departed Slash, Duff and co – and this was actually a fairly good value showbiz reenactment of the glory days, with classics like ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, ‘You Could Be Mine’, ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ and ‘Nightrain’ all present and punctuated by overblown firework effects, and ‘November Rain’ and ‘Civil War’ benefiting from Axl’s still-potent chainsaw vocal. Why he saw the need to give each of his session player bandmates a solo spot was a mystery, though, as was our means of getting home when ‘Paradise City’ finally screeched to a halt in the wee hours.

GnR late show planned 13 hours in advance

By Martin Kielty

Guns n’Roses road crew working at the band’s Glasgow show were told to expect a late start – THIRTEEN HOURS before Axl Rose and co hit the stage.

The news calls into question the frontman’s insistence that he doesn’t mean to keep fans waiting, and it simply happens by accident.

GnR played in the Scottish city on Friday as part of their current UK tour. The band and staff arrived on the Thursday evening, more than 24 hours ahead of showtime.

But next morning local crewmen were invited to a production meeting and told to come to work two hours later than scheduled.

One of the workers, who has supplied his name, tells Classic Rock: “They called us in at 9am and said the call-back would be at 12.30am, when it was meant to have been 10.30pm.

“Our job was to help load the band’s gear out into 10 articulated lorries. You would normally expect to go back about half an hour before the band finishes playing, so you’re ready to get to work the moment they come off.

“That means Guns n’Roses knew at 9am they weren’t going to finish playing until at least 1am – and actually they finished at 1.30.

“Crew don’t normally speak out because it’ll cost you your job. But disrespect breeds disrespect. I’m not the only one who was left fizzing-mad.”

GnR’s timekeeping is notorious. They regularly keep audiences waiting for two hours or more – and when Rose finally appears he’s been known to stop songs and threatens to walk off if the crowd don’t stop expressing their upset.

Last November Rose told Eddie Trunk he was trying to address his timekeeping because he’d realised it was affecting his road crew, saying: “The crew were very supportive of me and they weren’t getting enough sleep. Things start going wrong. People are making mistakes. You’re making mistakes, they’re making mistakes, and nobody even knows why.”

But he added: “I lived right behind my school and I couldn’t make it to the classroom. I’m running down the street with wet hair trying to tie my tie with a sandwich in one hand. It’s a lifelong thing.”

The previous month, responding to criticism after being two hours late for their Rock in Rio show, a post on GnR’s Facebook page said: “Treat yourself don’t cheat yourself thinking you’re gonna go to school or work or whatever you ‘normally’ do the next day. This is Guns n’Roses and when the time is right the stage will ignite.”

In Glasgow’s SECC on Friday night around 12,000 fans waited until 11pm for a show that was meant to start at 9pm, in a venue where the price of a drink averages £4.30. It operates an 11pm curfew policy, meaning performances are normally supposed to end at that time. By 1.30am only a skeleton bus service was operating in the city while the subway and train services had closed down for the night.

Reporting on GnR’s Newcastle show two nights earlier, the Independent said: “You can get away with almost anything in pop – that’s kind of the point – but contempt for your fans is a cardinal sin. Asked for a reason for the insanely late hour at which Guns n’Roses deign to take the stage, his PR people replied simply: ‘No statement I’m afraid.’”