No Booze, No Show

If you'd think just for one second that Axl Rose and his fading Guns N'Roses are that desperate to play anywhere, under any conditions, then you are deceived. Despite the sagging career, the inability to release an album on which Axl reportedly worked for the last ten years (!) and the awful feed-back the band got from the critics, Guns N'Roses still has the same high demands that it used to years ago, when it was at the height of its fame.

Portland, Maine was to be the next place where the band would rock on the sound of classics like 'November Rain' or 'Sweet Child of Mine'. However, because Axl and his fellow mates were not allowed to drink alcohol on stage, they refused to go on with the show as scheduled.

Organizers for the event said that the stage was literally filled with pyrotechnical devices, which were to go off both during and at the end of the show. Even if it hadn't been for it, it would still have been impossible for the rockers to drink wine, beer and Jagermeister while performing, as they would have thus violated a state law that prohibits performers all alcohol use while on stage.

A chief fire-marshal who supervised the assembling of the pyrotechnical devices advised the band members not to use alcohol close to them. A few hours after that, Guns N'Roses canceled the show, without as much as giving a specific reason for the pullout. A statement from the band's publicist said only that fire marshals are responsible for, quote, 'making it impossible for the band to perform their show to the usual high standards that their fans deserve'.

On a more subjective note, some claim that maybe Axl (considered as the main person responsible for the cancellation) should have considered other alternatives also before just pulling the plug. Taking out the fireworks or just not drink on stage would have probably best risen to the 'usual high standards that their fans deserve'.