2010: A Year In Review

Another GN'R Rollercoaster Year

- January:
As Axl tore into his latest world tour and into a new decade, the first controversy was not far around the corner in what proved to be one of the most eventful GN'R years in history. Axl made his way through Canada, allegedly banning any Slash gear or paraphernalia from the shows. This led to a war of words between the fans and eyewitness accounts, and would ultimately lead to Dexter's return.

- February:
The North American leg of the tour comes to a close with Axl exploding back onto the forums to request madison's presence in the ring. Madison was later de-modded from her position at mygnr, and inter-forum debates began about the morality and fairness of the rant. You can still view it here. Questions were raised over the motives, Axl and Beta's influence and whether or not priviledges were given to Eric Romano(admin of mygnr) in return for madison's removal, though he claims the two incidents were unrelated. Axl also announces two surprise acoustic gigs, and following these shows announces the partnership of Guns N' Roses and Doc McGee management, an annoucement that Doc McGee would later challenge.

- March:
South American Leg proceeds, and proves to be the most successful of the 2010 tour. World-renowned music video director Dale "Rage" Resteghini announced his new collaboration with Axl Rose, to document and shoot stills for the band's current South American tour. The partnership fell apart, with Richard Fortus citing that it simply didn't work out. Meanwhile, Slash releases the first single "By the Sword" from his solo album. March was rounded off by two more major annoucements. One being that Guns would be headlining this years Reading & Leeds Festival, and the other that former manager Irving Azoff would be suing Axl Rose.

- April:
A lackluster month for Axl as Guns play three shows in Central America. On the other side of the fence, Slash releases his solo record and embarks on the talk show circuit. Duff McKagan appears onstage with Jane's Addiction for the first time.

- May:
Axl Rose slams Irving Azoff with a counter-suit worth $5 million, claiming that the former manager tried to implement a scheme to force him to reunite with the original Guns N' Roses band members and, as part of the plot, failed to properly promote the Chinese Democracy album, lied about a prospective Van Halen super tour and mishandled the band's tour dates. Axl ends the month with the beginning of the European tour. GunsNFNRoses was founded in this month.

- June:
Both Axl and Slash shred through their respective tours, with Slash announcing the first in a line of live albums.

- July:
Guns take a summer break from touring, though announce their only USA appearance of the year in Sturgis.

- August:
Widespread panic was caused in mid-August as an Axl tweet reading "All upcoming Guns N' Roses dates are officially cancelled. Please contact your place of purchase for any refunds," threw the tour, the band, and the fans into chaos. Speculation led to rumours of Bumblefoot's departure following a dispute over late starts, particularly at Sturgis, though this was later denied by Bumblefoot himself. The camp claimed that no shows were cancelled, and that Axl's twitter had been hacked. This was never proven, and only one tweet has been made since. Guns have their set cut short at Reading after a late start, despite prior warning from the festivals promoters, leading to an onstage sit-down protest. Pro-shot footage from the show was shown on the BBC for the songs "Welcome to the Jungle," "This I Love," "Street of Dreams" and "November Rain."

- September:
September kicked off with one of the biggest incidents of the year, now known as the Dublin Incident. When the band appeared on stage nearly two hours late they were welcomed with a chorus of disgruntled boos from the crowd, leading a few members of the audience to throw plastic cups and bottles towards the stage. Axl stopped the show at the beginning of the second song to warn the audience, "one more bottle and we go home." Less than twenty minutes later another bottle found its way on stage and Axl kept his promise, storming off stage leaving the audience bewildered for over half an hour. Following an alleged dispute backstage with promoters, Axl eventually came back on stage and finished the set, glued to the spot into the early hours of the morning.

- October:
In a rare positive story in 2010 for Guns, Duff McKagan joined the band onstage in London for four songs, becoming only the second Gunner to do so (Izzy Stradlin performed with the band in 1993 and 2006). The surprise sparked reunion rumours, and was deemed one of this year's feel-good Guns stories.

- November:
Confusion over the new album is further emphasized when Dj Ashba told fans they would not have to wait long, and that things were definately in the works. However Bumblefoot soon responded that fans should not hold their breath, and that they have not written any new material as a band. By the end of the month, Axl sued the makers of Guitar Hero for $20 million.

- December:
*under construction* Tour ends in Abu Dhabi.

(original article here)