Irish Journalist Slams 'Bloated' AXL ROSE Over Dublin Concert Fiasco (Audio)

Ronan McGreevy of the Irish Times, who attended last night's (Wednesday, September 1) ill-fated GUNS N' ROSES concert in Dublin, was interviewed earlier today by Frank Mitchell, a television and radio presenter working for UTV and Ireland's fastest growing radio station U105.8 FM. You can listen to the chat below.

GUNS N' ROSES walked off the stage at the O2 Arena in Dublin on Wednesday night just 22 minutes into the band's set, after keeping fans waiting for well over an hour for the band to begin playing. According to IrishTimes.com, a statement from the Irish concert promotion company MCD today said GUNS N' ROSES was supposed to be on stage at 9:45 p.m., but ended up going on stage at 10:26 p.m. despite "every effort being made by the promoters" to ensure the band took to the stage on time.

GUNS came on more than an hour after the opening act finished playing and leading members of the audience to boo and throw water bottles at the stage. More bottles arrived onstage after the group finally did start their show, leading singer Axl Rose to announce, "One more bottle and we're going home, we're here to have fun and we hope you are too, but one more and we are gone."

Three songs later, another object was hurled onstage. Rose said goodnight, the group stopped the show and left the stage at 10:50 p.m. By 11:10 p.m., the house lights had come on and most of the crowd had left, despite staff members saying that they were trying to get the group to return.

The crowd were told they were experiencing "technical difficulties" before MCD promoter Denis Desmond came on stage and asked the crowd for patience.

"We're trying hard to get Axl to come back on stage," he said, according to IrishTimes.com. "I'm trying hard to get Axl to come back on stage. I'd ask you please to refrain from throwing items at him. I promise a great show, but you have to calm. I'm sorry about that."

After a short interval, the lights came on and thousands of fans left the arena.

The band appeared back on stage at 11:20 p.m. to complete their set. Rose said to the crowd: "Let's try this again". He did not say another word to the crowd other than to thank them at the end of the show.

According to IrishTimes.com, the band played until 12:52 a.m., by which stage more fans had left.

This latest drama follows last weekend's controversial GUNS N' ROSES gigs at England's Reading and Leeds festivals, where the band came onstage late despite warnings from the promoters, and had both sets cut short.

Rose posted a series of messages on Twitter claiming that the band was under the impression that their curfew was to be extended, although promoters had clearly said earlier in the week that GUNS had to abide by local curfew regulations.