10 Most Infamous Guns N' Roses Moments

7. Guns N' Roses 2002 US Riots (Vancouver and Philadelphia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUmt70lo9Ew Following revived interest in the band at the turn of the millennium, Rose emerged with a new band and a considerably new wardrobe in Las Vegas. Promising a new album, entitled 'Chinese Democracy', the band made only a handful of appearances (and cancelled a major European tour in 2001) before appearing at the MTV VMA's 2002 - celebrating the 10th anniversary of their most infamous appearance. At the event Rose looked in top form and performed a medley of tracks, including 'Madagascar', which would later go on to become a song from the new album. Talk of the band's appearance was a major media coup in the US and meant that, in order to take advantage, a US tour was needed. The tour was booked as somewhat of a homecoming and dates were extended to LA in January 2003. On November 7th, the night of the first show, Axl was reported to have been an hour late landing in the city due to the plane's mechanical troubles - promoters got word that the band wouldn't be leaving until after the support acts had started and cancelled the show. Subsequently, a riot ensued, which resulted in destruction of property and several arrests. Rose readily appeared on a radio programme to quell concerned concertgoers, saying the matter had nothing to do with him and he was sorry a compromise couldn't have been found. A few weeks later and the band were scheduled to perform in Philadelphia over two nights. On the first night both support acts (Mixmaster Mike and CKY) had performed their sets and there was no sign of Guns N' Roses. The show was cancelled at 11pm - the time it was originally meant to end anyway - with some fans having waited hours in line to see the group since that morning. As stories of Rose feasting on a lamb dinner and refusing to leave his hotel room until a basketball game had ended began circulating among the crowd, more civil unrest and disturbance occurred. Another riot broke out and this one led to the cancellation of all remaining dates and any GNR performances in the US until 2006. The original announcement in the arena that night was that the performance was being cancelled for 'Health Issues' with Axl later telling reporters (several years later) that he had cancelled the original show at 6am that morning due to health reasons but his then manager hadn't taken him seriously. Clear Channel, the tour's promoters, were also rumoured to be having financial trouble within their company and couldn't pay the insurance on any such incidence of destruction. Who knows what to believe?