Following a split over the weekend with Glencoe CampResort, the Rock ‘N Rev Festival has found a new home at Monkey Rock USA and will bring Guns ‘N Roses and Daughtry with it, said Monkey Rock chief operating officer Chris Edwards.

“There are not a lot of places capable of hosting an event and lineup like this,” Edwards said. “We offered the option to solve a problem and they sent their operations people to survey the area — all of it happened within 48 hours.”

The new location for the weeklong festival was determined after negotiations fell through between concert promoters DC3 Global and Glencoe CampResort late last week, said Randy Alexander, public relations director for the festival promoter DC3 Global. He said new festival owners HDlogix and DC3 Global will build The Rock ‘N Rev Amphitheater at Monkey Rock on a 25-acre site. Negotiations for the 5-day concert series were finalized Monday afternoon.

“We were motivated to try to help and they were quite interested to find another place,” Edwards said. “With commitments to rally goers, they wanted to fulfill their end of the bargain.”

Alexander said Monkey Rock USA was chosen for its proximity to the Glencoe campground. DC3 said it is working with Glencoe to offer special accommodations at the festival for anybody who is camping. The new venue was also selected with future ventures in mind, Alexander said.

“The relationship has been entered with long-term vision in mind,” he said.

Bands scheduled to play at Glencoe will play at Monkey Rock USA with Guns ‘N Roses set to headline the Friday night stage for its first United States show in nine years and only U.S. show in 2010, Edwards said. Guns ‘N Roses will share the Friday night stage with Alice in Chains.

The Daughtry show time has not yet been determined, Edwards said.

Sturgis Mayor Maury LaRue was shocked to hear the new location of the festival.

“It’s up to them; if they make money it’s a good move,” LaRue said. “If they don’t, they will have to rethink it.”

After negotiations between DC3 and Glencoe broke down late last week due to unpaid rent, people who have reserved camping spaces at Glencoe had mixed feelings.

“I plan on having a good time, and so much easier to just walk back to your tent after the concerts,” Neil Smith said in an e-mail. “Now I will have to figure out ways to get back. This is not good business, they should work it out or they should have never announced the concert in the first place.”

Eagle River, Wis., resident John Jacobson said he has been attending the Sturgis bike rally for 13 years and stayed at Glencoe for five years and is glad the concert was moved.

“I am happy to see the concerts gone from Glencoe, there are far too many concert venues in Sturgis the way it is,” Jacobson said in an e-mail. “Concerts only appeal to a select few. It is not, and never will be, a reason to come to the Sturgis rally.”

Alexander said all tickets will be honored at the new location and prices will stay the same.

Contact Tyler Jerke at 394-8415 or tyler.jerke@rapidcityjournal.com

Guns N’ Roses live in Panama City, Panama
Time:7:00PM Wednesday, April 7th
Location:Estadio Figali

Guns N’ Roses live in San Jose, Costa Rica
Time:7:00PM Friday, April 9th
Location:Estadio Ricardo Saprissa

Guns N’ Roses live in San Salvador, El Salvador
Time:7:00PM Sunday, April 11th
Location:Estadio Cuscatlan

Guns N’ Roses live in Guatemala City, Guatemala
Time:7:00PM Tuesday, April 13th
Location:Estadio del Ejercito

Guns N’ Roses live in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Time:7:00PM Thursday, April 15th
Location:Roberto Clemente Coliseum

DJ Ashba (wrapped in a 'Rio Grande do Sul' flag) & Axl Rose

Getting There
After what happened in Rio on Sunday i was a tad nervous about how they would get everything ready to go for the Porto Alegre show. There was also the fact that the venue chosen to hold the gig was never used for a concert before. It turns out it was the perfect place.

It took us about 2 hours to get to the venue by car, traffic was slow because Fiergs is located in a very busy avenue that is an alternative entrance to the city of Porto Alegre. After getting our tickets from the box office we had to walk about two miles to get to the beginning of the huge line formed by about 6 thousand fans who were still outside waiting to get in. It was 9 PM and i was already tired, the line was moving slowly due to the tight security at the entrance of the venue, beer, cigarettes and a cheap hot-dog… Call that my dinner.

Inside
We finally went  in at around 9:50 pm, by then, according to the original schedule, Sebastian Bach should be at the end of his show and we would have to wait around 10 minutes for Axl and Co to get on stage and start the show. That wasn’t the case though. No band had played by then and the crew on stage looked nervous, probably with problems related to the incidents in Rio. The wait started.

The venue was great. Very well organized, beer price was alright, Guns N’ Roses merchandise was awesome too but, what impressed me the most was the amount of beautiful women hanging there, met many friends there. The atmosphere was magical! i have been to many big concerts in my life but i had never felt like that night. The proximity with the airport was a nice touch, those big airplanes flying over our heads, i can only imagine how amazing it must have been for those up there seeing the crowd at Fiergs as they fly by. PERFECT!

Axl Rose During 'Nightrain'

People seemed impatient with the wait, there was no information on what was hapening and, of course, rumours started spreading, canceled show, Axl still in Rio among other stupid things.

At midnight the first band that was supposed to play gets on stage, they get so booed and receive such hostility from the crowd that they had to leave stage after 3 songs.

It was almost 1am when Sebastian Bach hit the stage, the Savage Animal was on fire! He tamed the angry audience mixing classics from Skid Row with material from his Angel Down album. What a front man! His energy was incredible, he sang and rocked out for about one hour. Always kindly apologizing by the wait, asking if we were ready for Guns N’ Roses. Always in Portuguese, always loud, we love the Savage Animal!

At exactly 2 am, 15 minutes after Sebastian left the stage, lights went down. The place was filled with anticipation, so far we hadn’t seen anything special with the stage production, everything was kept for the big moment. A loud, weird perhaps scary song was playing on the PA’s then the song stops for an exciting moment of silence. Everything turned red, on the back of the stage, behind the drums, the silhouette of DJ Ashba, like a ghost, moved to a platform that lifted him, he rose his hands and the crowd went insane. When the first chords of ‘Chinese Democracy’ came up, you could barely hear it, the crowd was insanely loud, jumping up and down and singing along every word of the new song.

‘Chinese democracy’ was followed by ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ that literally made the floor tremble, at this point my voice was already gone and my knees were giving up. It made me wonder how Axl Rose does it.

It’s really important to point to the stage production, the pyro, lights, screens… What an spectacle!

Guns n Roses Magic

‘It’s So Easy’, ‘Mister Brownstone’ then ‘Sorry’, which to me was the best song of the nigh along with ‘Nightrain’ and ‘Better’.

After ‘Better’, an amazing James Bond session that started with Richard Fortus solo, “Fortus, Mister Richard Fortus”, said Axl Rose. Fortus played an amazing interpretation of the James Bond theme song, it was the first time i’ve ever seen more then 20 thousand people jumping up and down for a solo! The James bond session was closed with ‘Live and Let Die’ and ‘If the World’.

‘Shackler’s Revenge’ started and surprisingly to me, many people knew the lyrics and sang along throughout the whole song, ‘Street of Dreams’, ‘Rocket Queen’ then Dj Ashba’s solo preceded ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ that made the floor tremble once again.

Axl Rose was in great shape and in a great mood. At a certain point he called Beta to the stage, introduced her and she then translated to Portuguese a few words from Axl who was smilling the whole time. I am certain that the atmosphere was the same for him, the nigh was indeed, special. He kept joking “good morning”, because well, it was actually 3:15 am.

‘You Could be Mine’ with formula 1 cars on the screens, ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ then an EPIC ‘November Rain’ when a couple actually exchanged rings and got engaged during the song, all that on the middle of the crowd. “It was our dream” said the man to a local news website.

Ron Thal then played his Pink Panther solo with that little bit of ‘Estranged’ which makes me wish someday they would play that song again.

‘Knockin on Heaven’s Door’ Axl with a cowboy’s hat and the crowd singing along then ‘Nightrain‘ which, to me was the best version of the song i have ever heard. Axl wished us a good night and left the stage along with the band. As part of the crowd the crowd was shouting “Guns N’ Roses”, a good portion started to leave the place, i guess some people didn’t know about the encore.

‘Madagascar’ was the first song of the encore, on the big screen, a beautiful sun rising and Axl kepts saying “look, the sun is rising my friends” it was almost true.

‘Patience’ had a very funny moment, at some point somebody on the crowd, threw a Homer Simpson doll on stage, Axl picked it up and put it in his pants, he then walked to Ashba pretending he was, well let’s say pleasuring himself, while walking to the back of the stage Axl was laughing so much he couldn’t sing anymore, it was beautiful! The crowd went nuts again.

‘Paradise City’ closed this MAGIC concert, ‘Happy Birthday to You’ for Vanessa Lebeis and also for a fan that was holding a sign saying it was her birthday, she tried to kiss Axl he laughed and sang “Happy Birthday to you Vanessa and to this crazy girl i dont know who the fuck she is, happy birthday to you!”.

That was it, the best concert of my life, have in mind the list of concerts i went to is nor small or cheap! This one was MAGICAL. I had a bunch of friends with me some of them very skeptical professional musicians that by the end of show were saying that it was the best concert of their lives as well, people i never expected to hear something like that from. This show proved to me and a lot of people that good portion of the media is out to get Axl Rose and it won’t change. “Axl Rose turns red and sweats during concerts” haha! Gotta love professional/impartial/non-grudge-holding music critics.

Thank you Guns N' Roses, see you soon!

Thank you Guns N’ Roses. Thank you EL GORDO!

Gabriel

Axl Rose Arrives at Rio for the South American Tour

Discretely, the singer and leader of Guns N’ Roses, Axl Roses arrived at the International Airport Tom Jobim on the morning this Saturday, the 6th. Pushing his own luggage car followed by a few security men and friends, Axl walked across the lobby with a serious face. From there he went to the Sheraton Hotel in São Conrado, a southern neighborhood in Rio, where he will stay overnight to then, head to Brasília on a private jet for the first concert of the South American Tour, on Sunday the 7th.

Guns N’ Roses last show in Brazil was in 2001, when they played in Rock in Rio 3. This time, the band will do 5 shows across the country, starting with Brasília on the 7th then Belo Horizonte, on the 10th; São Paulo on the 13th, Rio on the 14th and closes the Brazillian leg of the tour in Porto Alegre on the 16th, where gunsnrosesfans.com will be for the coverage of the gig.

GN'R South America Tour

The Chinese Democracy South America Tour starts tomorrow in Brasilia - Brazil. Here’s the complete list of confirmed gigs. Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Porto Alegre are already sold out, most of the other venues have only a few tickets left, so if you want to be part of this, you better hurry!

Santiago(Chile) location is still uncertain due to the earthquake that destroyed part of the ‘Club Hipico‘ where Guns N’ Roses were supposed to play at.

Well played, Axl. Well played.

New York Post gossip column, Page Six, reports that Axl Rose and Scarlett Johansson sure are spending a lot of time in the same places. The aging rocker and sultry actress were spotted at an after-hours spot in NoHo a week ago Wednesday, the Box on Thursday, and the Boom Boom Room on Sunday until 3 a.m. On Tuesday of this week, after the curtain of “A View From the Bridge,” Johansson was seen playing pingpong with Rose at SPiN.

“They were laughing the whole time,” says a spy.

“They looked like they were having fun.” The Guns N’ Roses frontman later turned up solo at celebrity haunt Avenue. A different source said, “He swaggered in wearing jeans and an unbuttoned T-shirt, showing off his chest, and wearing lots of bracelets and rings. He had a pingpong paddle in his hand . . . He was in a good mood drinking vodka . . . He even danced on the table for a while.” Johansson’s new husband, Ryan Reynolds, is in New Orleans filming “Green Lantern.”

Source: New York Post

Gigantinho, Porto Alegre

After Buenos Aires, Porto Alegre, the second sold out show in South America. All fifteen thousand tickets are gone twenty days prior to the gig.

Other venues are expected to be sold out soon. Guns N’ Roses last show in Brazil was in 2001 at the Rock In Rio Festival, attended by over 200 thousand fans.

Fuck!! The NY shows were insane!! Love the free form laid back vibe n’ both were completely different from r view. The fans were AMAZING!! John (Varvatos) was really great! And to keep CBGB’s rockin’?! Badass!! Goin’ into Rose Bar was rough on some. Lotta best left memories from the old hotel. The gig helped w/some o’ those. Felt really good on stage. (We actually “LIKE” playing together n’ I absolutely agree some things should b a lot less complicated than others made them in the past that’s why we’re together n’ other’s by their own accord ain’t here.) We all had a great time, it was a madhouse!! Thanks to everyone who came out n’ those who helped put ‘em 2gether. Good to have a short break n’ gear up 4 South America. I LOVE NY!!

On another note Guns is now managed by Doc McGhee n’ we’re off to a fun start. Big welcomes! It’s nice to have the support!!

Elsewhere:

Canadian tour n’ Slash banned clothing nonsense: which I addressed live as soon as it happened but hey fake allegations from unreliable sources bein’ negative n’ all especially w/us n’ these issues got more weight to n’ 4 aholes. Fabricated from a 2001 bs RS piece from Rock N’ Rio. Bottom line Never happened, end of story. Fuck TMZ, ContactMusic, Spinner (I got ur attitude.)

Goin’ on late at Rose Bar nonsense: Nope, Nopity, Nope!! 1:30am on time! U got played!! We were asked to do a show for fans n’ friends etc. We were told when to arrive n’ when to play between 1 an 2am which we did exactly. We didn’t perform for the press or their deadlines other than that they were there. We do our best provided we r treated in the same manner to be polite n’ cordial. The past can kiss ur ass, not gonna happen here. Under other circumstances n’ advance arrangements things may have been or be different, w/these shows they weren’t.

Goin’ on “hours” late in Toronto nonsense: Based on set change etc. went on 1 hour 8mins late w/circumstances beyond r control n’ last minute physical injuries from earlier performances (which took that hour to find ways to deal with) n’ could have cancelled the performance not “hrs”. Apologies were made. If u have a problem w/any of that or especially if u weren’t there fuck off.

Not doin’ surprise shows for the hardcore fans nonsense: Sorry some feel that way. Saw a lot at both gigs singin’ every word in every song. We made efforts to get several if not all fans who contacted us n’ were in town into these gigs. We also didn’t know most of the guests as we don’t live here n’ for that matter what makes some internet fan more hardcore than whoever else anyway, oh that’s rt…nothing!! Some just like 2 bitch 2 bitch. So if ur complainin’ n’ u drink beer, today I recommend a Lucky or perhaps a Red Stripe…if ur still peeved…again, fuck off.

I sweat nonsense: On ur mama! Really? That’s what u write about? No shit! I work hard, it’s good for ya n’ I smell better than u!!

Takin’ shots at Slash n’ reunions over Haiti nonsense: Never happened. Wasn’t aware of any comments from the old lineup.

So in closing…Fuck the LA Times, TMZ, Contact Music n’ Spinner. I don’t need “forgiven” for alleged n’ fabricated nonsense. I’ve no respect for mean spirited aholes gettin’ paid talkin’ shit at other’s expense or irresponsible biased partisan politics wanna be journalism by dated hacks. Go on! Back ur boy! But when he says he never killed no one that ain’t exactly true. Yeah, that’s right, stone cold. So if we happen to play your neighborhood or for that matter anywhere at anytime regardless of the circumstances, presales, public sales, give aways, even free shows consider yourself uninvited. It’s a free country but you’re formally n’ publicly not welcome.

Bottom line is we ain’t makin’ efforts to rain on ur parade why piss on or take cheap shots at r’s. Oh that’s rt…how u make ur livin’s all that counts not others, whatever. U ain’t above anyone regardless of who or what corporation u work for n’ unfortunately most of u’ll get to learn that the hard way.

Everyone else…

Thanks for ALL the positive comments, press n’ tearin’ it up w/us!! It was absolutely fucking AMAZING!! Can’t wait to see u out there n’ we absolutely appreciate your support!!

Thanks again 2 everyone involved n’ everyone that was rockin’ out 4 makin’ everything SO fucking great!!

What an experience!!

Peace!!

Axl-

We are so unbeleivably honoured to go to BRAZIL with Guns N’ Roses in March! How great it will be to play in this beautiful country again where it is HOT out man I can’t wait to hit the beach & rock out stadiums & arenas all across the country! The tour keeps rolling along thank you so much Axl Rose & Guns N’ Roses & Crew! Next up after tour we will hit the studio & record the next record ! See ya soon BRASIL I can’t wait !!

Guns n' Roses in Nyc

Flashbulbs popped, tequila flowed and a cool crowd including Russell Simmons, Dita Von Teese, Mickey Rourke, Adrian Grenier, Chloë Sevigny, Strokes‘ Fabrizio Moretti and other assorted models and musicians let loose last night at swanky Nur Khan’s Rose Bar in New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel, where Guns N’ Roses played a secret, invite-only show.

The surreal soirée was GN’R's second unannounced New York Fashion Week appearance in the past few days. (Thursday they played the John Varvatos store, former site of CBGBs).

Hitting the stage after 1:30AM with ‘You’re Crazy,’ notorious frontman Axl Rose and his new GN’R musicians bedazzled the small, jam-packed room with an hour-and-a-half of classics, as well as newer material from ‘Chinese Democracy.’
Songs like ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,’ ‘Mr. Brownstone,’ ‘Patience,’ and ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ jetted us into a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy, where booze is the fountain of youth, cigarettes are good for you, and sex is the engine of everything. (It was a good place to be for a night.)

“Is this really happening,” slurred an awe-stricken lass who, to get a better view, had stumbled up beside me onto a red velvet platform fashioned from Rose Bar’s elegant billiard table. While the sophisticated crowd was hardly wide-eyed, drunk girl summed up the overall vibe. There we were in a gorgeous space designed by Julian Schnabel, Warhol art on the walls, being entertained by larger-than-life legends sweating bullets just a few feet away, close enough for inappropriate eye contact. Sure, there was some inevitable pushing, shoving and posturing, but overall there were probably more smiles in that one room than most attendees had ever seen in a New York bar.

On stage was the “new” Guns N’ Roses in all its glory, including bassist Tommy Stinson (formerly of the Replacements) and songwriting guitarist DJ Ashba, who has a big top hat to fill and rises to the occasion in terms of both charisma and guitar riffs. (He’s also written and produced for Motley Crue.) Tattooed and shirtless beneath his vest and rocking more eyeliner than Lady Gaga, like the rest of the band, Ashba works the sexy LA glam look to the max, flirting with self-caricature but somehow never quite crossing that line. Yet mustachioed Axl was, of course, the main attraction. Sporting a cowboy hat, shades, and velveteen jacket, he didn’t talk much. He didn’t have to, his melodic caterwaul and snakelike dance moves said it all.

Love him or hate him, Axl is a rock star. So, as we do with all icons, we forgive them their attitudes, bad behavior, and tragic flaws — allegedly banning Slash-related attire at a recent stadium concert in Saskatchewan, hitting the stage hours late in Toronto — as long as they deliver when it counts.

After the final bangs of ‘Paradise City,’ the band disappeared and the crowd fled, heading, probably, to various after-parties and leaving an empty room strewn — literally — with broken glass and rose petals.