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Abbey_Road

One year ago we had this. Seems like yesterday doesn't it? And we still have no idea what is going on:headbang:

Thursday, December 14th 2006
An open letter to our fans:

Guns N' Roses regrets to announce that the following concert tour dates have been cancelled:

January 10th Sacramento

January 11th Bakersfield

January 13th Reno

January 16th San Diego

Due to the schedule of these particular shows valuable time needed by the band and record company for the proper setup and release of the album Chinese Democracy would be lost. Rather than delay the album yet again all involved have decided to remove these shows from GNR's schedule. We sincerely hope our fans understand and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone. Tickets may be refunded at local point of purchase.

To say the making of this album has been an unbearably long and incomprehensible journey would be an understatement. Overcoming the endless and seemingly insanity of the obstacles faced by all involved, not withstanding the emotional challenges endured by everyone: the fans, the band, our road crew and business team has at many times seemed for all like a bad dream where one wakes up only to find they are still in the nightmare and unfortunately this time it has been played out for over a decade in real life.

The true ongoing behind-the-scenes triumphs and casualties are much more complicated than any negative speculation that media or otherwise has managed to hit upon. For much of the time some form or another of legalities have been taking place that really the best way to deal with publicly was to keep our mouths shut in an attempt to ensure the best outcome and especially one that wouldn't jeopardize the band or the album. One can easily point to how others have done things or how they themselves feel that they would were they in the same situations but without full knowledge of the various dynamics and circumstances involved, again these types of comments or commentary are uninformed, outside, generally useless and often hindering speculation.

When I agreed to do our recent North American tour I agreed with the understanding that I and my manager Merck Mercuriadis were in full agreement as to our strategy, touring plans and most importantly that any and all things needed to release the album at the latest by Dec. 26th were to be in place. Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case and not only do I regret to say that again the album will not be released by the end of the year but that though many things went extremely well and were very exciting there were in our opinion unnecessary and avoidable complications on our tour having to do with the tour routing, scheduling and album and video plans that played hell on all involved especially our crew. This was compounded by an overall sense of a lack of respect by management for the band and crew and each individual's particular expertise that has resulted unfortunately in the end of both Guns and my relationship in having a management or sense of band involvement with Merck Mercuriadis.

In regard to a release date for the album itself certain minor and by that I do mean minor things and or additions as well as contract negotiations need to be completed and barring any unforeseen complications these things have now been adequately scheduled. Both the band and I along with our record company feel that this record deserves the proper setup and promotion not the '13 Tuesdays left' and 'it may just appear in your record store' approach offered by management. We believe this strategy may have been used in order for management to sell this latest tour to the various promoters. We feel that if this was so, this was obviously unfair to them. The stress of dealing with this situation has been considerable for everyone as well as to the band themselves as a whole but that this was more importantly in our opinion something utterly insane to do to our fans. Our apologies and please know we have been laboring over this with management for the entire North American tour.

It takes approximately 8 weeks for an album to hit the shelves once it has been turned in to the record company. For whatever reasons it appears it may have been mistakenly inferred by management that this could be condensed to three. That being said this is not a promise, a lie or a guarantee but we do wish to announce a tentative release date of March 6th. This is the first time we have done this publicly for this album. Any and all other dates have been made up by others for their own reasons. We would like to assure the fans that though tentative everything in our power will be done to meet this date. Once it is finalized and official you will be notified. If we are delayed for unseen reasons you will also be notified as soon as possible in regard to a new date and the album will be released as shortly thereafter as is possible. We thank you for your patience.

In the end it's just an album and one that I, the band, our record company and all involved believe and feel is a true Guns N' Roses album. Ultimately the public will decide and regardless of the outcome our hearts, lives and our passion has been put into this project every step of the way. If for no other reason we feel those elements alone merit your consideration. We do hope you can hold on just a bit longer and if not we hope you would please feel free to take a break and we'll be more than glad (if you so choose) to see you again later.

Once again, our sincere apologies and our deepest thanks, Guns N' Roses would also like to thank all the fans who attended the 70 concerts in 21 different countries for their support in 2006. All the best to each and every one of you over this holiday season, thank-you and God bless.

Sincerely,
Axl Rose

SOURCE: HTGTH
RELATED DISCUSSION: http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?showtopic=86750

Abbey_Road

I will say one more thing and maybe someone can shed some light on this.

Why were those January shows canceled?

It wasn't obviously to finish the album.

Was it lack of ticket sales?

Nothing makes sense because Merck said that they needed money so they toured, right? But, the cancel shows to finish an album? It costs money to finish an album which they could have made the money when they toured in Australia and Japan, right?

So then why were the shows in Jan. canceled?

Abbey_Road

Also, I have no idea why this thread I did posted 3 times but my computer got stuck.

Jimmy Zig Zag Bobiadis

Abbey_Road wrote:

So then why were the shows in Jan. canceled?

to get the album finished up? it went into the mixing stage in february (according to del james). who knows whats up with it now but apparently there is issues with the label. no use in trying to speculate on what it is or point the finger and blame people. we don't fucking know.

Axl S

Most likely the original intention was to finish the album, doesn't mean he was actually gonna do it.

James

I always said it was low ticket sales. I had tickets to the Sac show, and up until the day of cancellation, you could have your choice of anywhere in the arena, and thats including the 8 ticket buy limit set by Ticketmaster. One of the worst selling shows in history. I knew it was gonna get canceled long before they announced it. Had the show went on, it would have been laughable and probably would have had mainstream media coverage for how empty it was. Same goes for the other CA valley shows.

If it was to finish the album, the Los Angeles dates would have been canceled as well.

Cant tour the central valley without an album(whether its GNR or another artist). No one here gives a flying fuck.

AtariLegend

Abbey_Road wrote:

obviously to finish the album.

I thought BBF was said to be recording in the studio in Jan... or Feb...

Jimmy Zig Zag Bobiadis

AtariLegend wrote:

Abbey_Road wrote:
obviously to finish the album.
I thought BBF was said to be recording in the studio in Jan... or Feb...

So was Bach for "Sorry"

DoubleTalkingJive

I believe the intent was there to finish, I really don't believe they cancelled the shows for anything but that. Whatever happened next, only those involved know the story.

Acekicken

I do remember reading that & yeah it dose
seem like a short time ago. Sebastian did record
his Vocals on Jan first as has been posted.As a fan
I will buy the CD on the first day it comes out but Im done saying
it will be out this year.. As to why they canceled shows anything
said is pure speculation.

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