Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose threw a punch at MCD boss Denis Desmond at the O2 arena on Wednesday night, according to this morning’s Irish Sun.
Controversy erupted at the Dublin venue earlier in the week after Rose and the rest of his band walked off the stage only minutes into their performance after being pelted with bottles from the crowd.
Concert-goers were angry that the band had taken to the stage at nearly 11pm, over an hour later than scheduled, and responded by throwing bottles, some rumoured to be containing urine, towards the stage.
Rose and his bandmates left the stage and were confronted by an angry Denis Desmond, boss of MCD, who demanded that the band return to the stage and finish their set. According to a report in this morning’s Irish Sun, Desmond and Rose were involved in an angry and physical confrontation back stage.
The paper quote “an insider”, who revealed: “Axl did get physical with Denis backstage and there was also a heated exchange between the two of them as he wanted to leave the building altogether.
“He shaped to him and threw a punch but Denis remained calm. Denis told him in no uncertain terms that he was obliged to get out there and deliver a performance to fans.
“It didn’t develop into anything serious and security didn’t have to intervene but Axl was acting out of control. As far as Denis is concerned, he (Rose) is a puppy dog in comparison to what he used to be like in his heyday so he just shrugged it off.”
Rose and the band did eventually go back on stage about an hour after leaving and finished their set, but according to various reviews of the gig, it was far from paradise in the city.
