Just when everyone was starting to accept the new responsible, punctual, and generally well-behaved Guns N’ Roses, front man Axl Rose decides to drop the news, onstage in front of 50,000 fans, that the tour was detained for gun possession. With a mischievous grin and a pep in his noticeably heavier step, Rose told Toronto’s Roger’s Center on July 16, “So, we weren’t exactly arrested. We were detained,†about the incident, which happened at a Canadian Border stop on July 15, as the group and its road crew traveled from a concert in Philadelphia. Rose went on: “They were very nice, they were very understanding. You know, it happens: You can forget you have a fucking gun.†Rose, always a showman, added after a beat for applause, “Wasn’t my gun.â€
A rep confirmed the incident to Billboard and claimed that the firearm didn’t belong to anyone in the band. Still, Rose would like you to remember this moment and retire those hurtful jokes about how he and Slash have gone “as soft as Axl’s belly,†thank you very much.