Feared and respected Guns N’ Roses autocrat Axl Rose cares not for your free speech it seems, with the rock legend employing the use of his band’s personal muscle to silence one fan who simply asked the question we’ve all been asking: “Where’s Izzy?”
During a Guns N’ Roses show in Nashville, diehard fan Caroline Campos brought with her a super DIY sign sporting the question, holding it up for all to see. The sign is a reference to original member Izzy Stradlin who is absent from the band’s recent reformation.
Other original member Steven Adler recently joined the band on a tour date, something which inspired Campos’ next move.
“When the original drummer Steven Adler came out to play his set, I held up my sign with cheers from most of the people in my section,” explained Campos in a Facebook post. “Axl looked at my sign and started laughing and said ‘That’s a good question!’ He seemed to appreciate the sign.”
She put the sign away once the performance began, however, it was now that things got very Gestapo-y.
“About 10 to 15 minutes later, while GnFnR was playing ‘November Rain,’ our section got swarmed by security AND stage crew (with headsets on). They went row by row asking ‘Who has the sign?? Who has the ‘Where’s Izzy sign’?’ Most everyone in my section acted like they had no idea. Eventually, they made it to the row behind me and saw the sign tucked under my chair.
“A guy in jeans and a black shirt tapped my shoulder and said ‘Is that your sign? You need to give it to me.’ I said ‘Why? Who are you?’ He showed a badge and said, ‘I’m with the band and they’ve asked for the sign to be removed.”
Despite that being the most intimidating thing EVER (Badged, undercover personal Guns N Roses police?) Campos stood her ground:
“I said, ‘We aren’t allowed to have signs?? But I read that…’ and he cut me off and said, ‘You can’t have THAT sign. Give it to me.’ I gave it to him and he walked away folding and ripping it up.”
You can see the offending sign and story below.
Izzy Stadlin was a founding member of the band, filling the roll of rhythm guitarist. He eventually parted ways with the band at the height of their success in the early 1990s.
