Guns N' Roses Call Out Critics Following Glastonbury Set

The Use Your Illusion II track "Get in the Ring" wasn't the first time Guns N' Roses slammed the press, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. The band has called out two music critics on Twitter for their reviews of the band's Glastonbury performance over the weekend, and also issued a statement blaming BBC for the sound issues in their airing of it.

Guns N' Roses were one of the main headliners at Glastonbury, playing a 24-song set that spanned over two hours on Saturday night (June 24). Arctic Monkeys closed out the festival on the main stage the night prior, and Elton John the night after. NME praised the rockers for the performance, calling it one of the "strongest sets" they've played in years, but noted the dichotomy between the band and the audience, which they referred to as "the hippie nucleus of the world."

This is an understandable conclusion to make, given the array of genres the weekend's performers belong to. Other publications, however, were not as pleasant in their reviews, and GN'R took a stand against them.

"...it would take a lot more hate than you," the band tweeted on June 27, which are lyrics from the song "Chinese Democracy." In the tweet, they tagged writers Neil McCormick and Mark Beaumont, who wrote pieces about their set for U.K. publications The Telegraph and Independent, respectively.

"But from the moment GN’R arrive – with uncharacteristic punctuality – they represent everything dated, rockist, indulgent and macho that Glastonbury has rejected since its inception," Beaumont wrote, later referring to frontman Axl Rose as "Guns N’ Roses’ fatal flaw."

"Guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan still look the part of grizzled rockers who only function at night, but Axl Rose just looks weird, like an aging small-town hairdresser who has been working out too hard at the gym. The real problem, though, is his voice," McCormick snarled in The Telegraph.

There were a lot of comments about Rose's voice online during BBC's televised airing of Guns' set, with many saying his vocals were going in and out or being drowned out by the music.

"Trying to watch @gunsnroses from Glastonbury, but what the hell is with the terrible sound quality?" one person wrote.

"It’s hard to judge Guns N’ Roses' Glastonbury set. The band sounded fantastic, and when you could hear Axl Rose he sounded great. However when you couldn’t it made it a hard watch. I’m not sure if that’s due to his voice or sound problems," another added.

See some of the tweets below.

A spokesperson from Guns N' Roses' agency has since issued a statement to Wales Online regarding the sound issues during the BBC special, blaming the network for the quality.

"Axl was in top form last night. We have dug deep into the matter, and it appears the broadcast had issues being played on certain TVs like UHDs. This was an unfortunate issue that the mix played through these TVs sounded so poorly; however, it was not the band’s fault but the BBC’s."

Several GN'R fans seem to agree that the sound quality wasn't the fault of the band, with one tweeting, "The fact the sound quality is better when recorded on your phone than it was on the telly highlights where the fault of the TV coverage lays and it’s not with @gunsnroses."

"Apology should be made to Guns N' Roses. The sound issues weren't the bands fault. Also I have seen them 7 times 8 in London this coming Friday. sometimes the sound at their gigs is like listening to a record. Journalists ain't music fans. GNFNR," added another.

Guns N' Roses will be on tour throughout Europe until late July, then will return to the U.S. for a North American run starting in August. See the full tour schedule here.