Axl Rose isn't happy with 'drone pirates' bootlegging Guns N' Roses' live gigs: "play with your toys somewhere else"

Axl Rose + Drone
(Image credit: Axl Rose - Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Stagecoach / Drone - Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Axl Rose would prefer if people flying drones at Guns N' Roses' shows would kindly get the fuck out of his face. 

Guns N' Roses frontman took to Twitter to - very politely, under the circumstances - register his displeasure with "drone pirates" who've been flying their 'crafts' at GN'R shows in Australia.

Gn'R played the 27,500-capacity Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland last night (November 24), and treated fans to a 28-song set which included covers by national heroes AC/DC (Whole Lotta Rosie), The Stooges (I Wanna Be Your Dog), Wings (Live And Let Die) and Bob Dylan (Knockin' On Heaven's Door). But Rose says the band were distracted by drones flying above the stage.

His Tweet reads: "Had a few drones this leg. Last night (Gold Coast Australia) was probably the most intrusive. Was a bit of a distraction as obviously someone thought it was just ok to be doing that but also it coming that close in front of the stage and then actually over n' on stage.

According to the police it happens more often than not lately especially with sporting events. It's not something we're all that used to. A lot of impulse reactions went thru everyone's minds that after thinking about it (which when ur live there's really no time to really sort things out like that) didn't make much sense. 

People were pissed. However much fun anyone's having ur still trying to stay focused  n' do ur job n' give the fans the best show u can. Anyway... we get it can be "fun" to get ur drone bootleg vid but we'd appreciate it if anyone planning to be a drone pirate took the fans n' the band into consideration n' played w/ur toys somewhere else. Big thank you in advance! 👍 😎"

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Guns will continue their tour at the Accor Stadium in Sydney on November 27 and play shows in Adelaide and Melbourne before heading to New Zealand. 

Watch fan-filmed footage of Guns N' Roses covering AC/DC's Whole Lotta Rosie at the Metricon Stadium below:

Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.