Anyone who expects Guns N' Roses (or about a million other bands) not to drink on stage is setting himself up for disappointment. Fire marshalls in Portland, Maine, told the band state law forbade them to have booze onstage, especially with its concert pyrotechnics figured in, so the band cancelled its Monday show there, according to Billboard.com. Axl Rose, as always a master of rhetoric, managed to take credit for the decision while deriding the people who actually prompted it:
"I agree with, and ultimately take responsibility for, the end decision not to jeopardize the safety of the fans, the crews, the bands and myself as a result of the methods of these particularly Draconian authorities," [Rose wrote on the band's website]. "We hope to find another way to play for you in the future."
Besides, the expenses of the show would have drawn valuabe resources away from the making of Chinese Democracy.