GUNS II: The mix of GNR and...

GUNS II: The mix of GNR and ACT UP could be volatile. Axl Rose is almost as well known for his outbursts (like the one against a photographer that spurred a riot at a St. Louis concert last year) as for his music. And ACT UP has built up a reputation for distrupting political rallies, film screenings and other public events. Last year the organization held a “die-in� in the middle of a Mass being held at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathederal. And another ACT UP activist infiltrated the 1991 Academy Awards show and shouted out an AIDS-death statistic.

Campbell said that no such disruptions are planned for the Mercury tribute if GNR stays on the bill--he’s glad for the money being raised for AIDS awareness, regardless. He’s also having trouble getting other AIDS and gay rights organizations, which generally consider ACT UP a fringe extremist group, to join his campaign. Representatives of both the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the London-based Terrence Higgins Trust, a beneficiary of the concert, told Pop Eye that they see GNR’s participation as a positive step in AIDS awareness, especially among hard rock fans.

And Metallica’s co-manager Peter Mensch said that any any anti-Axl uprising at the show seems unlikely. “The audience in England for Queen were rock fans,� he says. “If anything, the more rock acts on the show the better off it is in terms of the audience being happy.�