GUNS N' ROSES WALK OFF STAGE IN IRELAND

Guns N' Roses walked off the stage at the O2 Arena in Dublin, Ireland on Wednesday night (September 1st) just 22 minutes into their set, after keeping fans waiting for well over an hour for the band to begin playing. According to Entertainment.ie, Guns came on at 10:25 p.m. -- more than an hour after the opening act finished playing and leading members of the audience to boo and throw water bottles at the stage. More bottles arrived onstage after the group finally did start their show, leading singer Axl Rose to announce, "One more bottle and we're going home, we're here to have fun and we hope you are too, but one more and we are gone."

Three songs later, another object was hurled onstage. Rose said goodnight, the group stopped the show and left the stage at 10:50 p.m. By 11:10 p.m., the house lights had come on and most of the crowd had left, despite staff members saying that they were trying to get the group to return. Finally, at 11:25 p.m., Guns came back to play to a mostly empty venue, with the remaining audience members still angry.

There have been no official announcements about the matter, nor has the O2 issued any statements regarding refunds.

This latest drama follows last weekend's controversial Guns N' Roses gigs at England's Reading and Leeds Festivals, where the band came onstage late despite warnings from the promoters, and had both sets cut short.

Rose posted a series of messages on Twitter claiming that the band was under the impression that their curfew was to be extended, although promoters had clearly said earlier in the week that Guns had to abide by local curfew regulations.

ROCK QUICK HITS

Apocalyptica's new album 7th Symphony debuted at Number 31 on the Billboard album chart on Wednesday (September 1st), selling 13,000 copies in its first week of release in the U.S. The latest disc from the Finnish rock cello quartet followed up their 2008 release, Worlds Collide, which was the band's breakthrough hit in North America. (Billboard)

Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland revealed in an interview with Explore Music that he is working on a Christmas album. Weiland released his own version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as a single last year and is now making a full record, saying, "It'll be very traditional, you know, strings, upright bass, jazz horns, piano and guitar. I'm sort of picking various versions of these songs because they've been covered so many times . . . There's also a couple of songs that we're doing our own versions of -- there's a reggae version of 'Little Drummer Boy' and a couple of secular songs as well." (Explore Music)

Flyleaf will kick off the second leg of the band's Unite & Fight tour in Philadelphia on September 10th, with the band also launching a text campaign to support World Vision's fight against human trafficking of children. When fans text UNITE to 20222, $10 will be added to their cell phone bill and a donation will be made to World Vision's effort to rescue children who are victims of human trafficking. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/crek84

AUDIO SAMPLES OF GODSMACK SINGER'S ALBUM UP ON YOUTUBE

Audio samples of all 10 tracks from Godsmack singer Sully Erna's debut solo album, Avalon, have now been posted online at YouTube. The CD is scheduled for release on September 14th and a single called "Sinner's Prayer" was sent to rock radio stations last month. Erna told us that he considers Avalon a high point of his musical career to this point: "That has been really probably one of the best times I've had in my musical career ever, and I feel like it's some of my best work I've ever done. I'm really excited to have the public hear it. I've been keeping it on a very tight, you know, lock and chain."

In addition to "Sinner's Prayer," tracks on the album include "7 Years," "Broken Road," "The Rise," "The Departed" and the title track.

Although Erna finished making the record last year, he held off on issuing until after Godsmack released its fifth studio effort, The Oracle, earlier this summer.

In a post at Godsmack's MySpace page, Erna emphasized that Avalon was "not a rock record," saying, "This record was recorded with all hand drums, cellos, flutes, piano, etc. It is very eclectic and intellectual. It is something that you will want to put on when you're in the mood to lie on your couch, dim the lights, and light all your candles and incense. Just vibe out to this hypnotic variety of music, and enjoy the pictures that will be painted in your mind."

Meanwhile, the latest single from The Oracle, "Love Hate Sex Pain," is already in the rock radio Top 10.

Godsmack will kick off a fall U.S. tour on September 28th in Hollywood, Florida, with shows set through November 4th in Los Angeles. Support will come from Five Finger Death Punch and Drowning Pool.

AUDIO: GODSMACK'S SULLY ERNA VERY PROUD OF SOLO ALBUM

COLDPLAY'S CHRIS MARTIN UNVEILS NEW SONG AT APPLE EVENT

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin was a surprise guest performer at Apple's annual press event in San Francisco on Wednesday (September 1st), where he played a brand new song called "Wedding Bells." Martin did not say whether the tune would surface on Coldplay's next record, only hinting, "It might not even come out. (This) could be the only time it ever appears." Martin also joked about the track, calling it "Coldplay 2.6" and saying, "I've been working on it . . . It has a lot of new features. It features seven different kinds of chords. Even a new one that our closest rivals have no idea about."

Martin performed alone at a piano, also running through renditions of the Coldplay hits "Viva La Vida" and "Yellow."

A video of Martin playing "Wedding Bells" on acoustic guitar surfaced last fall on YouTube.

Coldplay has been working on its next album, the follow-up to 2008's massive Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, with producer Brian Eno. The record is scheduled to arrive sometime in the first half of 2011.

KILLERS FRONTMAN PREVIEWS SOLO DISC ONLINE

Killers frontman Brandon Flowers is streaming 45-second clips of his debut solo album, Flamingo, at Spin.com. The record arrives on September 14th, while first single "Crossfire" is a Top 10 hit at Alternative Rock radio. Flowers told Spin that the disc was heavily inspired by his hometown of Las Vegas, saying, "A lot of my life took place on Flamingo (Road). It's part of Vegas mythology, and now it's part of my own mythology. My first job was at a golf course on Flamingo. Sam's Town (a casino that inspired the title of the Killers' 2006 album) is on Flamingo. I met my wife at a clothing store on Flamingo. That's my 'hood."

Flowers' first job was as a bellhop at a Vegas hotel, where he says he saw some eye-opening things: "I worked the graveyard shift a few times and somebody ordered condoms to their room. I went and picked them up and brought them to his room. When the door opened there was an orgy happening. I had never seen anything like it. There were a lot of naked bodies; flesh was everywhere. But they tipped me 20 bucks!"

The singer and keyboard player told us that even though he's toured the world for much of the past six years, he still finds Sin City irresistible. "After being around everywhere, I just love how wide open it is. You're not encircled in gigantic apartment buildings and crammed together. It's really open and you can see the sky and I love the desert and it's a beautiful city at night as well."

Even though Flowers said initially that he was recording Flamingo because the Killers were taking a break, he admits that he missed working in a "band" environment, telling Spin, "At first I thought (going solo) would be this liberating thing, and now I've come to realize that it's nice to have the guys there with you going through the experience. I have a renewed admiration for the band."

Flowers just completed a short North American tour and will now head to Europe before coming back for a longer U.S. run in the fall.

AUDIO: KILLERS FRONTMAN BRANDON FLOWERS TELLS WHY HE LOVES LAS VEGAS

TAYLOR SWIFT IS 'HORRIBLE,' SAYS CHRIS ROBINSON OF THE BLACK CROWES

Black Crowes rocker Chris Robinson has taken aim at Taylor Swift, reportedly criticizing her in a new interview with Nylon Guys magazine. According to the Daily Telegraph, Robinson said, "I find it embarrassing that adults are like, 'Taylor Swift is very talented.' She's not. She might be cute, but she's horrible."

Robinson, who was married to actress Kate Hudson for almost six years, went on to criticize pop singers today, noting, "They have stylists who dress them, they make records with producers who play a chord into the computer and it all comes out the same. When you have computers doing it all for you . . . there's no individuality. Singing isn't always about being on key; it's about emotionality."

Black Crowes will go on hiatus after their tour wraps at the end of this year.

Swift's new single, "Mine," will appear on her Speak Now album, due out October 25th.

U.S. RELEASE DATE STILL UP IN THE AIR FOR NEW ALTER BRIDGE SET

Alter Bridge has set October 11th as the European release date for the band's third album, AB III. The record will be issued overseas through the Roadrunner label. A North American release date has yet to be determined, although Tunelab reports that an announcement will be made in the coming weeks. Alter Bridge is signed in the U.S. to Universal Records, which released the band's 2007 sophomore effort, Blackbird.

Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy recently told us that this was the band's darkest album yet lyrically. We asked him if writing such dark material was a form of therapy: "Oh absolutely. In fact, it saves you so much money in therapy costs, you know (laughter). It's like, you can go to a counselor or you can just write a song and purge all your problems."

Among the record's 14 songs are "Slip To The Void," "Isolation," "Ghost Of Days Gone By," "All Hope Is Gone" and "Words Darker Than Their Wings."

Alter Bridge plans to hit the road in October after the album is out, starting with a European tour.

A spring 2011 supporting slot with Godsmack is planned for next March.

The instrumental members of Alter Bridge have been touring this summer in their other band, Creed.

AUDIO: ALTER BRIDGE'S MYLES KENNEDY ON SONGWRITING AS THERAPY