Band with an Axl to grind

Reclusive rockers Guns N' Roses will end a nine-year silence with an explosive Hong Kong concert this summer. The band - one of the most controversial of the early 1990s - intend to use the SAR as the launching pad for their album Chinese Democracy, according to Rolling Stone magazine's Web site. The concert, planned for August 14, will be only the band's third live outing since 1992, when they released their 40 million-selling Use Your Illusion I and II. They will play Japan's Summer Sonic Festival on August 16 and 17 before moving on to Britain for another three dates.

Chinese Democracy is believed to have cost more than US$8.5 million (HK$66.2 million) in recording fees alone. It is understood that lead singer Axl Rose has been working on the album from 9pm to 9am almost every weekday for the past decade. Commentators have noted the Great Wall of China was built quicker and probably cheaper. But Rose (right) - say five different Web sites devoted to the album's progress - is a perfectionist.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition centre confirmed the venue had been tenatively booked for a rock concert that night but was unable to release more information. And the identity of the local promoter involved - if any - remains a mystery. Promoters contacted yesterday all reported they had been approached to bring Guns N' Roses to Hong Kong in August but had - for various reasons - turned the band down. 'Guns N' Roses were one of the most controversial acts of the 1990s,' said one promoter. 'I am not sure I would want to be involved with this band's efforts to stir up publicity for an album entitled Chinese Democracy.'

Another promoter added: 'It scares me. You've got a band who are going out of their way to create a stir and it looks like they will use Hong Kong to do it. The whole thing promises to be a bit insensitive.'

Whether Rose, the only remaining original member of the band, will be ready remains to be seen. A scheduled European tour was planned for last year but he called it off at the last minute. The group last played on New Year's Day last year in the Las Vegas House of Blues and again at the Rock In Rio festival later that month. Before that, Rose appeared at a Los Angeles Halloween Party in 1999. He was dressed as a dinosaur.