Leeds Festival : Guns N' Roses bottled off stage in Dublin

If Axl Rose didn't think it could get any worse than last weekend's sets at Reading and Leeds festival, and the subsequent war of words, Wednesday's concert in Dublin must have seemed like a nightmare.Guns N' Roses were just four songs into their gig at the O2 when boos and bottling forced Rose to confront the crowd. "If you don't want to have fun, all you've got to do is let us know," the singer told them. The crowd let him know. And Rose left the stage.

Guns N' Roses began their set almost an hour late – a record even in this week of embarrassing tardiness. "The sound of booing echoed through the arena," recalled a fan, "but it was suddenly drowned out as the lights went down." Yet many of the band's critics were persistent. "We want Slash!" they yelled, referring to the band's former guitarist. The boos went on. And plastic bottles were thrown at the stage.

Twenty minutes into the set, Rose gave an ultimatum. "Here's the deal," he said. "One more bottle and we go home. It's up to you. We would like to stay. We want to stay. We want to have some fun." But some fans weren't impressed. The bottling continued. Rose walked off.

After that, the house lights went up and down, with promoters and security sending mixed messages about whether the concert would continue. "We're trying hard to get Axl to come back on stage," an organiser announced. "I will ask you to refrain from throwing items. I promise you a great show, but you need to be calm." The gig's promoters later issued a statement, saying they "prevented [Axl] from leaving the venue". At 11:20 pm – about an hour after they had left the stage – Guns N' Roses returned and completed their set.

The concert was apparently pretty good. Or at least, everyone but Axl was pretty good. "Guns rocked Dublin last night, but we could've done without the Rose," explained a fan. But this was of little consolation to those who had already left the O2, thinking the concert over; public transport had stopped for the night and ticket-holders were reportedly barred from re-entering the arena.

Last weekend, Rose declared "war" on festival bosses. If he's not careful, Guns N' Roses' fans may soon be launching a coup against the band's frontman.