Greatest night of my life! December 31, 2011 in Las Vegas. Saw GNR two nights in a row from front row in the pit on December 30 and 31st. After the New Year's Eve show a GNR cameraman I had befriended from flying around going to a bunch of shows gives me an after show pass and I go to the backstage area with a couple of girlfriends of mine. We are hanging back there for a long time and Axl never comes out. The girls get tired around 4am and call it a night. I stay and about an hour later me and another guy get word that Axl is having a New Year's Eve after party in his penthouse suite at the Hard Rock Hotel Vegas complete with jacuzzi in the middle of the room and a full bowling alley! I get out of the elevator with my buddy and we see a security guy in front of the entrance to the room. We walk right in like we belong and he never stops us. We are now in Axl's room! Axl, Sebastian Bach, a bunch of hot *****, some actors, and all the guys in GNR and Skid Row are there. It was insane! We were warned not to take any photos or we'd be kicked out. I was there from 5am to 930am on January 1 and would've stayed longer but I had a flight to catch at 12pm that day. I know people who stayed and partied in that room until 5pm the next day lol. Anyway, around 9am or so I was completely dead and didn't give AF if I got kicked out of the room so when I had the perfect opportunity to get a pic of me and Axl I took it! Axl was walking by and I said "AXL" and he turned around and I told him how he's my idol and I had been to what I think was over 10 shows on that tour and that I'll probably never get the chance to be in the same room with him ever again and how much it would mean to be to get a photo with him that I could cherish forever, etc. Axl goes sure let me just grab my hat and he puts on the black hat in the photo. Then I give the phone to some guy and he snaps the pic. I was the ONLY ONE in that room that night to get a photo with Axl. A little bit after that I took off and had to get ready to head to the airport. It was the most amazing night of my life. Axl and Kurt Cobain are my 2 ultimate rock god idols and I got to not only see one of mine perform 2 nights in a row from front row in the pit but I got to go to his private NYE party in his penthouse suite with all the rock stars and get a photo with him to prove it! Nothing will ever surpass that night for me. It meant so much to me that when I had a boy in 2018 I got to pick his first name and I did not need to consider it for too long- AXL! True story.
