Man Wins $232m, Wants To Buy GN'R Reunion

A man who won £148 million ($232 million) on the Euromillions lottery over the weekend says he wants to buy an classic Guns N' Roses reunion.

Before his win, Adrian Bayford ran a music shop in Suffolk, England. Now he's the second-biggest lottery winners in UK history — but still chose to return to his music shop this morning.

When asked what he would do with his winnings after buying a new house and car, Adrian said: "I think I would just have to get Guns n’Roses together – the original lineup, mind. I’m a real fan."

There's one big problem. Members of the so-called "classic lineup" of GN'R from the early 1990s aren't exactly the best of friends.

When the band was to be inducted to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the classic lineup to put their past disagreements behind them. Sadly, Axl Rose refused in an open letter. Slash and Duff McKagan eventually chose to perform anyway, with Myles Kennedy standing in on vocals.

But as noted by Classic Rock, Adrian could afford plenty of private shows with the modern GN'R lineup. A Russian billionaire paid $1 million for a private performance last year.

What would you do with a lottery win like that? Would you pay for a private show, and who with? What would be your dream guitar or recording studio setup? Let us know in the comments.

Comments

[smittyanthrax]

Wont happen.Next story please.

[UniformRecon]

$4 million to Izzy, Duff, Slash, and Steven : $228 million to Axl and his ego.

[millarso]

For a further breakdown... Of the $228 million, $5 to Axl and $227,999,995 to the ego.

[Sphinx07]

Point, set and match to you sir!

[rockthelespaul]

best comment ever

[Maiden95]

Thats actually a pretty cool idea. Too bad it won't happen. With that money I'd honestly love to keep running the shop, make it cooler, maybe get Slash and Duff to make an in store appearance.

[Glass Prisoner]

To take Frankie Boyle's joke; with that kind of money, you'd be better writing FUCK OFF AXL on the moon.

[dewitt]

Yeah, but I don't think he could afford that.

Besides, as he said he's a real fan. If he's willing to pay that much money for a reunion, I doubt he has the same opinion of Axl as you (or the general English-speaking public) do, and he wouldn't want to tell Axl to "Fuck off."

[DEGSY1986]

Who doesnt want to tell axl to Fuck Off!?!?!

[Agent 00Awesome]

That's a waste. Even a reunion doesn't appeal whatsoever these days. Axl and his ego has ruined the band for me.

[Nitnatsnok]

I agree completely in that there isn't any appeal to it.

Maybe in a stadium with hundreds of people watching where they are on a stage it can be a little hard to tell they aren't totally in synch with each other but for a private performance it be painfully obvious and ruin the show.

[vova463]

That's a waste. Even a reunion doesn't appeal whatsoever these days. Axl and his ego has ruined the band for me.

+1

[Joss_Frusciante]

I dont think Any amount of money would bring Slash back. Axl just ****ed up too bad

[dewitt]

Not that he wants to come back, but I don't think Slash would be the one keeping Slash out of GN'R anymore. Axl doesn't want him back.

[notaconotaco]

Because no one's ever offered them money to get back together.

[AnnihilationUK]

New episode of Celebrity Deathmatch... Nope, an inevitable UG headline.

[Invicto91]

wasn't there actually an episode of celebrity deathmatch with slash n axl?

[The_Locker]

Cool idea but the fact is that no amount of money will get Axl and Slash together. At least not in this lifetime.

[AcdcTXfan]

If they wanted the money that bad, they would have just gotten back together and toured. That tour would have grossed at least $232 million.

[m4ss3 m/]

I would just get Periphery to play in my living room, produce my album and then give the rest of the money for charity. True story..

[ChucklesMginty]

Imagine paying millions of dollars and then Axl not turning up, which would totally happen.

I'd buy a private Rush concert though, and have them play 2112 in full.

[slider77]

Hopefully, with the kind of money we're talking here, you'd have a contract drawn up, and one of the (many, I'd imagine) stipulations would be that if he doesn't show up, he doesn't get paid. Period.

[Rhythmication]

Don't...Axl Rose is no near to good at all

[Abzzz]

With that money i'd rather pay brain surgery for Axl ) its cheaper

[teknoman]

Oh i'd buy everything... tons of gear, a professional home studio and i'd open an independent record label to sign up exclusively rock acts... and then i'd pay a ton of money to Deftones to play a free concert at my hometown with all the songs i wanna to hear... among other things.

[Agent 00Awesome]

I'd buy one of the 15' animatronic Eddies that Maiden uses during concerts. That'd be so badass.

[Izzy-Sweet]

That wouldn't even cost a fraction of the lottery winnings, but still, **** yeah!

[Sonny_sam]

I'd probably fund the continuation of the TV show 'Firefly', and then I'd like to provide clean drinking water for as much of Africa as possible.
Honestly I hate seeing people win this much money, that's more than ANYONE needs in a lifetime, and they could do so much good with it if they weren't so damn greedy!

[codyjt5150]

I'd pay all my earnings to reunite VH with Michael Anthony.

[Bdqdog]

If I had that money, I would make that shop the coolest shop in England. Give all of my co-workers $10,000 to spend on musical equipment and invest/donate. I would probably do everything teknoman said too.

[megaluisdeth]

I would use that money to help Jason Becker! and maybe buy some ****ing gear like a ENGL Savage or maybe pay lars to give me a drum lesoon....not.

[iommi600]

*facepalm*

Seriously? With that amount of money I would move to Vegas and never come back, forget about GN'R's reunion, dudes... it's not gonna happen.

[CinderellaFan14]

And then you'd be broke and on your ass in a week

[PsiGuy60]

I'd probably buy my dream rig, pay off any college debts...
Any money left over would go straight to charity.
Although I do like the idea of setting up my own business, I'm no good at bookkeeping so it's probably a bad idea.

[BrojoJojo]

He should fund a remake of Final Fantasy IX, instead. And also buy me some gear.

[Apocalypse4162]

FFIX - had to be said, hells ya

[Ubadood]

Love the idea but sadly doesn't seem likely, Axl's ego is just too damn massive - and I think he can be as rich as he wants to be.

Too bad, in a few decades when he's old and frail he might look back on his grudge with Slash and think "What the **** was my problem?"

[Root Beer]

AXL?.... Nah.

[ZPinkZeppelinS]

Waste of ****ing money

[MrFlibble]

"an classic"? Come on, U-G. Get a copy editor already.

[\m/Metallica]

"Now he's the second-biggest lottery winners" ... wow

[BradTheBluefish]

"There's one big problem. Members of the so-called "classic lineup" of GN'R from the early 1990s aren't exactly the best of friends."

No duh Sherlock

[Root Beer]

What a dumb thing to waste that much money on. It'll never work anyway, you can't pay Axl to NOT be a prick.

[Camron62\m/]

Axl won't show up. He won't go along with it. Nice try though.

[AndyZ]

I'd pay $232m to heal Dave Mustaine's paranoia and make him a normal person.

[iscreamicecream]

if i had that money...i'll buy axl's ego so he has none left and him and slash can make out.

[reignofrock]

What's with this site? Honestly, the grammar and spelling is simply atrocious. Hell, pay me and I'll edit your crap for you. It just feels so amateur here.

[kerrang]

At least SOMEONE noticed the grammar.

[tennesseehild]

Cool idea, but would never happen. Those guys are more or less set on money. For $232 million though, I would probably see if I couldn't get the big four to do a show in Las Vegas with Testament and Machinehead adding to the bill.

[thrill606]

Just get Myles Kennedy to sing. He's better than Axl anyway.

[dewitt]

You're Fuckin' Crazy.

[33SLASH33]

Axl used to be god
but now - he sucks.. too much.
Slash, Duff, Steven and Izzy would normally play, coz they still fukin can. axl would just f*ck it up with his new "great" voice

[Bass-riffer]

If this doesn't work, will you stop posting stories about Guns N Roses getting back together?

[BigMikeBDD]

I'd chip in $5 for the cause!

[BastyGuitar]

Saw new GN'R with Axl this year, and 3 days later Slash with myles.

to be honest, in comparison to axl, slash sucked hard.
but thats the ug community, always against axl.

[rokr258]

Waste of money.

[wylde1994]

Axl would just show up 2hrs late and go home early, plus he's not as good a singer as he used to be

[kratos379]

If I won, the first thing I would do would be to pay my parents back for college. Then I would help a few other friends with their college tuition. From there I would probably try investing it in a few things to employ people, improve education, or help the environment.

[SmittyMan90]

You'd have to be alot luckier than winning the lottery to get this to happen on top of him already winning.

[ranbat]

One time only Doomfest w/Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Sleep and Cathedral.

[getawaygman]

I'd have the ultimate dilemma between making John frusciante rejoin the chili peppers or the gnr concert

[Smegal]

I'd invest it into a cloning machine. pay a fortune for some of Lennons hair and clone him. Screw McCartney. I'd then buy a steinway piano and see what he could come up with given our current global situation.

[Slaytan666]

In other news: Man has more money than brains.

[Andragon]

I could think of so many ****ing things I'd rather spend millions on.

[Beergarette]

He should use that money to help out the poor. Or at least, help us get our hands on some new gear.

[mafuhungy]

Come on UG, enough articles about Guns and Roses, they're not getting back together and I say good riddance. They're stupidly overrated.

[BigMikeBDD]

I'd probably spend my first mil on women, booze and debauchery for about a month. Then settle down in to a nice cabin overlooking a lake for the rest of my life.

[pboellx]

it would be a complete waste of money

[mitchymetal]

pink floyd

[freshtunes]

I'd just buy the GN'R lifestyle...motorcycles, cars, women, liquor, and some les pauls to trash in public.

[slider77]

Yeah no sh!t. Axl's level of "@$$hole complex" is inversely proportional to his depth of character. (Read: his ego runs too deep and he's too much of a bitch to admit - even to HIMSELF - that he's wrong, let alone to patch things up with Slash or the rest of the world.)

[satansnachos]

I would pay 232 million dollars to never hear the name axl rose again

[FirstMateJepeto]

Am I the only one who realized they wrote "aN classic reunion"? If I'm not, I'm just too lazy too scroll down comments.

[OliRhoads]

My dream rig consisting of:
1959 Les Paul Standard
1953 Blackguard Telecaster
1974 White Les Paul Custom
A bunch of Marshall stacks
And a whole John Petrucci replica rig.

Then, the family thing, home studio, everything else I want, put some of the rest aside for safekeeping.

And then hire: Iron Maiden, Rush, Trivium, DragonForce, and many many many more to play in the Arena I'd build.

[maowcat]

They had a couple good songs imo, i wouldnt pay shit to see them play

[biff022]

I'd pay for an editor to proofread UG articles for syntax.

[SGplayer1991]

I'd pay off my Church's loan for the building of the new church and the building for the Performing Art's Center they're building. Buy some new gear and some vocal lessons

[NBarry19]

Might as well have Myles Kenndey on vocals with the original GNR lineup, minus Axl. That'd actually be worth the money.

[thrill606]

I agree, when I said that I got thumbs downed though. And I have a feeling I'm gonna be thumbs downed again.

[TJWhonley]

I'd buy 4 brain transplants and replace 1 direction with steel panther!!!
and let tenacious D perform infront of 3 year olds

[Michael Stewart]

Look on the bright side, He'll be able to keep all of his money.lol

[Michael Stewart]

Girls Gone Wild as an advertisement on UG?

[dodo4hire]

I would probably open a bar with a small stage, have myself and friends play once a week and have other random acts across the week. And for the rest, i would finish my rig, instead of buying every little piece one by one. Then i would build a decent size studio and spend the rest of my life in those 2 places. For the rest of the money, i will just fund random things that i find who need more money, like some individual youtube musicians. Also, having some jam sessions with people i admire couldnt hurt.

[futuretro]

or you could feed a small country for a decade. whatever.

[ruker]

I'd buy UG, get rid of all the annoying ads, make that tab program free, and overhaul the entire site making tab access much easier and less cluttered (because it's 2012, not 2000 anymore). Drop boxes UG, DO IT!

[-xCaMRocKx-]

I'd just pay for someone to proofread the damn articles. Jesus Christ UG, this is embarrassing.

[Jimmyboba]

Go for the next best thing: Slash, Duff, Steven, Izzy and Myles Kennedy playing Appetite for Destruction in full. It'll work out cheaper and it'll sound better since Myles's voice isn't as buggered as Axl's.

[Connor6c]

"...an classic Guns 'N Roses reunion."

[jose1216]

how about get zeppelin together and by every vintage guitar you want especially a 59 les paul might as well get as 58 and a 60 too get all both standard and custom versions and ofcourse a 54 strat and old tele

[Unworldly Shred]

Pantera with Zakk at Guitar. RIP DIME You will always be my hero.....

[slider77]

That would be interesting...

[biff022]

Stop with the Myles Kennedy over Axl comments. Axl flushes more talent down the toilet on a given day than Kennedy will ever have. I'm not saying he sucks (but he does, god awful) but Axl was incredible in his prime.

[Anjohl]

In a technical sense, Kennedy is several levels above Axl.

[ayuamarcan]

I'd get a bunch of sweet guitars and amps, pedals, that kinda thing, get Electric Wizard to play in my home town, jam with Jus Oborn, buy a house and car and give the rest to charity

[slider77]

Unfortunately, only Axl sounds like Axl. Myles can sing, well even, but IMHO he doesn't sound *right* singing GNR songs. To my ears, it's as awkward as it would be if Natalie Merchant suddenly replaced Amy Lee in Evanescence. Both can sing, but vocal ability is not the only factor. The voice has to *sound* right for the music. Myles doesn't... Axl (did). If you think Myles Kennedy is a good replacement for Axl, you might like to see Rod Stewart as the next lead singer of Anthrax. That'd work, right? ::smh::

[zalant]

At the risk of coming off as unoriginal, and just because I couldn't think of a better way to say it, here goes:

Lawrence: I'll tell you what I'd do, man, two chicks at the same time, man.
Peter Gibbons: That's it? If you had a million dollars, you'd do two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I had a million dollars I could hook that up, cause chicks dig a dude with money.
Peter Gibbons: Well, not all chicks.
Lawrence: Well the kind of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.
Peter Gibbons: Good point.

[explosionate]

You know what I would do if I had 232 million dollars? I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities...

[pwrmax]

Axl loves money, it can be done

[pwrmax]

If I had that money I'd pay Rush and Dream Theater to tour together

[CalumCanavan]

I'd probably get a recording studio in my garage. Then I would buy a Les Paul, a Tele, a Gibson acoustic, a Fender Jazz Bass, a good microphone, a set of drums and a keyboard. Then I would try and make some good pop music with instruments, because I love the genre and it is given a bad name by people in the charts that edit the crap out of their music.

[-xCaMRocKx-]

I'd just pay for them to hire someone to proofread the damn articles.

[damillion]

I come from a small town. I'd build my own theater and invite all the bands I liked to play and pay them handsomely for the job...perhaps take singing lessons from Roy Khan and force Candlemass to tour with both Messiah and Lowe on vocals.

[AcousticMetal99]

singing lessons with Khan would be amazing! He has one of the best voices I have ever heard!

[Metallilmeister]

The guy is an idiot. Give me the money

[TripleN666]

Unlimited hooker supply, anyone?

[Revocati0n]

Weed.

lots and lots of weed.

And I'd get Mastodon, Rush and Led Zeppelin to play at my house.

[strat0blaster]

What a waste of money.

[BradTheBluefish]

Why isn't Matt Sorum mentioned? What is he? Chopped liver?

[RC52190]

I love all the "I'd get this n this n then give the rest to charity!" Give me a break, who the hell are you fooling?

Real talk: I'd give between $20-$50 mil to charity, buy all the things I immediately wanted, and save the rest to live a long luxurious lifestyle at my mansion with my own private shuttle to bring me places, which doubles as a Bugatti Veyron, because it is in fact, a Bugatti Veyron. With my own private chauffeur who will actually be a professional race car driver but I'll pay him loads of money to tediously drive me places just to make a statement. He would drive me to my own private jet, piloted by Bruce Dickinson, where I would have a private show by Maiden while he threw it on autopilot, all while flying above my private island.

I may be a scumbag but at least I'm an honest scumbag that's not in denial like the rest of you.

[False_God]

Move to a country that I can grow weed in, then build a warehouse thats 50,000 square feet in size and grow so much weed than I will be stoned for the rest of my life. Might dedicate a few k feet for studio and personal gig venue. bring in some famous musicians to jam/record with.


some day..

[perko1]

Pretty sure youre gonna have to give it all to Axl for him to consider it

[KyleLee]

I'd pay for my own legal team to contact both Ward and the rest of the Sabs to patch everything up and use the rest to build my own studio. Then record Sabbath myself.

And do it for free.

[testekleez]

I could think of many better ways to spend the dough.

[6-String_Madman]

Axl is not even worth a penny.

[yousef213]

Id pay to bring john bonham back from the dead and see led zepellen

[Damaged Roses]

I would pay for a full set of Necrophagist, Obscura, The Faceless and Opeth, **** yeah

[gilbertn923]

I would just start up a new tour with Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless, and The Mars Volta. Three random bands that I love, what better way to spend my money lol.

[brndnstffrd]

Forget GnR reuniting, Get the remaining members of Pink Floyd to play together agian. They stated that the only way they would do it would be for another charity event, so what better thing to do then donate a ton of money to a charity of their choosing and get them to play together agian?

[MoshGrizzly]

I'd buy every copy of St. Anger and have them destroyed. I would also buy an ostrich

[Firehawk2410]

Axl would just find a way to take all the money for himself and avoid the reunion.

[Rajah]

There has to be better ways to spend $232 milllion.

[TheHawkdaddy]

Its not like there are people in need or anything.

Spend all that money on getting people who hate each other to do a show they don't want to do and wont sound nearly as good as they did back in the day.

Guns N Roses are over guys, let it go.

[andrew625]

Get this: they can't even forgive each other to reunite for rock n roll hall of fame... you think using money to make them come together will fix that?? even if they played together, it's gonna be a crap show and that's guaranteed. No offense but Axl REALLy need to stop being a lil girl like he always had been.

[Xplorer58]

I would buy a wal of marshalls so big that if you climbed up on top of them and jumped off you would die. Also I would buy a guitar from Fretted Americana. Probably a 59' LP.

[Mkorn]

i'd pay malmsteen, kirk hammet and slash to teach me

[lech14]

I'd buy private show of A7x and get instruments afterwoods ;P

[Dynamight]

How about donating your money to something actually important, like stem cell research?

[Akaforty]

Lol at "an classic".

[G-Dog_666]

I find some people's lack of understanding here nauseating. The guy won £148 million. He said he'd like to fund a reunion of the classic line up on GN'R. He didn't say he was going to spend all £148 million on the reunion.

[BjarnedeGraaf]

wasnt there some sort of Sheikh that wanted to pay em 100 million, and they didnt do it? i dont think money is the issue... those guys just hate eachothers guts and are never gnna play again...

and even on the offchance of it actually happening... they're probably going to fight in the dressingroom about square watermelons (axl has to have those or something) and start playing 4 hours late or something... i wouldn't even go to that show if they paid me that amount of money.

[strung_out1]

I'd buy GnR minus axl for a karaoke party

[Demon Wolf]

It will never happen. Axl isn't in it for the money.

[GNRAGE_2010]

IF they wanted money they could do a reunion tour...

[lost my pick]

I'd probably just pay Axl to ride a tiny unicycle whilst I threw cream pies at him

[cptcomet]

Now THAT is a good idea!

[donstr888]

That will never happen but that is ****ing awesome that he would spend his money on that.

[NHECOS]

Ahhh... Axl and Courtney... UG really loves them

[Braykah]

I'd say just reunite anyway without Axl and get Myles Kennedy to sing. Myles's voice is probably the closest you could get that sounds like Axl's, and besides, Axl's ego would only tear the group apart again. An original lineup reunion would never work.

With that said, I'd spend my 232 millions on starving children in Africa, a private island with a mansion and recording studio, and a course in logic for Dave Mustaine.

[RabidPikachu]

So funny because I always told myself if I won the lottery I would try to do this xD Glad someones on the same page.