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Axl Rose Pays Fine, Gets Released After Hotel Brawl

Guns 'N Roses frontman Axl Rose was released from custody this evening after agreeing to pay fines for igniting a brawl at a Stockholm hotel earlier this morning. The fight allegedly climaxed with an intoxicated Rose biting a security guard in the leg. Rose will pay a fine of $5,500 to Swedish authorities and an additional $1,360 in damages to the security guard.

The incident reportedly started following an afterparty for GNR's sold-out show at Stockholm's Globe Arena on Monday night (June 26). The party began at Cafe Opera and later moved to the Berns Hotel, where the band was staying. There, Rose began arguing with a woman in the hotel's lobby bar, then became violent when the hotel's security staff tried to intervene. According to one eyewitness account, the singer broke a mirror in the lobby and had to be pursued by guards outside before he was finally restrained. It was sometime during this scuffle that Rose allegedly bit one of the guards in the leg.

A spokeswoman for the Stockholm police described Rose as "too intoxicated to be questioned right away"; the 44-year-old rocker was held until he was sober enough to be formally charged. Rose apparently copped to the charges immediately in order to avoid jail time and risk missing GNR's next show tomorrow night (June 28).

This is the first incident of its kind involving the famously volatile Rose since the band began its European tour a month ago. At a series of warmup concerts in New York City before the tour, Rose appeared to be clean and sober. Maybe being surrounded by too many Swedish models at the afterparty prompted a temporary lapse in Axl's willpower.

--The ARTISTdirect Staff
06.27.06