Furious Axl Lashes Out At Departed Buckethead

GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose has been forced to cancel his band's performance at Portugal's upcoming ROCK IN LISBON gig - thanks to guitarist BUCKETHEAD's departure.

The SWEET CHILD O' MINE group were rocked when Buckethead decided to leave earlier this month (MAR04) and have now had to make new plans to cope without him, including the cancellation of the Lisbon gig.

Axl says in a statement: "On behalf of Guns N' Roses and myself I apologize to the fans who planned to see us at Rock In Rio - Lisbon.

"The festival and its tradition mean a lot to me personally and I sincerely do not enjoy being robbed by one of our own of the opportunity to be the first artist to play it for the third time.

"According to those who have actually spoken with Buckethead it appears his plans were to secure a recording contract with SANCTUARY RECORDS which I encouraged my management to make available to him, quit GN'R and to use his involvement in the upcoming Guns release to immediately promote his individual efforts. Nice guy!"