2002 - TOUR

Welcome to the bungle: Thanks to Axl Rose's bizarre behavior, GUNS N' ROSES had the plug pulled yesterday on the band's first tour in almost a decade.

Clear Channel, the promoter, halted the long-anticipated tour after the band canceled Friday's concert at Philadelphia's First Union Center because Rose never showed up.

The night before, Rose told fans at Madison Square Garden the tour was a reunion because, "I managed to get enough of myself together to do this."

The concert cop-out came less than a month after Rose skipped the tour opener in Vancouver, sparking riots between enraged fans and cops.

An announcement at the Philadelphia venue said the show was halted because of "health issues" of a band member. But G&R-watchers attributed the tour's failure to Rose's wacky eccentricities — which include traveling with a psychiatrist to coax him on-stage.

"He was still in New York during the Philly show," says an insider. "He never even got on the plane. The promoter put him on notice after what happened in Vancouver."

Another rumor had Rose holed up at his Manhattan hotel suite and telling his management that Thursday's sold-out show at the Garden was "as good as the band could get" and "it was time to cut their losses."

Whatever the reason behind the corn-rowed caterwauler's latest flake-out, it may spell the end of the current incarnation of G&R. While original members Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, Gilby Clark and Steven Adler left years ago, Rose assembled an all-star line-up that includes guitar virtuoso Buckethead, former NINE INCH NAILS guitarist Robin Finck and ex-REPLACEMENTS bassist Tommy Stinson, to record a new album and tour.

"They were getting along better than ever because something was finally happening," said our source, referring to G&R's long-delayed "Chinese Democracy" album.

"But they had been previously frustrated by the delays and Axl's pathological perfectionism, tardiness and general insanity. Now they're back in the same boat, and they'll probably split."

Rose's chunky new build — which he disguises by wearing baggy football jerseys - and suspiciously smooth and unlined face have made him the butt of jokes among his bandmates, says an insider. Guitarist Finck even made a collage that pokes fun at Rose by including a face with five Botox needles sticking out of it.

Rose's spokeswoman at Interscope Records did not return calls.