Guns N’ Roses is expected to appear at the 2016 Coachella Music & Arts Festival in April. According to a recent Billboard report, original band members Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan will be reuniting onstage for the first time in over 20 years.
In addition to the 2016 Coachella Festival, Guns N’ Roses is also in talks to play 25 football stadiums in North America throughout the summer of 2016. It is also likely the band will be making a stop at the new Las Vegas Arena, scheduled to open mid-Spring.
Ticket prices for the shows are projected to be in the $250 to $275 range, and the band is reportedly asking as much as $3 million per show.
July 17, 1993, marked the last time founding Guns N’ Roses members performed together. Due to a famously strained relationship with controversial singer Axl Rose, guitar player Slash ended up leaving the band in 1996.
Singer Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses performs at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel Casino on May 21, 2014. [Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]
With Axel continuing to lead the group, Guns N’ Roses just recently finished touring in South America and playing a show at The Joint in Las Vegas. Chinese Democracy, released in 2008, was the only new music released by the band in decades.
For years, Slash and Axl refused to speak to each other and the relationship remained damaged. So much so that Rose declined to attend the band’s induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
Earlier this year, Slash was interviewed by CBS News and asked about reconciling with Axl and playing once again with the original Guns N’ Roses lineup.
“If everybody wanted to do it and do it for the right reasons, you know, I think the fans would love it. I think it might be fun at some point to try and do that.”
Slash went on to say that relations with Rose have substantially improved.
“We don’t have all those issues anymore. There’s not a lot of controversy. It’s something that’s more perpetuated by the media than anything.”
Inductee Slash, of Guns N’ Roses, speaks onstage during the 27th Annual Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on April 14, 2012. [Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]
Released in 1987, Appetite for Destruction sold 18 million copies and is the biggest-selling debut in U.S. history. It remained No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for five weeks. Since then, Guns N’ Roses has sold 44.5 million albums in the U.S.
Although not yet confirmed, sources close to the band say Matt Sorum will replace original GnR drummer Steven Adler for the upcoming concerts. Neither Guns N’ Roses nor Coachella representatives have commented on the band’s possible reunion at the festival. Likewise, executives in charge of the Las Vegas Arena have not confirmed any GnR show has been scheduled.
Day 2 of the 2015 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival at The Empire Polo Club on April 18, 2015, in Indio, California. [Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella]
If Guns N’ Roses reunites for Coachella, they will join the list of other bands, like Rage Against The Machine and Outkast, who also got back together to play the annual festival.
In January, event officials will publicly announce the 2016 roster. Until then, speculation will continue to mount as fans wait to see if a reunion of Guns N’ Roses at Coachella 2016 will, in fact, be real.
[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]