Guns N’ Roses Confirm Reunion Tour But No Dates Released Yet
It is official ? Guns N’ Roses confirmed that they will be touring North America, but fans are left guessing on just when to wait at the ticket office. It is also not final on which band members will be gracing the stage by the time the reunion tour hits the road.
The band released a video on March 25 that announced the 21-city tour, as reported on Rolling Stone. The video listed the cities only, but not the venues the band will play in. The exact dates have not been released yet, except that the tour will happen this coming summer.
Guns N' Roses confirm 21-city North American tour, yet dates and lineup remain a mystery https://t.co/dlln0U77TA pic.twitter.com/J1CfHmYHZI
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) March 25, 2016
The announcement video, released on the official Guns N’ Roses website, starts out with a wide shot of an audience, with the classic hit “Patience” playing in the background. The band’s logo appears briefly on screen before “Coming Summer 2016” header appears. The list of the cities the band is playing is the last shot before the video ends.
While it is obvious that Axl Rose will be the frontman for the group, the rest of the original members that signed on for the tour so far is guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan. Former rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, as of March 2016, was asked to be part of the reunion lineup, but supposedly is holding out due to wanting more money and a larger role in the tour, according to an Alternative Nation article.
Original Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler is the other member that has yet to officially sign on for the reunion tour. No one mentioned that Adler was originally asked to be part of the tour, but on March 21, the Twitter account for the venue Whisky A Go-Go announced that Adler cancelled his April 1 show, and that a big announcement was coming up. The tweet ended with the hashtag #GunsNRoses.
The Steven Adler show on 4/1 has been canceled. Stay tuned for a big announcement ! #GunsNRoses pic.twitter.com/DonxgJmdin
— Whisky A Go-Go (@TheWhiskyAGoGo) March 21, 2016
The mostly reunited Guns N’ Roses will play a couple of gigs before their summer tour. The band is scheduled to appear at Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena on April 8 and April 9. The band also confirmed back in January that they will headline this year’s Coachella Festival, along with performing a few dates in Mexico City.
It will be the first time that Rose, Slash, and McKagan will perform on the same stage since 1993. So far, Stradlin and Adler will not be performing with the band this spring.
- Atlanta, GA
- Boston, MA
- Chicago, IL
- Cincinnati, OH
- Dallas, TX
- Detroit, MI
- Houston, TX
- Kansas City, MO
- Nashville, TN
- New Orleans, LA
- New York City, NY
- Orlando, FL
- Philadelphia, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Pittsburgh, PA
- San Diego, CA
- Seattle, WA
- St. Louis, MO
- Toronto, Ontario, CA
- Washington, D.C.
One city that is noticeably absent is the band’s hometown, Los Angeles. It was the “City of Angels” where the classic members of Guns N’ Roses slowly met and eventually started playing together back in 1985.
The band signed their first record deal to Geffen Records in 1986. On July 21, 1987, their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, was released, and their first single, “Welcome to the Jungle,” took nearly a year to become a hit with heavy metal fans.
Guns N’ Roses’ eventual success was due to new fans constantly requesting the “Welcome to the Jungle” video on MTV. The band’s second single, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” became a bigger success due to major radio airplay, and MTV constantly playing the video on its rotation. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is Guns N’ Roses’s only single to reach number one on Billboard Hot 100 list.
In 1990, Steven Adler was fired twice from the band due to his constant drug use while recording the double album, Use Your Illusion I and II. He was eventually replaced by Matt Sorum.
In July 1991, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin decided to quit the band, having grown tired of his fellow members’ bad attitudes and habits after he became clean and sober. Guns N’ Roses replaced Stradlin with Gilby Clarke while they completed their Use Your Illusion tour for the rest of the year.
Lead guitarist Slash quit the band in October 1996 due to clashing with lead singer Axl Rose. Duff McKagan was the other original member to leave, resigning in August 1997.
[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]
