Billboard and nearly every other music site in existence is breathlessly reporting that Guns N’ Roses – yes, the actual real GNF’nR – Slash and Axl Rose – have signed a deal to reunite and take their revival on tour, with at least one original member – bassist Duff McKagan – intact.
First stop? Coachella 2016, as headliners.
The legendarily volatile group last played together in 1993, at the height of their operatic hard rock juggernaut power. A bitterly acrimonious split reverberated across the decades, with Rose holding a grudge so long that he sat out of the band’s 2012 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and made his feelings known in a cutting – albeit polite – open letter on Facebook explaining his actions.
Reunion talk began to heavily circulate earlier this week, when the band’s web site updated with an image of the group’s old logo. Even more reports indicate that a mysterious trailer featuring Guns N’ Roses music over shots of a concert crowd has played during several showings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Time will tell if Appetite For Destruction-era members Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler will be involved in the reunion.
In recent years, Rose carried on the Guns N’ Roses name with transplant players to moderate success, and it remains to be seen what will become of the colossal amount of material his decade-in-the-making Chinese Democracy album sessions yielded – though in all likelihood, the band will stick to their classic and beloved catalogue. And though reports are claiming that the reunion will span across a 25-venue tour of North America and beyond, we should be very careful what we wish for. The original G’N’R songs require a vocal stamina and cardio well beyond Axl’s current abilities, which speaks nothing of his horrific reputation for being hours late to shows or flat-out skipping them entirely without notice.
2016 is shaping up to be one hell of a fascinating year already…
