Guns N’ Roses finally confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in the music business: its reunion tour will take place this summer in North America.
The hard rock band, known for iconic songs like Sweet Child O’ Mine and Paradise City, listed on its web site the 21 cities on the itinerary, including New York, Toronto, and Chicago. The band is notably also playing St. Louis, the site of a riot in 1991 when singer Axl Rose had an altercation with a fan.
The tour, which will be produced by Live Nation, will feature Rose on stage with lead guitarist Slash for the first time since 1993. Slash left the band in 1994 and spent many of the ensuing years feuding with Rose. (The members couldn’t even agree to come together to perform when the band was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame four years ago.)
The other member of the original lineup behind its iconic “Appetite for Destruction,” the best selling debut album in rock history with 18 million copies sold, going on the tour is bassist Duff McKagan, who has performed with Rose occasionally in the recent past. Original drummer Steve Adler and guitarist Izzy Straddlin’ reportedly will not be on the tour.
Guns N’ Roses posted a 15-second video announcing the tour with its song “Patience” as background music to its web site on Friday. The band promised further details shortly. It had been widely rumored that the band would embark on a stadium tour this summer.
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The announcement will be a welcome boost for the U.S. touring industry with top acts like Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift not touring this summer. Other big names on stateside tours this summer include rock superstars Def Leppard, and country trio Dixie Chicks.
Ahead of the summer jaunt, Guns N’ Roses will play two shows in Las Vegas and then at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. The band will also play two shows in Mexico City in April.
Rose is considered as one of the most charismatic front men in rock history. But during the band’s heyday he also developed a reputation for erratic behavior such as showing up late for shows and walking off stage mid-set as he did in Montreal in 1992, sparking a riot. However, tours under a different incarnation of Guns’ N Roses since then have largely been successful and without incident, spaghetti or otherwise.
