Guns N’ Roses lost their guitarist 23 years ago, but The Sydney Morning Herald reports that they are reuniting to bring back their old act for the 2016 Coachella Music Festival. Apparently, this will end one of the greatest feuds in rock and roll history as Axl Rose and guitarist Slash come together again.
Axl Rose & @Slash , at @gunsnroses Live in Circa, 1991 ?? pic.twitter.com/k3iDeowJ53
— Fã Clube Slash Br (@FaClubeSlashBr) January 1, 2016
Rose once likened Slash to cancer.
“[A] cancer, better removed and avoided.”
According to Billboard , Guns N’ Roses isn’t just reuniting for the Coachella festival, but is considering a stadium tour that will consist of performances at 25 stadiums across North America next summer. One of the first performances will be in the new Las Vegas Arena. Those who experienced Guns N’ Roses performances in the 1980s and early 1990s will know that they were nothing short of incredible.
Billboard reported last May that Slash told CBS This Morning he was open to reuniting Guns N’ Roses .
“I gotta be careful what I say there. I mean, 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, but… it just starts to get into a whole complex thing. But anyway, it’s really between the guys in the band.”
Slash also confirmed back in May, 2015, that tensions had eased between him and Rose.
“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.”
Some Guns N’ Roses band members still played together over the years. Band members including Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum had come together with the late Scott Weiland to create the band Velvet Revolver.
Duff Mckagan & @Slash , Velvet Revolver Days ?? pic.twitter.com/nR8IsvcL9e
— Fã Clube Slash Br (@FaClubeSlashBr) January 1, 2016
The Times-Picayune previously reported that McKagan felt that bringing together former Guns N’ Roses band members and then forming Velvet Revolver was all about the music.
“It was the pure musicality of the thing. When it comes down to it, that’s what we are and will always be – musicians. You can’t just stop playing. Once Slash, Matt and I got back together, we’d really grown as players. It was like stepping into an old pair of shoes with an extra added flavor to it. We knew we had something special, if we just found the right pieces to add.”
McKagan also said that Axl Rose was not the only creative force behind the music of Guns N’ Roses.
“Axl made it an Axl thing, but it really wasn’t. He never wrote any of the music. That was part of the reason it broke up, because we’d play shows and he’d say, ‘Here’s a song I wrote about…’ and it would be a song he had nothing to do with. I’m not knocking him. We did go through a lot together, and we accomplished a lot together back then.”
In the meantime, with talk of Guns N’ Roses getting back together, Blabbermouth reports that one former guitarist of the band, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, has launched his own project, called the Bumblefoot Rock Project .
Former GUNS N’ ROSES Guitarist BUMBLEFOOT Launches ‘Bumblefoot Rock Project’ https://t.co/n0YIK0rWCS pic.twitter.com/7RqnyQOQHO
— BLABBERMOUTH.NET (@BLABBERMOUTHNET) December 23, 2015
While Thal said he wants to focus on his solo career, he has not said he is no longer a member of Guns N’ Roses, which he joined in 2006 to replace Buckethead. He was vague on his status with the band.
“That is the thing I am not to elaborate on. I think there’s enough clues out there for you to figure out what I’m up to now.”
It will be interesting to see what Guns N’ Roses gets up to in the coming year, and which band members will be back. It will also be nice to hear some of those old classics played live once again.
[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]