Hell freezes over: Are Slash and Axl Rose reuniting Guns N’ Roses for Coachella?
Rockers the world over are waking up to a report that Axl Rose and Slash, two founding members of the great Los Angeles band Guns N’ Roses, have ended their long-running impasse and will reunite for a headlining set at Coachella and 2016 tour.
The pair, who haven’t played onstage together since 1993, have reportedly come to terms that will send them on the road to perform classics such as “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle” and “November Rain,” according to Billboard. No word on which other members of the classic lineup -- Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler (or his replacement, Matt Sorum) -- will return.
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Fueling the speculation are a few teasers that have set fans reeling: a vague crowd photo on the official Guns N’ Roses Facebook page, posted on Christmas Eve; and a fresh image on the band’s website that updates the classic G N’ R logo. Also, teasers at “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” screenings over the holiday weekend showed frantic rock crowds cheering while snippets of Axl-sounding screeches and guitars played.
Goldenvoice, which produces Coachella, did not respond to requests for comment. This year’s festival will occur over the weekends of April 15-17 and April 22-24.
Since the classic quintet last performed, Rose has continued to tour a Guns N’ Roses lineup, but minus the iconic guitarist Slash (and Stradlin, McKagan and Sorum) the impact wasn’t the same. Like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards or John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the team of Rose and Slash are a great match, and calls for a reunion started soon after the split.
If the reports are true, the singer and guitarist will have reached a detente after decades of tension.
“It was really a fight with me and Slash,” Rose told The Times in 2011, of the forces that took down the original lineup. “Izzy [Stradlin] was doing the same thing, but the fight with me and Slash started the day I met him. He came in, popped my tape out and put his in and wanted me in his band. And I didn’t want to join his band. We’ve had that war since Day 1.”
Rose also said in 2011 that he’d long been wary of those who would reunite the original lineup regardless of the cost. “All these managers, they all believe in one thing: sell a reunion tour and get their commission. It’s just a phone call. It’s a half a day’s … work, or however long they want to keep the bidding war going. They get their commission and they don’t care if it falls on its face.”
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