Tour and concert statistics

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The first known Guns N' Roses live concert occurred on May 26, 1985, at the Troubadour in Hollywood. The band consisted of members from Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns and contained among others Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin, the only two members to be part of the lineup who would release Appetite for Destruction a couple of years later. The Appetite lineup, which also featured Slash, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, would make GN'R one of the most popular rock bands of all times. The Appetite lineup would quickly start to unravel and in the end Axl was the only remaining member. In 2016, Slash and Duff returned to the band.

Number of known shows: {TOTALSHOWS}
(Excluding Drunk Fux shows, rehearsals and video shoots; including private shows). This equals about 42.5 concerts per year, on average. The actual number of shows may be higher due to missing information about the band's first years of touring.

Total number of songs played: {TOTALSONGS}
(The actual number is higher due to missing and incomplete set-lists; excluding snippets, solos, impromptu jams and extended solos with only a few members playing).

Average number of songs played at concerts for each touring year (excluding snippets, solos, impromptu jams and extended solos with only a few members playing).:
1985: 8.9; 1986: 10.6; 1987: 9.4; 1988: 8.7; 1989: 10.0; 1991:16.9; 1992: 16.0; 1993: 15.5; 2001: 19.8; 2002: 17.2; 2006: 17.9; 2007: 17.3; 2009: 23.3; 2010: 19.3; 2011: 23.5; 2012: 23.1; 2013: 20.1; 2014: 23.1; 2016: 22.3.; 2017: 26.7; 2018: 26.6.; 2019: 23.7; 2020: 22.5; 2021: 24.4; 2022: 25.8; 2023: 28.0

Total number of shows in each year (some shows may be missing):
1985: 24; 1986: 26; 1987: 86; 1988: 85; 1989: 7; 1990: 1; 1991: 58; 1992: 74; 1993: 62; 2001: 4; 2002: 23; 2006: 74; 2007: 20; 2009: 4; 2010: 71; 2011: 40; 2012: 69; 2013: 22; 2014: 24; 2016: 47; 2017: 83; 2018: 29; 2019: 16; 2020: 2; 2021: 25; 2022: 45; 2023: 48.

Known number of different songs played: {TOTALDIFFSONGS}
(Excluding snippets, solos, impromptu jams and extended solos with only a few members playing).

Number of different countries visited: {TOTALCOUNTRIES}

Ten most popular countries (number of concerts):
01: USA - {TOTALUSA}
02: Canada - {TOTALCANADA}
03: England - {TOTALENGLAND}
04. Brazil - {TOTALBRAZIL}
05: Australia - {TOTALAUSTRALIA}
06: Japan - {TOTALJAPAN}
07. Mexico - {TOTALMEXICO}
08: Germany - {TOTALGERMANY}
09: France - {TOTALFRANCE}
10. Spain - {TOTALSPAIN}

Twenty most popular songs (number of times known to have been played):
01: Welcome To The Jungle - {WELCOMETOTHEJUNGLESONGS}
02: Mr. Brownstone - {MRBROWNSTONESONGS}
03: Paradise City - {PARADISESONGS}
04: Sweet Child O' Mine - {SCOMSONGS}
04: Knockin' On Heaven's Door - {KNOCKINSONGS}
06: It's So Easy - {ISESONGS}
07: Live And Let Die - {LALDSONGS}
08: November Rain - {NOVEMBERSONGS}
09: Nightrain - {NIGHTRAINSONGS}
10: You Could Be Mine - {YCBMSONGS}
11: Patience - {PATIENCESONGS}
12. Rocket Queen - {ROCKETSONGS}
13: Chinese Democracy - {CHINESESONGS}
14: Better - {BETTERSONGS}
15: Estranged - {ESTRANGEDSONGS}
16: Civil War - {CIVILSONGS}
17: Don't Cry - {DCSONGS}
18: Double Talkin' Jive - {DOUBLESONGS}
19: This I Love - {THISILOVESONGS}
20. My Michelle - {MYMICHELLESONGS}

Five most intense years (based on number of songs known to have been played):
1: 2017 (at least 2,213 songs played).
2: 2012 (at least 1,661 songs played).
3: 2010 (at least 1,370 songs played).
5: 2023 (at least 1,344 songs played).
4: 2006 (at least 1,327 songs played).

Longest gig (in terms of number of songs played, excluding solos and jams):
November 29, 2017 at The Forum, Inglewood, CA, USA, with 34 songs played.

Ten band members with most concerts (only full concerts are counted, not guest appearances on only some songs):
01: Axl Rose {AXLSHOWS}.
02: Dizzy Reed {DIZZYSHOWS}.
03: Duff McKagan {DUFFSHOWS}.
04: Slash {SLASHSHOWS}.
05: Richard Fortus {RICHARDSHOWS}.
06: Frank Ferrer {FRANKSHOWS}.
07: Chris Pitman {CHRISSHOWS}.
08. Tommy Stinson {TOMMYSHOWS}.
09. Bumblefoot {BUMBLEFOOTSHOWS}.
10: Melissa Reese {MELISSASHOWS}.

Set-length distributions


Average setlist length per year

I've updated the stats today. Let me know if there's any stats you want to see added 8)

Come on! Announce about 10 shows more and Tommy and Chris will have done more shows than Steven!!

What's the one show without Axl? That one in 1987 or 1988 in which he didn;t show up while starting for Alice Cooper?

Johan wrote:What's the one show without Axl? That one in 1987 or 1988 in which he didn;t show up while starting for Alice Cooper?

Funny, Bumbles asked me that exact same question. Here's the story:

It was October 23, 1986, so before the release of Appetite. The band was succeeding on the club circuit and getting lots of attention from music critics, biz people and of course, music lovers. They were opening for Alice Cooper at The Arlington Theater but Axl turned up late and the band had to go on without him. The set was cut short (only seven songs) and Izzy and Duff traded vocals (Duff sang on 'It's So Easy' which was premièred at this show). Steven had to do an improvised drum solo that failed miserably. Slash did a lot of blues improvisations. At times the band tried to get someone from the audience to help out on vocals:

Slash: Alright, we wanna ask a basic question. Where is our lost singer? You didn't think we were fuckin' serious. Did you? You fuckin' suckers. Anyways, we wanna find out if there is anyone out there who knows how to sing and wants to do a cover version of 'Whole Lotta Rosie'?

Duff: Does anyone know all the words to 'Whole Lotta Rosie'?

Slash: Fuckin' pussies. I bet there are about three hundred of you out there that know the words. You got fuckin' songbooks at home, I betcha. Alright, well while we're waiting for a singer to come up and do a version of 'Whole Lotta Rosie,' we're gonna do some blues in E for Alice Cooper, who's been away for so long.

They ended up doing an instrumental version of 'Whole Lotta Rosie'.

Meanwhile Axl had arrived at the scene but were not allowed in since his name was not on the list. The band met him in the parking lot after the show, after trashing the dressing room. Axl asked how much they'd made to which Slash replied, "The band made $500. You didn't make anything." Axl grinned and said, "That's cool."

Looks like a slightly different version than in Slash's book..

I wrote this based on quotes and text from Marc Canter's book. Both Bumblefoot and Richard found the story hilarious.

When the 15 scheduled concerts have been played both Tommy and Chris will have played more live shows than Steven! A few additional concerts and Dizzy will have passed Slash and Richard will have passed Steven, too .

Good stuff!

Soulmonster wrote:Come on! Announce about 10 shows more and Tommy and Chris will have done more shows than Steven!!

And there it is! . And Dizzy will pass Slash later this year

Interesting statistics *nod*

Statistics updated again after the end of the 2011 tour. Let's hope I get to update again.

2011 ended up as the fourth busiest year in GN'R history when we look at the number of songs played live. The reason for this is that with only 40 concerts played the average number of songs per concert was a record making 23.5. The "new guys" have also moved up on the members ranking (most live gigs played), with Dizzy entering the number two spot, pushing Matt and Gilby out of top 10.

I would be interested in a complete list of shows per band members. I guess Buckethead & Paul Tobias shows are not too much.

Johan wrote:I would be interested in a complete list of shows per band members. I guess Buckethead & Paul Tobias shows are not too much.

This should be pretty accurate:

1 Axl Rose 649
2 Dizzy Reed 430
3 Duff McKagan 413
4 Slash 410
5 Izzy Stradlin 272
6 Tommy Stinson 235
7 Chris Pitman 235
8 Richard Fortus 231
9 Bumblefoot 208
10 Steven Adler 207
11 Matt Sorum 195
12 Frank Ferrer 191
13 Gilby Clarke 143
14 Robin Finck 120
15 Dj Ashba 115
16 Bryan Mantia 44
17 Buckethead 27
18 Fred Coury 7
19 Tracii Guns 5
20 Rob Gardner 5
21 Paul Tobias 4
22 Ole Beich 2
23 Don Henley 1

Who the Hell is Fred Coury?

And Don Henley? WTF?

Johan wrote:Who the Hell is Fred Coury?

And Don Henley? WTF?

Fred Coury stepped in for Steven Adler when he broke his hand in '87 or '88 and played a few dates with the band. Don Henley (The Eagles member) filled in for Steven Adler (drug rehab) during an AMA appearance in 89'. None of them were real members of the band. I should probably remove Don Henley since he never played a full, proper concert with the band.

Yeah, I agree.

Frank and DJ are to move up on the list soon.

Yes

Finally updated the stats after the concerts earlier this year. Frank has now pushed Matt out of the top 10 band members list (in terms of most gigs), and in a couple of gigs he has passed Steven, too, becoming the drummer that has played the most shows.

Soulmonster wrote:Finally updated the stats after the concerts earlier this year. Frank has now pushed Matt out of the top 10 band members list (in terms of most gigs), and in a couple of gigs he has passed Steven, too, becoming the drummer that has played the most shows.

Go Frank Go!

Dj is about to pass Robin, although that is further down on the list.

Sick stats dude thanks for that!

My pleasure

...and updated. Patience is falling on the lists and so is this year's average length of setlists. I wonder why the setlists are so much shorter on the European tour compared to the UCAP tour.

Wonder why Patience has been dropped. You'd think that Patience would be among the staples. Jungle, SCOM, Paradise City, November Rain and Patience should always be played.

The rest of the setlist can be altered as they see fit.

Johan wrote:Who the Hell is Fred Coury?

And Don Henley? WTF?

Fred Coury was the drummer for Cinderella.
I believe he remastered the Hollywood Rose ep when it was released. Gilby did a set of re-masters on it too.

and also, Axl sang backing vocals on a Don Henley song, I Will Not Go Quietly

'Patience' was back in the setlist again last night.

Updated!

Soulmonster wrote:...and updated. Patience is falling on the lists and so is this year's average length of setlists. I wonder why the setlists are so much shorter on the European tour compared to the UCAP tour.

But with a great finish to the tour the average no. of songs ended up at 24.2, a new record!

If the India dates takes place Bumblefoot will pass Izzy on the list of members with the most gigs.