36. JANUARY-JUNE 2016 - SLASH AND DUFF JOINS GUNS N' ROSES, TOMMY AND CHRIS LEAVES THE BAND, AXL JOINS AC/DC

January 5, 2016 – Upholding a three-decade tradition of breaking ground, creating trends, and forever changing the face of rock ‘n’ roll, Guns N’ Roses announce the most significant and anxiously awaited musical event of this century. Founder Axl Rose and former members Slash and Duff McKagan will regroup to headline the Coachella Music & Arts Festival (April 15-17 & April 22-24)—as announced last night!

For months, critics and audiences alike have generated immense excitement and speculation over the possible regrouping of the iconic line-up. The April performances will mark the first time since 1993 the Gunners will share the stage for what is certain to be an explosive event. For more information please visit www.gunsnroses.com.

Guns N' Roses would like to respectfully thank the many people taking credit for our upcoming shows and everything in between. Especially those whom we haven't spoken to in numerous years who, through the power of media, have somehow served a pivotal, even if non-existent, role. We and the fans thank you!

(Los Angeles, CA) March 2, 2016 – One of the most celebrated acts in music history continue to make headlines as they prepare for their North American run in April. Guns N’ Roses—featuring the iconic lineup of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan—will be joined on their sold-out Las Vegas dates by multi-platinum rock band Alice In Chains opening weekend at T-Mobile Arena on Friday, April 8 and Saturday, April 9.

Jun. 23 - Detroit, MI @ Ford Field
Jun. 26 - Washington, DC @ FEDEXFIELD
Jun. 29 - Kansas City, MO @ Arrowhead Stadium
Jul. 01 - Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
Jul. 06 - Cincinnati, OH @ Paul Brown Stadium
Jul. 09 - Nashville, TN @ Nissan Stadium
Jul. 12 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Heinz Field
Jul. 14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Lincoln Financial Field
Jul. 16 - Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
Jul. 19 - Foxboro, MA @ Gillette Stadium
Jul. 23 - East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
Jul. 27 - Atlanta, GA @ Georgia Dome
Jul. 29 - Orlando, FL @ Orlando Citrus Bowl
Jul. 31 - New Orleans, LA @ Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Aug. 03 - Arlington, TX @ AT&T Stadium
Aug. 05 - Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium
Aug. 09 - San Francisco, CA @ AT&T Park
Aug. 12 - Seattle, WA @ CenturyLink Field
Aug. 15 - Glendale, AZ @ University of Phoenix Stadium
Aug. 22 - San Diego, CA @ Qualcomm Stadium

AC/DC are postponing the remaining dates of their U.S. tour because of lead singer Brian Johnson’s possible hearing loss. The band says in a statement that doctors have advised the ‘Back in Black’ singer to stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss. The group’s shows beginning Thursday in Atlanta through April 4 in New York are being rescheduled for later in the year — likely with a guest vocalist. The group’s lone stop in Florida would have been Friday at the BB&T Center in Fort Lauderdale. AC/DC opened the most recent U.S. leg of its ‘Rock or Bust’ tour Feb. 2 in Tacoma, Washington.

TONIGHT.
GUNS N’ ROSES.
Back where it all began…

Get your ticket at Gibson Brands on Sunset, formally known as Tower Records.
8801 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood.
A limited amount of tixs will be released at noon.

10Bucks.
1 Per Person.
Cash Only.
Non transferable.
No Cameras inside the event.

TROUBADOUR.
TONIGHT.
#GnFnR

Explore an Immersive GN’R Experience and Check Out the Pop-Up Shop at Gibson Brands on Sunset- Formally, Tower Records.

This is not an April Fool's Day joke. Guns N' Roses really are playing a surprise warmup gig tonight at the Troubadour — the venue where the band's classic lineup of Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler played their first gig — for a few lucky fans.

Long-running rumors about the show were confirmed this morning via a press release. Tickets will be available at the old Tower Records on the Sunset Strip starting at noon for $10, cash only, one non-transferable wristband per person.

While fans wait in line, they can enjoy an “interactive GNR experience” designed by MadeWorn's Blaine Halvorson and featuring classic band attire, awards, artwork and other memorabilia.

The show's start time is listed as “sometime after 11 p.m.” Doors will open at 10 p.m.

Good luck getting those wristbands!

It is simply impossible to fairly provide an account of Guns N’ Roses momentous and long-storied return. It was instant history, the type that occurs once in a lifetime.

When GNR took to the stage Friday at the Troubadour, it was the final release of many years of pent up speculation, prayers and concern of a long-in-the-tooth, yet absolutely devoted fan base. As if out of scenes of the most genuine rock-n’-roll movie ever made, the energy inside and outside the venue was downright visible. Santa Monica Boulevard on a Friday night is always hectic. But on this night, it could have been shut down to accommodate the desperate faithful who had not gained access via an in-person presale earlier in the day.

Though there was much whispered discussion of the pop-up show, no proper confirmation ever surfaced. That did not deter hundreds of fans who lined up–starting at 8pm Thursday–to buy tickets at the old Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard. Those that braved a night on the sidewalks of the Strip were rewarded at day break, when they learned that $10 tickets to a show at the nearby Troubadour would become available at noon.

Fast forward to 10am. The overnight gathering had evolved in to a true modern happening. Social media was lit a fire by the band’s morning announcement of a forthcoming tour, but more importantly, of the show that night at the tiny, storied Troubadour. Helicopters flew overhead and news outlets began to assemble. Late comers raced up the hill of Horn Avenue, hoping to still have a chance.

By noon, the particular destinies of the fans began to come clear. About 250 people in line (ultimately, those who had joined the queue from 8pm the night before, to about 7:30am the morning of) were granted access to buy rock n roll’s golden ticket. Set at merely $10–a price probably similar to that for GNR’s original appearance at the Troubadour circa 1987–they were scooped up instantly, leaving the hundreds of late comers hungry and desperate.

With wristbands affixed to weary arms, the question of “Will I get in?” shifted to, will the music match the moment? Specifically, would the chemistry of a band that authored a ridiculous portion of today’s musical canon, thrive as it once did?

There are those that view similar reunions as nothing but a so-called money grab. But something felt different on this day. The money will assuredly follow, but this performance was about redemption. This performance was a chance to reappear on the scene as a vibrant, relevant, kick-ass band. It was an impossible task, but that is exactly what Guns N’ Roses did.[...]

Cockily remarking, “You might know this one,” Axl and the band launched in to the battle cry intro of “Welcome to the Jungle.” Set in the city for which it is widely known, the soaring song was as powerful and devastating as it was in 1987 on the beyond-iconic Appetite for Destruction. Never more so than when Axl brought it full circle, singing the infamous refrain, “Do you know where you are? You’re in the Troubadour baby. You’re gonna diiiiiiiiiiie.” [...]

After Dylan’s excellent “Knockin on Heaven’s Door,” Axl candidly engaged the audience once again, testifying, “See? I’m agreeable. I am an agreeable person,” perhaps revealing another glimpse in to his own (and perhaps our own?) mind as he embarks on a precarious, large-scale tour with his long lost band. Almost 90 minutes in to the show, “Nightrain crushed as a set closer. A prototypical Guns anthem, it evoked another welcome burst of nostalgia.

Following a rendition of The Who’s “The Seeker” to start the encore, the show ended appropriately with “Paradise City.” Similar to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Welcome to the Jungle,” the song has become an undeniable piece of nearly all rock lovers’ musical DNA. Like the entire experience, it is damn near impossible to translate in print the emotional weight with which such a song was delivered.

Many in the audience will in all likelihood never love a band like they do Guns N’ Roses. Their songs represent a time and an attitude past that cannot be replicated. To see the band reunited on the precipice of their reemergence, in a city and venue from whence they came, at an event where omnipresent cellphones were thoughtfully banned by organizers, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to revisit the simpler – and dirtier – bygone days of 1987.

There wasn't a single person at the Troubadour who wasn't pinching themselves into bruises, or wishing they were allowed to document this shit on their cellphone (GNR's management forced attendees to lock their phones in magnetic bags handed out by the venue).

There were about 250 of us in attendance, including 50 "special guests" who peered down from the balcony of the Troubadour like aristocrats at the opera. Lenny Kravitz, Jim Carrey, Andrew Dice Clay and Nicolas Cage sat unmoved for 17 songs as if they were witnessing a cosmic occurrence. There were also lots beautiful women, the only attendees who were somehow allowed to keep cellphones to document the formerly "World's Most Dangerous Band," now "The Only Band That Matters" — or if that's too Clash-y for you, how about: "The Biggest Band on the Planet," which is undeniable at this point.

For GNR fans, this was their first exhale after 23 years of being suffocated by their seemingly doomed destiny as rock's most forgotten fan base. Since the band's meltdown between 1991 and 1997, we've had no closure. We couldn't even get a proper Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2012, when Axl bailed, then penned an open letter that confused fans even more. 2008's Chinese Democracy, which was brilliant in parts, was nearly a decade ago and still requires a decoder to understand who plays what, and what Axl's intended vision was versus what the label ended up releasing.

We spent way too many years obsessively analyzing the reasons why Axl and Slash broke up; now, we can obsess over the mystery of why they finally reunited. And why Izzy Stradlin doesn't use the Internet. And whether Steven Adler can actually play "Civil War" now.

The GNR fanboy's neuroses were mostly cured on Friday, April Fool's Day, when the band gave their fans an adoring valentine that massaged away all pain: a reunion gig at the Troubadour, where Slash, Axl and Duff shared the stage together, again, confirming in the flesh for the first time that GNR is really, finally back together. [...]

Slash rushed out first, wearing skin-tight leather pants, his voodoo top-hat over his curly mane, and a black sleeveless T-shirt that showed off his ripped arm. GNR opened with "It's So Easy," while almost everyone was expecting "Welcome to the Jungle." Slash played on four different guitars throughout the night (including a custom R guitar and various Gibson Les Pauls), which were handed to him by guitar tech Adam Day.

He was followed by Axl Rose, clean-shaven and much fitter than the last time I saw him, with shoulder-length ginger hair. He was wearing snakeskin boots, ripped designer jeans and a black leather jacket . He also had diamond encrusted gems wrapped around his fingers, which held firmly a red microphone. Two shiny silver crosses hung from his neck like a swag-rap MC or Elvis. Axl's look seems to have found the balance between extravagance and punk.

Duff wore a black vest and looked like he'd just been on a yoga retreat; his lean bicep muscles were just about bursting out of his skin as he moved his arm down the fretboard. Even his facial muscles looked like they were toned.

Another interesting look for the band was their first official female member (not simply a backup singer, like on the UYI tour). Her name is Melissa Reese, a musician and model, who wore glittery kicks and bounced around behind the keys like a raver (she also has greenish hair), while experimenting with various sound effects. Behind the kit was Frank Ferrer, who plays with hammering smoothness and a bit more feeling than Matt Sorum (who didn't make the cut for the current incarnation of GNR). He's also tighter than Adler, who probably still can't play "Civil War," while Ferrer can play it all.

The set included songs from every GNR era, including the surreal experience of watching Slash play funkier versions of Buckethead and Robin Finck solos on "Chinese Democracy" and "Better." Those songs showcased the undeniable fact that Axl Rose still has remarkable control of his falsetto and range, but on softer songs like "Sweet Child O' Mine," he sounds like he's missing the sandpaper quality that made him such a wild animal on the microphone. Then again, when Axl's revved up and screams, "You know where you are? ... You gonna die!", he sounds as vicious as always.

Slash shredded on all his solos and seemed more serious than usual, rarely showing any emotion and just focusing on his guitar and the occasional acrobatic leap to the front of the stage. Often he was close enough to touch, or to feel his dangling guitar string whip your face. Axl, other than a point during "Paradise City," the closer, was all smiles (he even threw his chrome whistle into the crowd). He looked reinvigorated, never out of breath, triumphant in his aviators, and constantly pushing his vocals to prove that he's still got what it takes to lead this band.

Back to the "Paradise City" moment. At one point during the song, the crowd was basically pushing themselves onto the stage when Axl said, forcefully, "Stop." When the crowd obeyed, he said, "Thank you," looked over to Duff and said, "Keep going." Twenty-three years ago, he would have stopped the show. Axl looked angry, but like the professional he's become, he managed to play on and lead his troops into battle.

"I'm the agreeable type," he said, when discussing, jokingly, his flexibility on picking the set list— even thought most people know Axl doesn't sing songs he doesn't feel like singing. But Axl is easier to work with these days. He's been in the studio with AC/DC in Atlanta, didn't show up late to the Troubadour, and added some self-deprecating humor to the night when he discussed his tendency to dictate the set list.

"I'm like Trump, I consult with myself," he said.

The reunion of the so-called classic Guns N' Roses lineup had faced enough obstacles already. Fans complained that original members Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler weren't on board, and rumors flew that the thaw between formerly fractious band leaders Axl Rose and Slash was less about mending fences than cashing in. So it looked like one more bad omen when news leaked Friday that Rose had broken a bone in his left foot after the group's impromptu warm-up gig April 1st at Los Angeles' venerable Troubadour, necessitating surgery. But not only did the frontman vow that the show would go on, he and the rest of the band – especially his lead guitarist – delivered a persuasive, often exhilarating reunion show Friday night at Las Vegas' newest venue, the T-Mobile Arena. And they did it with a little help from Dave Grohl.

After a churning, hit-heavy opening set from Alice in Chains, the ravenous, sold-out crowd waited 90 minutes for the notoriously late Rose to make an appearance. But just before midnight, he arrived to deafening cheers – while sitting on a tricked-out, Middle Ages-era throne complete with light displays that surrounded his head like a glowing aura. The eagle-eyed in attendance noted that the seat looked awfully similar to the throne constructed for the Foo Fighters leader last summer after he broke his leg, but it was only at the end of GN'R's show that the roadies removed a covering that had obscured the Foos' iconic "FF" logo underneath. "That's a good advertisement," Rose said admiringly of the logo, an indication of the singer's jovial demeanor throughout his band's two-and-a-half-hour set.

With his left leg in a cast, Rose was deprived of the frenzied movements he typically brings to his concerts. But the lack of mobility added an unexpected air of regal splendor and humanizing humility to the singer's collection of schizophrenic songs that veer wildly between impassioned mash notes and toxic kiss-offs. Shrieking, wailing and cooing sweetly from his throne, Rose ruled his kingdom of metaphorical and literal pain, serving as the tortured center of GN'R's vibrant, melodramatic tunes. And he was clearly in a good mood, smiling frequently, offering a polite "Thank you" each time the crowd roared its approval for a song, and commenting "Nice place you got here" about the spacious but comfy arena that, just the night before, had been christened by hometown heroes the Killers.

The Troubadour show may have been the first time that Rose, Slash and original bassist Duff McKagan have played together since 1993, but any naive hope that these reunion gigs would somehow thrust Guns N' Roses back in time to the jet-black menace of 1987's Appetite for Destruction quickly dissipated. Although plenty of Appetite material made the set list, the band's current configuration – which includes guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer, keyboardist/percussionist Dizzy Reed and keyboardist Melissa Reese – emphasizes the sweeping grandeur and cinematic shading that first took hold with the Use Your Illusion records and became even more prominent on the long-simmering Chinese Democracy. Even when Slash and his cohorts locked into the ferocious riffs of "It's So Easy" or "Welcome to the Jungle," the combustion was more glitzy Vegas than seedy Sunset Strip.

If Rose and Slash were affected by the whispers that their reunion was spurred by money, they betrayed no unease, the frontman busy hurling his lyrical antagonisms while the guitarist moved around the stage – his features hidden, as always, by his trademark top hat and long, curly black hair. But the lack of overt warmth between them couldn't obscure a shared, invisible onstage connection. After Rose struggled initially to reach the high notes on Chinese Democracy's "This I Love," Slash rescued his comrade with a guitar solo that articulated the song's anguish and vulnerability with such force that it seemed to embolden the singer when he got back on the mic for the final verse.

Perhaps not surprising for a show that dripped with nostalgia — many in the crowd sported vintage GN'R tour shirts when they weren't straight-up doing Slash cosplay — individual band members paid tribute to the diverse influences that had once inspired the nascent group but also predicted its fractious future. McKagan took a turn as lead singer, powering through revered British punk-rockers the Damned's "New Rose," while Slash and Fortus duetted on an instrumental version of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," which led to Rose getting on the piano for a performance of the instrumental coda to "Layla." The coiled fury of punk sparring with the broad emotional canvas and musical dexterity of 1970s classic rock: That's one way to describe the warring creative instincts that built up in Guns N' Roses around the time of the Use Your Illusion albums as Rose began to assert control over the group and indulge his operatic sonic ambitions.

Still, what was cheering about this first official reunion show, which will pave the way for a stop at Coachella and a 21-city tour, is that both halves of the band's personality got to have their say — and they both flourished. When Rose unfurled the gargantuan Illusion power ballads "Estranged" and "November Rain," his goopy tales of romantic disillusionment — encompassing everything from sorrow to anger to acceptance to hope — were guided and in some ways ennobled by Slash's precise playing and Ferrer's monolithic drumming, which counterbalanced the songs' bloated running times. (As for Reed and Reese, thus far they only really provide minute instrumental coloring, their contributions drowned in a sea of guitars, bass and drums.)

But the night belonged to the man in the chair. "I see how you could get used to this," Rose said with a laugh near the end of the show as he limped from his crutches offstage to climb up onto the throne. What was left unsaid was that what has made Rose such a spectacular and often maddening rock star is that, from the beginning, he's always wanted to wear the crown — and like Macbeth, once he had it, his paranoia and megalomania threatened to become his undoing. In some ways, seeing him at last sitting on a throne felt anticlimactic, even redundant.

Not that Rose's loyal subjects cared. Even after 150 minutes of pummeling, emotionally fraught hard rock, only a few in attendance left early, most of them stumbling out of the arena after the closing number, "Paradise City," with a bleary-eyed look and happy, tired smiles. As fans turned for the exits, not many noted that Slash and Rose, on crutches, headed offstage together, their heads turned to one another. It was impossible to know what was being said. But their body language suggested two survivors who recognized a kindred spirit.

AC/DC band members would like to thank Brian Johnson for his contributions and dedication to the band throughout the years. We wish him all the best with his hearing issues and future ventures.  As much as we want this tour to end as it started, we understand, respect and support Brian’s decision to stop touring and save his hearing.  We are dedicated to fulfilling the remainder of our touring commitments to everyone that has supported us over the years, and are fortunate that Axl Rose has kindly offered his support to help us fulfill this commitment.

Hours after the surprising announcement that Axl Rose was now fronting AC/DC, the reunited GN’R proved to be worth the wait

Have you ever watched a rock star sit and sing for two-and-a-half hours? Does the thought of it exhaust you? That's what the Coachella crowd experienced during Guns N' Roses' headlining set at the festival in Indio, Calif. on Saturday night (April 16).

And yet, they still somehow managed to be riveting. Just a few weeks back, the iconic hard rock band—now consisting of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan, minus Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler—played its first reunion show at Los Angeles' Troubadour, where Rose fractured a bone in his foot, rendering him unable to walk. To compensate, the 54-year-old borrowed the throne from Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl to sing from, never leaving his perch for a considerable amount of stage time.

On paper, it's a high-risk situation. As as lively collective with a lot to prove after an extended hiatus, Guns N' Roses faced astronomical odds. The crowd at Coachella's main stage wasn't teeming to the back as it was earlier in the day for Disclosure and Ice Cube. In fact, it mirrored the surprisingly low turnout for headliners LCD Soundsystem the night before, maybe reaching half-capacity—and served perhaps as a testament to the nostalgia booking that back-loaded the first two nights, with acts geared towards a more mature crowd.

But if anything, they showed how a night-ending performance should be done, even with limited resources. Rose remained seated for the entirety of the show, changing outfits throughout, somehow. They started just a few minutes late, much to the snide predictions based on past tardiness, and ripped into "It's So Easy," the first of a long line of hits.

Together, the group is unstoppable. Slash mercilessly shredded his guitar as he traded off solos with Rose; McKagan took the lead on "Attitude," relieving Rose of his vocal duties; Rose led their shattering cover of Wings' "Live and Let Die." The hits were plenty: "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Welcome to the Jungle" and ballad "This I Love," off 2008's Chinese Democracy, were in mint condition.

Oddly enough, in the few hours before the group took the Coachella stage, AC/DC announced that Rose would be joining them on tour as their lead vocalist for their upcoming tour, from May through June. Angus Young backed the claim by emerging to duet on "Whole Lotta Rosie” and “Riff Raff."

It doesn't really make sense. Together, Guns N' Roses is a white-hot force of nature; not even a foot injury slowed them down. To separate Rose from his home team, particularly when they're so clearly in sync (at least musically), seems like a grave misstep. The band is as fine as it's ever been, as evidenced by the merit of one of their first shows back together after being apart for so long. Not even a bum foot could keep the their energy from waning, and clearly, they have a lot more to give.

Guns N’ Roses historic stadium tour just got even more massive as the band added second shows in several cities for their Not In This Lifetime Tour. Due to unprecedented demand, a second show has been added at MetLife Stadium on July 24th. The first show on July 23rd is sold out. Founder Axl Rose and former members, Slash and Duff McKagan, began the most celebrated music event of the past decade headlining both weekends at this year’s Coachella Music & Arts Festival bringing the tally in April to almost half a million fans served and counting. The Not In This Lifetime Tour, produced and promoted exclusively by Live Nation, will see the iconic band headline stadium dates throughout the U.S. and Canada starting in Detroit at Ford Field on Thursday, June 23rd and include previously announced shows in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Washington DC, Philadelphia and more. A full list of tour dates is below.

Nightrain official GN’R fan club members will be notified via email with an early presale opportunity for the new dates.

A Citi cardmember pre-sale begins Tuesday, April 26th at 10:00 a.m. local time through Thursday, April 28th at 10:00 p.m. local time through Citi Private Pass. For complete pre-sale details, visit www.citiprivatepass.com. Tickets for the general public go on sale beginning Friday, April 29th at Live Nation.

One Million fans and counting will be part of the most celebrated music event of the past few decades when the tour of the summer launches on June 23rd in Detroit, but Guns N’ Roses have begun their return in spectacular fashion beginning with the Troubadour in Los Angeles on April 1st for their first live performance in more than 20 years followed by back-to-back arena shows in Vegas filling the house to the rafters, then Coachella for two weekends (April 16th and April 23rd) including a trip south of the border for two sold out stadium shows in Mexico on April 19th & 20th. April has seen almost a half million fans alone in North America! Guns N’ Roses’ are Axl Rose, Duff McKagan (bass), Slash (lead guitar), Dizzy Reed (keyboard), Richard Fortus (rhythm guitar), Frank Ferrer (drums), and Melissa Reese (keyboard).

Two legends of rock music, Alice In Chains and Lenny Kravitz, are set to join Guns N' Roses on their historic "Not In This Lifetime" tour. Alice In Chains joins the tour from opening night, Thursday, June 23 in Detroit, Michigan at Ford Field and will perform through the tour's second Chicago date at Soldier Field on Sunday, July 3. Lenny Kravitz will then join the tour from Tuesday, July 19 starting at the first Boston, Massachusetts date at Foxboro Stadium and perform through the tour's second date at East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday, July 24.

Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready have joined forces with ex-Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin to form a new project called Levee Walkers.

The first two songs from Levee Walkers, titled "Freedom Song" and "Tears For The West", also feature Killing Joke singer Jaz Coleman. Jaz is just the first in a handful of select singers who will be putting words and voice to the music of the Levee Walkers.

According to Martin, Levee Walkers' collaboration with Coleman took seed several years ago at the Classic Rock Awards. "We have been listening to his music for decades," Martin wrote "We were seated at the same table and introduced by our fellow bandmate Duff McKagan, and we immediately hit it off with a night of memorable conversation, which is how great collaborations usually begin."

Martin added: "A Levee Walker, by the way, is a phantom that occasionally appears on the tops of levees in the deep American South, which is the mystical heartland of all American music. And like a levee walking phantom, this band will appear, disappear and reappear again, as the musical inspiration suits us."

McCready and Martin previously played together in Mad Season, the '90s supergroup also featuring late Alice In Chains vocalist Layne Staley. McKagan and Martin were also members of Walking Papers, which released its debut album in 2012.

Axl Rose Triumphs at AC/DC Debut in Lisbon
Seated singer honors band's classic sound as 'Rock or Bust' tour resumes

AC/DC must be starting to think someone up there doesn’t like them. A catalogue of misfortune has beset this most enduring of hard-rock bands during the past two years. First, founding guitarist Malcolm Young stepped down from the band due to dementia. Then drummer Phil Rudd left in a haze of criminal charges. Most recently, singer Brian Johnson had to quit touring or face total hearing loss, while the band faced a backlash from fans unhappy at the manner of his departure and/or his superstar replacement: Axl Rose, singer of the newly reunited Guns N’ Roses, and a man who recently faced some adversity of his own in the form of a fractured foot.

Rose just doesn’t seem very AC/DC somehow. Like Johnson, the singer keeps a hat jammed to his head at all times, but there the similarities were expected to end.

Yet Rose actually seemed happy to play a different role here. From his opening greeting of “Nice to meet you!” – just five minutes later than billed – he was a deferential and pleasant presence between songs and an energized, brooding one during them. He remained seated throughout the main set, his leg still encased in a brace, but even his perch was more low-key than during the recent Guns N’ Roses shows: It resembled a humble office chair that had been jazzed up at the last minute with a few lumps of metal and some devil horns.

But while Rose’s body might be ailing, his voice remained in great shape. From the opening salvo of “Rock or Bust,” “Shoot to Thrill” and “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be,” it was clear that, musically at least, the GN’R man is a great fit for AC/DC.

True, he missed a couple of cues and on more recent material seemed unsure of whether to stick to his own trademark wail or give it more Johnson-esque rasp. But in the company of guitarists Angus and Stevie Young, bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Chris Slade – sounding as tight as any lineup on the planet – Rose still seemed to be reaping the rewards of what he has joked were his first-ever proper rehearsals.

Rose seemed particularly at home on Bon Scott-era classics such as “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” and “High Voltage” and happy to defer to Angus Young’s all-action, duckwalking showmanship. Once Rose is mobile again – and that can’t be far off, as he walked on and off the stage between encores – that dynamic may change, but for now, Young handled the heavy lifting, leaving Rose free to enjoy himself.

And enjoy himself he did, self-deprecatingly introducing “Shot Down in Flames” as “a song they wrote about my life story”; leading the chants of “Angus! Angus!”; changing the lyrics of “You Shook Me All Night Long” to “Knocking me out with those Portuguese thighs”; and gawping at the band’s enduring, if unimaginative props (a huge bell for “Hells Bells,” an even bigger inflatable woman for “Whole Lotta Rosie”).

After a spectacular closing version of “Let There Be Rock,” featuring Angus writhing around on a hydraulic platform as confetti bombs were blown around by the ever-stronger gusts from the waterfront, Rose returned to say goodbye to resounding cheers from the faithful.

And if the main set hadn’t already won over the crowd, the final volley of “Highway to Hell,” the rarely heard “Riff Raff” (a GN’R live staple, performed with Angus himself at Coachella, though Saturday was the first time AC/DC had played it live since ’96) and a cannon-and-pyro strewn “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” certainly did.

AC/DC review – Axl Rose brings menace as rock legends pull off a triumph

5/5 stars

The Guns N’ Roses singer might have been confined to a ‘throne’, but he delivered a masterly first appearance fronting AC/DC

AC/DC couldn’t really have handled the departure of their singer Brian Johnson much worse – a curt statement on their website announcing he could no longer tour, owing to hearing loss, and their intention to continue with a stand-in – short of announcing a compulsory redundancy programme for all Florida-resident geordies with a penchant for caps. Their fanbase, normally unquestioningly loyal, reacted with unexpected irritation: refunds for upcoming shows were demanded (and given), and many – me included – questioned whether the band should continue at all.

When they announced that Johnson’s short-term replacement would be Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose – a man for whom reliability is not a byword – eyebrows were further raised. Given AC/DC’s legendary efficiency, and Rose’s equally legendary tardiness in taking the stage, it seemed as if it could be a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. And then Rose broke a metatarsal, meaning he would be chairbound on stage. AC/DC, a band who care what people think of them rather less than anyone except, perhaps, Donald Trump, evidently decided in the wake of all these disasters that they needed to win people back. And so, for this first show with Rose, writers – the Guardian included – have been flown in to Portugal as the band attempt to prove they are still a worthwhile concern, even with guitarist Angus Young and bassist Cliff Williams the only remaining core members.

Rose’s arrival makes this show the first AC/DC gig in years – certainly since Johnson replaced the late Bon Scott in 1980 – at which no one knows exactly what to expect. Its triumph is that it does exactly what one would expect, but rather better than one had dared hope for. Rose being confined to his throne on castors – he looks for all the world like a hard-rock Davros – is a rare downside to his performance.

The triumph lies in the renditions of the songs AC/DC wrote and recorded when Scott was still alive. Whereas the Johnson-era material tended towards boozy bonhomie, Scott was often a malevolently misanthropic writer and singer, concealing a slightly terrifying rage behind apparent good humour. Rose, who is familiar with both malevolence and misanthropy, delivers those songs perfectly, giving them fresh menace. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap loses its cartoonish aspect, and becomes the bar-room chatter of a psychopath; he introduces Shot Down in Flames as “the story of my life” and convinces you it’s true. His voice, too, is brilliant: no matter how high, every note is hit, and sustained. And he keeps it up for two hours.

He seems more relaxed on the Scott songs, perhaps because of the manner of his replacing Johnson. Johnson’s songs are delivered just fine, but there’s a slight sense he’s being a little too reverent. He’s spoken of wanting to do justice to Johnson’s work, and maybe he’s concerned with not imprinting his own personality over the songs. That’s true, too, of his rapport with the crowd. Johnson was unfailingly good humoured – not much of an anecdote teller, but ready to rouse the rabble. Rose confines himself to a few softly spoken words between songs and a few all-but-inaudible thank yous afterwards. For this show, with this much at stake, you expect him to be the cheerleader for AC/DC, but he refuses to take the role.

Nevertheless, he compensates for the sometimes erratic sound – a fierce wind blowing off the Tagus following a day of horrendous rain bashes the music hither and thither – and perhaps even inadvertently outshines Young, who sounds a tiny bit approximate in the fiddly intro to Thunderstruck. For AC/DC Kremlinologists, though, the telling moments come with the incorporation of two songs from the 1978 album Powerage that had been out of live circulation for a long while – Rock’n’Roll Damnation and a thrillingly brutal Riff Raff. “I never shot nobody / Don’t even carry a gun,” Rose snarls, with complete conviction. “I ain’t done nothing wrong / Just having fun.”

Carry on like this, and those wondering whether AC/DC are still worth going to see this summer should have no worries: they, too, will be having fun.

AC/DC with Axl Rose: The First Review

Tonight in Lisbon, Axl Rose played his first show with AC/DC, and Classic Rock were there to make sense of it all. Was the choice of rock's most controversial frontman a schoolboy error?

Axl Rose is sitting. It’s not the Grohl throne borrowed for Coachella, more a La-Z-Boy Recliner with an elevated platform for his injured foot and a side table for drinks. Were it not for the lightning bolt adorning the underside of his medical boot you might think he was about to binge on House Of Cards rather than spend two hours fronting the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band, and it doesn’t look right. But that’s not all. He’s on time.

Then again, AC/DC are a band who’ve never pissed about. Back in 1980, after Bon Scott was pronounced dead on arrival at a South London hospital, the Young brothers briefly considered calling it quits before hiring his replacement, and just seven weeks later Brian Johnson was in the Bahamas recording Back In Black and working on his tan. The AC/DC machine did what the AC/DC machine does: it rolled on.

You wonder what modern social media would have made of a transition that, from this distance, seems to have been made with almost indecent haste. Accusations of greed and lack of respect would certainly have flown.

The very public apoplexy that’s greeted the arrival of Brian Johnson’s stand-in does offer some clues, although the situations are clearly different. Johnson is very much with us — although his departure has been handled undoubtedly badly — and the new guy isn’t a loveable geezer in a flat cap only familiar to those who saw Geordie play Electric Lady on Top Of The Pops in 1973, but Axl Rose. Axl fucking Rose.

It’s the guy with the bandana, shrieked the Twittersphere. The guy in the kilt. The guy with the corn-rows. The guy who turns up late and throws tantrums. The guy with the whiney voice. The guy who ruined Guns N’ Roses. That guy.

Then came the video. Angus, Axl and Cliff. Reluctantly, uncomfortably facing the camera, clearly operating in damage limitation mode, inviting fans to Lisbon. It’s excruciating viewing, but it’s the moment it all becomes real. One of the biggest bands this world has ever known are about to hit the stage fronted by the singer from one of the biggest bands this world has ever known. In an industry that thrives on hyperbole it’s genuinely historic, and no-one has any idea what to expect. It might be wretched. It might be electrifying. And 50,000 fans in Portugal are the first to find out.

“It’s turned into a beautiful sunny day suddenly,” says Axl Rose, the singer in AC/DC. “Nice to meet you!”

As introductions go it’s hardly Welcome To The Jungle, but he does have a point. For most of the day the wind has howled and the rain fallen sideways, and the back half of the Passeio Marítimo de Algés venue — a grass and concrete lot on the banks of the Tagus River, just west of Lisbon — has been turned into slurry. But the sun pokes through as a well-received set from Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown warms up the crowd, and by the time AC/DC hit the stage the audience has stopped huddling together for warmth like penguins at the Pole and are very apparently Ready To Rock.

And Axl? To use the parlance of TV talent shows, he nails the songs. From the opening Rock Or Bust it’s obvious he can “do” Beano. He follows it up with a searing Shoot To Thrill, before a swaggering, confident romp through Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be shows he can “do” Bon too. By the end of High Voltage his good foot is pumping up and down like a jackhammer as he flips the mic from one hand to another, and as Hells Bells climaxes he’s screaming so hard your fear his throat might explode through the top of his leather-hatted head. He even ad-libs, dropping “Portuguese thighs” into You Shook Me All Night Long. It’s an astonishing, tour-de-force performance, and he looks like he’s genuinely having fun.

AC/DC are sounding just like AC/DC. As they should. Cliff and Chris and Stevie provide the engine, Angus spins and pirouettes and duckwalks and does that curious shuffle and gurns like a man with a mouth full of rancid treacle, and everything comes together as it should. The only odd thing is how chatty Axl is. He introduces Back In Black with “You ready to turn it up? Here we go now!” and ends it with an insouciant “Woohoo! That was a fun one!” Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap is “a little ditty about how to take care of business.” Let There Be Rock? “We’re gonna get a little bit biblical on you.”

Axl’s also clearly spent recent weeks pummelling Angus for trivia with fanboy enthusiasm. He tells us that AC/DC are the world’s biggest exporter of devil horns. He reveals that early in their career, the band’s American record company hired a plane to fly past one of their outdoor shows trailing a banner reading, “Play Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation,” because it was doing well at radio but wasn’t in their set. It’s at these moments that it feels most like a tribute show, with an excited fan thrust into the spotlight, but the stories are told with such obvious delight you can’t help but be charmed. And if the evening couldn’t get any more bewildering, a chant of “Axl! Axl!” rises from the crowd, but he corrects the unruly mob with a modest, “you mean Angus.” We even get surprises, with Riff Raff the unexpected meat in the traditional Highway To Hell/For Those About To Rock encore sandwich.

So what the hell is going on? Is this a new, humble Axl, about to unexpectedly breath life into an ageing band while working angles on his own redemption? On this showing, it really feels like it could work.

And he did it from a chair.

GIG REVIEW: AC/DC WITH AXL ROSE

The once new guy on the block is now the old guy as AC/DC played the first ever gig at London’s Olympic Stadium last night for a spectacular show which featured pyrotechnics, flames, fireworks, giant cannons and Axl Rose.

Rose’s arrival makes this show the first AC/DC gig in years, certainly since Brian Johnson replaced the late Bon Scott in 1980, at which no one knew exactly what to expect. But nearly 90,000 fans were curious enough to make the pilgrimage and they were pleasantly surprised.

Coming on stage through clouds of smoke, he was no longer confined to a chair which he had been consigned too after recently breaking a bone in his foot. Instead he wore a special boot which allowed him to move around freely as he rattled through opener, Rock Or Bust.

He was stepping in for Brian Johnson after the 68 year old was forced to pull out of the tour due to hearing problems after fronting the rock band for 36 years, and Rose did not disappoint. There were none of the tantrums and tears normally associated with the lead singer of Guns N’ Roses, just pure entertainment.

Axl Rose just nailed the songs. From Back In Black it was obvious that he can ‘do’ Johnno, but he follows it up with a searing Shoot To Thrill before a swaggering confident romp through Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be, showing that he can also ‘do’ Scott as well.

Other Scott numbers went down really well, as he belted out Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and Shot Down In Flames. His voice was brilliant; no matter how high the note, he hit everyone and he kept it up for over two hours.

Songs that are rarely given an outing were included in the set list, such as Riff Raff, Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation and If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It), and as the night went on it was clear that Axl was having a ball delivering them. Cracking jokes throughout the set and before You Shook Me All Night Long, he quipped about his fellow band members that “now you know what the Buckingham Palace guards do in their free time”.

It helped that the set list is so well known by their loyal fans, that the whole concert becomes a huge karaoke party. There were mass singalongs to Thunderstruck and Hells Bells and when announcing Whole Lotta Rosie, there was a giant inflatable doll erected on stage.

But it was not all about Axle Rose. At 61 it seems that age has yet to affect guitarist Angus Young, who dressed in his trademark school uniform, jumping around the stage and performing his signature move, the duck walk. A particular highlight saw him perform an extended guitar solo at the end of Let There Be Rock, during which he was raised up in the air on a huge platform.

Flames shot up from the stage as the band wrapped up the show with Highway To Hell before the canons appeared for the finale of For Those About To Rock (We Salute You), as a short firework display brought the evening to an end.

There can be no replacing Brian Johnson, he will always be Mr AC/DC. But with Axl Rose as the stand in front man, AC/DC sounded like AC/DC should; absolutely brilliant.

As for the venue; well that is a whole different story.