Guns N’ Roses rehearsed a new song called “Hard School” during a soundcheck for their concert last Thursday (September 16th) at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Slash posted a TikTok of the instrumental runthrough, which was filmed by his girlfriend Meegan Hodges during soundcheck.
The snippet features Slash laying down heavy riffs while drummer Frank Ferrerr works a steady open hi-hat beat. Bassist Duff McKagan and keyboardist Melissa Reese are also on stage, though frontman Axl Rose, keyboardist Dizzy Reed, and guitarist Richard Fortus are not present. Another clip, uploaded by a fan, contains some more vocals.
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Guns N’ Roses previously rehearsed “Hard School” (also known as “Hardschool” or “Hard Skool”) ahead of their 2019 Hollywood Palladium show. Reportedly, the song was originally titled “Jackie Chan” and was recorded during the Chinese Democracy sessions without Slash or McKagan.
Much like the band’s recently released new song “Absurd,” which originated as the Chinese Democracy-era tune “Silkworms,” it’s possible that “Hard School” will get a proper concert debut and studio release in the coming days.
In fact, it’s conceivable that GN’R would have premiered the song that night in Chicago had Rose not fallen ill. The singer said his vocal performance was affected by a probable case of food poisoning, having tested negative for COVID.
Rose took to the band’s Twitter to explain what happened:
“A note to Chicago… I got to the show feeling great, but started getting sick pretty early on. It progressed to where I was throwing up & was light headed. Wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d fallen off the front of the stage. I’d b fine then not, fine again then not all night. Was pretty crazy but the crowd was great n’ I was in a great headspace n’ we had fun. Luckily the COVID test was negative. Def messed with my vocals in places. Just glad we got thru it n’ it didn’t mess with the show too bad. I’m a lot better now. Seems most likely to be food poisoning.”
Guns N’ Roses’ US tour resumes Tuesday night (September 21st) in St. Paul, Minnesota. Tickets for the band’s upcoming shows are available via Ticketmaster.
Watch footage of Guns N’ Roses rehearsing “Hard School” in Chicago below.
