In a new interview with CNN, Slash said that GUNS N’ ROSES‘ long-running reunion tour went incredibly well, in part thanks to the great relationship he, singer Axl Rose and the other bandmembers are currently enjoying.
“When we got back together, that whole chemistry and that thing that makes what GUNS N’ ROSES is for me and Axl and Duff [McKagan, bass], it all just sort of came together,” Slash said. “After that long a period of time, we’d sort of forgotten what that was like.
“Everybody got along great,” he added. “That’s actually why the tour has kept going, because initially it was just going to be a couple of shows.”
GUNS launched its long-rumored and long-awaited reunion tour with an April 2016 club show in Hollywood and appearances in Las Vegas and at California’s Coachella festival.
GUNS N’ ROSES‘ reunion tour features classic-lineup members Slash, McKagan and Rose backed by guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer, keyboardist Dizzy Reed and second keyboardist Melissa Reese.
In a 2020 interview with Guitar Player‘s “No Guitar Is Safe” podcast, Slash spoke about what it felt like for him to step back out on stage with GUNS N’ ROSES for the first time in over two decades at the band’s concert at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.
“That was our first gig back,” Slash said. “I think probably the last time that we ever played there was in 1985. I don’t think we even played there in 1986. Probably ’85 was the last time we played there. “[The April 2016 concert was] our first show together after 20 years. We obviously had more gear and more crew than we did back in the day, I’ll tell you that much. And it was loud. But it was a lot of fun. It was an almost poignant moment to fucking stand there and look at that crowd in that sort of room and have that kind of nostalgic feeling.”
In 2019, Slash told Guitar.com that his first concert back with GUNS N’ ROSES was an “overwhelming” experience. “It was so cool,” he said. “Because it was a long time — we’re talking more than 20 years from the last show in 1994… it was 22 years since the last time we’d played together. And obviously I’d played with Duff [since then] but there’s a certain dynamic in the three of us together. It was awesome, and it’s a really great experience.”
Slash and his bandmates played the final show of their “We’re F’N Back” run on October 4 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
“We’re F’N Back!” came on the heels of the “Not In This Lifetime” run that became the No. 3 highest-grossing tour in the history of Billboard Boxscore.
As previously reported, GUNS N’ ROSES will release a new four-song EP, “Hard Skool”, on February 25, 2022. The effort, which is exclusive to the GUNS N’ ROSES official store, contains the two new songs the band released in the last two months — the title track and “Absurd” (stylized as “ABSUЯD”) — as well as live versions of “Don’t Cry” and “You’re Crazy”.
