Guns n' Roses Guitarist: "Chinese Democracy" Tour To Start In March, Last "At Least Two Years"

Buried deep in an article about Guns n' Roses guitarist Richard Fortus and his one-night reunion with Pale Divine is this bit of potentially huge news: A Gn'R tour should start in late March and is expected to last "at least two years," according to Fortus. The band had hinted at a possible tour on their official Website in April, saying the fifth Chinese Democracy tour since 2001 was in negotiations — "When we begin to put tour plans together, we'll see where things are," the band said at the time — and a source close to the band told Rolling Stone an '09 tour was in the works. With album sales slumping and Axl Rose still reluctant to conduct any interview outside of message board forums, a tour is just what the album needs for a promotional boost. If the March start date is correct, it puts Guns in a position to headline several huge festivals in 2009 on both sides of the Atlantic.

Fortus has played guitar in some capacity for Gn'R since 2002, when Axl Rose's friend Paul Tobias left the group's revolving-door guitarist job. Currently, Fortus is the lead guitarist on Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad tour. A St. Louis native, Fortus says he and Axl joked about returning to the city where, in 1991, Rose caused a riot after he stormed offstage because a photographer in the crowd ticked him off. "There has been talk of us doing a Love tour, a tour of all the cities where there have been riots, and doing free shows," Fortus said.

We'll remain optimistic about a Guns tour but again, this is the gloriously unpredictable Axl Rose we're dealing with. We were all promised a video for "Better" two weeks ago and are still waiting on that.

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• Did Axl Rose Swindle Guns n' Roses and Steal Slash's Song? A Guide to Rose's Online Rants
• David Fricke's Review: Chinese Democracy

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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