6 Questions We Still Have About Guns N’ Roses’ Reunion
Axl Rose and Slash shared a stage for the first time in 23 years on Friday night, kicking off one of the most-anticipated (and potentially lucrative) reunion tours in rock history. No member of Guns N’ Roses has yet said a single word to the press, but the show still answered many long-burning questions. We now know that Axl, Slash and Duff McKagan were joined by keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer and new keyboardist Melissa Reese. We know that at least two Chinese Democracy tracks will be in the mix for the tour, as well as the Use Your Illusion super rarity “Double Talkin’ Jive.” But there are still a ton of lingering questions. Here are six of them.
1. What’s the deal with Steven Adler?
Perhaps nobody on earth wanted to see the original Guns N’ Roses lineup reform more than drummer Steven Adler, and since the reunion announcement, he’s been completely silent. Many fans figured that meant he was involved at least to some small degree, and when he bailed on a solo show at the Whisky a Go Go a couple weeks back, it seemed like possible confirmation. But he was nowhere to be seen onstage at the Troubadour.
L.A. Weekly is reporting that his absence was due to medical reasons. “A source close to the band told me that Adler is having back surgery, which is the real reason he pulled out of the Whisky show,” they report. “I’ve also been told he’s not ready to tour with GNR, not yet, and maybe not ever.” If true, that’s an incredibly cruel fate. Let’s all hope it’s not true and they’re just waiting for Coachella to break him out.
2. Was Izzy Stradlin even invited back?
The reclusive guitarist gave us quite a surprise last month when he joined Twitter and called us up to say that he wasn’t involved with these comeback shows. Sadly, we never got the chance to question him. Did the Guns N’ Roses camp make any attempt to bring him back into the fold? Was he made an offer he deemed insulting? Did they worry he was simply too unreliable to depend on for an extended tour? Does he even want to be a part of this? As of now, we simply have no idea.
3. How exactly did Axl and Slash mend their relationship?
Axl Rose made it abundantly clear in nearly every interview he granted over the past two decades that a reunion with Slash — who he once deemed a “cancer” — was a non-starter. “Give me a fucking break,” he told Billboard in 2009. “What’s clear is that one of the two of us will die before a reunion and however sad, ugly or unfortunate anyone views it, it is how it is. Those decisions were made a long time ago and reiterated year after year by one man.”