Guns N’ Roses Promise ‘Destruction’ in New Las Vegas Residency
Guns N’ Roses have had a hot-and-cold relationship with Las Vegas in recent years. For every triumphant performance of “Paradise City” and special guests, such as former member Izzy Stradlin, during their 12-date residency two years ago, there were inauspicious events including the pulling of the band’s “robot rape” posters and a police investigation into guitarist DJ Ashba’s wedding proposal.
Despite the setbacks, the band has announced a new run of Sin City shows this spring. Between May 21st and June 7th, GN’R will play nine concerts at the Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for a residency they’ve dubbed, “No Trickery! An Evening of Destruction.” Tickets go on sale this Friday.
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Last month, the group had said it was “setting up tour plans” for the year, but at the time it had only booked a run of dates in Mexico and South America beginning next month. In the meantime, frontman Axl Rose has been weighing in on current events on his Twitter account, making fun of the Red Hot Chili Peppers for admittedly “miming” their Super Bowl halftime performance and sarcastically condemning the Danish zoo for killing a 2-year-old giraffe and feeding it to the lions in front of children.
On Monday, Rose wrote a long missive about the latter issue to rein in his snark. “For most normal everyday people that love, care about and enjoy animals this event has been a tragedy,” he wrote. “An unexpected, unimaginable and what, for many, is most devastating, a seemingly avoidable horror show that somehow seems lost on the professionals involved and those speaking for the zoo a facility that’s in my opinion thought to exist for the animals, the public, educational purposes and science in as best a sense of harmony as possible.”
In other GN’R-related news, the group’s former guitarist Slash will host and judge the first-ever artist-sponsored “Hackathon” at South by Southwest next month. The “Slashathon,” as it’s been renamed, will challenge tech developers to make applications and technology that will help musicians interact with their fan bases for an album release. The developers will have to complete their project within 12 hours, with a grand prize of a Slash-signed Gibson guitar, $1,000 and the opportunity for Slash to use the winning creation in the promotion of his next record — due out in late 2014 — on the line.