Lucky London. Not only is it considered the favored stop for the promised Gilmour-Waters duet, but the city recently played host to the surprise reunion of controversial Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose and the band’s original bassist, Duff McKagan. Seventeen years after they last appeared together, McKagan thrilled fans when he unexpectedly joined Rose onstage halfway through the GN’R show at London’s O2 Arena on October 14th. He played bass on the track “You Could Be Mine” and later returned to play rhythm guitar on “Nice Boys” and “Knocking on Heaven's Door” and tambourine on the encore song “Patience.” Duff even took a bow with the band at the end of the show.
McKagan — along with Rose, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, and drummer Steven Adler — is part of the classic Guns N’ Roses’ lineup. Propelled to worldwide superstardom in 1987 after the release of the album Appetite for Destruction, GN’R were one of the most volatile, unpredictable, and brilliant bands on the planet twenty years ago. The group disbanded, member by member, throughout the ’90s with Duff the last to pull up stakes in August 1997. Rose was eventually the last man left standing. Since then he has struggled to pick up the pieces and remains stubbornly committed to keeping the band that bears his name viable.
According to Duff, the impromptu performance with Rose was a result of a purely serendipitous encounter. “I got to London, checked into the hotel and had no idea Axl and Guns N' Roses were in London,” he said. “The hotel manager and I are going up the elevator and he said, ‘You know, Axl is in the room next to us’. So Axl and I met up, saw each other and hugged. I went down to the gig with him.” The next thing McKagan knew, someone had handed him a bass and he was back in the Gunner saddle, jamming with his bud again.
It’s not the first time Axl Rose has shared a stage with an ex-Gunner. He and original GN’R rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin played a number of dates together back in 2006. Rose commented to Billboard magazine that, "I could see doing a song or so on the side with Izzy or having him out [on tour] again. I'm not so comfortable with doing anything having more than one of the alumni. Maybe something with Duff, but that's it." Just last year McKagan told Rolling Stone magazine that he was also open to the idea of working with Rose again. "I'm not going to be one of those guys who's like ‘f**k that, that'll never happen.’” he said. "It could very well happen. I love Axl. We've been through a lot of sh*t together that nobody can take away from us."
Duff McKagan’s appearance with Rose has, of course, sparked reunion rumors. Although he typically doesn’t indulge in talk of a possible Guns N’ Roses reunion somewhere down the road, McKagan doesn’t completely rule it out. He told Rolling Stone that "It could very well happen. It would have to be right and it would have to be righteous for everybody. It would have to be like a kick-ass thing." But the petulant Mr. Rose is not so optimistic. The rancor between him and former GN’R guitarist Slash runs deep. "One of the two of us will die before a reunion,” says Rose. And Slash concurs, adding that the two have been offered “hundreds of millions” to reunite the band’s classic lineup, but haven’t even spoken in 13 years let alone be in the same room together creating music. "So it's sad that something so good doesn't exist any more,” says Slash, “even though we're both still alive and on the same planet. But that's all."
In lieu of the real deal, Axl keeps retooling the band and trudging onward. The latest GN’R incarnation includes guitarists Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, DJ Ashba and Richard Fortus, bassist and backing vocalist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer, and keyboardists and backing vocalists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman, all respectable musicians in their own right, yet when attached to Guns N’ Roses, they’re often considered little more than a bunch of hired guns. Duff disagrees. "They're great players and great guys,” he says. “They’re a great band.”
Despite the endorsement from McKagan, longtime GN’R fans can’t seem to shake the specter of the band’s past. The general consensus is that any version other than the original is simply not Guns N’ Roses. No matter how good they may be, having a guitarist other than Slash play the opening riff to “Sweet Child O’Mine,” or the solo in “November Rain,” just doesn’t sit right. It feels inauthentic. Some call it sacrilegious.
The O2 gig was part of a three-date British arena tour that wrapped this week in Manchester. The band performed a 30-song set that included a mix of classic GN’R material, covers, and tracks from their highly anticipated 2008 release, Chinese Democracy. The show was a spectacle with giant screens, a huge stage with ramps for the band to move about freely, killer pyros and a storm of glitter on the closing number, “Paradise City.” Although the always fashionably late Axl Rose — who’s just been slapped with a whopping fine from venue officials for keeping the London crowd waiting an hour and twenty minutes longer than planned and then keeping them in the venue well past its 11 PM curfew — has packed on a few pounds over the years, his distinctive voice, with its ear-piercing screams and nasty snarls, is in mint condition.
As for Duff McKagan, he’s kept plenty busy since his GN’R days. He writes a weekly column for both SeattleWeekly.com and Playboy.com. He recently resurrected his side project Loaded and also joined Jane's Addiction this year, stepping in for bassist Eric Avery, to record and perform live with the group only to split with the band in September over musical differences. And earlier this week, as if to quash those pesky reunion rumblings, Slash announced on his MySpace page that Velvet Revolver is back to auditioning new singers.
