Guns N Roses Reunification – After 20 Years of Chaos: "A Cancer"

– Not in this life.

Not during this life. Then Axl Rose responded in April 2012 when asked if the original members of the group could be reunited. But almost exactly four years later came the official announcement – and reunification was a fact.

The World Tour, entitled "Not in this life tour", brings together for the first time in 20 years the three original members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan.

The guitarist Slash left the group in 1996 after a series of conflicts between him and the singer Axl Rose. The last straw came when Rose acquired the legal right on behalf of the group – and so the others went to ordinary employees.

– I'm done.

"I have finished" or "it's enough now". In an interview with Piers Morgan's TV profile in 2012, Slash spoke to Axl Rose about his last words. Then there were two decades, during which the two front figures did not talk to each other – but often spoke to each other.

"I see it as cancer"

– Personally, I see it as a cancer that should be removed and avoided. The less one hears about him and his followers, the better, "says Axl Rose to Spinner magazine in an interview in 2009.

In the same interview, he explicitly stated that he was not going to talk about it. there was no chance of reunification.

– It's zero percent lucky that I have something to do with Slash, as long as it's not a hangover and that it would not have been handsome, "he said to the newspaper.

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In another interview that year, the singer went all the way to the station. to say that one of them had to die first. ] – It's obvious that one of us two will die before a meeting and no matter how sad, ugly or unhappy people think it's like that, said Axl Rose in an interview with Billboard.

Up to now more than 150 concerts

Not even when Guns N Roses was chosen in the Hall of Fame of Rock & Roll Roll that they accepted. Axl Rose refused to attend and when asked why Slash had replied:

– He hates me. For many different things, I do not even know. There is simply no communication between us, Slash told Rolling Stone Magazine 2012.

So when news of reunification arrived, it surprised everyone. Two and a half years later, Guns N Roses gave about 150 gigs and played for more than 4.3 million fans. In May this year, the tour had attracted more than 4 billion Swedish crowns, according to Sydsvenskan.

In an interview on Sixx Sense radio show, Slash tells us that it is Axl Rose who took the initiative of reunification. Rose called when he was touring South America and when he returned, they met personally.

– I remember it very cleverly, it was smart to speak personally. Because there is a band that has never broken, Slash says in the interview and continues:

– There were very negative feelings after the breakthrough over the 20 years . But it's like in a wedding, when you love someone, that feeling is always, after all, negative. Much has been done in the media and everything has been expanded. So when he and I talked for the first time it was very, very cool.

Slash: "A New Experience"

In addition to Slash and Axl Rose also assists bassist Duff McKagan from the original set. In addition, drummer Steven Adler jumped in and invited to play. However, the last original member, guitarist Izzy Stradlin, did not participate in the tour.

But according to Loudwire magazine, he should have been very close.

– Izzy came so far that he flew with the group, but he left the position after a sound check and did not want to do anything about it, said Guns director N & ### Roses, Alan Niven, to the magazine last February.

– It was going well and everyone was happy. I'm sure he should have stayed, but something had to annoy him because he left for a sound check and that he did not show up anymore. Probably, he's pretty angry now, Niven goes on to Loudwire.

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So "not during this life" was during this life , less Izzy Stradlin then. One of the first times Slash and Axl Rose played together at the Coachella Festival in California in 2016. Slash described the feeling as "unreal".

– There were moments on stage where I thought and felt "wow". It was absolutely unique. The same guys, the same songs – but a whole new experience. Did you ask me before you said "No, never in life, that will never happen". But it happened and it's great, says Slash at Sixx Sense.

Since then, the band has toured around the world and on Saturday they take Ullevi to Gothenburg.