The was a concert tour by

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

spanning from July 31, 2021 to December 10, 2022.

Background

After a one-off show on January 31, 2020, in Miami in conjunction with

Super Bowl LIV Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 NFL season, 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2019 Kansas City Chiefs season, Kansas City ...

, the band was slated to tour Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

in March and April. On February 6, 2020, a tour with

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The ...

as openers was planned for several dates in July 2020. The first tour date took place as scheduled on March 14, 2020, in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

as part of the Vive Latino Festival (where they played "So Fine" with

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the b ...

on vocals for the first time since 1993), in spite of the rapid advance of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Although it was announced two days later on March 16, 2020, that the remaining Latin American dates had been postponed until October through December 2020, the shows would later be postponed indefinitely. On May 11, 2020, the band announced on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

that the European leg of the tour, which was originally scheduled to begin on May 20 in

Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, had been cancelled. On May 20, 2020, the band announced that the North American leg of the tour was "being rescheduled out of an abundance of caution." The postponed leg was originally slated to begin on

July 4 Events Pre-1600 * 362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans. * 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and procla ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

and end on August 26 in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

. The now-cancelled August 8 appearance at

SoFi Stadium SoFi Stadium ( ) is a domed multi-purpose stadium in Inglewood, California, U.S., a suburb of Los Angeles. SoFi occupies the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack and neighbors the Kia Forum and Intuit Dome. Opened in September 2020, the ...

in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

area would have been (in addition to being the band's return to their home town) the first rock and roll show at the new stadium. On November 19, 2020, the band announced 8 new Oceania dates. The Oceania tour is scheduled to begin on November 6, 2021, in Gold Coast, Australia, before wrapping things up on November 24, 2021, in Perth, Australia. The Toronto date for July 26 was cancelled on June 1, 2021. On August 3, 2021, at

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, the band played " Absurd", a reworking of the song "Silkworms" from the ''

Chinese Democracy ''Chinese Democracy'' is the sixth studio album by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on November 23, 2008, by Black Frog and Geffen Records. It was the first Guns N' Roses studio album since the 1993 covers album ''"The Spagh ...

'' sessions, performed live four times back in 2001. After the band's show at Wrigley Field on September 16, 2021, Rose released a statement saying he was suffering from

food poisoning Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such ...

during the show, however he performed the show in full. On September 24, 2021, the band released "

Hard Skool ''Hard Skool'' is a single and the fourth extended play by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. The single was released on September 24, 2021, with the EP following on January 28, 2022. The EP consists of two singles and two live tracks, an ...

", another reworking of a song from the ''

'' sessions, and played live on September 26, 2021, in

Royal Farms Arena CFG Bank Arena is a multipurpose arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This venue is located about one block away from the Baltimore Convention Center on the corner of Baltimore Street and Hopkins Place in downtown Baltimore. With a seating capacit ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. The song had been rumored to be released and had been played at soundchecks in 2019, 2020 (at the band's last show before the pandemic, with Rose present) and 2021. According to figures reported to ''Billboard'' Boxscore, the U.S. leg of the Guns N' Roses 2021 Tour grossed $50 million and sold 363,000 tickets. On September 9, 2022, Axl Rose apologized on his Twitter account for the concert held at

Rock in Rio Rock in Rio is a biennial Brazilian multi-day music festival held at City of Rock in Rio de Janeiro. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Ten incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeir ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. On his account, he wrote that: "I want to apologize for being a bit under the weather, thankful not Covid. I tried to keep my cough between lines. Love you. Thank you to the fans and Rock in Rio for everything and what a fucking great crowd."

Tour dates

Cancelled dates

Personnel

Guns N' Roses

Axl Rose W. Axl Rose ( ; born William Bruce Rose Jr., February 6, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inception in ...

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, percussion *

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, talkbox, slide guitar *

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

, lead vocals *

Dizzy Reed Darren Arthur "Dizzy" Reed (born June 18, 1963) is an American musician. He is best known as the keyboardist for the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has played, toured, and recorded since 1990. Aside from lead singer Axl Rose, Reed is ...

– keyboards, piano,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, backing vocals *

Richard Fortus Richard Fortus (born November 17, 1966) is an American guitarist. He is a member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has recorded one studio album, since 2002. Fortus has also collaborated extensively with The Psychedelic Furs fron ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

, lead guitar, backing vocals *

Frank Ferrer Frank Ferrer (born March 25, 1966) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer for hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he played, toured, and recorded from 2006 to 2025. He was the longest tenured drummer in the band's history. ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, percussion *

Melissa Reese Melissa Reese (born March 1, 1990) is an American musician who has collaborated frequently with Bryan "Brain" Mantia and is a current member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Early life Reese was born in Seattle, Washington.synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

sub-bass Sub-bass sounds are the deep, low-register pitches below approximately 70 Hz (C2 in scientific pitch notation) and extending downward to include the lowest frequency humans can hear, approximately 20 Hz (E0). In this range, human hea ...

, programming, percussion, backing vocals

Guests

P!nk Alecia Beth Moore-Hart (née Moore; born September 8, 1979), known professionally as Pink (stylized as ), is an American singer and songwriter. She is known for her acrobatic stage presence and activism. At the age of 15, Pink formed the shor ...

– vocals during the song "Patience" (September 4, 2021) *

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (; born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only consistent member. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of th ...

– vocals and guitar during the song "Paradise City" (September 4, 2021) *

Wolfgang Van Halen Wolfgang William Van Halen ( , , born March 16, 1991) is an American musician. The son of actress Valerie Bertinelli and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, he performed alongside his father and his uncle as the bassist for Van Halen from 2007 to 2020. ...

– guitar and vocals during the song "Paradise City" (October 2, 2021 & October 3, 2021) *

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005, returning as a judge beginning with the twenty-third season. Underwood's f ...

- vocals during the songs "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City" (July 1, 2022; July 2, 2022)

Notes

References

{{Guns N' Roses, state=expanded 2021 concert tours 2022 concert tours Guns N' Roses concert tours Concert tours postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic