5 Reasons Guns N’ Roses Will Reunite and 5 Reasons They Won’t
Rumors of a Guns N’ Roses reunion have been swirling for months, but things went semi-nuclear earlier this week when an article on Dish Nation flatly said it was happening and Brandi Glanville, a friend of Duff McKagan’s wife, blurted out “Guns N’ Roses is coming back, motherfuckers!” in a video interview. Tweets from the official Guns N’ Roses account fueled speculation: “Surely they’ll read between the lines,” “If only they could read lips …,” “Of course today everyone is a jouranlist [sic]” and “What ever happened to no news is good news?” And yesterday, Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe chimed in with his own two cents.
To be very clear, none of this resembles confirmation. We aren’t disparaging the good people at Dish Nation, and it’s possible they have the rock scoop of the decade, but we’d like to know a little more about their reporting. Also, a random outburst from one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills never tends to mean much of anything. There’s also that interview Slash gave a few months ago to a Swedish TV station where he was asked about a supposed report that he was speaking to Axl Rose again. “It was probably way overdue, you know,” he said. “But it’s very cool at this point to dispel some of that negative stuff that was going on for so long.” Call us cynical, but the video looks a little fishy. It’s possible the quote was either out of context or Slash didn’t quite hear the question right.
So are G’NR on the verge of announcing a 200-date stadium tour, or will Axl Rose never appear in public again? Here are five compelling reasons why the reunion is a go and five just as sound reasons why it’s not.
Why It’s Going to Happen
1. The most recent lineup is kaput.
The new version of Guns N’ Roses haven’t played a concert since their Las Vegas residency ended in June of 2014, and in the interim, guitarists DJ Ashba and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal have left the band and bassist Tommy Stinson has said he has absolutely no idea what’s happening with the group. Axl has let the latter-day lineup fall into tatters, which seems to suggest he’s gearing up to bring back the classic configuration.
2. New Guns N’ Roses had toured itself into oblivion.
When Guns N’ Roses went out in 2002 and 2006, they packed arenas all over America, but eventually they were reduced to a theater and club act. You simply can’t do the same show over and over and expect people to keep seeing it. Their last shows were part of a Las Vegas residency, and even that was starting to grow stale. The only logical move at that point is a reunion.
3. They’d get a nine-figure payday.
Axl Rose may not be the most rational person on earth, but even he would presumably have trouble turning down the insane money he’d get for a reunion tour. The guys in Aerosmith aren’t exactly best friends, but they suck it up night after night and make a fortune in the process.