Guns n’ Roses Announce First U.S. Date In Four Years
After bringing Chinese Democracy to Asia, Canada, Europe and South America, Guns n’ Roses have finally announced their first official American tour stop: August 13th in Sturgis, South Dakota as the final night headliner at the Rock ‘n Rev Festival, the self-proclaimed “World’s Largest Biker Event.” The gig will be G n’ R’s first official U.S. performance in four years, though as Rolling Stone previously reported, Axl Rose and Co. did perform a handful of secret shows during New York’s Fashion Week earlier this year.
Look back at early photos of Guns n’ Roses.
Rock n’ Rev, which runs from August 9-13th, will also feature Daughtry, Stone Temple Pilots, Godsmack, Eagles of Death Metal, Creed, Wolfmother and Alice in Chains (who Guns n’ Roses will replace as the final night’s headliner). The Rock ‘n Rev show marks the band’s first officially announced U.S. show since the final four dates of the band’s 2006 Chinese Democracy tour was cancelled so Rose could complete the long-in-the-works album, which was finally released in November 2008.
Guns n’ Roses launched their Chinese Democracy tour internationally but announced no plans to tour the United States, where sales of Chinese Democracy were underwhelming. The band’s former manager (and chairman of Live Nation Entertainment) Irving Azoff sued Rose in March for $1.9 million in unpaid tour commissions stemming from the band’s Canadian and Southeast Asia shows. Guns n’ Roses replaced Azoff with Kiss manager Doc McGhee and Rose countersued, claiming that Azoff conspired against the success of Chinese Democracy as part of a “secret plan” to force the singer into reuniting with former bandmates like Slash and Duff McKagan for a large tour.
While the Rock n’ Rev performance might demonstrate a thawing of the relationship between Guns n’ Roses and Live Nation — tickets for the festival are available through Ticketmaster — it’s unlikely the Sturgis gig will immediately spawn a U.S. tour for G n’ R: Axl and Co. will head to Europe for a second leg of dates starting with a headlining slot at the Reading Festival on August 27th. Guns will tour Europe through the middle of October, then head to Australia in December.