During the late 80s and early 90s, Guns N’ Roses were arguably the biggest band in the world. Playing outdoor stadiums, headlining festivals and a mainstay on MTV, Axl Rose and Slash were literally everywhere and adored by millions including me! We are dear friends with their current keyboardist, Chris Pittman.

However, after many disputes, the band grew further apart and it wasn’t long before the two weren’t even on speaking terms. Several court cases followed and the band broke up. Axl Rose and Slash played their last show together in 1993 in Argentina.

As we fast forward 23-years, it looks like they have finally built the bridges needed to mend the gaping wounds that were left from a string of high profile bust-ups. What makes it even more intriguing for GnR fans is that the band have enlisted the help of founding members Steve Adler (drums) and Duff McKagan (bass) to join the band on the 5 date tour that they’ve just announced.

Although, Izzy Stradlin won’t be joining GnR on their shows at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Los Foro and Coachella shows, he has revealed he is willing to enter the studio with the band. While the band is yet to announce an extensive tour of North America, they did reveal their intentions to record a new album this year.

The last album released by GnR was ‘Chinese Democracy’, which took 6 years to make and came out in 2008, 15-years after the band’s ‘Spaghetti Incident’ album. ‘Chinese Democracy’ however, only featured Axl Rose and none of the other founding members, thus many hardcore GnR fans questioned whether it was actually a legitimate GnR record.

With the band selling over 100 million records worldwide during their career, 2016 is set to be an extremely profitable one for the band as they look to retain their status as a big hitter in the music world. When they get round to unveiling the details of their tour of North America, which is set to feature several football stadiums, the band hope to pull in over $3 million per show as well as charging that for their Coachella appearances. One I’m sure many of you are looking forward to seeing!

Fans are understandably excited by the prospect of finally seeing GnR together, so much so that original merchandise featuring the band is already selling online. In fact, even before they officially announced they were reforming they began stocking merchandise on their official site ahead of the announcement. And now it looks like everyone is getting in on the act, as even online gaming operators are launching GnR-themed games in the lead-up to the band’s first show

As things start to reach fever pitch in the lead-up to their first show at the T-Mobile Arena in April, GnR is expected to pocket millions in merchandise sales. With their touring commitments, recording a new album, media obligations and various festival headline slots, it’s going to be a hectic year for one of rock music’s biggest ever bands.

While it still doesn’t quite feel real, we are sure that when fans hear Slash’s guitar kick into action for the first time, it’ll be like they never went away.
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