Let's go back to the mid 1990s. I''m going to guess 1996 but I'm not 100% sure (for such an important landmark you'd think I'd remember the date right?). I'm a ten year old boy with a love for music that my friends thought was "for old fogies" Since I was 4 I had raided my parents' CD collection and discovered such great artists as Queen, Elton John and David Bowie. It's fair to say that already at such a young age that the likes of the Spice Girls and All Saints just weren't going to cut it. In August 1996(ish) I will have been in the Lake District. My family used to holiday there every year and we all loved it. As I looked round the shops of Keswick I found a CD called 'The Best Rock Anthems... Ever!' I remember thinking it might have some cool stuff on I hadn't heard before so promptly bought it and popped it in my DiscMan (the 1990s version of an iPod for those born this side of the millennium) as my dad drove us back to the caravan.
So I hear you... what the hell are you blabbering on about Mike? Well it was on that car journey that I first heard a genuine rock classic: 'Sweet Child O' Mine' by Guns N' Roses. Sure I'd heard some fantastic rock music in my time but THAT opening riff from Slash blew my mind. I'd never heard anything like it. It made such an impression on me that I immediately paused the CD to take it in. Yeah I get that that sounds pretentious but that's genuinely what happened. I'd been so blown away by the first ten seconds of 'Sweet Child O' Mine' that I needed time to process it. Twenty years later it is still my favourite song of all time. It was also my first introduction to Guns N' Roses... and my first real introduction to hard rock.
Fast forward ten years from that first introduction in Keswick and I'm standing in the hallowed ground of Donington Park watching Axl Rose's latest incarnation of GN'R headline on a hot Sunday night. It's not the first time I've seen a band calling themselves Guns N' Roses. Their Leeds Festival show in 2002 was my first ever live music experience. Sadly Download 2006 wasn't quite cutting it. Don't get me wrong, the band were very accomplished and slick for the first 30 minutes. However as Axl stormed off stage after slipping during 'Sweet Child O' Mine' the atmosphere changed. We GN'R fans have put up with a lot. Yes at this stage Axl's diva theatrics are almost part of the show but as bass player Tommy Stinson hits a camera man with his guitar while storming off stage, the Donington faithful started booing, throwing bottles and (where I was at least) started chanting for the previous night's headliner Metallica.
Sure Axl and Stinson came back but personally not even cameos from Sebastian Bach and founding member Izzy Stradlin could take the bad taste from my mouth. I just felt a little... fed up. At that stage there were two things that I (and the world) believed would never happen:
1. The album that GN'R had been working on for over a decade, 'Chinese Democracy' would never come out. It was eventually released in 2008 and despite most reviews I actually loved the album.
2. That original line up would never reunite again... much less Slash appear on a stage with W. Axl Rose.
Well if the rumours are to be believed, Hell had just frozen over.
On the same day that Lemmy sadly passed away, rumours were flying all over the Internet that Guns N' Roses would be headlining Coachella in 2016. A Guns N' Roses with Axl (of course), Duff McKagan and... Slash! Freaking Slash! The most volatile rock partnership perhaps of all time may just be back on the road. But let's look beyond the headline.
Despite the headlines this is only a RUMOUR at this point. Many websites are reporting it as gospel but until it comes out of the mouths of Axl and co or the Coachella organisers then I wait with baited breath. What's also clear from looking deeper into the the various articles is the fact that this isn't exactly a Kiss circa 1996 reunion. Drummer Steven Adler and Guitarist Izzy Stradlin are unlikely to be involved. Instead reports indicate that it is more likely to be current band members filling the gaps. If those members are the likes of Dizzy Reed and Richard Fortus then we are actually going to have a line up that encompasses all eras of Guns N' Roses from 1985 right up to present day. Maybe that's not such a bad thing.
Of course we would all love to see Adler and Stradlin hit the stage at Coachella but let's be realistic. Any Guns N' Roses headline show isn't going to be 'Appetitie For Destruction' from 'Welcome To The Jungle' through to 'Rocket Queen'. There's going to be 'November Rain'. There's going to be 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' and yes 'Chinese Democracy' will take up at least some of the setlist. It's somewhat sensible to keep some of the current line up on board even if it is less exciting than a full 'Appetite era' reunion. It's a debate that rolls on with so many bands.
"Queen isn't Queen without Freddie and John."
"Kiss are just a tribute band without Ace and Peter."
Can Guns N' Roses be Guns N' Roses without Izzy and Steven? They can certainly give us one hell of a show.
One of the greatest moments in my gig going life was hearing Slash at Download 2010 play that same riff that got me hooked on Guns N' Roses during his solo set. The mere thought of Slash, Duff and Axl reuniting to play GN'R songs old and new is so exciting as I thought it would genuinely never happen. The cynics may cry that it's not genuine but this may be the closest we'll ever get and it's certainly exciting for long time fans no matter what they say. Now all we need to worry about it whether this can last without falling apart! We're 'Right Next Door To Hell' and it may have just frozen over. Only time will tell...
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