Guns N' Roses return to Utah

Written by www.deseretnews.com - staff writer

In 1993, I went to the the Delta Center to see Guns N' Roses on their never ending Use Your Illusion tour, and they ROCKED!

Although the band's Appetite for Destruction lineup had by now fallen apart, the band still included Slash and Duff McKagan with Matt Sorum on drums, and of course Axl Rose who was still in fine vocal form at that point in his career.

The crowd that night was a little unsure about what to expect considering Rose walked off the stage during the band's previous Salt Lake City show during the encore at the old Salt Palace in 1991.

But on this night, other than hitting the stage extremely late, Rose was on his best behavior and gave an incredible performance. The band that night was musically tight, they were raw (no backup singers or players) and they created an energy that you'd expect from the hard rock outfit at that time…exciting and unpredictable.

Monday morning, The Arrow 103.5 announced Guns N' Roses would be returning to the Maverik Center on Dec. 13. Except in this case it's more like the Axl Rose band. The band's piece by piece breakup has been long documented as well as Rose's years of disappearing from the public eye. Yes, Dizzy Reed from the Use Your Illusion years is still on keyboards, and Izzy Stradlin has made guest appearances in recent years as well as a brief guest appearance by McKagan. But for the most part it's Axl and a cast of others.

That's why I'm torn over the announcement that the band with the Guns N' Roses name is returning. Part of me is curious to see this new lineup and re-live my college years. And the other part is afraid of damaging a good memory of seeing a solid rock band in their prime.

What do you think? If you were a fan of Guns in Roses from 1987-1993, will you go see them in December?

Posted in: Duff McKagan,Featured,Guns N Roses,News