Guns N’ Roses entered the millennium shrouded in mystery.

After the collapse of the original GN’R line-up in the mid-90s, Axl Rose had systematically pieced his band back together with a new ensemble of musicians (only keyboardist Dizzy Reed remained), and was more determined than ever to prove his doubters wrong.

There were just a few small problems;

• Nobody had heard any new music.
• The new band hadn’t played any live shows.
• Axl hadn’t been seen in public for seven long years.

So what better way to test the water than a comeback show in front of 200,000 expectant fans?

Welcome to the crazy world of GN’R, and welcome to Rock In Rio III.

You Know I Know Better

The year is 2001, and the so-called “Nu-Guns” have agreed to headline the iconic Brazilian music festival.

Coming almost a decade to the day since the original incarnation of GN’R performed at Rock In Rio II, it would be an understatement to say that anticipation/excitement was at fever pitch.

(Heck, concert staff say around 1/3 of all fans in attendance are wearing some form of Guns merchandise.)

Underneath this joy, however, was a palpable sense of worry regarding whether Rose would actually show up.

Considering his behaviour during the late 1980s and early 1990s, combined with the fact that Rose had disappeared entirely from the public eye and delivered total radio silence for several years, exectives at Geffen Records (and a large portion of the band’s fanbase) felt that this was a car crash waiting to happen.

Because let’s face it, if anyone’s crazy enough to no-show a quarter of a million fans because he’s “not in the mood”, it’s Axl fucking Rose!

The new Gunners arrived in Rio on January 12th, a full two days before their headline slot.

The media were out in force to capture images of the reclusive frontman.

Indeed, the biggest testament we can give to describe the sheer size of the Axl-shaped hole which was left in the rock stratosphere when he vanished all those years ago can be seen by the fact that all of the other musicians on the bill (Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oasis, Papa Roach, Sting, R.E.M., Neil Young, N’Sync, Britney Spears, and a newly reformed Iron Maiden) were able to enjoy total freedom of the resort, unbothered by the papparazzi, such was the frenzy surrounding Rose.

But this is where things got weird…

Because instead of being met with the tempermental wildman of days gone by (or the “fat and bald Axl” if internet rumours of the time were to be believed!), they were greeted by something they could never have expected; a happy Axl Rose.

He smiled and posed for photographs, and even strolled across Rio’s beaches surrounded by GN’R fans.

It’s safe to say he looked genuinely healthy, and gave off an eery sense of calm ahead of what must’ve felt like crushing pressure to deliver the goods to a baying rock media.

Was this a new Axl Rose we’re seeing?

In some ways, yes it was.

This was a man who frequently visited a psychic in Sedona and had been practicing meditation since the mid-90s as a means to help him process the mental health challenges which he had endured as a result of an abuse-filled childhood. A far cry from the ferocious firecracker who embarked in the gruelling Use Your Illusion tour in 1991, he displayed a level of comfort and confidence around his new bandmates which we had never seen from him.

But in other ways, it wasn’t.

Case in point; the band’s helicopter touched down in Rio at precisely 1AM – already an hour past their scheduled start time and still some 90 minutes before they would eventually take the stage!

I guess some things never change, huh?

The crowd didn’t seem to mind, though, because after enduring sub-par performances from the likes of Papa Roach and Oasis, the wait was finally over…

Out Of The Wilderness, And Back Into The Jungle

Rock In Rio III began with a cartoon about the crazy life of “Uncle Axl”.

It poked fun at his reclusive lifestyle, which had taken on an almost Michael Jackson level of infamy by this point.

Several sections of the audience still didn’t believe he would perform – even at this late stage of the festival – so this cartoon was greeted with huge cheers, acting as a confirmation-of-sorts that the show was a go.

The staccato riff of Welcome To The Jungle then cut through Rio’s night sky, and you could palpably feel the emotion erupting from the crowd.

Holy shit.

This is it.

But is it?

Yep, even at this point, you still couldn’t rule out it out.

And then it happens…

“Do you know where the fuck you are?”

Rose’s unmistakable howl explodes down the microphone, capturing half a decade of frustration and anger into one hellish, unrelenting, 20-second note. It’s a moment for the ages, and it sent the 200,000-strong Rio crowd over the fucking top.

Textbook.

Get In The Ring, Motherfucker!

As the floodlights hit, the new band are exposed to the massive crowd for the very first time.

The line-up consists of Axl on vocals, Buckethead and Robin Finck sharing guitar duties, Tommy Stinson on bass, and Brain on drums.

It must be said that Nu-GNR look weird as fuck.

Each member appears to have a vastly different fashion goal, and while fans were already prepared for Rose’s outlandish style (it’s a unique combination of sports pants and open shirts here), they weren’t at all ready for the hodge-podge mash-up of Stinson’s classic punk gear, Finck’s goth-styling, and the visual spectacle that is Buckethed.

Honestly, it all seemed a million miles away from the effortless cool of the original version of Guns N’ Roses, and while Axl is said to have fully loved this “feak show” appeal, most of the band’s fanbase struggled to digest it.

That being said, it’s clear that Rose was telling the truth when he informed Rolling Stone Magazine that his new recruits could “play the shit out of” the old songs, because they really can.

The eclectic mix of musical styles provides Nu-GNR with a sonic whallop which really needs to be heard to be believed, and that seemed to delight Rose as he blasted his way through Welcome To The Jungle and It’s So Easy as if he’d never been away.

A special mention here must go to Buckethead.

Rock music afficionados will be familiar with how uber-talented the guitar virtuoso is, but he remained an unknown entity to the masses of mainstream GN’R fans prior to tonight. Donned in serial killer chic and standing out like the coolest sore thumb in history, he parked himself next to Rose and shredded his way through everything without mercy. It’s impressive to see him hit all of Slash’s trademark riffs and solos as effortlessly as he does (even adding his own licks on top at break-neck speed) and it’s clear that even the most complex arrangements of GN’R’s famous back-catalogue will not push him beyond 50% of his insane technical skill.

Indeed, all of the so-called “Nu-Guns” deserve their flowers for nailing the old material.

You see, a fair chunk of the band’s fanbase (even me, a little bit) wanted to see the new guys fail for no other reason than “they’re not the original line-up”, so the pressure they faced here was unreal.

Also, unlike other bands who agree on a pre-written setlist before touring, Rose wanted to be able to come up with the setlist during the show depending on his mood. This meant that in just six short weeks his new recruits had put in such a vast amount of practice that they learned the entire GN’R discography to the point where they could play it on the spot.

Wowza.

New recuits aside, Rose appears to have brought his A-game, too.

He commends the large crowd with a level of stage presence which none of the other acts on the bill could match.

Heck, at times it was easy to forget he hadn’t performed for more than half a decade.

Behaviour-wise, he seemed happier than ever. Aside from a brief flash of his old temper during It’s So Easy (when he tells security to eject a fan wearing a “Slash Is GNR” shirt) he stayed in great spirits with the audience, only becoming agitated when addressing his old bandmates between songs.

Axl: “I know that many of you feel disappointed, that some of the people who you came to know and love could not be here today. Regardless of what you’ve read, I can tell you that those same people worked very hard to try to stop me being here, too. Believe me, I’m as disappointed as you are that we couldn’t all find a way to get along.”

That’s not to say Axl was perfect, of course.

He noticeably wobbles on a few occasions, and it’s clear that his trademark rasp has lessened during his time away.

It’s an interesting watch in retrospect because most people believed these issues would be ironed out with more shows but we now know that these were the early signs of the vocal chord damage which would go on to plague his later career.

At Rio, though, the fans were more than understanding given his lack of performances and were just delighted to have him back.

Around the half-way mark in the show, Rose sent shockwaves through the 200,000-strong crowd by saying the words nobody expected to hear:

Axl: “Hey, here’s a couple of songs which will be on the next album.”

What?!

The fabled new album was really real?!

Nu-Guns then blast through a mean version of Chinese Democracy, which feels considerably heavier and less polished (in a good way) than the version which would eventually be released on the new album, followed by The Blues. Featuring some top-tier guitar work, the new ballad also provides an amusing moment which sees Rose bark “Oh okay never mind!” at the top of his voice towards an audio technician who inadvertently messed up the mix and couldn’t fix it. This moment also demonstrates how tight Nu-Guns are, because upon realizing that Robin Finck’s impending guitar solo will be unhearable they all instinctively skip over it without missing a beat.

Later in the evening we are treated to a third new song called Madagascar, which comes complete with a fantastic slow-burning guitar solo courtesy of the aforementioned Buckethead.

Funny How Everything Was Roses When We Held On To The Guns

While nobody expected Axl Rose to take the collapse of the original Guns N’ Roses lying down, few could’ve predicted the manner in which he would re-emerge from the shadows.

The brazen arrogance to select such a big festival as his comeback show, coupled with the relative ease with which Nu-Guns pulled it off, had left the rock world rather shook.

Indeed, as Rock In III drew to a close via a rousing rendition of Paradise City, you couldn’t help but feel that the six years which Axl Rose had spent battling his personal demons and reassembling GNR from scratch seemed to have been vindicated by what was a thoroughly enjoyable comeback gig.

MTV’s Kurt Loder was one of those in attendance:

Loder: “About 10-minutes into their set, it became clear that the new Guns N’ Roses line-up is a rock n’ roll event, the sort which a lot of people (me included) have been waiting a long, long time for. While the reigning rap-rock groups of the moment (Korn, Limp Bizkit, et al) manage to get by with pure sonic wallop, the new GN’R already play with a level of precision and passion that’s unlikely to be matched anytime soon, which is astounding considering they’ve only had one month of rehearsals.”

Steve Appleford of The Los Angeles Times was another:

Appleford: “For all the mystery and uncertainty surrounding Rose in recent years, it was like he’d never been away. There was a disarming moment for the notoriously strong-willed Rose when the crowd began chanting “Welcome back!”, to which he could only smile and say, “Now you’re embarrassing me.” That may be the case, but the most memorable aspect of this long-delayed return is that Rose never came close to embarrassing himself, nor the legacy of GN’R.”

Yesterday’s Got Nothin’ For Me

Ah, what might’ve been…

When we consider all of the positive feedback from Axl’s grand return, plus with the fact that there was very little straight-ahead rock n’ roll music in the charts circa 2001/2002, it really seemed as though the door was wide open for Rose to enjoy the kind of career resurgence which his idols Aerosmith and Alice Cooper had experienced in the 1980s and 1990s.

Unfortunately, he had no interest.

Rose was hard at work trying to create “the best rock album ever made”, and he explained that one of the main reasons he populated Nu-Guns with such a different array of musicians is because he had “no intention of re-treading familiar musical territory in the name of commercial success”.

Rose told fans that, in the same way the sprawling Use Your Illusion sounded very different to Appetite For Destruction, any material which Nu-GNR would eventually release would represent his musical tastes at this current time, and this would mean pushing the Guns N’ Roses sound even further into new territory.

Fuck.

Fortunately for Rose, most fans were willing to give the new band a chance and see what they came up with after such a glowing performance at Rock In Rio III.

Unfortunately for Rose, he then took a two year break.

(Yep, you read that correctly!)

The intensity of the Rio show took a huge toll on Axl’s voice. Instead of jumping on a jet plane and heading off on the already booked South American tour, they simply disappeared again, and by the time they re-emerged in late-2002 the initial excitement and curiosity surrounding the project had lost serious momentum.

That being said, Rose’s reputation as a top-tier rockstar and the GN’R brand would ensure that Nu-Guns still enjoyed a level of success in the 2000s far beyond the reach of most bands (albeit never getting close to GNR’s early-90s fame). And even though they were never truly able to capitalize on that Rio comeback performance in the way they would’ve hoped, subsequent tours did continue to provide us with plenty more of Axl Rose’s trademark shenanigans.

So I’ll leave you with this classic story from drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia:

Brain: “This’ll probably sound nuts, but I actually loved all the craziness which came with GN’R.

I can see how it was stressful from a management point of view, but I loved all that rockstar diva stuff he would pull. I was there for it all day long. That’s what makes Axl Axl, he genuinely didn’t give a fuck. I’d just sit on my stool and chuckle away to myself as all of this chaos unfolded around me. It’s part and parcel of him, and I love him for it.

One time we were playing in, I think it was ’03 or ’04, and I remember there being lots of tension backstage because it’s showtime in 30-minutes and there’s no sign of Axl.

So people were pacing back and forth in the corridors, and knocking on the door asking what we were gonna do if he doesn’t show up. I was trying to reassure the other guys in the band to just stay calm, because at the end of the day, what can we do?

Anyway, we got called into this big office where the showrunner has Axl’s manager on speakerphone, saying he’s still in New York and hasn’t even boarded the helicopter yet (laughs)!

They’re saying he’s refusing to leave Starbucks until the server gets his order right (laughs), and we’re trying to look serious but when he’s explaining all of this we can hear Axl in the background fully arguing about this cup of Joe as if it’s the most important thing in the world right now (laughs).

Oh man, I completely tuned out of what his manager was saying at this point.

So the server’s telling him to move to the side, I guess there’s a queue building or something, and Ax goes, “No! I’ve got fifteen thousand people waiting on me, and I won’t move till you get this motherfucker right” (laughs). We’re sat in the room getting grilled and I’m clenching my teeth together trying to stop myself from laughing at the madness of it all (laughs)! That type of stuff happens regularly in GN’R, and I think the best way to get through it is to embrace it.”