Duff McKagan to rejoin Guns N’ Roses for South American shows
Founding bassist Duff McKagan will rejoin Guns N’ Roses for five gigs in South America later this month.In an interview with Guns N’ Roses’ Tommy Stinson, who will embark on a series of dates with his band The Replacements this year, the group’s current bassist told Billboard that McKagan will “cover his ass” while he is unavailable to tour with the group.
“I had those Replacement shows come up the same time the [Guns N’ Roses] tour came up, and it got to be a scheduling issue right out of the gate,” Stinson said. “I didn’t want to fuck anyone up in Guns by saying, ‘Hey, I can’t do this tour,’ or anything like that. Luckily someone was able to reach out to Duff and he was amenable to the idea and was into doing it. So I’m like, ‘Thanks dude, for covering my ass on this one.'”
McKagan, who left the rock group in 1997, initially sparked rumours of his return by posting an image of a Guns N’ Roses setlist on to Twitter this week.
McKagan will reportedly perform with Guns N’ Roses from 6 April until 17 April, playing gigs in Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina and concluding with a show in Brazil at the Centro de Eventos de Fortaleza. On 13 May, Stinson will be back on bass duties.
“I don’t know that Duff and Axl ever even had bad blood,” Stinson continued on the subject of the founding member’s split from the group. “I don’t really know the whole story. But he came up and played with us a couple years back, and they got along great. Whatever their history is, they’re certainly fine now – I means, as fine as you can be after knowing someone for 30-plus years.”
Since his departure from the group, McKagan has shared the stage with Guns N’ Roses a number of times: initially for three songs in October 2010 at London’s O2 Arena, and twice again in December when his band Loaded opened two Guns N’ Roses dates in North America. McKagan also played with his former band members during the group’s 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, which Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin famously snubbed.
Source: The Guardian
