Guns N' Roses To Play New York City

After three long years, Axl Rose and the new Guns N' Roses will be performing live next month in New York City at the Hammerstein Ballroom for two shows on May 15th and 17th. The two shows are a precursor to a series of 17 Guns N' Roses shows scheduled to kick off in Lisbon, Portugal on May 27th and may be the tour that sets-up the release of the highly anticipated Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy, which Axl Rose mentioned earlier in the year that fans would be hearing in 2006.

Fans of the band have been awaiting the long anticipated follow up album to the 1993 Guns N' Roses record The Spaghetti Incident, but after the band's tumultuous break up, former guitarist Slash, drummer Matt Sorum, and bassist Duff McKagen parted ways with Axl Rose to eventually form Velvet Revolver with former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland. For over a decade, original Guns N' Roses band members have been mired in litigation over the rights to the band's name with Axl Rose going on to form a new incarnation of Guns N' Roses with new musicians. According to Rolling Stone, there's no indication of what songs the new Guns N' Roses line up will play during the two show set at the Hammerstein Ballroom, but Axl Rose told the magazine fans should expect something different.

As MTV reports, earlier in the year two supposed songs from the long awaited Chinese Democracy sessions were leaked online over the Internet. As widely reported elsewhere, and also heard by many fans, some radio stations across the U.S. even put the new leaked Guns N' Roses songs into their rotation over the airwaves. Despite the hype over Chinese Democracy, which has reached both mythical and comical status for its never-ending and ongoing production, no details have been given on when the new Guns N' Roses album will hit store shelves.

Formed in 1985, Guns N' Roses shot to stardom with the release of their debut album Appetite for Destruction in 1987, which produced such hit songs as Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, and Sweet Child O' Mine. It wasn't until 1991 that Guns N' Roses became legendary rock gods with the release of the multi-platinum double album Use Your Illusion 1 and Use Your Illusion II, which featured such hits as November Rain, Don't Cry, Live and Let Die, Civil War, You Could Be Mine, and the unforgettable cover Knocking on Heaven's Door, written by folk legend Bob Dylan. After a heated public break up in 1993 at the end of their historic 28 month Use Your Illusion Tour, Guns N' Roses parted ways for good. Slash went on to form the short lived band Slash's Snakepit, while Axl Rose fell into relative obscurity and seclusion, appearing every so often with new incarnations of the band.

As Slash, Matt Sorum, and Duff McKagen have gone on to form Velvet Revolver with Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots, former Guns N' Roses replacement guitarist Gilby Clarke will soon be appearing in the second installment of the hit reality series Rockstar with Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee and former Metallica bassist Jason Newstead, as the trio searches for a lead singer to front their upcoming band Supernova (See Newstead, Lee, Clarke to Headline "Rock Star" ) .

Tickets for the two New York Guns N'Roses shows go on sale at 10am on April 21st at a price tag of $63 per ticket.

[Additional Sources: Rolling Stone, MTV]

- Steve Taylor