GUNS N' ROSES Performs At The Troubadour: Video Footage And Photos

GUNS N' ROSES began its reunion campaign on Friday night (April 1) with an intimate show at the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood, California, where a lineup featuring Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, guitarist Richard Fortus, keyboard player Dizzy Reed and drummer Frank Ferrer took the stage just around midnight, opening with "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone". Other hits aired included "Sweet Child O' Mine", "Rocket Queen", "My Michelle", "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and show closer "Paradise City". Also appearing with them was second keyboardist Melissa Reese, an up-and-coming pop/urban artist who studied classical voice and piano from adolescence.

The concert also featured surprises such as Slash performing "Chinese Democracy", the title track of GUNS N' ROSES' 2008 album, live for the first time, along with that album's single "Better" and the rare "Use Your Illusion I" track "Double Talkin' Jive", which had not been performed in concert since 1993.

Despite widespread speculation that "Appetite For Destruction"-era GUNS N' ROSES drummer Steven Adler would appear as a special guest at last night's show, he did not perform at the gig. Neither did Matt Sorum, who replaced Adler in GUNS N' ROSES and recorded the highly successful albums "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II" (both 1991) and "The Spaghetti Incident" (1994).

A source close to GUNS N' ROSES told LA Weekly that Adler is having back surgery, which is the real reason his band ADLER canceled its April 1 show at the Whisky A Go Go. The LA Weekly writer claims that he has "also been told [Adler is] not ready to tour with GN'R, not yet, and maybe not ever."

Tickets for the gig — which was announced Friday morning after days of rumors — were available to buy starting at noon on Friday at Gibson Brands on Sunset Boulevard, with all tickets costing $10. Lines had already formed that morning and the Los Angeles Police Department had mobilized to handle the crowds of fans looking to score one of the 250 tickets reportedly made available.

Friday night's show marked the first time that Axl Rose and Slash had played together since July 17, 1993. The band lineup had been the subject of intense speculation for weeks.

The setlist for last night's concert:

01. It's So Easy
02. Mr. Brownstone
03. Chinese Democracy
04. Welcome To The Jungle
05. Double Talking Jive
06. Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney & WINGS cover)
07. Rocket Queen
08. You Could be Mine
09. The Godfather Theme (Slash)
10. Sweet Child O' Mine
11. New Rose (THE DAMNED cover)
12. Better
13. Knockin' On Heaven's Door (BOB DYLAN cover)
14. My Michelle
15. Nightrain
16. The Seeker (THE WHO cover)
17. Paradise City

Two separate reviews of the show can be found by following these links:

* LAWeekly.com
* Mxdwn.com

Video footage and photos are available below.

GUNS N' ROSES reportedly landed a contract with Geffen Records after a show at the Troubadour, which has a capacity of around 400.

GUNS N' ROSES has six more concerts scheduled in April: two at the Coachella Music And Arts Festival, two in Las Vegas and two in Mexico City.

Slash told The Pulse Of Radio a while back how his relationship with Axl disintegrated during the final years of the original GUNS lineup. "His sort of m.o., as far as the band was concerned, over time got so exaggerated in the rock star sense or whatever and he became such a dictator and this and that and the other, that it was impossible for me to work with him, because I'm not the kind of person that takes orders, you know," he said.

GUNS N' ROSES on Friday announced details of its summer North American tour, which will see the band performing in stadiums. The trek will begin on June 23 at Ford Field in Detroit, home to the National Football League's Detroit Lions, and run until August 22 in San Diego.

The name of the tour, "Not In This Lifetime", apparently refers to the response Axl Rose gave to a TMZ cameraman in 2012 when asked if there is any chance of GUNS N' ROSES doing a reunion tour with the "full lineup."