Guns N’ Roses are back on stage with a world tour that kicked off on Saturday (March 28) at the Tecate Pa’l Norte festival in Monterrey, Mexico. There, the veteran hard rock band led by Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan performed for the first time their two new singles “Nothin” and “Atlas” — a couple of lost gems from their 2008 album Chinese Democracy.
“It’s good to see you,” vocalist Axl Rose greeted the crowd in English at the Parque Fundidora in the border city, which had an estimated attendance of 100,000 people, according to the festival organizers. The American band’s performance, on the second day of the 14th edition of Tecate, opened with the 1987 classic “Welcome to the Jungle,” followed by a handful of songs that have captivated generations, such as “Mr. Brownstone” and “Bad Obsession.”
“Muchas gracias,” Rose thanked in Spanish before performing his hit covers of “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney & Wings and “Slither” by Velvet Revolver. During the performance, the singer spoke few words to the audience.
The setlist, which lasted more than 90 minutes, also included “Chinese Democracy,” “Pretty Tied Up,” “It’s So Easy,” “Yesterdays” and “Double Talkin’ Jive.” Additionally, Rose presented a version of Black Sabbath’s “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” as a tribute to the iconic, late musician Ozzy Osbourne, whom he surprisingly only got to meet last July during Sabbath’s final concert, “Back to the Beginning.”
Dressed in leather pants, a leather jacket and a black T-shirt, Rose seemed to make a greater effort to hit the high-pitched notes in some of the songs. Meanwhile, the mesmerizing riffs of guitarist Slash and the elegance of McKagan on bass captivated the audience. The current lineup of the Californian band also includes Richard Fortus as the second guitarist and Isaac Carpenter on drums. On Friday (March 27), a day before the tour began, the group announced on social media that keyboardist Melissa Reese would not participate in the tour due to “personal reasons.”
As Rose told the audience on Saturday, this was the first time they performed “Nothin’” live, a melancholic ballad reminiscent of GNR classics like “November Rain” and “Don’t Cry.” Meanwhile, “Atlas” — also debuted live on Saturday — is a straightforward rock track. These are the band’s latest independent releases, as they haven’t put out a new album since Chinese Democracy in 2008, a record that took almost 15 years to complete.
The show included a visual display on a pair of gigantic screens that featured robots with roses and guns, a clear nod to the band’s name, as well as elements from their classic album Appetite for Destruction, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, and the Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II era.
Guns N’ Roses’ new world tour will include a series of concerts in North America during the summer, starting July 23 in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the Carter-Finley Stadium. With over 60 dates scheduled, the trek will take the veteran band to South America before heading to Europe in early spring and summer.
Here’s the complete setlist from Guns N’ Roses’ inaugural show at Mexico’s festival Tecate Pal Norte.
