Watch Guns N’ Roses Play ‘Appetite’ Deep Cut ‘Anything Goes’ for the First Time Since 1988
Guns N’ Roses played their first show of 2023 Thursday night at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, and it featured their most radically reworked setlist since the dawn of the reunion era back in 2016. The most notable moment took place midway through the night when they dug out the Appetite For Destruction deep cut “Anything Goes” for the first time since 1988.
They also revisited the Use Your Illusion albums by breaking out “Pretty Tied Up” for the first time since 1992 and “Bad Obsession” for the first time since 1993. They even refreshed the cover portion of the night by playing “Down on the Farm” by UK Subs for the first time with Slash and Duff McKagan since 1990 and “Nice Boys” by Rose Tattoo for the first time since 2017. McKagan took over on lead vocals for the Stooges classic “T.V. Eye,” which had never been played by GN’R in any of their incarnations. (McKagan did play it several times with Iggy Pop himself last last month.)
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At this point in the reunion era, the group has now revisited every song from Appetite For Destruction besides “Think About You.” The pre-reunion band played it several times in 2006, but Slash and Duff haven’t gotten their hands on it since a March 1987 gig at the Roxy in Los Angeles. If they add that song into their repertoire, they’ll be able to Appetite in its entirety. We might have to wait until the 40th anniversary in 2027 to see something like that, though.
In the meantime, GN’R have a packed schedule for the rest of 2023. They will spend the early part of the summer gigging across Europe. In early August, they kick off a North American stadium tour with a rotating slate of opening acts that includes Carrie Underwood, the Pretenders, Alice in Chains, Dirty Honey, and the Warning.
The 2023 leg wraps up on Oct. 16 at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, Canada. But they’ll certainly be back on the road next year since they’re essentially on a never-ending reunion tour. It’ll be tough coming up with additional surprise songs considering their limited catalog, but there are still several Use Your Illusion and Chinese Democracy songs we’ve yet to hear live. They could also do something crazy, of course, like releasing a new album — they’ve hinted at the possibility of that several times over the past few years, but we’ll believe it’s real when we hear it.
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