Former Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven has revealed that guitarist Izzy Stradlin bailed on a guest appearance with the band on their Not In This Lifteime tour last year.
“[Izzy] did get as far as flying out and doing a soundcheck, and he left after a soundcheck, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it,” Niven tells the Appetite For Distortion podcast (full audio below). “It was last year, it was somewhere out in the midwest, when they were doing stadiums. Obviously had it gone well and everybody had been happy, and there had been a little bit of brotherhood, I’m sure he would have stayed with it. But something must have really upset him, because he left after the soundcheck, and never turned up for another one or an appearance. I would think right now he is probably a little pissed off.”
Stradlin, who co-founded Guns N' Roses with childhood friend Axl Rose in 1985, first shot down rumors of his involvement in the tour when it launched in the spring of 2016, telling Rolling Stone “There was just so much speculation going on regarding my involvement and studio recording. There’s so much misinformation, so I wanted to clarify that I'm not in the studio recording with any of the Guns N' Roses guys. At this point in time, I'm not involved in the actual shows ... A lot of stuff [fans] are reading isn't true."
Rose later referenced Stradlin’s status in a fall 2016 interview with Brazilian TV, according to The Guardian, where the singer said, “I don’t really know what to say about Izzy. It’s, like, you could have a conversation and think it’s one way and the next day it’s another way. And I’m not trying to take any shots at Izzy. It’s just his thing is kind of his thing, whatever that is.”
The rocker’s comments earned a prompt online reply from Stradlin in a tweet (since deleted), saying his absence from the reunion with Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan was about money: “They didn’t want to split the loot equally. Simple as that.”
Stradlin left Guns N’ Roses in November 1991 during the band’s tour in support of the “Use Your Illusion” albums; he was replaced by Gilby Clarke.
The guitarist rejoined the group he co-founded for five dates in the spring of 1993 as fill-in for Clarke, who had broken his wrist in a motorcycle accident; Stradlin returned for more shows with Rose at the helm of the group in 2006 and, then made multiple appearances with them in 2012 – including back-to-back shows in London, UK in May and June – following their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
The Not In This Lifetime tour topped the $475 million mark in gross sales at the end of 2017 to place fourth on the all-time tour list, according to Billboard.
Guns N’ Roses have extended the reunion run into a third year with a series of summer 2018 concert dates across Europe that will begin in Gothenburg, SE on July 21.
See also:
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