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Guns N’ Roses Return To ACL With Another Grand Performance Of Their Iconic Rock Classics | Austin City Limits
Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan and Dizzy Reed with other musicians have been on the Not In This Lifetime reunion tour since 2016, and ACL was one festival to join the list of dates
The wind had died down by the time iconic ’80s/’90s rockers Guns N’ Roses stepped on stage to perform at Austin’s Zilker Park.
Weekend two of the Austin City Limits Festival had fans braving rain and weather in the upper 40s, one of the coldest days ever in the history of the Texas fest, to catch the band’s set. And they did not disappoint, even if videos, images and other tid bits of their weekend one performance still lingered on social media.
Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan and Dizzy Reed with other musicians have been on the Not In This Lifetime reunion tour since 2016 and ACL was one festival to join the list of dates. Before 2016, Axl and Slash had not shared the same stage in 23 years.
The band opened with “It’s So Easy” and quickly transitioned to “Mr. Brownstone” during their set at the American Express stage, with eye-catching visuals (including one of an actual massive eye staring back from the center) outlined by the downtown Austin skyline. Fireworks lit the night sky as the band ended one song from their more than 30-year career and began another.
A few songs in Slash took a moment to shred on the guitar, the first of several times he reminded the world why he is one of the greatest guitarists alive, before the band began playing a fan favorite: “Welcome To The Jungle.”
The audience cheered loudly as Rose looked to them and shouted: “Austin, I want to hear your screams.” But fans at the park weren’t the only ones that got to hear the much-anticipated set live—people living at least three miles from the park could hear the band’s performance loud and clear, as several Austin locals took to twitter to share.
While the tunes blared outside the park, the band continued to perform songs like “November Rain” and “Rocket Queen” from their vast catalog, but also brought to life covers of other greats; Velvet Revolver’s “Slither” being one of them.
The night of the more than two-hour performance and over 20 songs could end no other way but with an encore of “Patience” and “Paradise City.” By that point fans had long forgotten about the cold and were still in awe of what they had witnessed.
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