It has been one of the worst kept secrets in music, but it has finally been confirmed that American rockers Guns N’ Roses will be reforming with their original lineup to headline Coachella this April.
The band (who will headline both Saturday night slots) will reportedly feature Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan, marking the first time the founding members of Guns N’ Roses have played together since splitting in mid-1990s amid internal fighting.
Whilst that signalled the end of G N’R as we know it Rose did retained the moniker in the aftermath, and tour sporadically with an ever-revolving lineup as well as releasing the long-awaited Chinese Democracy album in 2008.
Slash on the other hand continued with his side project Slash’s Snakepit, and formed the new super group Velvet Revolver with the late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland – a group that did included former Guns N’ Roses members Duff, drummer Matt Sorum, and for a time Izzy Stradlin.
However after two decades the longstanding feud between Slash and Axl came to an end in 2014 fuelling rumors of a reformation then, but nothing was confirmed until yesterday.
This won't be the only reforming group headlining the California based festival though as New York City electronic rock band LCD Soundsytem have also announced they will be reforming to headline the Friday night slots. The band originally disbanded in 2011.
The Sunday headline slots is being filled by Calvin Harris.
Other noted artists named on the poster released for the event include Ellie Goulding, Last Shadow Puppets, James Bay, The 1975, Major Lazer, A$AP Rocky, and Disclosure to name but a few. Oh and Ice Cube who has recently revealed that fellow members of N.W.A could be joining him on stage. In an interview with The Talk he mentioned, “I’ve got some tricks up my sleeves… I’m gonna try to bring the members of N.W.A together. Give everybody a little history lesson on Ice Cube and N.W.A, West Side Connection, everything I’ve been doing over the years.” Dr. Dre hasn’t performed with the crew for a while, but Cube briefly reunited with DJ Yella and MC REN at last year’s BET Experience prior to the release of Straight Outta Compton. It's far from set in stone, but the big occasions usually bring out the big players, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.
And event founder Paul Tollett will be hoping this latest news can help eclipse the impressive 2015 festival which sold a jaw dropping 198,000 tickets and grossed $84.3 million, which are both world records.
Coachella will take place in Indio, California, from 15 to 17 April and 22 to 24 April, as expected when tickets went on sale on Wednesday 6 January they sold out within an hour (although as with any large event tickets can still be rebought from the usually outlets). Please head here for further information about the event.