As a Guns N’ Roses superfan, there are 8 songs I hope they play on tour in 2025.
They’ve been my favorite band since I was a little kid, and I’m 29 years old now. I saw them in concert once in 2011 before Slash and Duff McKagan returned to the lineup, as they were touring in support of Chinese Democracy.
Since their 2016 reunion, I’ve seen them 13 times in several different states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, North Carolina, Nevada, Washington and Vancouver. Along the way, I’ve made friends that have followed them around the world, so my fandom doesn’t even compare to theirs.
As someone who wasn’t even alive when the Use Your Illusion tour took place, it’s been a thrill to get to experience the modernized version of it, with all the animations on the screens and getting to hear some of their newly-released tracks (“Shadow of Your Love,” “Absurd,” “Hard Skool,” “Perhaps” and “The General”).
They’ve also done a pretty good job of adding deep cuts to the setlist over the last couple of years, including “Dead Horse,” “Down on the Farm” and a few others. They’ve also covered tracks by a lot of different artists, including AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie,” Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” Velvet Revolver’s “Slither” and some others.
READ MORE: Guns N’ Roses Did Something for First Time Since Slash + Duff McKagan Rejoined at 2025 Tour Opener
Since 2016, Guns N’ Roses have toured every single year except 2020 (although they did play two shows) and 2024. Now that their 2025 touring has kicked off, there are a handful of songs I’d love to see added to their setlist. Some of them have been played a few times in recent years, but I think they’d make great additions to their regular rotation.
And now that their 2025 “Because What You Want and What You Get Are Two Completely Different Things” tour has kicked off, we know they’ve already switched the set up a bit.
Scroll below to see my picks listed in order of when they came out.
‘You’re Crazy’ (‘GN’R Lies’ Version)
Guns re-recorded an acoustic version of the Appetite for Destruction track “You’re Crazy” for their 1988 release GN’R Lies. It’s slower, and Axl Rose sings in his lower register throughout a lot of it, so it would give his voice and the pace of the show a nice little break — while adding a sense of humor in at the same time.
They’ve played “You’re Crazy” in recent years, and it was sort of a blend of both version. It was electric, but a bit slower in pace than the Appetite version.
‘You Ain’t the First’
The band hasn’t performed this short Use Your Illusion I song since 1993 — it’s long overdue. It would be a good follow-up to “You’re Crazy,” and they could even perform it sitting on a couch like they did during the Skin N’ Bones tour.
‘The Garden’
Another hidden gem from Use Your Illusion I that hasn’t been played live since the ’90s, “The Garden” actually features guest vocals from The Godfather of Shock Rock, Alice Cooper. It’s an easy-going, almost psychedelic song that would switch up the vibes of their show a bit, and Rose could easily handle Cooper’s parts (or even McKagan).
‘Locomotive’
Guns have actually played this epic track from Use Your Illusion II in recent years, about 11 times between 2019 and 2023. Unfortunately, I’ve never had the chance to hear them do it, so it’s a selfish request.
Since it’s a longer track, I think it would be great if they played it in place of “Coma.” I love “Coma,” but they’ve done it enough times since the reunion started that I think it would be fair to retire it. Plus, I get out of breath trying to sing along to the end myself — I can’t imagine how Rose feels singing it in the middle of a nearly three-hour concert.
‘So Fine’
“So Fine” has only been played one time since 1993, and it was in February of 2020, right before COVID-19 shut the world down. It’s almost as if Guns took it as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be in their setlist anymore, but I’d beg to differ.
Growing up, I watched a lot of their Use Your Illusion world tour concerts on DVD and YouTube, and “So Fine” was a staple in their set back then. Rose and McKagan shared the vocals, and it’s pace goes back and forth enough that even though it’s a bit on the slower side, it still has its harder moments.
‘It’s Alright’ (Black Sabbath Cover)
Unless you own the live album Live Era ’87-’93 or saw them play during that time period, you might not even know that Guns N’ Roses covered this Black Sabbath song (which was actually sang by Bill Ward, not Ozzy Osbourne) from their 1976 album Technical Ecstasy.
The GN’R version features Rose alone, singing and playing the piano. He usually played it between his piano solo and “November Rain,” and it would be great to see him play it again. I personally get mesmerized watching him play the piano from the audience, so I’d take this over their cover of “Wichita Lineman” in the set any day.
‘Black Leather’
The Spaghetti Incident? gets a lot of hate, and it’s unwarranted in my opinion. There are actually a lot of great songs on the album, despite all of them being covers. McKagan sometimes sings their version of Misfits’ “Attitude,” and the band recently added “Down on the Farm” back into the set in 2023.
But “Black Leather” has always been one of my favorites from that record, and they’ve never played it live before. It’s about time they give it a shot!
‘Catcher in the Rye’
They did play “Catcher in the Rye” a handful of times when they reunited in 2016 and in the years that followed. The last time they played it was at MetLife Stadium in 2023, and I was at that show. I was so happy to be hearing it, as it’s one of the highlights of Chinese Democracy for me.
I think it would be a nice staple in their set going forward. You can probably tell by now that a lot of my selections here are a bit on the slower side, but they aren’t getting any younger. And I think adding in some more relaxed songs to make it easier for them to get through the show would be a great thing.
It’s even getting hard for me to stand for three hours watching them these days!
