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Guns N’ Roses postpone Perth show until November 2022 at Optus Stadium

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Simon CollinsThe West Australian
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Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose
Camera IconGuns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose

American rockers Guns N’ Roses will still reign in November, however it will be in 2022 rather than this year.

Promoter TEG DAINTY today announced that the legendary band were pushing back their Australian stadium tour by a year.

The Gunners, starring founding members, singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan, will now kick off the visit in front of an expected crowd of 50,000 fans at Optus Stadium on November 18.

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The Sweet Child O’ Mine and Welcome to the Jungle hit-makers have sold close to 250,000 tickets to their six-date tour, which also plays Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.

The band told fans to expect a three-hour concert next year when they turn Perth into Paradise City.

“Australia, we can’t wait to see you bigger and better next summer,” they said.

With a fresh release of tickets going on sale today, TEG DAINTY president and chief executive Paul Dainty said fans should hold on to their tickets.

“We worked for months trying to see whether we could create a tour bubble to get the tour to happen this November.

“As a consequence of all the new scenarios in Sydney and Melbourne, it fell off a cliff, which we completely understand and respect,” he added.

“Health and safety comes first, always.”

Guns N’ Roses are now scheduled to tour Australia in November, 2022.
Camera IconGuns N’ Roses are now scheduled to tour Australia in November, 2022.

Mr Dainty said Guns N’ Roses’ touring party of 115 people would swell to more than 200 with local crew, making it logistically very difficult to risk border closures or last minute cancellations.

“When you’ve got a couple of hundred people on the road and you play any city — we could be in Perth — and, for any particular reason outside of my control, we can’t get to the next city, that’s a disaster,” he said.

“It’s not like it’s a domestic or Australian artist where you can say ‘Everyone go home, we’ll play that show in a month’.

“That’s the dilemma, it’s too big an enterprise — it will be the biggest stadium tour of 2022,” Mr Dainty continued. “We’d rather we get it right and follow the protocols.”

The veteran promoter said that he needed the entire six-date run to go ahead at full capacity for it to be financially viable.

“We can’t mount these shows, whether they be in stadiums or arenas indoors, and have 50 per cent capacity limits,” Mr Dainty said.

“The financial cost of doing these shows has grown exponentially over the years, the production get bigger and bigger and bigger, and it costs tons of money.”

The veteran promoter added that fans will sit in the exact same seat, albeit 12 months later than originally planned.

While Mr Dainty brought ARIA Hall of Famer Tina Arena to town for a performance at RAC Arena in May, his most recent overseas tourists were Canadian crooner Michael Buble and UK icons Queen with Adam Lambert, who both played Perth way back in February last year.

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose
Camera IconGuns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose

“Within a week of those tours concluding we went into COVID mode and I haven’t had any international shows,” he said.

“Basically, it’s been zero business so it’s been devastating for the industry.”

With Guns N’ Roses postponing their Aussie tour, Mr Dainty’s first big international act will be Kings of Leon.

The southern US rockers are scheduled to play RAC Arena on April 7.

“Things are looking better,” Mr Dainty said. “We’re seeing some blue sky and green shoots now with all the vaccination rates increasing.

“We’ve still got six or seven months away before that (Kings of Leon) tour, so hopefully by then … we’re going to see Federal and State governments ease restrictions.”

Mr Dainty told music fans to prepare for a glut of top international talent.

“I think there’s going to be a traffic jam of acts once everything gets back to normal because we haven’t had tours for nearly two years.

“Acts are queuing up to come down to Australia because it’s one of the premiere countries to tour on the global circuit,” he said.

“We’re going to be spoilt.”

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose
Camera IconGuns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose

Mr Dainty added that strong ticket sales for tours from big name artists, such as English pop superstar Dua Lipa who quickly sold out three east coast concerts last week, proved there was huge “pent-up demand” for shows.

Asked whether he would insist concert-goers are fully vaccinated at Kings of Leon or Guns N’ Roses’ big gigs, the promoter said he would follow official health advice.

“We would just follow the protocol imposed by State governments, the health departments and venues,” he said.

“We’re not making the rules.

“It’s not for us to say people should have a vaccine, it’s for people to make their minds up about that.”

Mr Dainty said that seeing 60,000 footy fans cram into Optus Stadium for the AFL grand final over the weekend “made him feel good”.

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