Following the Use Your Illusion Tour, which ran for over two years and visited 27 countries,[1] and the release of cover album "The Spaghetti Incident?"

[3][4] On October 30, 1996, it was announced that lead guitarist Slash had officially left the band, after having not been involved since 1995 due to a poor relationship with vocalist Axl Rose.

[5][6] Drummer Matt Sorum was fired from the band after an argument with guitarist Paul Tobias, and Duff McKagan became the last member to leave in 1997.

[7] Robin Finck from Nine Inch Nails became the band's lead guitarist in 1997,[8] followed shortly the next year by drummer Josh Freese and bassist Tommy Stinson.

[10] A number of changes to the band occurred in 2000, including the departure of Freese,[11] the hiring of lead guitarist Buckethead[11] and drummer Brain,[12][13] and the return of Robin Finck.

[12][13] Along with these changes came the news that Guns N' Roses were planning a tour in the summer of 2001,[12][13] and would be playing at the Rock in Rio festival in January.

[14] The first warm-up show for the upcoming tour of Europe was announced in December 2000 as a New Year's Day performance at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

[23] The band's manager, Doug Goldstein, apologized to fans for scheduling the tour, which he admitted was a poorly executed decision, with the following statement: Following the euphoria of [the band's appearance at the] Rock in Rio [concert], I jumped the gun and arranged a European tour as our plan was to have the new album out this year.

I am very sorry to disappoint our fans, but I can assure them that this is not what Axl wanted, nor is it 'Another page from the Howard Hughes of rock,' as some media will no doubt portray it.

[23]Despite not being able to complete their tour of Europe, the full lineup of Guns N' Roses performed two more shows in 2001, both at The Joint, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, on December 29 and 31.

Madagascar, Chinese Democracy and Street of Dreams were played frequently while Riad N' The Bedouins was dropped a few dates later.

In the meantime rather than dwelling on the negative, Guns will be moving forward and surprisingly (without giving away any details) this unfortunate set of circumstances may have given us the opportunity to take our recording that one extra step further.

It started in May 2006 when the band launched a European tour, headlining both the Download Festival and Rock in Rio Lisboa.

During the course of this tour, the band's former rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin and Sebastian Bach made frequent guest appearances.

Following the band's appearance at Inland Invasion on September 23, a handful of subsequent warm-up shows were postponed, which led to rumors that this was carried out in order to finalize the work on the new album.

The rumors were seemingly denied by manager Merck Mercuriadis, who stated that the shows had been merely moved to "fit in with the main body of the tour".

During the 2006 North American tour the band's opening acts included SuicideGirls, Papa Roach, Sebastian Bach, Die Mannequin and Helmet.

The band were also joined onstage by former Gunner Izzy Stradlin[94] and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich[95] both making one-off appearances.

When Axl Rose came out to perform, he asked the crowd whether they enjoyed "the Pigeons of Shit Metal", following with an onstage announcement the band wouldn't open for the Guns during the remainder of the tour.

Soon after, Eagles of Death Metal released a statement regarding the incident: "At first the audience refused to welcome us to the jungle, but by the time we took our final bow, it had become paradise city.

This performance featured keyboardist Chris Pitman on bass guitar, as Tommy Stinson was unable to attend due to a personal family issue.

[106] Rumors started in February that Guns N' Roses would perform Spain and Italy in June,[126] and continued through the year with comments from Irving Azoff about a Summer Stadium Tour[127] but nothing happened.

[131] Towards the end of the European leg, Duff McKagan joined Guns N' Roses onstage for the first time in seventeen years on October 14, playing bass on "You Could Be Mine" and guitar on "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", "Nice Boys" and "Patience" at London's O2 Arena.

Guns N' Roses relied on an Appetite for Destruction heavy set list while adding new songs from the upcoming album Chinese Democracy, such as "Street of Dreams (The Blues)", "Madagascar" and the title track.