After the previous tour in 2014, guitarists DJ Ashba & Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, bassist Tommy Stinson and keyboardist Chris Pitman left Guns N' Roses, leaving the band with several open spots.

During several South American shows on the tour, Duff McKagan had filled in for bassist Tommy Stinson, who fulfilled previous commitments with his other band The Replacements.

Almost a year after the tour ended, on May 7, 2015, Slash revealed in an interview on CBS This Morning that much of the tension that had existed between Axl and himself was gone, saying: "Well, we haven't really talked in a long time.

[21] Ultimately, Chinese Democracy-era members Richard Fortus and Frank Ferrer remained with the band to fill the rhythm guitarist and drummer slots respectively.

[48] In late November, commercials started airing in the United States with footage from the tour with the tagline "They're back for more in 2017", teasing a return to North America.

[57] Later in the evening, as the band took the stage at the Troubadour, it was revealed that Melissa Reese, who has previously worked with former drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia on several projects, had replaced longtime second keyboardist Chris Pitman for the tour.

[65] Former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach joined the band on stage during the second of the two Las Vegas shows in April 2016, sharing the lead vocals with Rose on the song "My Michelle".

Bach has guested on the same song in a similar fashion on many previous Guns N' Roses tours, but this was the first time performing it alongside the returned Slash and McKagan.

[69] On April 16, 2016, just hours before their performance at the Coachella Festival's first weekend was scheduled to start, the news broke that Rose would be joining AC/DC to fill in as the lead vocalist for the remaining dates of their Rock or Bust tour.

[72][73][74] During the April 23 Coachella concert, McKagan had Prince's symbol featured on his bass guitar as a tribute honoring his death just days prior.

[75] Steven Adler joined the band on stage for the first time in 26 years during the concert of July 6, 2016 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he performed "Out Ta Get Me" and "My Michelle".

The three-minute video showed cuts from different songs played at the concert, as well as a time-lapse of the set-up of the Guns N' Roses museum that was temporarily placed inside the Tower Records building.

[109] The first leg of the tour featured sold-out shows in West Hollywood, Las Vegas and Mexico City grossing a total of $15.5 million.

Chris Stapleton was a surprising selection as opener for the Nashville show,[130] as Guns N' Roses usually picks artists within the same music genre as themselves, though it proved a successful choice for the Tennessee audience.

[133] Canadian punk rock band Billy Talent opened the only Canada date in Toronto during the summer North American leg of the tour.

Kravitz has also appeared on stage with Guns N' Roses before, during the June 6, 1992 Use Your Illusion Tour stop in Paris, France, where they played the single live.

[135] At McKagan's homecoming show in Seattle on August 12, his daughter Grace's band The Pink Slips opened the event alongside Alice in Chains.

[131] Wylde had also previously played as a guest with Guns N' Roses on stage back in 2011,[138] where he also performed as an opening act with his band Black Label Society.

[138] For the Latin American leg of the tour, openings acts were usually regionally-based bands, including Plebe Rude, Airbag, and Massacre, among others.

[149] Leg 6 featured Deftones, Sturgill Simpson, Live, Our Lady Peace, ZZ Top, The Kills and Royal Blood opening for the band.

[155] Leg 9 of the tour featured returning opening act Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown, and new opening acts such as Volbeat,[156] Gojira,[156] Nothing More[157] The Dead Daisies (a band Richard Fortus, Frank Ferrer and Dizzy Reed were previously a part of)[158] Jonathan Davis of Korn, Ghost,[159] Graveyard,[160] Rival Sons[161] Manic Street Preachers,[162] Greta Van Fleet,[163] Russian band Other Noises,[164] and The Pink Slips[165] Working on a tour that reunites the Guns N' Roses originals after over two decades was an opportunity that we couldn't miss.

[167] TAIT Towers was brought in by long time client production manager Dale "Opie" Skjerseth to produce the stage and show itself.

An extensive lighting rig was assembled in the center stage area which featured Atomic 3000 LED and MAC III AirFX fixtures by Martin.

[168] The new footage and graphics included familiar elements associated with many of the songs, like animations of old-school TV sets with the band members' skull drawings made famous by the cover of the Appetite For Destruction album.

[178][179] McKagan had previously performed songs from Chinese Democracy with Guns N' Roses in 2014, when he stepped in as a substitute for Tommy Stinson while he was busy playing shows with The Replacements.

[180] This development continued at the first arena-sized show at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where they further extended the setlist with songs like "Coma" and "This I Love", where the former had not been performed by the band since 1993.

[189] In the same Eddie Trunk interview, Slash revealed that releasing the song as a single and as part of the Appetite For Destruction "Locked N' Loaded" Box Set was what made them want to start playing it live again.

The core set largely consisted of songs from their debut album Appetite For Destruction, namely "Welcome to the Jungle", "It's So Easy", "Nightrain", "Mr. Brownstone", "Paradise City", "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Rocket Queen".

Slash did have a solo spot with "The Godfather theme", a guitar instrumental piece with the rest of the band backing up and functioning as a lead-in to "Sweet Child o' Mine".

McKagan took the lead vocals during a regular spot in the set, singing a song from the Guns N' Roses punk cover album "The Spaghetti Incident?".