Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan appeared in a new episode of “Life In The Stocks” podcast where he opened up about Axl Rose and was asked if he considers Axl Rose’s guest stint with AC/DC back in 2016 was a key part of Guns N’ Roses’ redemption after the partial reunion of the latter group’s classic lineup.
Regarding this, McKagan said:
“We went out and did that first stadium tour. (Axl) broke his foot [at the first show in April 2016], and he overcame it. And (Dave) Grohl brought this throne [that he performed on back in 2015 after breaking his leg in Sweden and he loaned it to Axl to use on stage)… And to be able to sing that stuff sitting down, dude, it’s not…
”I observe every vowel, every note he sings just because he’s a f**king master, where he breathes, where he pushes from, angle of his head. He’s a real amazing singer to go to school on, and I get to do it nightly. ‘That’s where I would breathe for that vowel sound right there.’ So, from that, we played Coachella, (and) he was kind of the hero of that year; I think he was like the hero of that year. And then getting the AC/DC thing. […]
“Me and Slash have gone off and played with all kinds of people over the years — you name it, we’ve done it, almost. (Axl’s) never done it… And that AC/DC thing really was his favorite band. He went and tried out (for the touring singer position in AC/DC). ‘I’m gonna try out.’ I’m, like, ‘You’re not gonna need to try out. I wouldn’t worry about it.’ (And he said) ‘Wow. I’m so nervous.’ It was really great.
”We knew, me and Slash, ‘You’re gonna get the gig.’ And it was so good for. And he still had the cast on (when he played the first show with AC/DC). I think he had to play the first couple [of shows] in the chair. And then he got his walking boot. But then Slash and I came to surprise him (at AC/DC’s concert in London). We came in through, you can come into Heathrow (airport without being seen). You’ve gotta pay some money.
”But we came around to the side thing, so we weren’t in the airport, just so nobody knew we were here, to really surprise him and support him in this thing. Because we knew he hadn’t been able to do this thing, play with other people.
”So I think it did really help. I think he saw how that (AC/DC) organization was run, too, like, ‘Yeah, we can go on on time,’ and all that stuff, because ‘They’ll go on, if I’m ready or not, they’re gonna go on.'”