GUNS N’ ROSES LONDON - WEMBLEY STADIUM THURSDAY 26TH JUNE 2025

I’m a first timer, having put off seeing Guns N’ Roses before on the basis that I don’t really like stadium shows, but I’ve given in because I know I’ll probably never see them any other way. It’s a decision I realise very quickly is the right one. Admittedly, the sound isn’t perfect (I’ve since heard it described as ‘dogshit’!) and my gripes with stadiums remain - too much talking, too much to-ing and fro-ing as people collect drinks or nip off to the toilet, and definitely too many phones. But there is something quite wonderful about the congregation of thousands of people in one place, united in their love for a band who have remained exciting, unpredictable and relevant despite releasing relatively little music in their 30 odd years of existence. 

Much of that music is aired over the course of this evening, a tour de force performance that is both sprawling and magnificent. It calls to mind the band’s Use Your Illusion albums which which have been described over the years as bloated, over-ambitious and in need of some quality control. I suspect there are some who might feel similarly about this set that spans an unwieldy three hours and fifteen minutes, but I welcome the diversity. ‘Appetite for Destruction’ is rightfully dominant, but there is time for epics like ‘Coma’ and ‘Estranged’, the crushing riff of the former contrasting nicely with the elegance that Slash’s guitar playing brings to the latter. There’s an enthusiastic run through of Velvet Revolver’s ‘Slither’ and a handful of covers both expected (‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’) and unexpected, Duff McKagan taking the lead vocal for Thin Lizzy’s ‘Thunder and Lightning’. It’s frustrating to see so many heading for the stairs every time the band play something relatively new because ‘Chinese Democracy’ is probably better than you remember and recent single ‘Absurd’ snarls with punk attitude. 

I would argue that much of the flack Axl receives seem unfounded; of course his voice isn’t quite the same as it used to be, but forgive him for being 63. He still has the energy and the charisma that made him a star and is seldom static, careering around the stage whilst hitting his notes, at least for the most part. And a cover of Glen Campbell’s ‘Wichita Lineman’ suggests that if he gets fed up with rock and roll, he could do a decent job as a country singer! 

The crowd pleasers are all present and correct, from ‘Civil War’ to ‘November Rain’ and ‘You Could Be Mine’ to ‘Patience’, a song I hadn’t expected to make the set list. But ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ generates one of the biggest reactions I have ever seen, Wembley Stadium a mass of phone screens held aloft as everyone scrambles to capture this moment. Better just to soak it in and enjoy I think, and though it’s weird to admit, I’m a little emotional as the song builds to a crescendo, a band once labelled ‘the most dangerous in the world’ bringing a tear to my eyes. Don’t listen to the doubters, Guns N’ Roses have still got it.  

SETLIST

Welcome to the Jungle/Bad Obsession/It’s So Easy/Chinese Democracy/Live and Let Die/Mr. Brownstone/Slither/Coma/You Could Be Mine/Hard Skool/Estranged/Reckless Life/Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door/Double Talkin’ Jive/Catcher in the Rye/Thunder and Lightning/Anything Goes/Down on the Farm/Civil War/Slash Guitar Solo/Sweet Child O’ Mine/Perhaps/Absurd/November Rain/Wichita Lineman/Patience/Rocket Queen/Dead Horse/Human Being/Nightrain/Paradise City