Guns N’ Roses Cancel European Tour To Continue Work On Long-Awaited Album

In the “Geez, big surprise” category…

Axl Rose’s revamped Guns N’ Roses have yet again cancelled their European tour. This time around though, it is not due to an illness contracted by guitarist Buckethead or anything related to terrorism. No, this time the cancellation is due to manager Doug Goldstein booking the tour when the band still needed to be finishing up their long awaited album Chinese Democracy.

In an official statement issued by the band’s European agent yesterday, October 8th, Goldstein claims that “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. Unfortunately, [guitarist] Buckethead's illness not only stopped the tour, but it slowed down our progress on Chinese Democracy. As a result, touring right now is logistically impossible.”

Guns N’ Roses originally scheduled their European headlining tour for June, but eventually cancelled, citing an unspecified stomach ailment suffered by guitarist Buckethead. The dates were then rebooked for December.

"I am very sorry to disappoint our fans,” said Goldstein, “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. I made a plan, and unfortunately it did not work out.

“The good news is that everyone is ecstatic with the album and we will be meeting with the label to schedule its release, following which we will announce the rescheduled dates to coincide. GUNS N’ ROSES look forward to seeing everybody next year, and once again, please accept my apologies for the way this has played out."