http://www.livedaily.com/news/Guns_N_Roses_book_summer_shows_new_material_leaked-9648.html?t=97Things have heated up this week for the long-dormant Guns N' Roses (music), with the Axl Rose-led group confirming some upcoming European concerts, and cuts from the band's perpetually delayed new album surfacing on the Internet.
Rose and company have signed on for the May 27 Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal, as well as a June 9 co-headlining gig with Motley Crue in Dublin, Ireland, and a June 11 set in Donington, UK, as part of this summer's Download Festival.
GN'R, which last performed at Rock in Rio in 2001, was "the most requested band" by users of the official Rock in Rio website, according to information posted at the site.
The group was due to perform at the festival's 2004 incarnation, but pulled out two months before the show, with Rose issuing a statement in which he blamed his then-guitarist Buckethead's sudden departure from the band as the reason for the cancellation.
Word of GN'R's upcoming performances surfaced at roughly the same time that three studio-quality tracks from "Chinese Democracy"--an album that Rose has been working on for close to a decade--reportedly were leaked on the Internet.
Talk-show host Howard Stern aired one of those cuts, titled "I.R.S.," earlier this week during his Sirius Satellite Radio program.
Rose recently told Rolling Stone magazine that he had completed 26 of the 32 new songs he's been working on, and that 13 of those will turn up on "Chinese Democracy." A release date for the album still hasn't been announced.
GN'R hasn't released a collection of original material since 1991's two-volume "Use Your Illusion." Since then, all of the group's members aside from Rose have moved on to other projects--most noticeably original guitarist Slash and original bassist Duff McKagan, as well as longtime drummer Matt Sorum, who went on to form Velvet Revolver with former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and guitarist Dave Kushner.
Aside from Rose, GN'R's current lineup is unknown. In recent years, Rose has enlisted Buckethead and guitarist Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails)--both of whom have since jumped ship--as well as bassist Tommy Stinson (The Replacements), drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia (Primus) and keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who first played with GN'R in the early '90s.
Rose took his new GN'R lineup on the road in 2002 for an outing billed as the "Chinese Democracy" tour. The ill-fated trek was aborted before its planned conclusion after being marred by cancellations and riots stemming from Rose's failure to show up in a timely fashion, or at all, for some shows.
May 2006
27 - Lisbon, Portugal - World Stage, Bela Vista Park (Rock in Rio)
June 2006
9 - Dublin, Ireland - RDS Arena
11 - Donington, United Kingdom - Donington Park (Download Festival)
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