Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong Almost Filled in for Axl Rose at Rock Hall Show

2012-05-14

Story by Charles Ken

According to Guns N’ Roses bass player Duff McKagan, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong almost played with GN’R during the band’s Rock Hall performance

The men of Guns N’ Roses were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month, and while singer Axl Rose and ex-guitarist Izzy Stradlin chose not to show up for the induction ceremony, the group’s other original members — guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler — were happy to attend. At the ceremony, the GN’R members in attendance joined up with ex-guitarist Gilby Clarke and Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy to perform a killer set.

In McKagan’s Seattle Weekly blog, which appears every Thursday, the former GN’R bassist says that even though Kennedy filled in for Rose, McKagan had initially “devised a plan” for Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong to “sing whatever was needed…if needed” at the ceremony.

McKagan also stated that Guns N’ Roses’ decision to play at the event was a last-minute one. “We really didn’t know if we were going to play at all,” the bass player wrote. “It wasn’t cemented until we actually rehearsed at 2 a.m. the day of the show. It was all THAT last-minute.”

McKagan also stated that he had some second thoughts about performing at the event. “For Slash and me, it was the first time we’d played our songs with Steven Adler in something like 22 years,” he inked. “We had to wonder: Would it work? Would we be able to get our mojo back with only 14 hours to spare before playing in front of an audience of 7,000, and be filmed for an HBO Special!?”

In the end, McKagan was “very satisfied about the outcome” of the band’s performance at the event and appreciated that Clarke and Kennedy stepped in with “heroic, last-minute efforts.”

 




Charles Ken
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