The Chinese Democracy Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses to promote the group's album Chinese Democracy. It began in 2001, with three U.S. dates and a Brazilian one, while their 2002 tour included Asian, North American and a few European dates. The band did not tour again until May 2006, when it toured North America again and performed a major tour of Europe. The band's tour continued in 2007 with shows in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Mexico.
Their first show after the 2008 release of Chinese Democracy was in Taiwan on December 11, 2009. In the same month, the group played South Korea for the first time, as well as two dates in Japan. The tour continued with concerts in North America, South/Central America, Europe and Australia. As of late 2010, the entire tour had attracted a total audience of about 4,000,000 people. The ten-year tour came to a close on the final day of 2011, with a New Year's Eve show in Las Vegas, making it their second longest tour ever, just behind Use Your Illusion Tour, as well as their most-played concert tour ever, with 239 total shows.
Band members' history The bulk of the band remained stable throughout the tour: lead vocalist Axl Rose; keyboardist and backing vocalist Dizzy Reed; bassist and backing vocalist Tommy Stinson; co-lead guitarist Robin Finck; and keyboardist, programmer and backing vocalist Chris Pitman. The main lineup changes were in the form of rhythm guitarists (Paul Tobias from 2001 to 2002, Richard Fortus from 2002 to present), lead guitarists partnering Finck (Buckethead from 2001 to 2004, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal from 2006 to 2014) and drummers (Brain from 2001 to 2006, Frank Ferrer from 2006 to 2025). The 2006/2007 tour lineup—Rose, Reed, Stinson, Pitman, Finck, Fortus, Thal and Ferrer—remained to complete the album, released in 2008. Finck rejoined Nine Inch Nails in 2008, and was replaced by Sixx:A.M. guitarist DJ Ashba in 2009.
2001 European Tour The 2001 European Tour (often referred to as the Chinese Democracy Tour) was a scheduled concert tour by Guns N' Roses, planned in support of the band's then-upcoming sixth studio album Chinese Democracy. Initially due to begin and end in June, many tour dates were rescheduled for December due to the reported illness of guitarist Buckethead. The re-configured tour was later canceled outright.
Background Following the Use Your Illusion Tour, which ran for over two years and visited 27 countries, and the release of cover album "The Spaghetti Incident?" in November 1993, the band began to write new material. Relationships between band members began deteriorating, however, and the future of Guns N' Roses was in doubt. As members turned focus to their own side-projects tensions began to grow.
Gilby Clarke was the first to leave the band, reportedly being fired in June 1994. On October 30, 1996, it was announced that lead guitarist Slash had officially left the band, after having not been involved since 1995 due to a poor relationship with vocalist Axl Rose. Drummer Matt Sorum was fired from the band after an argument with guitarist Paul Tobias, and Duff McKagan became the last member to leave in 1997. With only one remaining original member, Axl Rose, and one other member from the "Use Your Illusion" lineup, Dizzy Reed, Guns N' Roses began the search for new musicians, while the former members continued with their respective solo and band careers, with Slash, McKagan and Sorum later forming Velvet Revolver with Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland in 2003.
Robin Finck from Nine Inch Nails became the band's lead guitarist in 1997, followed shortly the next year by drummer Josh Freese and bassist Tommy Stinson. Finck left the band in 1999 to rejoin his former band Nine Inch Nails, before the band recorded and released their first new song in eight years in the form of "Oh My God". A number of changes to the band occurred in 2000, including the departure of Freese, the hiring of lead guitarist Buckethead and drummer Brain, and the return of Robin Finck. Along with these changes came the news that Guns N' Roses were planning a tour in the summer of 2001, and would be playing at the Rock in Rio festival in January.
Warm-up shows The first warm-up show for the upcoming tour of Europe was announced in December 2000 as a New Year's Day performance at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. It was also rumored that the long-awaited Chinese Democracy would be released in June 2001, for which the scheduled European Tour would be promotional. Guns N' Roses – then composed of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarists Buckethead and Robin Finck, rhythm guitarist Paul Tobias (who joined in 1994 to replace Gilby Clarke), bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Brain and keyboardists Dizzy Reed (still with the band since joining in 1990) and Chris Pitman (who joined between 1998 and 2000) – completed the band's first performance in seven years, which was praised as "a triumphant return" by music magazine Rolling Stone. The band performed a number of new songs, including "Oh My God" (released as a single in 1999), "Riad N' The Bedouins", "Chinese Democracy", "Street of Dreams" (all later released on Chinese Democracy) and "Silkworms" (which was reworked and released as a single in August 2021), including a bulk of original songs and 'classics' such as "Welcome to the Jungle", "Paradise City", "November Rain" and "You Could Be Mine". The Las Vegas show was followed two weeks later by the performance at Rock in Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The performance featured a similar set list, which also included the live debut of new song "Madagascar". MTV praised the performance as "The capstone of the third night of the [...] festival", summarising it as "an exciting show."
Cancellations Guns N' Roses were due to begin their European Tour on June 1 at the German music festival Rock am Ring, but announced in May that they were to cancel the entire tour; according to the band's European management agency, the reason for the cancellation was the illness of lead guitarist Buckethead. With a rescheduling process said to be planned, it was later announced that many of the proposed tour dates would be completed later in the year. On November 8, it was announced that the tour was to be canceled completely, allegedly due to the ongoing illness of Buckethead, which was also said to have delayed the completion of the upcoming album. The band's manager, Doug Goldstein, apologized to fans for scheduling the tour, which he admitted was a poorly executed decision, with the following statement:
Despite not being able to complete their tour of Europe, the full lineup of Guns N' Roses performed two more shows in 2001, both at The Joint, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, on December 29 and 31. Songs performed made up similar set lists to those at the January performances.
Set list
January 1, 2001 – House of Blues, Las Vegas, Nevada Main set: "Welcome to the Jungle" "It's So Easy" "Mr. Brownstone" "Live and Let Die" "Oh My God" "My Michelle" "Think About You" "You Could Be Mine" "Sweet Child o' Mine" "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" "November Rain" "Out ta Get Me" "Riad N' The Bedouins" "Chinese Democracy" "Rocket Queen" "Patience" "Street of Dreams (The Blues)" "Nightrain" Encores: "Silkworms" "Paradise City"
January 14, 2001 – Rock in Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Main set: "Welcome to the Jungle" "It's So Easy" "Mr. Brownstone" "Live and Let Die" "Oh My God" "Think About You" "You Could Be Mine" "Sweet Child o' Mine" "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" "Madagascar" "November Rain" "Out ta Get Me" "Rocket Queen" "Chinese Democracy" "Street of Dreams (The Blues)" "Patience" "Nightrain" Encores: "My Michelle" "Silkworms" "Paradise City"
Personnel Axl Rose – lead vocals, piano, occasional rhythm guitar Robin Finck – guitars, backing vocals Buckethead – guitars, nunchaku Paul Tobias – guitars, slide guitar, backing vocals Tommy Stinson – bass, backing vocals Brain – drums, percussion Dizzy Reed – keyboards, backing vocals, percussion Chris Pitman – keyboards, synthesizers, sub-bass, sampling, programming, tambourine, backing vocals
Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueAttendanceNotesWarm-up showsJanuary 1, 2001ParadiseUnited StatesHouse of Blues1,800 *January 14, 2001Rio de JaneiroBrazilRock in Rio 3200,000 **Original TourJune 1, 2001NürburgGermanyRock am RingCancelledJune 3, 2001NurembergRock im ParkCancelledJune 5, 2001BerlinWaldbühneCancelledJune 9, 2001LondonEnglandLondon ArenaRescheduledJune 10, 2001RescheduledJune 12, 2001GlasgowScotlandSECCRescheduledJune 13, 2001ManchesterEnglandManchester ArenaRescheduledJune 14, 2001BirminghamNEC ArenaRescheduledJune 17, 2001ImolaItalyHeineken FestivalCancelledJune 19, 2001MadridSpainPlaza de Las VentasCancelledJune 20, 2001BarcelonaPalau Sant JordiCancelledJune 22, 2001WohlenSwitzerlandWohlen FestivalCancelledJune 23, 2001ArnhemNetherlandsGelreDomeRescheduledJune 25, 2001StockholmSwedenGlobenRescheduledJune 26, 2001OsloNorwaySpektrumRescheduledJune 28, 2001RoskildeDenmarkRoskilde FestivalCancelledJune 30, 2001WerchterBelgiumRock WerchterCancelledRescheduled TourDecember 2, 2001ArnhemNetherlandsGelreDomeCancelledDecember 5, 2001OsloNorwaySpektrumCancelledDecember 7, 2001StockholmSwedenGlobenCancelledDecember 9, 2001HelsinkiFinlandHartwall AreenaCancelledDecember 13, 2001LondonEnglandLondon ArenaCancelledDecember 14, 2001CancelledDecember 16, 2001GlasgowScotlandSECCCancelledDecember 18, 2001ManchesterEnglandMEN ArenaCancelledDecember 19, 2001BirminghamNECCancelledNew Year ShowsDecember 29, 2001ParadiseUnited StatesThe Joint1,400December 31, 20011,400 #Source*First show since 1993, ending of the Use Your Illusion Tour. First show for the new line-up. Axl on vocals, Dizzy Reed on keyboards, Tommy Stinson on bass, Chris Pitman on keyboards, Paul Tobias, Buckethead and Robin Finck on guitar, and Brain on drums. GN'R performed five new songs (that includes Oh My God).**Guns N' Roses' biggest concert attendance ever.
2002/2003 World Tour Chinese Democracy Tour 2002 was the band's first major tour since 1993. The North American leg was organized in the autumn of 2002 to support the supposed release of Chinese Democracy, and was announced on September 25, 2002, as the Chinese Democracy Tour. Thirty-five dates had originally been scheduled, but the band ended up performing at only sixteen.
Set list Madagascar, Chinese Democracy and Street of Dreams were played frequently while Riad N' The Bedouins was dropped a few dates later. Welcome to the Jungle opened the show and Paradise City ended the encore on all dates.
August 18, 2002 – WTC Open Air Stadium, Osaka, Japan Main set: "Welcome to the Jungle" "It's So Easy" "Mr. Brownstone" "Live and Let Die" "Think About You" "You Could Be Mine" "Sweet Child o' Mine" "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" "Out ta Get Me" "Riad N' The Bedouins" "Madagascar" "November Rain" "Rocket Queen" "Nightrain" "Street of Dreams (The Blues)" "Chinese Democracy" "Patience" Encore: "Paradise City"
December 5, 2002 – Madison Square Garden, New York City Main set: "Welcome to the Jungle" "It's So Easy" "Mr. Brownstone" "Live and Let Die" "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" "Think About You" "You Could Be Mine" "Sweet Child o' Mine" "Out ta Get Me" "November Rain" "Chinese Democracy" "Madagascar" "Rocket Queen" "Street of Dreams (The Blues)" "My Michelle" "Patience" "Nightrain" Encore: "Paradise City"
Personnel The only lineup change for this tour was the addition of rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, replacing Paul Tobias due to the fact the latter no longer wished to tour. The touring line up for the 2002 tours of Europe, Asia and North America consisted of:
Axl Rose – lead vocals, piano Robin Finck – guitars, backing vocals Buckethead – guitars Richard Fortus – rhythm guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals Tommy Stinson – bass, backing vocals Brain – drums, percussion Dizzy Reed – keyboards, piano, percussion, backing vocals