Guns N’ Roses will be 1st rock band to play Allegiant Stadium

GNR Nation

When Guns N’ Roses most recently played Las Vegas, there was no Allegiant Stadium option.

There is now, and they are there.

The iconic rockers are to be the first rock band to play the stadium, on Aug. 27, when their U.S. tour stops in Las Vegas.

The band announced its tour dates last week, including Las Vegas, but left open which venue it would play. That was made public Tuesday morning.

The most recent GNR show in Las Vegas was the band’s appearance at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in November 2019, closing its “Not In This Lifetime” tour. “Welcome To The Jungle,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” “Nightrain,” “Paradise City” and “Live and Let Die” all were unleashed in the three-hour performance.

The show is the first stadium concert promoted by Live Nation. The company’s president of its Las Vegas office said GNR matches the image of the city, and also Allegiant’s lead tenant, the Las Vegas Raiders. Live Nation sells more tickets to concerts in Las Vegas than any promoter.

“As the largest concert promoter and headline resident promoter in Las Vegas, we had to go big for our first show at Allegiant Stadium,” Live Nation exec Kurt Melien said. “Guns N’ Roses and the Raiders go all the way back to the ‘80’s when the band was just starting out in LA, so to be able to bring them to the team’s new home and to have such incredible support from the Raiders is a real honor.”

EDC star Illenium is the first ticketed concert set for Allegiant Stadium on July 3. Garth Brooks follows July 10. The Vegas band Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns has actually performed the first full, formal music set in the stadium. Santa Fe broke in the stadium’s concert audio, video and light system in March.

GNR’s opener has a strong connection to the Las Vegas music scene. Mammoth WVH, headed up by Wolfgang Van Halen (son of the late guitar hero Eddie Van Halen) with Vegas native Frankie Sidoris on lead guitar, is on the tour. The band will play Allegiant Stadium. Sidoris has played guitar with Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators.

The band’s first album, self-titled, is out Saturday. The first single, “Distance,” is No. 1 across six Billboard charts.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.