James Lofton wrote:

It's surreal discussing this subject knowing there's an actual chance however remote of it occurring. In all previous years of it being discussed it was just pie in the sky, wishful thinking bullshit.

elevendayempire wrote:

Realistically, I'd expect a "reunion" line-up to consist of:

Axl
Slash
Duff
Fortus
Dizzy
Pitman
Ferrer (maybe Sorum, depending on whether the Axl or Slash camp is running the show)

Question:

How is Pitman being in the lineup realistic?  No offense to Pitman whatsoever but he isn't needed for anything in a reunion. Dizzy is all that's needed in that department and if a reunion happens, I would like AFD to be performed in its entirety in the middle of the set and Dizzy is backstage while we're hearing AFD how it was meant to sound.

I don't want Frank either. Hope all CD members are kept a light year away from this. IMO Fortus is the only realistic CD era member who has a snowball's chance in hell of being involved.

Well, I'm trying to come up with a realistic line-up. An AFD-era reunion is a fantasy; it just isn't going to happen. No promoter is going to take a chance on a tour that includes Axl (whose reputation for late starts precedes him), Izzy (who may at any time decide to wander off to find himself in Tibet) and Adler (a flaky ex-junkie who could fall off the wagon at any time). Hell, IIRC Izzy didn't show up to a couple of the Vegas shows he was supposed to be appearing at.

Bluntly: no-one but the hardcore fans care who the drummer and the rhythm guitarist are; not least because those two roles were already swapped out at the height of GN'R's fame. The casual public trade in icons; they will call it a reunion if Axl, Slash and Duff are up there; and even Duff isn't really essential to the vast mooing herd that will be buying tickets.

Axl's crafted a well-oiled touring machine over the last few years, one that operates at the scale a reunited GN'R would expect to play at. Slash plays small venues like the Hammersmith Apollo; while Axl's playing arenas, which are closer in scale to the stadiums that a GN'R reunion tour would be playing. So you have to think of it in terms of Slash, Duff and possibly Matt "plugging into" Axl's existing tour setup (as, indeed, Duff has already done). Axl has a tight, proven rhythm section in Frank and Fortus. They've worked with Duff before, too. So why would you take a chance on Gilby – a touring guitarist who did a stint with the band 20 years ago – and Matt? And even in this new era of thawed relations, Axl would probably want the majority of the band to be "his guys". Dizzy, well he's been there since the UYI days, and fits into the framework of a reunion. Pitman might as well be there, especially if you're looking to a future of writing new material; he's one of the key songwriters of the new band, and I suspect Axl would be more comfortable having him around. It suggests that any writing would be forward-looking, rather than just slapping some half-arsed vocals on generic rock riffs from Slash.

The hardcore fans can be catered for with crowd-pleasing guest appearances from Izzy and Adler, and maybe Matt and Gilby (in the manner of Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor on the recent Rolling Stones tour). I'll note that I was at the O2 gig where Izzy turned up, and half the crowd members around me – the people who'd been loudly parroting the line that "Axl broke up the original band, man, and it's not the same without Slash" – had no clue who he was.

I reckon it may be that Arin wanted to do more typical Avenged style drumming like the Rev, and the band maybe wanted him to keep to the simple style of Hail to the King.

Shame to see him go, seemed like a good guy, and a really great drummer too