September 16th, 1996.

Phoenix, AZ.

It had been a series of tribulations for the 'most dangerous band in the world', now washed out, out of fad, with the same problems as ever. Slash's drinking was an issue, which escalated whenever he was kept off the road. Axl had kept him off the road for the past year. The Snakepit album had been a source of contention between the two. Axl wanted have his pick of the litter to pick the songs apart and rebuild them. Slash said, no. He'd wanted the album done, so he'd recorded it with his own band. No more waiting on Axl. They'd been taken to record a Stones cover soon after. Slash delivered a bluesy solo, which Axl thought took too many liberties on Richards. Axl sang the same words as Jagger, one might say. Paul Huge did some overdubbing, there. Slash was furious, and Axl was probably aware of it.

The next year had been worse. Slash had toured with Snakepit for the first part of the year, before Axl told Geffen he'd be ready to work on the next album whenever Slash is. Axl passed out his letter of resignation from Guns and began a year-long legal tug of war with Slash. Into the summer, Duff and Matt had taken off with the supergroup, Neurotic Outsiders, and had everything going their way by Halloween. They had a record deal by playing weekly in Johnny Depp's bar. Guns was in absolute disarray, with Slash and Axl at odds and Duff and Matt with a good thing going.

Axl had spun his webs by creating a shadow group of musicians, who would pretty much Minecraft Axl an album, developing and recording musical ideas in a painstaking fashion. Earlier in the summer, Axl had summoned up Slash to finally share his vision of the band. It would be centered around them; Axl had in his mind an idea of a blues-rock-based album. That must've been a first for Slash in a while: his Snakepit album was rejected by Axl and Duff, because they saw it as overly-familiar ground. Musically cultured, they were wondering how they should adjust to the times. Axl'd wanted to do a solo album with Trent Reznor. Slash just wanted to play.

Last month, after what seemed like forever, Axl and Slash got into an agreement as to how to proceed with Guns. There was a contract, a trial period. Everyone was on Axl. There were rehearsals. Paul Huge played rhythm. Axl showed up late. Slash opted to get drunk in a strip bar next door while waiting for him. On most nights, he waited for hours. Axl provided with the songs, or at least, drafts of songs, melodies and structures by his shadow group. It was, to a degree, about filling the blanks. Axl wanted to hear the proper interpretation, the secret recipe of a Guns song.

Duff and Matt had dates happening with Neurotic Outsiders, as their band mate Steve Jones was available from the concurrent Sex Pistols reunion tour. They'd only be at it for September, but Axl wanted them to be around. The other week, they'd had a four-day break between Toronto and Detroit region. They had flown to LA for some more Guns rehearsals. Now, the tour had continued for a few days and landed them in the Electric Ballroom, a large venue with even a curtain to cover the stage. Slash might've seen the irony of a curtain call when he was prowling about there, cigarette in hand.

What was he even doing there? Playing one show with the mates, lending them a hand, having fun. On a Monday night in Phoenix. Why not have the same fun the coming Wednesday, when Neurotic would play at The Whiskey in LA? Why bother traveling to the desert to meet up with your friends? Before the next band meeting in LA. Or in Phoenix. Of all the places in the world where Axl could've been that day, a two-hour drive up north is a possibility.

The story of Yoda is perhaps best recalled by Peter Bradshaw.

Axl taking Slash to Phoenix is not all that far-fetched. Tom Zutaut, an A&R Man on all Guns' studio albums, accompanied Axl to Sedona in July, 2001. According to him, Axl felt the trip necessary as he felt they were "surrounded by negative energy". There was more than enough of that in the 1996 lineup. Paul Huge and Slash never really hashed out their working relationship, which had been enforced by Axl since the Sympathy for the Devil sessions almost two years ago. "Paul will play on the song, Paul will write songs, Paul will rehearse with the band..." Paul must've looked good on a photo that day.

Later that month, Slash admitted to have lapsed into a suicidal depression over his position in Guns. He quit the next morning, with a month-long resignation period. Axl had made up his mind, Paul Huge wasn't going anywhere. Axl might've thought his old buddy would made a wonderful replacement for Izzy, to have that Lafayette songwriting mojo back in Guns. He might've entertained the notion of dismissing Paul to appease Slash - but if Paul read well in Yoda's mind, he would benefit Axl's album, right?

It all went sour. The Guns rehearsals were stopped, dead on. Slash and Axl were at odds again. The album was, again, in disarray. Slash joined Neurotic Outsiders on stage that night, and the three that would be Velvet Revolver had their last night out as Guns.

There's no telling whether Axl was there that night.