Mikka, I'm going to leave aside the speculation on who's whose best friend in the original Guns, since we don't know these people personally and at the end of the day, have no idea. It's a tangled web as most band relationships are, with divided loyalties and vested interests all around. I could argue that the Axl-Slash bond is the strongest one in all of the band, that Axl loves Slash from the bottom of his heart. Case evidence is his long-standing hate towards the dude; the opposite of emotion is indifference, and Axl is anything but indifferent with Slash. I wager Slash has gotten over the breakup better by establishing himself as a musician outside of Guns, whereas Axl has always presented himself as a part of a package, which once included Slash. That's why Axl is so damn stuck with the past and wants Slash back, don't expect Guns to move an inch otherwise.

I see this only as a good thing.

Are you pissed because there's no reunion, just Duff helping out an old friend? With Guns, we take what we can get. Duff playing with Axl in this day and age is a breath of fresh air and certainly beats 'just touring'. Let's take it for what it is and hope for some quality boots from those shows.

Just thinking, do you guys think there was any bad blood between Izzy and Slash/Duff after he broke the ice and started playing live with Axl in 2006?

Pretty much the same deal to me, all of them know the score in Axl Land.

Say, have you heard this one?

If you read /jarmo phonetically out loud, the first thing you'll say is Slash...

 
Nope.

He'd tour with a bunch of guys who agree with him and call it Guns N' Roses.

They mutually held their own up to 2006, when Izzy started touring w/ Axl. Then Duff started doing it some years later. In the intervening time, Ax has said how it'd go for him.

I agree the whole RRHOF incident and its aftermath have made things even more awkward than before. First, there was the ambiguous Axl ('this is (the fans') victory'), then he said no. Then Izzy said no. Then the others performed. Then Izzy played with Axl and Guns. Now, Duff plays with Guns. Axl terms all the way, either Izzy or Duff, one at a time.

Guess the rumors about someone seeing Duff's visa were correct (ain't that stalking?). Based on his Tweet, he's looking to do the following dates;

April 6th, 2014: Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Estadio Ferro
April 9th, 2014: Asunción, Paraguay @ Jockey Club del Paraguay
April 12th, 2014: La Paz, Bolivia @ Estadio Hernando Siles
April 15th, 2014: Recife, PE, Brazil @ Chevrolet Hall
April 17th, 2014: Fortaleza, CE, Brazil @ Centro de Eventos do Ceará

as Tommy will be doing the Mats shows in Coachella on April 11th and 18th.

That may be one of Duff's intentions, for all we know. Axl's a very hair-trigger personality and surrounded by his crew wherever. I'd imagine it's hard to get a heart to heart with him, particularly if one's been in his life for less time than Beta. I bet Izzy and Duff are among the guys who can really go deep with him, and if anyone could help Ax rebuild that bridge to Slash, it'd be Duff. Other than that, Duff's probably just seeing it as a possibilty to do some big shows in a Gilby/Izzy situation, get a bag full of money and enjoy the company of his old friend. Axl wants him there, he's entitled to it, so no harm, no foul? At least, there's some honesty there as a nostalgia act.

THE Better performance for me. The band's hungry to play it and Axl's in shape. His voice is yet to get to his peak during this tour, but he's all there with the rest of them.