One night after country singer joined band for “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” Slash and Duff McKagan make surprise appearance for Lies classic and Fleetwood Mac cover
One night after Chris Stapleton joined Guns N’ Roses onstage in Toronto, band members returned the favor as the country singer took the stage at the same venue Thursday.
Stapleton — a one-time Guns N’ Roses opening act — first joined GNR at Rogers Stadium on Wednesday to perform “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” With Stapleton booked for the same Toronto venue on Thursday — and with GNR still in town — Slash and Duff McKagan made a surprise appearance to back Stapleton on the Lies classic “Patience”:
After “Patience,” Slash hung around to accompany Stapleton for a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well”; Stapleton and Slash previously collaborated on the studio version of that song for the guitarist’s 2024 solo album Orgy of the Damned.
Roughly a decade ago, Stapleton served as Guns N’ Roses’ one-off opener at the band’s concert at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium concert in July 2016. “When I was a kid, if you’d have told me I’d be up here playing before Guns N’ Roses, I’d have called you a liar,” Stapleton told the crowd that night.
In addition to winning over GNR fans, Stapleton was also “summoned” backstage to meet Rose himself, who he called “a gentleman.” “[Rose] was great. Very polite and gracious, and we got to say hi for a few minutes,” Stapleton told Rolling Stone in July 2016. “I’m sure he was tired and had to go get cleaned up before the buses or planes rolled out, but he was a gentleman, and we had a brief conversation about music and both went on our way. It was a good night.”
