Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has expressed strong doubt about his band potentially performing at the celebrated new Las Vegas Sphere, stating that he is “real trepidatious” about the venue. In a new interview, he argued that the venue’s massive emphasis on visuals fundamentally undermines the raw energy of a “proper rock and roll show.”
Speaking on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,” Slash explained his primary concern with the groundbreaking venue.
“It’s a great visual show. I think that in almost every case for a band, it becomes a visual show as opposed to seeing a rock and roll show. So there’s that,” he stated.
While Slash admitted that “everything that I’ve seen… of it, looks amazing,” his main issue is with the concert experience itself. He explained that his “concern… is that it’s not really sort of rock and roll friendly, the way that it’s set up.”
He elaborated that for a band to truly succeed in that space, they must be willing to shift their entire creative focus, making the visual production equal to, or even more important than, the musical performance.
“Because you have to prepare your mind to put on not just a band performance, but 50 percent of what you’re doing is going to be the projection… And so that is something that’s gonna be the main focus of your show and the main focus of what everybody’s gonna be looking at,” Slash detailed.
It is a creative compromise he is not sure Guns N’ Roses is willing to make. “And so you have to sort of getting to that mindset and I think that’s hard for us to go that far into it,” he admitted. “But we’ll see. Maybe down the road.”
Slash did suggest that a band like Metallica might be a good fit, as he could “imagine them” embracing that 50/50 visual-to-music mindset.
While a Sphere residency seems unlikely for now, Guns N’ Roses is currently on a South American tour. Slash also recently confirmed that work on a long-awaited new studio album is ongoing. “It’s coming,” he said in a separate interview. “It’ll just happen when it happens.”
Guns N’ Roses – South America 2025 Tour Upcoming Dates
• October 28, 2025 – Pedreira Paulo Leminski, Curitiba, BR
• October 31, 2025 – Arena Pantanal, Cuiabá, BR
• November 2, 2025 – Arena BRB, Brasília, BR
• November 5, 2025 – Estadio Nacional Stadium, Lima, PE
• November 8, 2025 – Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico City, MX
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