Social media in Yucatán has been abuzz since Monday when news surfaced that Guns N’ Roses would be performing at Xmatkuil in October.
The ’80s band’s official website confirmed the booking with their headline, “Guns N’ Roses are F’N’ back in Mexico.”
Rock fans in Yucatán quickly tempered their expectations. Concerts by major international rock performers in Yucatán have had the tendency to be canceled at the last minute.
Notable examples include cancellations by Deep Purple and In Flames in 2018 and Limp Bizkit in 2016.
Ticket sales for the Oct. 9 concert begin Friday. Prices weren’t posted as of Tuesday morning, but a concert this year in Florida started at over US$200 a seat.
Their Mexico tour also includes Guadalajara and Monterrey. Afterward, they fly to Australia and New Zealand.
Earlier: Visitors and locals turn out at show to support traditional musicians
Social media rumors placed the concert at Yucatán’s Xmatkuil annual state fair. But that is in November and is normally headlined by groups famous in Mexico and Latin America — Los Angeles Azules or Maldita Vecindad — not international artists performing in English.
Yucatán is no stranger to performances by major artists, as it has attracted the likes of Elton John, Shakira, Ricky Martin, and Ringo Starr.
They are not strangers to this country. The band famously headlined a Mexico City music festival in March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic was starting to build.
Guns N’ Roses originated in Los Angeles in 1985. Vocalist Axl Rose and lead guitarist Slash are the hard-rock band’s only two original performers.
Their debut 1987 album, Appetite for Destruction, reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts a year after its release. It included singles “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City,” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” the latter of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album has sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide and is the United States’ bestselling debut album and eleventh-bestselling album.
