“When we wrote this song it was like the immaculate conception”: Guns N’ Roses give Perhaps its live debut, and tease another new song
Both tracks are from the Chinese Democracy era.
Credit: Guns N’ Roses
Guns N’ Roses played their new song Perhaps for the first time on Friday (18 August).
They performed it at their show at PNC Park in Pittsburgh between Estranged and Live and Let Die. “Forgive me if I don’t run around and try to project as much because I’m gonna try to figure out how to fucking sing it live,” said frontman Axl Rose as he introduced the track. “I like to think of when we wrote this song it was like the immaculate conception.”
Perhaps was originally set for release on 11 August, but was delayed for a week. Before the delay, a link appeared on the Universal Music website, allowing fans to pre-save the track on streaming platforms, but it quickly disappeared. It was also accidentally leaked at bars across the US on the 12th, as it was made available on TouchTunes digital jukebox machines around the country.
Meanwhile, GNR have teased another new song. The General is set to arrive in October, and will be the B-side to Perhaps when it’s released on 7-inch vinyl on 27 October. You can pre-order it now.
Both tracks have been taken from the band’s Chinese Democracy era, and Perhaps is their first release since last year’s EP Hard Skool. Before singles Hard Skool and Absurd, the band last released new music in 2008 with Chinese Democracy, the band’s first album in 15 years.
Excitement around new music rose when the band soundchecked the then-unreleased song Perhaps ahead of a concert in Tel Aviv. While the song wasn’t performed at the show, it mirrored a pattern the band followed with Hard Skool. Originally, it was sounchecked at a show, before being added to the setlist and eventually released as a single.