5 Songs Guns N’ Roses Need to Cut From Their Set in 2025

Guns N’ Roses are hitting the road again in 2025 for a world tour, promising another rock ‘n’ roll spectacle of epic proportions.

Maybe a little too epic.

The rockers have never shied away from excess in any department, and over the past several years, that mentality has translated to their live show, with performances routinely approaching — or even exceeding — three hours. Although more is certainly not always a bad thing, GN’R have kept a largely static set list since launching their Not in This Lifetime … reunion tour nearly a decade (!!) ago. They’ve added to the core set over the years, but they’ve rarely subtracted.

Consequently, fans who have caught Guns N’ Roses more than once in recent years may be yearning for a change of pace. That includes several UCR writers, whom we’ve tasked with cutting five (or more) songs from the band’s 2025 set list and replacing them with less common tracks.

Here are their picks.

Bryan Rolli: My GN’R allegiance is common knowledge around the proverbial UCR water cooler. There aren’t many songs I wouldn’t be happy to see them play live. That said, their over-reliance on covers has always been their Achilles’ heel. Their renditions of Velvet Revolver‘s “Slither” and Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman” were heartfelt gestures, but they’ve outworn their welcome. Likewise, the band could make better use of Duff McKagan‘s solo spot than a punk cover, which was most recently the Stooges‘ “T.V. Eye.” And if I never hear them play “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” again, it’ll be too soon. I know there’s a “not in this lifetime”-level chance of them cutting it, but hey, stranger things have happened.

As for original songs: Now that the novelty of new music has worn off, it’s safe to deem “Absurd” one of the worst things Guns N’ Roses have ever done. Put it on the chopping block along with “Perhaps.” (I’m also preemptively crossing my fingers that “The General” doesn’t become a set list staple.) And as much as I adore “Rocket Queen,” I’ve heard their hammy, 12-minute live version enough times to sustain me for the rest of my days.

Now let’s start having some fun. McKagan has been playing “Dust N’ Bones” on his solo tours lately, and it would make a great addition to Guns’ set. They could fill their Campbell-sized void with another acoustic sitdown number, “You Ain’t the First.” They cut “Dead Horse” from their set in 2021 just as they were starting to find their groove with it; it deserves more attention in 2025. Same goes for “Locomotive,” which could satisfy the “Rocket Queen” faction. And I’ll go to my grave wishing for a “Perfect Crime” revival. Lastly, if they really feel the need to add another cover, they could salute the recently retired Aerosmith and make a nod to GN’R Lies by bringing back their rendition of “Mama Kin.”

Listen to Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Dust N’ Bones’

Matt Wardlaw: Man, we get all of the tough jobs here at UCR, don’t we? Thanks for making me the one who gets to go and tell Axl Rose about our cuts. The easiest choices to slash would be some of the cover songs. But that kind of feels like the easy way out. Here’s where I’ll start: Let’s take out their cover of Velvet Revolver’s “Slither” and pop in a fan favorite that’s been on the shelf way too long: “Out Ta Get Me,” which has been surprisingly in rest mode since late 2017. I’d like to create a new illusion and pull out “Estranged,” a fairly regular presence, in exchange for the more sporadic “Yesterdays.” I think it’s great that they’ve had some “new” material in the set with things like “Hard Skool” and “Absurd,” but I’m also thinking we could swap out the latter and pop in “Shadow of Your Love.” To be fair, “Shadow” got some good stage time through 2022, but I didn’t get to see it, so that’s a selfish pick.

When it comes to cover songs, let’s lose “Wichita Lineman” and shake things up a song or two later by putting in a real rarity prior to the set-closing “Nightrain”: their Spaghetti Incident?-era version of Nazareth‘s “Hair of the Dog.” That seems like it could be a fun way to get the fans a bit more riled up going into the encore. For my final tweak, we’re going to take out “Anything Goes” and, indeed, because anything goes, I’m making this one the dealer’s choice of either “Oh My God” or “Perfect Crime.” Thanks for your consideration, guys — we’ll see you out there right next door to hell.

Listen to Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Hair of the Dog’

Matthew Wilkening: Call me old, call me lame, call me whatever you want, but two hours and 40 minutes is too long for a rock concert. I’ve seen Guns N’ Roses half a dozen times since their 2016 reunion, and as the set lists got longer and longer over those years, the pacing sagged, particularly in the middle of the set. More importantly, other than adding some new covers and recent singles such as “Absurd” and “Hard Skool,” the shows have largely featured the same 20 songs in the same basic order. It’s well past time for a shakeup. It sounds counterintuitive, but a shorter, punchier set is the way to go.

Starting from the 28-song set list of their most recent show (Nov. 5, 2023 in Toluca, Mexico), let’s cut 10 and put 5 different songs in their place. Out: “Bad Obsession,” “Chinese Democracy,” “Slither,” “Pretty Tied Up,” “Absurd,” “Perhaps,” “The General,” “Civil War,” “Anything Goes” and “Coma.” In: “Locomotive,” “Out Ta Get Me,” “Sorry” (the best song on Chinese Democracy by a mile), “Right Next Door to Hell” and then maybe rotate in an Aerosmith or AC/DC cover once in a while.

Listen to Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sorry’