The Black Crowes Opening Up for Guns N’ Roses in 2026: The Most Unlikely Pairing in Rock ‘n’ Roll History?

Photo by Ross Halfin / Live Nation

On Thursday, December 11, 2025, The Black Crowes announced that they will open for Guns N’ Roses on four dates of their 2026 North American tour. They’ll cover the following dates: August 22 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada; August 26 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; August 29 at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia; and September 2 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California. Other opening acts for the 2026 North American tour include Ice Cube, Pierce the Veil, Public Enemy, and the Barbarians of California. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, Public Enemy will serve as the opening act for eight shows starting on July 23 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina and ending on August 16 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. The Barbarians of California, Ice Cube, and Pierce the Veil will each open a show or two on the 20-date tour. No opening act has been announced for the September 19 show at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia. 

My first initial thoughts about The Black Crowes opening for Guns N’ Roses were, “Oh my gosh, what the f*ck are they doing? Did they not learn their lesson from Aerosmith’s Peace Out Farewell tour?” The tour was originally supposed to run from September 2, 2023 to January 26, 2024. However, after the third show of the tour, Aerosmith postponed the remaining dates to 2024, due to vocalist Steven Tyler straining his vocal cords. But on August 2, 2024, the band announced their retirement from touring and cancelled the remaining tour dates because of Tyler’s inability to recover from his vocal injuries. As for Guns N’ Roses, vocalist Axl Rose’s voice has not held up in recent years. Have you heard him butcher Black Sabbath’s “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” at the Back to Beginning show this past July? His lower register is decent, but he cannot hit the high notes anymore.

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However, looking at the list of opening acts for Guns N’ Roses’ upcoming North American tour, The Black Crowes are the only band that matches them perfectly, in terms of music genre. Public Enemy are a hip-hop group, Pierce the Veil play alternative rock, Ice Cube is a rapper, and the Barbarians of California are a hardcore punk / metal band. The Black Crowes and Guns N’ Roses are both classic rock bands. Besides The Black Crowes being more southern-based, the only difference between the two bands is their music is more introspective, while Guns N’ Roses’ music is more flashy, which is why the latter are a stadium band. As a slight tangent, I went to both nights of the iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this past September and hated it! It was cool seeing John Fogerty, Maroon 5, Sammy Hagar, and Ed Sheeran live; but the whole experience felt bizarre. The lineups for both nights had a weird mix of artists that did not fit well at all. You can’t have rappers, classic rock bands, pop divas, and country acts in the same festival because there are people out there that just want to listen to artists from a specific genre. The same can be said for this upcoming Guns N’ Roses tour; how many of their fans actually like Public Enemy? 

I know Guns N’ Roses had their issues in the past, but they’ve been a very consistent touring band since guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan rejoined the band in 2016. After the mess with Aerosmith, I didn’t think The Black Crowes were going to commit to another stadium tour, but if they did, it had to be with a reliable band with minimal health issues who play music from a similar genre as them. It’d be weird if The Black Crowes were to tour with a heavy metal band like Metallica, that’s why. As mentioned before, Axl Rose cannot sing the high notes anymore, but he has cleaned up his act and is a much nicer person as opposed to how he was in the ‘80s. Plus, I have a soft spot for his brief time in AC/DC when he took over for Brian Johnson on the band’s Rock or Bust tour in 2016. Back then, he was able to hit the high notes; in fact, his version of “Thunderstruck” is worth checking out!

For selfish reasons, I don’t want The Black Crowes to tour with another big name act because I’m worried they’ll get super popular, and turn into one of those bands who charge ridiculous prices for their stadium tours and get stuck playing their greatest hits for the rest of their lives. I don’t want them to become a popular rock band because I like their intimate shows at smaller venues and that I only have to spend less than $100 per ticket (not including fees) to be in the front row. But from a positive perspective, this Guns N’ Roses tour will be a great opportunity for The Black Crowes to play in front of larger crowds, where they’ll get more exposure. I hate to admit it, but it’s getting harder and harder to do music for a living, especially with the recent lack of physical media sales and the world being taken over by robots. At this point, any decent gig The Black Crowes can get that’ll pay good money is a blessing.

I still think that Guns N’ Roses are somewhat lazy, given they only have eight studio albums, one of them being a covers album, and have only released six new songs since Slash and McKagan rejoined the band. I’m not even sure if they count as new songs because they were initially written during the Chinese Democracy (2008) sessions. However, Guns N’ Roses are a consistent touring band who still draw in large crowds and the Robinson brothers are friends with Slash, so I’m very curious to see how the Guns N’ Roses 2026 North American tour will turn out. Would I pay money to see The Black Crowes open up for Guns N’ Roses? F*ck no; stadium tours are expensive, I was lucky enough to see The Black Crowes live twice already, and I’d rather wait for them to announce a tour promoting their unannounced new studio album within the next year or two. 

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What are your thoughts on The Black Crowes opening up for Guns N’ Roses on four dates of their 2026 North American tour? Let me know in the comments down below!

Take care and see ya real soon!

Lana