Guns N’ Roses Plays ‘Use Your Illusion I’ Deep Cut for First Time in 35 Years

Back in 1991, hard rock legends Guns N’ Roses unleashed the twin powers of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. Debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, both albums have since been certified seven-times platinum by the RIAA. Thirty-five years later, the band resurrected the Use Your Illusion I track “Bad Apples” onstage during their Saturday (April 4) set at Monsters of Rock Brazil in Sao Paulo.

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This marked just the third time Guns N’ Roses has ever played “Bad Apples” live, with the last performance coming May 11, 1991, at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theatre. They debuted the song four months earlier at the Rock in Rio festival in 1991.

WHY LET ONE BAD APPLE SPOIL THE WHOLE DAMN BUNCH?

GUNS N’ ROSES JUST PLAYED BAD APPLES AT MONSTERS OF ROCK IN SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1991

📹: @gunsnroses pic.twitter.com/ug7lc7uHWw

— Jen ⚡️ (@TheGNRGiirl) April 5, 2026

Axl Rose & Co. launched their 2026 tour on March 28 in Monterrey, Mexico. After spending the entire month of April in Brazil, Guns N’ Roses will head back to the States May 5 for two shows in Florida.

After nearly a monthlong break, they will resume at PreZero Arena Gliwice in Gliwice, Poland, with subsequent stops in Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and France. Then it’s back to the States again, wrapping up Sept. 19 at Alanta’s Truist Park.

[RELATED: Guns N’ Roses Give Two New Songs Their Live Debut, Cover Black Sabbath and Bob Dylan During First Tour Stop of 2026]

Guns N’ Roses Expanded Their Range on ‘Use Your Illusion’

Use Your Illusion I and II followed a nearly three-year period of silence from Guns N’ Roses. After wrapping up a 1988 tour with Aerosmith, the band didn’t return to the studio for two years.

A number of factors continued to the lapse. For one thing, the band ousted drummer Steven Adler due to extreme h*roin addiction in 1990. And Adler wasn’t the only one struggling with substance use. “We were really f—ing unhappy,” Slash told Rolling Stone.

When they did return to the studio, however, the result was nothing like their feral debut Appetite for Destruction, incorporating blues, classical, punk, and heavy metal.

“We want to define ourselves,” Rose said. “Appetite was a cornerstone, a place to start. That was like ‘Here’s our land, and we just put a stake in the ground. Now we’re going to build something.’ “

Featured image by Luis Gutiérrez/Norte Photo/Getty Images