Guns N’ Roses have been dropping some surprises while they’ve been touring in South America over the last few weeks. A video has surfaced of the rockers sound checking a never-before-played Use Your Illusion deep cut, which indicates that we could hear it live sooner or later.
“Don’t Damn Me” was featured on Use Your Illusion I and was written by Axl Rose as a message to those who ostracized him for the controversial GN’R Lies track “One in a Million.” It’s one of only four songs that Guns have never tackled live before, and according to an interview that Slash did in 2014, it’s likely because of the fast lyrical pace.
“You know, it’s a cool song and everything. I think even [with] Axl, we never did it because it was just too many words without a breath, and it just makes it really impossible to do it live.”
Never say never though, right? As heard in a new video, GN’R sound checked the track recently, and they do frequently ask which songs fans would want added to the setlist on their social media. The video clip was filmed by Slash’s girlfriend Meegan Hodges, who confirms that they were in Colombia when it was recorded, meaning it had to have taken place within the last day or so, as they’re set to play a show in Bogota, Colombia tonight.
“Omg this has never seen the light of a live show! Excited to know how Axl sings this song now at this age and how similar it’ll be compared to the studio [version]. One of my most fav Guns songs!” a fan enthused on Reddit.
Check out the clip below.
It could have easily just been a jam session for them, but last year, footage surfaced online of them rehearsing “Hard Skool” just a few days before it came out. Considering they played other deep cuts such as “Locomotive” and “Dead Horse” for the first time in over 20 years during their recent touring history, there is a chance that they’ll break out “Don’t Damn Me” for the first time.
They also recently sound checked an unreleased song called “Oklahoma,” which was another outtake from the Chinese Democracy era. Given that Slash teased they’ll be releasing a few more of these outtakes re-worked, hopefully that means we’ll hear something new from the band soon.