Guns N’ Roses to play The Colosseum on Las Vegas Strip

Caesars Entertainment is serious about expanding its headliner lineup in the post-Celine Dion era.

Guns N’ Roses is booked for a pair of shows Nov. 1-2 at the revamped Colosseum at Caesars Palace, announced Monday morning. Tickets start at $149 (not including fees) and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at Ticketmaster or at the Colosseum box office.

Fronted by vocalist Axl Rose and guitar great Slash, the band is slotting in the two Las Vegas dates in its “Not In This Lifetime Tour.” The shows will make use of the new Colosseum design, which is to feature a flexible general admission seating area near the front of the stage. The venue is going dark for a month after Reba and Brooks & Dunn’s show on July 6.

The strategy that inspired the seating redesign of the Colosseum was to allow more flexibility in the type of acts to play the venue. Another famed arena rock band, Journey, plays the venue for nine dates beginning Oct. 9.

Guns N’ Roses’ Colosseum dates are the band’s only 2019 tour stop in the West, other than Salt Lake City. Original band members Rose, Slash and bassist Duff McKagan reunited for the much-hyped “Not In This Lifetime” tour in 2016, which played two sold-out shows at T-Mobile Arena in April 2016 and another in November 2017.

GNR is characteristically a festival, stadium or arena touring band. As a release announcing the Caesars Palace dates notes, the Colosseum is the most intimate venue to host a Guns N’ Roses show since the band played the Apollo Theater in New York City in 2017.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.