Guns N’ Roses kicked off their 2026 World Tour on March 28 at the Tecate Pa’l Norte festival in Monterrey, Mexico — and they did it with a lineup that looks noticeably different from the one that closed out their last North American run in 2023. A new drummer who played in a GN’R cover band in high school. Two new songs making their live debut. And just one day before the curtain went up, an announcement that keyboardist Melissa Reese would not be joining them at all. For a band that has been rewriting its own story since the reunion of 2016, the 2026 world tour carries more subplots than most bands manage in a decade.
The Monterrey show — a two-and-a-half-hour headline set closing out the festival’s main stage — served as the formal launch of one of the most expansive touring schedules GN’R has put together in years. The sprawling trek takes them across Latin America, North America, Europe, Australasia, and Singapore, with dates currently booked all the way through December. The North American leg marks their first return to that market in nearly three years , including what will be their first show at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl since 1992.
But before any of that, there is the matter of what has changed — and what is missing.
The most significant shift in the Guns N’ Roses lineup happened in March 2025, when the band announced that Frank Ferrer — their longest-serving drummer — was leaving the group. Guns announced the “amicable exit” of Ferrer, thanking him for “his friendship, creativity and sturdy presence over the past 19 years.” No reason was given for the departure. Ferrer’s last show with the band had taken place in November 2023 in Mexico. “The outpouring of love I have felt from the incredible fans of Guns N’ Roses and my peers over the past 24 hours has been tremendous,” Ferrer wrote to fans. “I will have immense gratitude and love always for Axl and the band, while at the same time, disappointment that this chapter came to an end.”
One day after Ferrer’s departure was announced, the band confirmed Isaac Carpenter as their new drummer. The name may not have been immediately familiar to casual fans, but his résumé told a story worth paying attention to. Carpenter is an accomplished American musician and producer who spent a decade with AWOLNATION and previously played with Duff McKagan’s side project Loaded — a connection that directly reunited him with one of his former bandmates when he joined GN’R. He also played in a Guns N’ Roses cover band in high school called .22s and Tulips — meaning he spent his teenage years playing their songs, and ended up behind their kit.
Carpenter made his live debut with the band on May 1, 2025, when GN’R opened their Because What You Want and What You Get Are Two Completely Different Things Tour in Incheon, South Korea. It was the first change in the Guns N’ Roses touring band lineup since the start of the reunion period in 2016. The Incheon show was also the first time the band had opened with “Welcome to the Jungle” since Slash and Duff McKagan rejoined the band in 2016 — a detail that felt like its own kind of statement about what this era of the band is trying to be.
Carpenter’s technical skill and energy won over fans throughout the international dates of the 2025 tour , building momentum heading into the 2026 campaign. By the time the band took the stage in Monterrey, he was no longer a new face — he was part of the band’s identity.
Then, with less than 24 hours to go before opening night, the second lineup announcement arrived. The band confirmed in a brief statement that Melissa Reese would not be joining them on tour due to unforeseen personal reasons, adding: “We hope our fans understand.” No further detail was given. No replacement was named. No timeline was offered. The current lineup entering the 2026 tour consists of Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Isaac Carpenter, and keyboardist Dizzy Reed — with Reese’s chair sitting empty beside Reed for the foreseeable future.
Reese joined Guns N’ Roses in 2016 as part of the reunion-era touring band, becoming the only female member in the band’s touring history. In a 2020 interview she was direct about her standing in the group. “I’m a member-member of Guns N’ Roses,” she said. “It’s always been the case, but I feel like I haven’t been forward enough about it. It’s something that would be good to just, once and for all, get out so there’s no questions.” The response to her absence has been largely one of concern rather than frustration — fans wanting to know she is okay rather than asking who will fill her spot.
The new songs are the other major story heading into this tour. In December 2025, the band released “Nothin’” and “Atlas” via Geffen Records — their first new music since “The General” and “Perhaps” in 2023. As with those previous releases, both songs date back to the Chinese Democracy sessions, but feature new contributions from Slash and McKagan. Heading into the tour, both songs had yet to grace a Guns N’ Roses setlist , making the Monterrey show the likely launch pad for their live debuts — though the band has historically been flexible about where new material lands from night to night.
Based on the band’s recent touring history, GN’R typically plays for more than three hours per night, drawing from Appetite for Destruction, the Use Your Illusion albums, Chinese Democracy, and a rotating selection of covers and deep cuts. The 2026 shows are expected to follow the same format, with the addition of “Nothin’” and “Atlas” potentially appearing anywhere in the set.
As for what comes after the touring — namely, a proper studio album with original material — Slash has been measured but optimistic. “There has been talk of a new album,” he acknowledged, “and the new material that’s going to come up from us getting back together is going to be amazing. We have a ton of it.” No release date has been set, and the band has learned the hard way over the years not to announce things before they are real. But the creative engine is clearly running.
Supporting acts on the 2026 North American dates include the Black Crowes, Public Enemy, Pierce the Veil, Ice Cube, and the Barbarians of California — an eclectic lineup that signals GN’R’s continued interest in putting together bills that feel like events rather than routine shows. The tour runs from Monterrey in March all the way to Auckland’s Eden Park on December 17, touching six continents and closing out what will be one of the most consequential years in the band’s recent history.
Two lineup changes in less than twelve months. Two new songs. A North American return that fans have been waiting three years for. And somewhere behind all of it, a keyboardist seat that nobody has yet explained. Guns N’ Roses in 2026 is not a simple story — but then again, it never has been.
