Guns N’ Roses made headlines after their October 18, 2025 performance at Estadio Huracán in Buenos Aires turned chaotic within moments. Video clips surfaced of Axl Rose kicking the drum kit, throwing his microphone, and storming off mid-“Welcome to the Jungle.” Speculation soared. Was it a hissy fit directed at new drummer Isaac Carpenter? A blow-up with his band? An old-school meltdown?
Slash stepped into the fray during a recent appearance on Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, explaining the incident with unfiltered honesty:
“Oh, that whole thing, God, it got so blown out of proportion… He’s trying to communicate that it’s the drums… but it got really blown out of proportion. Jesus. I guess people were thinking it had something to do with Isaac, but it wasn’t about Isaac.”
According to Slash, Rose’s in-ear monitor mix failed during the show’s first song, giving him nothing but drum signals and no vocals or instruments. As the guitarist described:
“There was something fucked up in Axl’s mix where the only thing he could hear was the drums. And that was it. And it was the first song.”
Guns N’ Roses later addressed the viral spectacle via Instagram, confirming Rose’s monitor pack issue and clarifying that the outburst had zero to do with Carpenter’s performance. Carpenter joined the band earlier in 2025, replacing longtime drummer Frank Ferrer, which had already stirred attention.
Slack put it simply: Carpenter is “killer. It’s been great. He’s really given a lot of energy to the show.”
The incident offers a rare peek behind the scenes of one of rock’s most explosive live bands. Not just a show-stopping tantrum, but a perfect storm of levers behind the music—technology, timing, and tension—colliding in front of tens of thousands.
When the lights went down and the riffs kicked in again, Guns N’ Roses salvaged the night. But the mic toss, the kick, the walk-off—they’ll be talked about long after the encore.
