Such an epic collab.
This past week, Chris Stapleton joined Guns N’ Roses for a very special performance of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” during the band’s headlining show in Toronto at Rogers Stadium, which happened the day before Stapleton himself headlined the same stadium.
But then, he returned the favor and invited them out for his show, and Slash and Duff McKagan stuck around for an extra day, joining Stapleton on stage for a surprise performance of their song “Patience.” It was included on their 1988 second studio album, G N’ R Lies, and released as a single in March of 1989.
The song became a hit, peaking at #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it’s certainly unique within their catalog in terms of the more acoustic, stripped back production, and of course, most of their massive hits feature loud electric guitars, heavy drums, and off-the-charts vocals
Stapleton introduced the band by saying he had an “incredible” experience joining them on stage the night before, and then teased the crowd as he told them he was going to play one of his favorite songs, though something was “missing” as he got started:
“I hopped up with Guns N’ Roses last night. So figured I’d play a song tonight… what an experience last night. This is one of my favorite songs, it’s called ‘Patience.’ Hold on, hold on. This doesn’t feel right. Something’s missing. Something’s missing.”
The coolest part is that they did it all acoustically (usually they play it live with electric guitars), and very much in a Stapleton-style way, and it’s clearly a dream come true for him and I definitely think we need a studio cover of this one from him now:
The comments section seems quite impressed, too:
“Holy s*** what a performance.”
“Wow. His vocals at the end doing the high notes!”
“Just give me a Full Album of Chris playing Guns!”
“That’s bad a**.”
“Just wow.”
“Chris… throughout this performance I felt Axl was on Stage. His Legacy…”
“Dude he could actually fill in for Axle and I bet he would f******* CRUSH!!!”
It’s such a great song, and as we all know Stapleton can sing anything, and I’ve never heard him do a cover I didn’t love.
“Patience”
Here’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”:
