Guns N' Roses' Slash shares doubts on playing Las Vegas Sphere

29 October 2025, 10:00 | Updated: 29 October 2025, 10:03

Guns N'Roses guitarist Slash. Picture: earMUSIC

By Jenny Mensah

The legendary GNR guitarist doesn't believe that a show at the state-of-the-art venue would necessarily suit the band's performance style, but can imagine a Metallica show.

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Slash isn't sure about Guns N'Roses playing the Las Vegas Sphere.

The state-of-the-art venue has played host to the likes of Eagles, U2 and the Backstreet boys since it opened in 2023, but the legendary guitarist isn't convinced that it's "rock and roll friendly".

Speaking on Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk on Siriux XM, the Welcome To The Jungle Rocker said: "Everything that I’ve seen, or most everything that I’ve seen of it, looks amazing. I’m real trepidatious about playing there, because…it’s a great visual show. I think that in almost every case for a band, it becomes a visual show as opposed to seeing a rock and roll show. So there’s that."

After revealing he spoke to Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh about his own experience playing the venue, he added: " [My worry] is that it’s not really sort of rock and roll friendly, the way that it’s set up.

"So it’s just one of those things where it seems like a really cool thing and conceptually there’s probably a lot of cool things that you could do, but I don’t think it would be the right environment for a proper rock and roll show."

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Despite his own misgivings about playing the venue, Slash does believe a Metallica show could make for some good visuals at the futuristic venue.

The Paradise City rocker mused: "I could see them doing it because I can imagine them…because you have to prepare your mind to put on not just a band performance, but 50 per cent of what you’re doing is going to be the projection, or whatever you call that — the outer wall…what you’re putting on as content.

“And so that is something that’s gonna be the main focus of your show and the main focus of what everybody’s gonna be looking at. And so you have to sort of getting to that mindset and I think that’s hard for us to go that far into it. But we’ll see. Maybe down the road.”

Guns N' Roses play Paradise City at BST Hyde Park 2023

Slash - whose real name is Saul Hudson - might not be far off with his thoughts on Metallica, since it was previously reported that the band were in talks to play the venue.

Rumours began to swirl when Las Vegas publication Vital Vegas said that according to their sources, the heavy metal icons “could play Sphere in the fall of 2026” after they wrap up their M72 world tour, “but specifics haven’t been confirmed or announced yet.”

Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett previously said the band would love to play the venue, which he praised for "using technology to the "fullest".

Meanwhile bassist Robert Trujillo has teased that he's been thinking about what their Sphere set would look like and said the "possibilities are endless".

Speaking on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation about the Enter Sandman rockers creating a visual spectacle at the venue, he admitted: "I’m already thinking like, imagine this, imagine that, imagine, you know, because Metallica’s music is so visual [...] I mean, imagine a song like [1986 song] Orion and what you can do with that… The possibilities are endless.”

“So for me, it’s again, like a dream come true," he added. "We’ll see what happens. I know we’re talking about it and hopefully this is gonna happen.”

Meanwhile Ska rockers No Doubt have been confirmed for a 12 night residency at the Sphere next year, which will see Gwen Stefani make history as the first woman to headline the the venue.

Visit thesphere.com for more information on the dates and how to buy tickets.