Guns N’ Roses returned to Abu Dhabi Tuesday night for a show at the Etihad Arena. This was their fourth visit to the United Arab Emirates since 2017, and they mixed up the setlist for the occasion and brought out some surprises. The most notable one came near the end of the night when they broke out the 1974 New York Dolls classic “Human Being“ for the first time in their history as a live act. (They didn’t mention Dolls lead singer David Johansen, but it’s a safe bet his death back in February inspired this.)
They last played “Human Being” during the sessions for their 1993 covers collection, The Spaghetti Incident? The album also features “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” by New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders. Duff McKagan sings the latter songs, and he’s a lifelong fan of Thunders and the Dolls.
“The way Johnny sings is unique,” McKagan told Kerrang! in 2021. “It’s scratchy, it’s tinny, and it’s not the type of voice you think you want to hear again. And yet it is. It’s perfect. And the guitar tone he gets out of that Les Paul Junior – and whatever amp he happened to have to hand – sounds perfect too.”
He was particularly infatuated by his 1978 solo album So Alone. “The punk rock scene was really cool at that time, full of freaks of every color and every orientation,” he said. “So Alone was part of that experience for me. It offered a more emotional element of music, and it was more reflective. It was full of storytelling. It was maybe my generation’s equivalent of a Bob Dylan record.”
McKagan’s Guns N’ Roses bandmates share his love of the Dolls, but they’ve rarely played their music in concert. Prior to Thursday night, the only New York Dolls song to make it’s way into a Guns N’ Roses concert took place May 13, 2014, when bassist Tommy Stinson sang the Dolls deep cut “Chatterbox.”
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The live debut of “Human Being” was the most notable moment at the Abu Dhabi show, but they also played the Appetite for Destruction cut “Used To Love Her” for the first time since 2018, broke out “The General” for the first time this year, and handed the mic to McKagan for a cover of “Attitude” by the Misfits.
The tour continues Friday night with a show at Shekvetili Park in Shekvetili, Georgia. It wraps up July 31 at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany. As of now, all of the shows are taking place outside of the United States.
