The Pretenders leader joined Axl Rose and the band onstage in Boston for the ‘Use Your Illusion’ track
Guns N’ Roses’ summer tour has been rich in surprises: an updated and shuffling set list, the debut of the new song “Perhaps,” and guests ranging from Carrie Underwood to Andrew Dice Clay. Add Chrissie Hynde to that list. On Monday, the Pretenders leader joined Axl Rose and the band onstage at Boston’s Fenway Park to play some mean harmonica on “Bad Obsession.”
The bluesy song, off Use Your Illusion I, has been a staple of GN’R’s World Tour set, typically coming in the Number Two slot after the group’s traditional show opener of “It’s So Easy.” That was the case on Monday, and Hynde emerged, in knee-high black leather boots and with a harp in hand, to make this “Bad Obsession” particularly memorable. While Rose bounded across the stage, Hynde danced and swayed near drummer Frank Ferrer’s riser, where she was frequently joined by Rose.
The Pretenders, who will release the new album Relentless next month, opened the Boston show and will do so again when Guns N’ Roses play Wrigley Field in Chicago on Thursday. In between GN’R dates, Hynde and the band have been headlining intimate club shows. Last week they played Bowery Ballroom in New York and leaned heavily into their Nineties and 2000s back catalog with songs like “Downtown (Akron)” and “Don’t Cut Your Hair.”
Pretenders will headline the Blue Room in Nashville on Saturday when Carrie Underwood opens for Guns N’ Roses across town at Geodis Park. Underwood has been a frequent onstage collaborator of Rose and has been tailoring her set list to appeal to rock fans, adding Heart’s “Alone” and a wicked cover of Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades.”
Last Friday, Guns N’ Roses released the new song “Perhaps,” a piano-drive rocker that features Rose empathizing with someone he pushed away. After giving its live debut in Pittsburgh on Friday, the band also played “Perhaps” in Boston.
