Fans have been waiting for it for a long time, now it’s finally here: the new single from Guns N’ Roses. “Perhaps” is the name of the piece that Axl Rose and Co. performed live in front of an audience for the first time this weekend.
The band performed the song following its release on Friday (August 18) at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.
“Forgive me if I don’t run around as much trying to project because I’m going to try to figure out how to sing it live,” said frontman Axl Rose when introducing the song. “I think when we wrote that song it was like an immaculate conception.”
Perhaps was originally scheduled to be released on August 11, but was delayed for reasons unknown at the time of release. Before the delay, a link briefly surfaced on the Universal Music website, allowing eager fans to pre-save the song on Spotify and Apple Music.
However, the following day (August 12), fans were able to hear the track in bars across America through an accidental security leak. The track has been made available on TouchTune’s digital jukebox machines in the United States, complete with potential artwork.
A 7-inch vinyl version of Perhaps has since been announced, due out October 23, along with the B-side, The General.
Guns N’ Roses perform “Perhaps” live
The track hails from the band’s “Chinese Democracy” era and is the band’s first release since the four-song EP Hard Skool, which was released in February last year. The EP was exclusively available on the band’s official store and featured two new tracks they had released the year before – ‘Absurd’ and ‘Hard Skool’ – as well as live versions of ‘Don’t Cry’ and ‘You’re Crazy “.
Speculation that Guns N’ Roses might be bringing the song back for an official release surfaced earlier this year. Fans waiting for the band’s concert in Tel Aviv heard the members of “Perhaps” rehearse before the show, giving them a taste of what’s to come.