Watch: DUFF MCKAGAN Joins ALICE IN CHAINS On Stage In Vancouver

GUNS N’ ROSES bassist Duff McKagan joined ALICE IN CHAINS on stage this past Monday (October 16) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to perform the AIC song “Rooster”.

“Rooster” was the closing track of ALICE IN CHAINS‘ set as the support act for GN’R at BC Place, and it marked the final show of the former band’s fall 2023 tour.

McKagan played a Les Paul guitar instead of his usual four-string instrument when he joined guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, vocalist/guitarist William DuVall, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez for the performance of the classic ALICE IN CHAINS song written in tribute to Cantrell‘s father, a Vietnam veteran who was nicknamed “Rooster” as a child.

McKagan played with ALICE IN CHAINS on the band’s 2006 comeback tour and expressed interest in writing a biography on them.

Back in 2008, a year before ALICE IN CHAINS released its comeback album “Black Gives Way To Blue”, the band’s first without original singer Layne Staley, who died in 2002 of a drug overdose, Duff penned a column for Seattle Weekly in which he wrote about ALICE IN CHAINS‘ decision to reunite: “My opinion may not be a popular one, especially here in Seattle. There seems to be an attitude of ‘Who the hell do you guys think you are? You can’t go on without Layne!’ While his death was heartbreakingly sad and needless, does this mean we all must shut the door on this band that changed the landscape of modern rock? Does this mean we all must suffer the elephant-sized monkey that rode Layne straight to his tragic end? Shit, did anybody think that Layne himself could very well have wanted his brothers to carry on? I for one believe that he in fact did. Alas, in the end, this is a can of worms that I should shut at this point because speculation on what he may or may not have wanted to happen after his death is pointless.

“I have had the good fortune to hear a lot of the new music that the guys have put together for their upcoming recording: fucking AWESOME! I believe we need a band like ALICE IN CHAINS now more than ever. A band who always has worn their heart on their collective sleeve. A band who couldn’t give two shits about what is ‘hip’ or current. These guys have always set trends. With what I have heard of the new music, they will continue to do so.”