Guns N’ Roses Announce 97-Track ‘Use Your Illusion’ Box Set
Guns N' Roses will release a mammoth Use Your Illusion box set on Nov. 11. The twin albums' original 30 songs will be augmented with two complete live concerts: one from May 1991 at New York City's Ritz Theatre and one from January 1992 at Las Vegas' Thomas and Mack Center.
The new box set, which is available to preorder now, will be sold in several different configurations, the biggest being the "Super Deluxe Seven-CD + Blu-Ray" and "Super Deluxe Twelve-LP + Blu-Ray" volumes. There are also two-CD deluxe editions of each Illusion album, each containing a bonus disc of live footage from the 1991-92 legs of the Use Your Illusion Tour.
These two-CD deluxe editions include live renditions of Lenny Kravitz's "Always on the Run" featuring Kravitz, and Aerosmith's "Mama Kin" and "Train Kept A-Rollin'" featuring Steven Tyler and Joe Perry; all three tracks were taken from the band's Paris concert on June 6, 1992.
In total, the set will feature 97 songs, 63 of which are unreleased audio tracks and videos, as well as a 100-page photo book and various collectible and archival documents.
One of the most notable inclusions on the Use Your Illusion box set is an updated version of Guns N' Roses' epic, orchestral power ballad "November Rain." The newly recorded version will feature a 50-piece orchestra conducted and arranged in 2021 by composer Christopher Lennertz.
The complete Use Your Illusion Super Deluxe edition track listing is listed below. You can also hear the first live track from the collection, a 1991 version of "You Could Be Mine," below.
Originally released on Sept. 17, 1991, Use Your Illusion I and II debuted at Nos. 2 and 1 on the Billboard 200 respectively, selling hundreds of thousands of copies in their first week alone. The two-album, 30-song collection featured several of Guns N' Roses' biggest hits, including "November Rain," "Don't Cry" and the band's cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."
In a December 2021 interview, Slash had hinted that a Use Your Illusion box set was on the way, but admitted that COVID-19 had affected the timeline of its release. "It got delayed by the pandemic but it is coming out," the guitarist said at the time. "There's a bunch of cool live stuff on it, a couple shows. The Ritz from the early '90s and a show that we did in Las Vegas back in 1989."
The Ritz performance served as a final warm-up gig for the band before they launched their expansive Use Your Illusion Tour. It was also at this show that Axl Rose broke his foot leaping off a speaker while performing "You Could Be Mine." (Footage from that show appears in the song's video.)
Guns N' Roses marked the anniversary of their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, in 2018 with a 30th-anniversary box set, featuring various demos, studio outtakes and several previously unreleased songs.
Guns N' Roses 'Use Your Illusion' Super Deluxe 7-CD + Blu-Ray Track Listing
Disc 1
1. "Right Next Door to Hell"
2. "Dust N' Bones"
3. "Live and Let Die"
4. "Don't Cry" (Original)
5. "Perfect Crime"
6. "You Ain't the First"
7. "Bad Obsession"
8. "Back Off Bitch"
9. "Double Talkin' Jive"
10. "November Rain"
11. "The Garden"
12. "Garden of Eden"
13. "Don't Damn Me"
14. "Bad Apples"
15. "Dead Horse"
16. "Coma"
Disc 2
1. "Civil War"
2. "14 Years"
3. "Yesterdays"
4. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
5. "Get in the Ring"
6. "Shotgun Blues"
7. "Breakdown"
8. "Pretty Tied Up"
9. "Locomotive"
10. "So Fine"
11. "Estranged"
12. "You Could Be Mine"
13. "Don't Cry" (Alternative Lyrics)
14. "My World"
Disc 3-4 (Live in New York, Ritz Theatre - May 16, 1991)
1. "Pretty Tied Up"
2. "Bad Obsession"
3. "Right Next Door to Hell"
4. "Mr. Brownstone"
5. "Dust N' Bones"
6. "Live and Let Die"
7. "Paradise City"
8. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return) / "Civil War"
9. Drum Solo
10. Slash Solo
11. "You Could Be Mine"
12. "I Was Only Joking" / "Patience"
13. "Only Women Bleed" / "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
14. "Don't Cry" (Original)
15. "You Ain't the First"
16. "My Michelle"
17. "Estranged"
18. "Double Talkin' Jive"
19. "Sweet Child O' Mine"
20. "Welcome to the Jungle"
Disc 5-7 (Live in Las Vegas, Thomas & Mack Center - January 25, 1992)
1. "Nightrain"
2. "Mr. Brownstone"
3. "Live and Let Die"
4. "Attitude"
5. "It's So Easy"
6. "Bad Obsession"
7. "Welcome to the Jungle"
8. "Double Talkin' Jive"
9. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" / "Civil War" / "Voodoo Child"
10. "Don't Cry"
11. "Wild Horses"
12. "Patience"
13. "You Could Be Mine"
14. "So Fine"
15. "November Rain"
16. Band Intros / Drum Solo
17. Slash Solo
18. "Speak Softly, Love (Love Theme From 'The Godfather')"
19. "Rocket Queen"
20. "Sail Away Sweet Sister"
21. "Sweet Child O' Mine"
22. "Move to the City"
23. "Hotel California" / "Only Women Bleed" / "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
24. "Yesterdays"
25. "My Michelle"
26. "Estranged"
27. "Mother" / "Paradise City"
Disc 8 - Live in New York, Ritz Theatre Blu-Ray Video
1. "Pretty Tied Up"
2. "Bad Obsession"
3. "Right Next Door to Hell"
4. "Mr. Brownstone"
5. "Dust N' Bones"
6. "Live and Let Die"
7. "Paradise City"
8. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return) / "Civil War"
9. Drum Solo
10. Slash Solo
11. "You Could Be Mine"
12. "I Was Only Joking" / "Patience"
13. "Only Women Bleed" / "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
14. "Don't Cry" (Original)
15. "You Ain't the First"
16. "My Michelle"
17. "Estranged"
18. "Double Talkin' Jive"
19. "Sweet Child O' Mine"
20. "Welcome to the Jungle"