Guns N' Roses Joins 'Rock in Rio'

October 26 -- Guns N' Roses has reportedly signed on to appear at the "Rock in Rio for a Better World" festival, according to an item in Brazilian newspaper O Globo. It's been seven years since GN'R last played live; would that more of its aging Los Angeles hair-metal contemporaries would follow this brave example.

Festival organizer Roberto Medina told O Globo that the negotiations to secure the band were the most intense yet in the course of putting together the 10-day event and claimed that the only reason the band consented was because the fabled Chinese Democracy album has been completed and is slated for a January release.

The third Rock in Rio extravaganza takes place Jan. 12 through 21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Artists confirmed for the festival to date include: Neil Young, the Dave Matthews Band, 'N Sync, Britney Spears, the Deftones, Beck, R.E.M., Sheryl Crow, the Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Silverchair, Iron Maiden, Queens of the Stone Age, Rob Halford, U.K. boy band 5ive, and James Taylor.

Singer Axl Rose is the only remaining original member of GN'R, which also played at Rock in Rio 2 in 1991. Although the group released one song, "Oh My God," on the soundtrack to End of Days in November 1999, no other new material has surfaced since.