Axl Rose has been photographed leaving a studio space where members of AC/DC have been rehearsing, fuelling speculation that he will tour with the classic rock group.
The pictures, taken by TMZ, show members of AC/DC exiting an Atlanta rehearsal space shortly after Axl.
Rumours that Rose will fill in for Brian Johnson as AC/DC’s frontman after he was forced to pull out of the band’s upcoming US tour due to health reasons have been swirling for the past month.
The Australian group recently rescheduled a handful of US live dates after singer Johnson was advised by doctors to “stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss”. The group issued a statement on their official website confirming that the remaining dates of their US tour will be “made up later in the year, likely with a guest vocalist”.
Last week, Ross Young, the son of Malcolm Young who retired from the group in 2014 due to dementia, claimed that Rose will be Johnson’s replacement. Ross allegedly posted a link to online reports on Facebook and in comments wrote: “It’s true” and “He can and he will”. He later deleted the posts.
As previously reported by Alternative Nation, a radio DJ from Atlanta named Jason Bailey has claimed that a “very very good source” informed him that Rose will join the band for the rest of their tour dates after being “flown in” to the US city to audition with the group.
“This is what I’m being told, Axl was meeting with the AC/DC group, because it’s all but a done deal that Axl will front AC/DC for the ten remaining shows. All ten, including Atlanta,” the Atlanta Radio 100.5 DJ is quoted as saying.
He added: “From what I was told, this was all kind of new inside information to me, Angus [Young, AC/DC guitarist] is a very black and white guy. He’s like, Brian, for health reasons, can’t continue fronting the band. He was supposed to retire after the last tour, so they wanted to continue going out on the road and continue making music, so if you can’t do it, we appreciate your services, but the show must go on.”
“They’re in town, they were auditioning people for the job, and then they flew Axl in, again, this is from my source.”
Guns N’ Roses fansite GnR Truth had previously alleged that Axl Rose was spotted in Atlanta recently, further speculating that he might have been auditioning to link up live with AC/DC.