Guns N' Roses in Sofia: Thank You for Making Us Feel at Home

Dahnyelle Dymytrov, Diana Dukovska

Guns N’ Roses Sofia concert (BTA Photo/Dahnyelle Dymytrov)

Sofia,

22.07.2025 09:21

(BTA)

Three hours and ten minutes. Thirty-one songs. Over 40,000 fans. Countless guitars passing through Slash's hands. An unstoppable Axl Rose. A world-class light and multimedia show. These are the highlights from Guns N' Roses' return to Sofia on July 21 at Vasil Levski National Stadium, hosted by Fest Team.

The legendary American hard rock band took the stage just before 7:20 pm, still under the blazing July sun, BTA's Dahnyelle Dymytrov reported.

"Welcome to the Jungle" (1987) kicked off the night, followed by "Mr. Brownstone," "Bad Obsession," "Live and Let Die," "Chinese Democracy," "It's So Easy," "Yesterdays," "Estranged" "You Could Be Mine," "The General," "Civil War," "Shadow of Your Love," "Used to Love Her," "Hard Skool," "Double Talkin' Jive," and "Absurd."

After the 18th song, "Sorry," Axl Rose handed the mic to Duff McKagan for "Thunder and Lightning," a 1983 Thin Lizzy cover.

Axl Rose returned to the stage for "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," joined by a singing stadium and thousands of phone flashlights lighting up the night. It was around this moment that Axl told the crowd: "Thank you for making us feel at home," followed by "I love you too."

Slash, who switched between more than ten guitars throughout the show, also delivered two solos, one purely instrumental and the other during "Coma" (1991), where he used a talk box.

The concert's third and final act kicked off with the mega-hit "Sweet Child o' Mine," followed by "Rocket Queen," "Perhaps," "November Rain," "This I Love," "Never Say Die," "Don't Cry," and ending with the explosive "Nightrain." Just like in 2012, the show ended with an encore performance of "Paradise City."

Before the headliners took the stage, the crowd was warmed up with a 40-minute set by Public Enemy. The iconic American hip-hop group hit the stage at 6:00 pm sharp. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Public Enemy at number 44 on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Guns N' Roses' first performed in Bulgaria in July 2012 at the Sofia Rocks festival, held at the now-defunct Balgarska Armia Stadium. The July 21 concert is part of the band's European and Middle Eastern tour, which kicked off in Riyadh on May 23 and includes 24 stops, some of which are completely new for the band, such as Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Lithuania and Luxembourg. The tour also passes through Serbia, Turkiye, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Czechia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Hungary and Austria.

/DD/