Chinese Democracy Tour of Europe was announced in December 2000 as a New Year's Day performance at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. It was also rumoured that the long-awaited "Chinese Democracy" would be released in June 2001, for which the scheduled European Tour would be promotional. Guns N' Roses – then composed of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarists Buckethead and Robin Finck, rhythm guitarist Paul Tobias (who joined in 1994 to replace Gilby Clarke), bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Brain and keyboardists Dizzy Reed (still with the band since joining in 1990) and Chris Pitman (who joined between 1998 and 2000) –
Chinese Democracy anti-piracy video with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Cogill said he never made the video with the RIAA because they did not want to spend money on production costs. In 2014, Cogill said that he could not be charged for releasing copyrighted material because the court could not prove that the album was being prepared for commercial distribution: "The US government would have to prove, in court, that "Chinese Democracy" was really coming. And no one at the RIAA or the label had informed the government that these songs had been lying around for 14 years. Only that