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) –
Guns N' Roses before its official release, the band streamed the entire "Chinese Democracy" album on the group's Myspace page. The album was streamed over three million times, breaking the Myspace record for most streamed album ever. "Chinese Democracy", the band's sixth studio album and its first since 1993's ""The Spaghetti Incident?"", was released on November 22, 2008, in Europe and Australia, in North America on November 23, 2008, and in the United Kingdom on November 24, 2008. The album had an estimated $14 million in production costs, making it the most expensive rock album to ever be produced in music history. It