Chinese Democracy Tour Europe, Asia and North America consisted of: After the 2002 tour was cancelled the band went into hiatus until they were scheduled to play at Rock in Rio Lisboa 1 in May 2004. However lead guitarist Buckethead left the band in March 2004 and their appearance was cancelled and Axl Rose made the following statement: Buckethead left Guns N' Roses, according to his manager, due to "Guns' inability to complete an album or tour". The Chinese Democracy Tour 2006 was a concert tour by Guns N' Roses promoting their upcoming album "Chinese Democracy". It started in May 2006 when the
Chinese Democracy At one point, the band was using a budget of almost $250,000 a month. Rose said the expense would be negated by the recording sessions yielding multiple albums. In February 2006, "I.R.S.", "The Blues", "There Was a Time", "Better" and "Catcher in the Rye" leaked to the internet. In October, the song "Better" was inadvertently leaked by Harley-Davidson in an online ad. A "final version" was leaked in February 2007. "Madagascar" was leaked in March 2007. In May 2007 the title track was leaked, and updated versions of “Chinese Democracy,” “The Blues,” “I.R.S.” and “There Was a Time” were leaked