On January 1, 2001, Guns N' Roses played at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada, their first concert in over seven years. This was followed by their headlining performance at Rock in Rio III on January 14, 2001 to an audience of 190,000 people. On August 29, 2002, they made a surprise visit to the MTV Video Music Awards in New York; their set included one new song, "Madagascar". Guitarist Richard Fortus joined in 2002; he said all but his contribution, the chorus to "Better", had been written by the time he joined, and that some riffs on the final album date back to Slash's time in the band.