The recording features Rose alongside Guns N’ Roses bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan, with guest contributions from Elton John and Starkey’s father, Ringo Starr. Despite the star power involved, the track has never been officially released.

According to Loudwire, the collaboration was first conceived in 2017 after Guns N’ Roses and The Who performed ‘Children of the Revolution’ live together at Rock in Rio. Following the performance, the musicians recorded a studio version for a planned charity album that was ultimately shelved.

Starkey – long-time drummer for The Who and son of Ringo Starr – has now made a public appeal for the recording to be made available. He believes that releasing the track could generate significant funds for Teenage Cancer Trust, the UK charity that provides specialist care and support to young people with cancer.

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Taking to Instagram, Zac Starkey wrote: “Dear Axl Rose, please give me my master of this track back. Me and Sshh [Liguz, Starkey’s wife] spent three years making this Bolan tribute for teen cancer and without the master of the children of the revolution which my dad, sshh and I arranged to include a modulating section for Slash’s guitar, another for Duff’s bass solo and plenty of room for Elton before you asked Sshh if you could sing it”.

“It’s a drag that the record is on the shelf, as Christie’s [auction house] have advised it could generate $2M for teen cancer,” he concluded. “C’mon bro.”

Starkey shared details about the star-studded T-Rex cover last year, and leaked the song on social media earlier this year. “Ringo/Elton/Axl/Duff/Slash. C’mon amazing people — let’s get this record out and [help] these teenagers who, as musicians, we rely on so much,” he shared in April.

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“If we wait much longer some of these brave young people may not have enough time to hear it,” he added. “This is the first half, then it gets wild!!! Everything generated by this record … goes to teenage cancer – if it gets released, which depends totally on the amazing participants giving us the green light.”

As for the entire charity album, Starkey hinted at other guest contributors, saying: “It’s a full album with more than one Beatle, a Smith a Pretender, an Ashcroft, an Iggy, and many more … Soon come”.

Teenage Cancer Trust has a long-standing link with The Who through Roger Daltrey, who serves as an honorary patron and was the driving force behind the charity’s annual concert series at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Starkey’s appeal follows in that tradition, urging Rose to help bring the unreleased recording to light for a cause that has raised millions over the past two decades.

In case you missed it, MXDWN’s recent coverage of Robert Smith taking over Daltrey’s position in curating the 2026 Teenage Cancer Trust shows can be read here.

One epic night deserves another! London, let’s go again pic.twitter.com/8FPHYq0ZOP

— Guns N’ Roses (@gunsnroses) July 2, 2022

Back in 2017, GnR made massive headlines when they did the last thing anyone thought they would… reform with a (mostly) original lineup. Axl Rose on lead vocals, Slash on lead guitar, and Duff McKagan on the Bass. The “classic” lineup still lacks Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler; which most fans would argue makes the lineup incomplete… but, come on guys, this is probably enough. The big problem with this tour, however, wasn’t who did or didn’t show up, but the severe lacking of UK dates. They did 2 nights at the London Stadium in 2017… and that’s it. Other than a brief appearance at Download festival the next year, many fans were left waiting. So, when the European tour of 2022 was announced, the band had something to prove.

Now, after 2 more years of delays, the shows have arrived (again, only 2 dates in London and a festival appearance, but at least it’s actually happening now). The band’s initial plan to open doors was set for 4:30pm, enough time to allow fans a bit of time to buy beers and merch and then amble over to, support act, Gary Clarke Jr. The doors didn’t actually open until 2 hours later, no longer allowing time for Gary Clarke Jr’s slot, and bringing rumours of Rose’s bout of anxiety causing him to pull out of the performance. The show did eventually go ahead, but many fans immediately noticed problems with the band’s sound. Claiming they could hardly hear Rose’s vocals. That night they only played 22 songs, significantly shorter than the usual 27, and ignored fan favourites: “You Could Be Mine” and “Coma”.

The band’s second night wasn’t much better. Rose told the crowd a number of times that he was “having issues” with his voice after the 7^th song of the show “Estranged”, this was probably a factor of the show’s, very brief, 19-song setlist. Fan classics “Rocket Queen” and “November Rain” were dropped from the setlist for the first time since 2014 and 2016 respectively. Watch footage from “Estranged” below.

Tomorrow, Guns n Roses are set to hit Glasgow Green and many fans are worried about the band showing up. While it’s still full steam ahead today, Scotrail issues have led to an urge to travel to the show early, and prepare for alternate means of escape. I’m not sure that they do it on purpose… but Guns n Roses really know how to make touring as hard as physically possible.

The ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ rockers will play a show at Tottenham’s football stadium as a part of their ‘Not In This Lifetime’ tour on May 29 and 30. Other shows will see them perform in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Poland. These two shows mark the only occasions that Guns N’ Roses will perform in the UK. Tickets are available from here.

Check out Guns N’ Roses full schedule below.

May

20/5/20 –  Lisbon Passeio Maritimo De Algés, Portugal.
23/5 – Seville Estadio Benito Villamarin, Spain.
26/5 – Munich Olympiastadion, Germany.
29/5 – London Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London.
30/5 – London Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London.

June

2/6 – Hamburg Volksparkstadion, Germany.
6/6 – Solvesborg Sweden Rock Festival, Sweden.
9/6 – Vienna Ernst Happel Stadium, Austria.
12/6 – Firenze Firenze Rocks Festival, Italy.
14/6 – Berne Stade de Suisse. Switzerland.
17/6 – Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland.
19/6 – Prague Letnany Airport, Czech Republic.
21/6 – Landgraaf Pinkpop Festival, Holland.
27/6 – Dublin Marlay Park Concert Series, Ireland.

In February 2019, bassist Duff McKagan seemed to confirm a new album was in development following the band’s 2016 reunion. According to McKagan, he has listened to demo recordings produced by Rose, and told Trunk Nation Radio:

“There’s never been a direct schedule on how we do things. I’ve heard some magnificent stuff that Axl has, really cool stuff he’s been working on. So I’m excited about the possibilities of that, of course.”

However, it appears there won’t be any new music anytime soon, as McKagan said: “I don’t mean to get anybody rabid. Our day will happen when it happens, that’s for sure.”

A week earlier, on the subject of a new album, Slash responded simply: “We’ll just see what happens when it happens.”

Crowded with press at Los Angeles airport, Axl Rose said of Coachella:

“The shows went really good, the crowds were amazing. The first show was good, the second was more fun . . . The crowd was even more responsive.”

Standing in for Brian Johnson – Johnson medically informed of potential deafness if he was to perform – Axl Rose takes to Europe to join his next band who perform in just a couple of weeks – Both Belgium and Denmark has already Sold Out, but how many AC/DC fans will demand refunds for these? The European tour is as follows:

7/5 – Passeio Maritimo de Alges, Lisbon, Portugal
10/5 – Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla – Seville, Spain
13/5 – Nouveau Stade Velodrome – Marseille, France
16/5 – Werchter, Werchter, Belgium
19/5 – Ernst Happel Stadium – Vienna, Austria
22/5 – Letnany Airport – Prague, Czech Republic
26/5 – Volksparkstadion – Hamburg, Germany
29/5 – Stade de Suisse – Bern, Switzerland
1/6 – Red Bull Arena – Leipzig, Germany
4/6 – Olympic Stadium – London
9/6 – Etihad Stadium – Manchester
12/6 – Ceres Park & Arena – Aarhus, Denmark

At Los Angeles airport Axl Rose told TMZ that his favourite AC/DC song was ‘Touch Too Much’ (watch below) . Hobbling with a broken foot, Axl Rose should heal in time to continue the Coachella momentum. Let’s hope he does AC/DC fans justice. Big shoes to fill indeed.