Guns N' Roses @ Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego

For nearly a quarter of a century, a reunion of Guns N' Roses' classic line-up seemed impossible. The implosion of the band in the mid-nineties had left behind too much bad blood, too many lawsuits and too many public insults for anyone to seriously believe that Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan would ever share a stage again. Yet here they were in 2016, reunited at the heart of the enormously successful "Not in This Lifetime" tour, a title that only underscored how unlikely the whole thing felt.

The reasons behind the reconciliation hardly matter. Age, money, maturity, sobriety, simple nostalgia... perhaps all of the above. What matters is that one of rock's most important and dysfunctional bands was operating again with its core trio intact. Given Guns N' Roses' long history of self-destruction, there remained a sense that the reunion could collapse at any moment. That uncertainty only added to the occasion.

As darkness fell over Qualcomm Stadium, the familiar strains of the Looney Tunes theme echoed through the venue before giving way to the ominous introduction from The Equalizer. Then came the opening notes of "It's So Easy." The lights exploded into life and suddenly the years seemed to disappear.

Over the course of nearly three hours, Guns N' Roses delivered exactly the sort of set their audience had hoped for. The hits were all present, the deeper cuts received their due and even material from the much-debated Chinese Democracy era found a place in the show. Rather than feeling out of place, those songs now appeared as part of the band's larger story. Time has a way of rewriting narratives.

Most importantly, the musicians delivered. Axl Rose was in remarkably strong voice throughout, a far cry from some of the more uneven performances that had characterised previous years. Slash remained the band's secret weapon, his combination of melody, swagger and technical brilliance serving as a reminder of why he remains one of the last true guitar heroes in rock music. Alongside them, Duff McKagan brought the drive and punk rock attitude that have always been central to the band's chemistry.

Nobody knows how long this reunion will last. A month? A year? Ten years? Predicting the future of Guns N' Roses has always been a fool's errand. What matters is that tonight, against all odds, Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan shared a stage again and sounded like a real band. For three hours, the biggest reunion in rock lived up to the hype. Tomorrow can worry about itself.

Setlist: