Although the track list has yet to be announced, Geffen has set a Dec. 20 release date for the double-disc set “Welcome to the Jungle — The Very Best of Guns N’ Roses.” It will be the second such GNR package since the spring of 2004 and follows “Greatest Hits,” which has sold 2.5 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Guns N’ Roses, which now features lone original member Axl Rose, has been at work for years on a new studio album, “Chinese Democracy.” It is unknown when the album will see the light of day.
— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
In what will be its first shows since December 2003, matchbox twenty will regroup for a Dec. 30-Jan. 1 stand at the Joint in Las Vegas. Tickets go on sale Saturday (Nov. 19) via Ticketmaster.
The group has been on hold of late while vocalist Rob Thomas pursues his solo career. In support of his hit Atlantic album “Somebody To Be,” the artist is touring solo in North America through a Dec. 10 show in Detroit. Afterward, he will visit Australia for a seven-date run beginning Feb. 13 in Adelaide.
— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
System Of A Down will descend on New York on Tuesday (Nov. 22) to celebrate the release of “Hypnotize,” its second Columbia studio album of the year. The band will make an in-store appearance at 6 p.m. at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, which will be followed by a show at Webster Hall as part of MTV2’s $2 Bill series. Tickets go on sale Saturday at noon the Times Square Megastore.
The show will be broadcast Dec. 16 on MTV2 but will be available a week earlier on the network’s broadband portal MTV Overdrive, as well as MTV2.com.
— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.