The three “core” members of the current GUNS N’ ROSES reunion lineup — Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan — will evenly split profits from the band’s upcoming North American tour, according to Page Six. The three originals are also the only band members whose names are being featured in advertising for the tour, with additional members Richard Fortus, Frank Ferrer, Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese not highlighted.
According to The Pulse Of Radio, the four non-core members are probably being paid a salary for the live shows. Axl Rose, who owns the GN’R brand, had all the members of the previous GUNS lineup, which included no founding members but him, under salary.
Slash, who left the group in 1996, said in 2007 that he quit after Rose had other members sign contracts “like we were defined as hired hands.”
GUNS N’ ROSES will play the first of two shows at Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena on Friday night (April 8). The band will also play two gigs in Mexico City in addition to the Vegas and Coachella dates, before launching a stadium trek this summer.
The band is getting a reported $8 million for its two appearances at California’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this month and an average of $2.75 million per show on the tour.
By comparison, Rose’s most recent pre-reunion lineup of GUNS N’ ROSES was getting somewhere between $350,000 and $500,000 per show, according to Billboard’s industry sources.
GUNS N’ ROSES is booked by Ken Fermaglich at United Talent Agency. Live Nation’s Steve Herman is running point on the tour, according to Billboard.
AEG Live, once in contention to promote the summer stadium run, is producing both the Vegas shows and the Coachella appearance, the latter through its Goldenvoice division.
Several hours after announcing the tour on April 1, GUNS N’ ROSES played a surprise gig at the Troubadour, one of the Los Angeles clubs where the band first performed before the release of its debut album, 1987’s “Appetite For Destruction”.
The concert was advertised as “Not In This Lifetime” by the venue, quoting what Rose said in 2012 about a possible classic GUNS N’ ROSES lineup reunion. The same phrase has since been announced as the name of the band’s upcoming tour.
GUNS N’ ROSES has sold 44.5 million albums in the United States, according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America).
Source: Blabbermouth
