Front Line Sues Axl Rose for $1.87M: GN'R Almost Stops Peru Show

by Jacob Zinn | March 26, 2010 at 12:01 pm

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Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose is being sued for $1.87 million by his former management company, Front Line Management.

Front Line, which started managing Rose in 2008, is owned by Irving Azoff, executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment since its merger with Ticketmaster. The company is seeking unpaid commissions totaling almost $2 million.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims Rose and Front Line had an oral agreement that the company would receive 15% of the band’s profits.

Sebastian Bach Foils Axl Rose Knife Attack

Front Line said that on a tour supporting Guns N' Roses 2008’s Chinese Democracy album, the band made more than $12 million playing venues in Asia, Canada and South America.

Rose has yet to respond to the suit.

Axl Rose Takes the Stage Late, Then Almost Leaves

Fans with tickets to see Guns N’ Roses should consider themselves lucky if the band takes the stage on time, if at all.

Last night in Peru’s capital of Lima, Rose threatened to cut short Guns N’ Roses’ concert for some 30,000 fatigued fans when they began throwing stuff at him.

The show started at 9:30 p.m. with Space Bee, Gaia and former Skid Row lead singer Sebastian Bach. Bach ended his set at 11:00 p.m. and Guns N’ Roses didn’t start theirs until 12:30 p.m.

If you want to throw s***, we will leave,” said Axl, with the help of an interpreter. “We would like to stay and have fun with you for a long time tonight. So we’re going to have fun? Let’s try that again, thank you.

The crowd calmed down and GN’R played their set, which featured songs Welcome to the Jungle and November Rain, with Paradise City as the encore.

Rose’s History of Quitting Shows and Late Arrivals

At a St. Louis, Missouri concert in July 1991, Rose jumped off the stage and tackled a fan who was taping the show with a video camera, then left the arena, which caused a riot to begin. Guns N’ Roses were banned from St. Louis for life.

In August 1992, Metallica opened for GN’R on a tour both headlined, but at the Montreal show, lead singer James Hetfield was burned by pyrotechnics and his band was forced to cut their performance short.

While most of GN’R was at the venue, they couldn’t begin because Rose wasn’t there yet. When he arrived, he only played 9 songs, causing rioting in the streets that police could barely contain.

In November 2002, a riot ensued when Rose did not show up for a GN’R show in Vancouver.