How bad did the CD tour do?

[Gordon Comstock]

46 minutes ago, GoBucky said:

50% full by Paradise City cause it was 1:15am on a work night. 

Y'know, in an odd way I miss the days when Axl would hit the stage at 10:00 and I'd think "wow, he's early!"

[GNRnow]

In 2006;

hammerstein 5/15, and MSG 11/10 were sold out, Baltimore was 70% full

in 2011;

izod Center was 70% full and lots left early, Susquehanna Bank was pretty packed

in 2012;

the Fillmore in MD and HOB in AC were near capacity

appetite for democracy was pretty much filled

in 2014;

no trickery shows were packed

 

 

[nycgunner]

I remember stories of the 2002 tour selling poorly. A few sold out shows (MSG). Cleveland was good that year. 

For the post 2008 tours, I can’t help but think those tours were impacted (i) by the global recession and (ii) DJ (line up changes were a joke and he was the low point imo).

I remember buying CD in November 2008 at an HMV and the financial economy was collapsing at the same time. That was the last physical album I have purchased.

For sitting on an album that was in the can for a few years, the timing of this release couldn’t have been worse 

Edited July 6, 2018 by nycgunner

[bdinan]

He was also notoriously late back then. You had no idea if, or when he was showing up. Some shows he didn't go on stage until 11:00PM-ish. That is absolutely reprehensible. Especially with curfews in effect. 

[RussTCB]

My experience was like this off the top of head from memory:

2002 - Detroit: about half full arena but a lot of people left before GNR even started 

2006 - Hammerstein (first night): sold out (obviously) theater

2006 - Detroit: about half full arena but the majority of the crowd stayed for GNR

2011 - Chicago, almost full arena, crowd stayed for GNR

2011 - Detroit, about half full arena, most of the crowd stayed for GNR 

2012 - Chicago, about 3/4 theater, crowd stayed for GNR

2012 - Detroit, about half full theater, a lot of the people in the balcony left before or near the start of GNR 

I saw the first Vegas residency which was about half full, a LOT of people started leaving about half way through GNR.

I didn't see the second residency but I know they  (Hard Rock / The Joint) gave tons of tickets away for it. 

I'm sure there's other shows in forgetting. 

[GoBucky]

52 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

Y'know, in an odd way I miss the days when Axl would hit the stage at 10:00 and I'd think "wow, he's early!"

Yep, I got grounded for 6 weeks after coming home very late from the late starting '92 Chicago show on a school night but it was well worth it! 

[GoBucky]

4 hours ago, ZoSoRose said:

Yup I was at the 2011 Detroit show and the entire upper level and parts of the lower level were closed 

I loved The Palace!

I loved The Palace!

Is it closed now? I actually liked that arena as well. I hadn't been there in a decade before we went for the Axl/DC show, but really enjoyed the place. Someone said they renovated it not too long ago?

[RussTCB]

31 minutes ago, GoBucky said:

Is it closed now? I actually liked that arena as well. I hadn't been there in a decade before we went for the Axl/DC show, but really enjoyed the place. Someone said they renovated it not too long ago?

I think it's still open but I can't remember any events being held there since LCA opened. 

[Gibson87]

1 hour ago, RussTCB said:

I think it's still open but I can't remember any events being held there since LCA opened. 

I think Bob Seger played the last concert there back in September 

[RussTCB]

2 minutes ago, Gibson_Guy87 said:

I think Bob Seger played the last concert there back in September 

Oh yeah, I think you're right. 

[ZoSoRose]

The Palace is closed now

[Tom2112]

Eddie Trunk discussed this before. He basically said, GNR were a very comfortable large theatre/smaller arena act and a good headliner for a festival. 

The thing is that GNR were dead in America, right up until the day Slash and Duff rejoined the band, In europe GNR were still a huge act. Now, they weren't playing to 80000 people but they were doing 2 nights in the o2 (which is about 13-15000 people) they were doing good business in Europe and Asia, in America they were a little soft on sales.

I don't think Axl was forced into this reunion by poor sales. He could easily go out as Axl Rose and still play big arena gigs, with or without the GNR name or Slash or the other classic members (we won't go down that rabbit hole though, thanks very much), Axl alone is definitely a draw.

My experience of the Chinese tour

2006 RDS Dublin almost sold out, 18500 capacity, they probably had 15000 maybe a little more or less.

2010 o2 Dublin think it sold out, if not it was very close. 

2012 o2 Dublin, think I heard it sold 7500, the drop in sales was because people were still pissed over the 2010 show. 

[Georgy Zhukov]

The University of Phoenix show in Glendale last year had empty seats. But people out here have shitty taste in music. Country music fans. 

[Bitchisback]

I saw them 3 times during that era.

 

2006 in east ruthersford right outside of NYC.  Place holds like 24k, was maybe 90% full.

 

2011 in Camden right across the rover from Philly.  Show was sold out but the place only holds 8k.

 

2014 in Bethlehem PA at a casino, sold out but I think it only holds 3500 people.

[Sydney Fan]

3 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

Eddie Trunk discussed this before. He basically said, GNR were a very comfortable large theatre/smaller arena act and a good headliner for a festival. 

The thing is that GNR were dead in America, right up until the day Slash and Duff rejoined the band, In europe GNR were still a huge act. Now, they weren't playing to 80000 people but they were doing 2 nights in the o2 (which is about 13-15000 people) they were doing good business in Europe and Asia, in America they were a little soft on sales.

I don't think Axl was forced into this reunion by poor sales. He could easily go out as Axl Rose and still play big arena gigs, with or without the GNR name or Slash or the other classic members (we won't go down that rabbit hole though, thanks very much), Axl alone is definitely a draw.

My experience of the Chinese tour

2006 RDS Dublin almost sold out, 18500 capacity, they probably had 15000 maybe a little more or less.

2010 o2 Dublin think it sold out, if not it was very close. 

2012 o2 Dublin, think I heard it sold 7500, the drop in sales was because people were still pissed over the 2010 show. 

I suppose the question is what was axls motivation for the reunion... He has no interest in releasing cd 2 and 3. Do people belive he could be still doing arenas and stadiums with DJ undrr yhe axl rose name?. I doubt it.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Sydney Fan

[mikeman5150]

What I remember about the shows I saw. 

02’ Pittsburgh was only about 1/2 full, but there was a pretty good snow storm that night. 

06’ Hammerstein was sold out 

06’ Cleveland seemed to be about 3/4 full. 

11’ Orlando was pretty full but the upper deck was closed off. Still a pretty big arena

11’ Wilkes-barre was about 3/4 full but it’s a pretty small place

11’ Youngstown was mostly full small arena

12’ silver spring was full 

13’ Brooklyn bowl was obviously full, only 500 capacity 

14’ Bethlehem was full

 

i think that the 02’ tour suffered because there wasn’t an album and the vma debacle turned a lot of the interest away. Compile that with the riot in Vancouver, I think a lot of people were just tired of it. 

06’ Axl seemed to be back, good sound, fresh look and a promise that the album was coming.

by 2011 I think it became clear they were just going to rehash the past and play the hits and people were upset that it was just Axl and a bunch of session players. This is when I think the general American public just didn’t care anymore. This was also during a time where Axl received zero positive press.  The general consensus was that Axl was an asshole who broke up the band. I as well as many of you know that not to be entirely the case, but the public definitely disagreed. 

Me personally, I was all for the new GNR, I’d love to hear more of the rumored industrial stuff from the late 90’s. But when DJ showed up and it seemed that they were just going to keep on doing the same stuff, I was ready to get Slash back. 

 

[zigzagbigbag]

Well, in June 2012 a few friends of mine bought tickets last minute for the Mönchengladbach, Germany show for approx. 10-15€ because the gig sold so bad. 

They were like "I can hardly get Axl Rose on DVD for this little money, so lets go out and see him live instead of watching TV at home or making the dishes."

Any further questions? 

Edited July 6, 2018 by zigzagbigbag

[donny]

2 shows in 2012.

venues are 20,000 and 16,000 capacity.

both looked near on full.

the thread should have been "how WELL did the cd tour do"

[GNR 1991]

6 hours ago, bdinan said:

He was also notoriously late back then. You had no idea if, or when he was showing up. Some shows he didn't go on stage until 11:00PM-ish. That is absolutely reprehensible. Especially with curfews in effect. 

He went on at 12:45am in Oakland in 2006. The show finished around 3am.

[Evan442]

Pittsburgh 2002 - about 6-7,000. They didn’t curtain off any sections and move people down, so there were empty seats all over the Mellon Arena.  Bad snowstorm that night

 

Cleveland 2006 - id say around 8,000 or so but they did curtain off the upper levels so it looked more packed than Pittsburgh show

 

forum 2011 in LA - mostly full but a lot of people left around midnight

 

palladium in LA 2012 - pretty full but not sold out

 

house of Blues LA 2012 - sold out, CRAZY crowd.  Guest appearances by Brain and Robin.  They went on a little after midnight and played til almost 4am

Edited July 6, 2018 by Evan442

[prez]

Seeing them become a theater/club act in the US by 2012 was pretty sad. Their actual ceiling was higher than that, as I believe they could have been a solid headliner for a summer amphitheater tour with a well-known opener (not even a huge band, just a Buckcherry or Hinder-level act) but those venues all have curfews and Axl couldn't drag his ass on stage before 11 in those days, so the idea was a non-starter. But real arenas, nah.

[ZoSoRose]

Blows my mind but they didnt sell out the Fillmore theater in Detroit in 2012 

They came 2 months before at the palace, but it's still a tiny theater

[felixGNR]

3 hours ago, prez said:

Seeing them become a theater/club act in the US by 2012 was pretty sad. Their actual ceiling was higher than that, as I believe they could have been a solid headliner for a summer amphitheater tour with a well-known opener (not even a huge band, just a Buckcherry or Hinder-level act) but those venues all have curfews and Axl couldn't drag his ass on stage before 11 in those days, so the idea was a non-starter. But real arenas, nah.

Amphitheatres, actually I'll  happy if we get a 2019 summer tour of amphitheaters  around the country. VR did a great run back in 07, and most of those places are bigger than most arenas.

[RussTCB]

I knew I forgot at least one show and it's a funny story actually:

I went over to the Youngstown Ohio show in 2011. They'd done Civil War the night before for the first time since the UYI Tour so I thought "Fuck it, I'll go see 'em one more time".

Anyway....I remember watching Black Label Society that night and checking the show thread. In the show thread, there was one user (who's still active here) going on and on about how he'd heard the venue was so empty that they were only using half of it. Not like.....cutting off the upper deck, but having the stage be at about half court. 

It's a small venue but it was packed so I started disagreeing with the user who wasn't even at the show. They went on and on about how right they were so I ended up having to post pictures of the venue between BLS & GNR. I was like "DUDE.....I am in this fucking building, I assure you that you are wrong" 

[F*ck Fear]

Both times I seen them in Toronto at the ACC, once in 2002 and again 2006, it had to have either been sold out, or close to it.

I'm not sure about the Hamilton gigs in 2010 & 2011, though.