Seattle Hell Tour dates

[Shackler's]

So back in '85 when they did the Hell Tour they were supposed to play multiple shows but ended up only playing one. GNRontour reports 4 more dates in Portland, Eugene, Sacramento & San Francisco. And I guess my question is: Have these dates been confirmed somehow by anyone in the band or close to the band? We only ever hear about the Gorilla Garden Seattle show.

[TheSeeker]

I would think Marc Canter's "Reckless Road" book would clear this up

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, Shackler's said:

So back in '85 when they did the Hell Tour they were supposed to play multiple shows but ended up only playing one. GNRontour reports 4 more dates in Portland, Eugene, Sacramento & San Francisco. And I guess my question is: Have these dates been confirmed somehow by anyone in the band or close to the band? We only ever hear about the Gorilla Garden Seattle show.

There are many quotes from band members where only one show is mentioned, but curiously also one quote from Axl where he says they played "a few shows" on the tour. Based on the complete lack of information about these other shows I believe that there was only one, and that Axl is either misquoted or remembers things wrongly. But it would be great to have Axl comment on this.

You can see me write-up of the Hell Tour here: http://www.a-4-d.com/t3967-the-history-of-guns-n-roses-in-their-own-words#14768

The source GNRontour is using is Danny Sugarman's book. He is famous for having written about Axl and GN'R based on nothing but a 15 minutes chat with Axl at a club (in hindsight, 15 minutes is more than what many GN'R authors got :D). Axl would claim he proofread the book before it was published, just to remove any errors. Slash was less than complimentary about the book and its author:

Slash: "I’m gonna kill that guy" [The Guardian, September 1991].

Slash: "It’s stuff like that, because kids only – well, not kids, but people in general only believe in what they read or what they see on TV, and so when a book comes out and a, say, Guns N’ Roses fan sees it on a rack and buys it, that’s all he’s got to go on. And that guy has never even met us. […] That guy is so full of it. I’m gonna kick his ass when I see him. I’ll – (laughs)" [Australian TV Channel 7, January 25, 1993].

Slash: "[Sugerman's book] is a complete load of garbage, man. He wrote it like he'd known us for years when he’d only interviewed Axl a few times. If I ever saw him in a club, he knows I'd get him. He's scared of us" [The Age, January 29, 1993].

Edited July 6, 2019 by SoulMonster

[Blackstar]

I have Danny Sugerman's book (2nd edition released December 31, 1991) and it doesn't say that the band played those shows in Portland, Eugene, Sacramento and San Francisco. It only says that they intended to play in those locations when they set off for the Hell Tour. Here is the scanned page:

I also must say that although this book is more an essay than a biography, its limited biographical content is more factually accurate compared to other biographies that were released later, maybe because Axl had really proofread it (Alan Niven also had said that Axl had - reluctantly, according to him - proofread it).

Slash also hated Sugerman's Jim Morrison biography, No One Gets Here Out Alive (he says so in his book). Axl, on the other hand, loved it (that was classic, as Slash would say )

Edited July 6, 2019 by Blackstar

[DieselDaisy]

Sugerman's book, is a weird one, all pseudo-intellectual. 

[estrangedtwat]

Someone gave me a copy back in the late 90s and it was such trash I remember ripping out the color photo inserts and tossing the rest.

 

Most of the book was about how Jim Morrison was the reincarnation of Dionysis.  The GNR book.  Not the Doors book.

[janrichmond]

I think it’s the only GNR book I never reread. It was also the first GNR book I bought, I think 🤔 

[Blackstar]

Yeah, if as a GnR fan you want a comprehensive, informative book, this isn't the book you're looking for - unless you're also interested in reading about Greek mythology, Romantic poetry, Nietzsche and Jim Morrison, all blended in.

Danny Sugerman might have had something to do with Axl's feud with Bob Guccione Jr./Spin:

 

[Twinaleblood]

I interviewed Duff back in early 2009 when Loaded's Sick was released (I write on a bunch of music magazines here in Italy).

He was glad to answer a bunch of GNR related questions I had and one of them was about the Hell Tour. I asked him if they played any other shows on their way back to L.A., because some sources reported them and some didn't, and he confirmed that no other shows were played beside the one in Seattle.

[Shackler's]

On 2019-07-06 at 8:43 AM, Blackstar said:

I have Danny Sugerman's book (2nd edition released December 31, 1991) and it doesn't say that the band played those shows in Portland, Eugene, Sacramento and San Francisco. It only says that they intended to play in those locations when they set off for the Hell Tour.

Oh yeah, I worded myself wrong. I know they never played these shows, sorry!

[Blackstar]

18 minutes ago, Shackler's said:

Oh yeah, I worded myself wrong. I know they never played these shows, sorry!

No, don't worry, you worded yourself fine.  

I was referring to gnrontour and basically wondering why they list those shows based on Sugerman's book, although Sugerman didn't write that the shows were played.