Ex GNR manager denies bullying Axl for reunion

Former Guns N’ Roses manager Irving Azoff has once again hit back at claims he tried to pressure Axl Rose into a reunion with Slash.

His company Front Line Management sued Rose in March 2010 for nearly $2 million in unpaid commissions from performances in Europe, Canada and South America based on an oral agreement. Rose filed a $5m countersuit two months later which claimed Azoff tried to bully him into reuniting the classic Guns N’ Roses lineup.

Azoff tells New York Times: “I would never go to an artist and say, ‘I want you to reunite.’ If he had asked me if I thought it was a good idea, I would have said yes. But by the way, nobody tells Axl to do anything. He does what he wants to do.”

The 68-year-old music mogul adds that his former client is “a complicated individual,” but that he wishes him “nothing but success.”

GNR have since reunited three of the classic era members. Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan confirmed last month that they’ll launch the reunion in April with two Las Vegas shows. They also scheduled two Mexico City concerts in-between headline appearances at Coachella festival later in the month.

Azoff says of the reunion: “I think this is a good historical moment that the public deserves to see. I hope it happens.”

Rose’s lawsuit had claimed that Azoff tried to sabotage the most recent GNR group, adding that he was “devising and implementing a secret plan to set up Rose and the band for failure so that Rose would have no choice but to reunite with the original Guns N’ Roses members.”

It also added: “Upon realising that he couldn’t bully Rose and accomplish his scheme, Azoff resigned and abandoned Guns N’ Roses on the eve of a major tour, filing suit for commissions he didn’t earn and had no right to receive.”

The pair settled their legal battle in June 2011.

Guns N’ Roses confirmed reunion shows 2016

Apr 08: Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, NV
Apr 09: Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, NV
Apr 16: Indio Coachella Music Festival, CA
Apr 19: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Apr 20: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Apr 23: Indio Coachella Music Festival, CA

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.