Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus recently wrote on Facebook about Guns N’ Roses’ current lineup, and why it’s so much better than the Chinese Democracy lineup.
Steve Major wrote on Facebook, “How lucky were we in St. Louis during the 80’s when we could go down to the landing and see a world class guitar player like Richard Fortus displaying guitar playing like no other? The Eyes, as well as Broken Toyz, OWNING the landing. Watching Richard play all over the world in the biggest stadiums brings a smile to my face. I love this band, and I personally liked this lineup. Lets face it, whatever your opinion of this band, they burst on the music scene like raging hurricane. Biggest band of that era, bar none. Keep killing it, Richard.”
Steve then linked to a Chinese Democracy lineup era live video “You Could Be Mine.”
Fortus responded, “Thanks Steve, if you liked THAT line up, you’re gonna love the current one! 100x better IMO. I really appreciate the support and kind words but (and I’m really not trying to be humble), but honestly, I was just very fortunate. I’m lucky to have come up in the St. Louis scene that was so full of amazing talent and of so many great music supporters.”
Guns N’ Roses finished 2nd on Pollstar’s Top 200 North American tours list, just behind Beyonce, and ahead of Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, and Adele to round out the Top 5. Guns N’ Roses sold a total of 1,370,517 tickets, with an average gross of 5,648,106. They sold on average 45,684 tickets per show, with an average ticket price of $123.63. GNR finished 4th on the Top 200 Worldwide tours list behind Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, and Coldplay.
Several Guns N’ Roses shows appeared on the Top 200 grossing concerts list. Guns N’ Roses’ MetLife Stadium shows in New Jersey grossed $11,137,615, Mexico City grossed $9,328,859, Dodger Stadium’s two shows grossed $8,990,756, the two Las Vegas shows grossed $6,265,175, the two Chicago shows grossed $8,395,789, the two shows in Foxboro at Gilette Stadium grossed $8,023,591, Toronto grossed $5,351,753, Houston grossed $5,729,671, Orlando grossed $5,581,274, San Francisco grossed $5,574,701, and San Diego grossed $5,430,089.
Pearl Jam’s two Wrigley Field shows grossed $5,712,625, clocking in at number 50 on the top grossing concerts list. 83,478 total tickets were sold for the two shows.
Pearl Jam were 64th on the worldwide tour list, just behind Sting/Peter Gabriel, Jimmy Buffett, Britney Spears, and Blink-182, and just ahead of Kevin Hart and Twenty One Pilots. Pearl Jam were 45th on the North American tours list, just ahead of Jeff Dunham, Stevie Nicks, and Selena Gomez.
Pearl Jam sold 418,152 tickets in 2016, with an average nightly gross of 1,859,782, and an average ticket price of $66.71. Pearl Jam performed live 25 times in 2016, so they definitely brought home a nice pay day!
