Former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein was recently interviewed by Guns N’ Roses Central and he revealed how Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis turned down an idea for shows with Guns N’ Roses and U2. Alternative Nation transcribed Goldstein’s comments.
“What happened was Axl [Rose] came to me, Pearl Jam had just broke, they had released Ten and it was on fire, I was [somewhere] in Tel Aviv, Israel, we were playing there. Axl had come to me in the morning and said, ‘I don’t care if we open, I don’t care if we don’t get paid, I want to do a show or a couple of shows with us, Pearl Jam, and U2 closing. Can you please call everybody?’ I said, ‘Sure.’
So I called Paul McGuiness from U2, he was in, ‘Absolutely Doug, that would be great. We can talk about who will headline.’ I said, ‘No, no, no. Axl already said he wants you guys to close.’ We were bigger than U2 at the time, but it wasn’t about who was going to close, and it wasn’t that Axl wanted to kick their ass, he just wanted to do this show. So I called Kelly Curtis in Seattle, who manages Pearl Jam. I’ve got a finger in my ear, because the music is going on, I’m at a closet hut in Tel Aviv, and he has me on speakerphone.
I said, ‘Kelly, can you please pick up?’
‘No.’
‘Kelly, I need to talk to you, it’s kind of important.’
‘Yeah I don’t care, what do you want?’
‘Kelly, I can’t hear, I’m in a closet.’
‘I don’t care, what do you want Doug?’
So I told him, he goes: ‘Eh, no. We’re going to pass.’
I said, ‘Okay hang on a second, I manage Guns, and when an idea comes to me, I usually talk to the band.’ I go, ‘Are you speaking on behalf of the band?’
He goes, ‘Yeah, we’re going to pass?’
I go, ‘Don’t you have a moral ethical responsibility to at least discuss it with the band?’
‘Don’t fucking tell me my fucking job.’
‘Okay, nice talking to you, you have a great life!’
At that point there couldn’t have been a venue big enough to hold all three of those bands.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEsmXOFFlFc
