1995.04.08 - Billboard - Guns N’ Roses Sued For Canceling Madrid Show

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Guns N’ Roses Sued For Canceling Madrid Show

LONDON—An international row over the cancellation of a million-dollar Guns N’ Roses concert in Spain in 1992 has spilled into the High Court here.

Barcelona, Spain-based concert promoter Gamerco SA is suing the band’s Los Angeles-based company, Missouri Storm Inc., through which the booking was made, for return of advance payments totaling more than $412,000.

The case is being heard in the U.K. because the relevant contracts were drawn up under British law.

The court was told by Gamerco’s counsel Charles Flint that the planned concert had been scheduled to take place July 4, 1992, at Madrid’s Vincente Calderton soccer stadium at the end of the band’s European tour.

Flint said that the minimum fee to Guns N’ Roses was to be $1.1 million and that under the concert contract $412,000 was paid in advance April 11, 1992, by Gamerco.

However, he said authorities in Madrid then banned the show on the basis of structural weaknesses in the stadium that made it unsafe.

The concert was canceled with short notice, said Flint, and no alternate location could be found. Missouri Storm declined, however, to repay the advance, according to Flint.

The case, which began March 27, is expected to last two weeks.

ROGER PEARSON