Ex-Guns N’ Roses manager says he ‘paid millions’ to get rid of Axl Rose

There’s no disputing that Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven had his work cut out for him when Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler were at their wildest. In a new interview, Niven confessed that he spent a lot of money to avoid working with Rose after the frontman sacked him in 1991.

Did I see it coming? No. Was I surprised? “No,” Niven stated about Rose’s phone call in an interview with Louder Sound published on July 13. “It would have been classy to have had dinner and agreed to part ways, acknowledging with pride what we accomplished together, but Axl is Axl.” Thank God he dedicated himself to rock’n’roll and isn’t a dictator controlling a country.”

He added, “I paid millions to remove Axl out of my life. And here’s how it worked: I received a 17 percent commission in perpetuity. That meant that anything released, mastered, or negotiated throughout the course of my contract was commissionable indefinitely.”

Niven noted that his contract, which began in 1986, was extended for three years in 1989. However, Niven’s relationship with Rose deteriorated, and he was let go in 1991.

“When it was renewed, I was promised a 20 percent raise. I turned it down. Axl sacked me in 1991. That means the sales of Appetite for Destruction, Lies, and Use Your Illusion were all commissionable indefinitely,” Niven said. “To get Axl out of my life, I returned those rights to the band for $3.5 million.” I didn’t want to deal with him anymore. That is a significant sum of money, but Geffen [Records] had only paid royalties on approximately five million albums at the time. Imagine how much more I have coming.”

He closed by claiming that the settlement was “not anywhere close” to what he was genuinely entitled, but “that’s how burnt out and disillusioned” he was at the time.

A spokesman for Rose did not immediately reply to Parade’s request for comment.

“Because What You Want…”: Inside Guns N’ Roses’ 2025 World Takeover

Guns N’ Roses didn’t just announce a tour for 2025—they detonated one. Under the gloriously cantankerous banner Because What You Want & What You Get Are Two Completely Different Things, Axl, Slash, Duff and company mapped a globe-circling run that hits first-time territories, reclaims stadiums they once shook to the bolts, and culminates with a Latin-American sprint built for roar-of-the-crowd recordings. It’s a victory lap with bite.

After a summer stretch through the Middle East and Europe, the band revs back up for a fall leg across Latin America—an itinerary that reads like a hard-rock bucket list: San José, San Salvador, Bogotá, Medellín, Santiago, Buenos Aires (with a second night added due to demand), a sweep through Brazil, Lima, and a finale in Mexico City. These aren’t rumors or hopeful fan spreadsheets; they’re on the official tour grid.

If the 2016 BBC film The Most Dangerous Band in the World: The Story of Guns N’ Roses reintroduced casual viewers to the band’s combustible origin tale—whisky-stained Sunset Strip clubs, overnight legend status, tabloid-era turbulence—the 2025 tour is the counterpoint: a precision-tooled juggernaut that still leaves room for glorious chaos. (We’ve included a still from that documentary above.)

What’s different this time?

Scale and spread. The summer run doubled down on festival headliners (Firenze Rocks, Rock for People) and major stadiums (Wembley, Allianz Arena), then hands the baton to a fall itinerary that’s tailor-made for the outdoor frenzy Latin America delivers. The campaign even threads firsts—Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Lithuania, Luxembourg—into the legacy circuit.

Guests with teeth. Select dates feature Public Enemy, Rival Sons, and a Sex Pistols lineup fronted by Frank Carter—pairings that tilt the vibe from nostalgia toward a living, loud conversation between rock, punk, and hip-hop.

A cinematic ending. The European finale lands at Wacken Open Air in Germany—metal Valhalla—before the machines cool for a heartbeat and Latin America ignites. Expect cameras everywhere.

The 2025 Tour at a Glance (Confirmed Highlights)

• May–July (Middle East/Europe): Riyadh → Abu Dhabi → Shekvetili → Istanbul → Coimbra → Barcelona → Florence (Firenze Rocks) → Hradec Králové (Rock for People) → Düsseldorf → Munich → Birmingham → London (Wembley) → Aarhus → Trondheim → Stockholm → Tampere → Kaunas → Warsaw → Budapest → Belgrade → Sofia → Vienna → Luxembourg → Wacken Open Air.
• Oct–Nov (Latin America): Oct 1, San José (Estadio Nacional) → Oct 4, San Salvador (Estadio Cuscatlán) → Oct 7, Bogotá (Viva Claro) → Oct 11, Medellín (Atanasio Girardot) → Oct 14, Santiago (Estadio Nacional) → Oct 17–18, Buenos Aires (Estadio Huracán; second night added) → Brazil swing: Florianópolis (Oct 21), São Paulo (Oct 25), Curitiba (Oct 28), Cuiabá (Oct 31), Brasília (Nov 2) → Nov 5, Lima (Estadio Nacional) → Nov 8, Mexico City (Estadio GNP Seguros).

Footnote of rock-and-roll collateral damage: that Oct 4 San Salvador stop is big enough that the country’s national team had to relocate World Cup qualifiers because the Cuscatlán pitch will be in concert mode. That’s reach.

Micro-timeline: From teaser to tickets to takeoff

• Nov 2024: GNR teases—and then announces—a 24-date Middle East/Europe run for summer 2025, with the tour name that doubles as a wink to fans who’ve survived every twist in the band’s history.
• Dec 2024: Outlets from Pitchfork to Loudwire and Consequence detail the slate, guests, and first-time countries; local press confirms city specifics (hello, Tampere).
• June 2025: Latin America leg announced—13 dates across Central and South America plus Mexico City—while the band is still tearing through Europe. Buenos Aires gets an extra night due to demand.
• July 2025: Wacken confirmed as the European swan song—one last summer blast before the fall sprint.
• Oct–Nov 2025: The band records some of the loudest crowds on earth. Expect setlists swinging from “It’s So Easy” to “November Rain”, with the post-2016 reunion swagger fully intact. (For the nuts-and-bolts completists, Wikipedia’s live ledger is already granular.)

Why this run matters

Continuity + growth. Since Slash and Duff re-joined in 2016, GNR have proven they can be both historically huge and presently sharp. The 2025 routing—mixing new markets with mythic venues—suggests a band curating its own canon in real time.

Documentary echoes. Rewatch The Most Dangerous Band in the World and you’ll catch origin-story grit: Marc Canter’s early photos, the Whiskey-to-Roxy crawl, the combustible alchemy that minted Appetite and the Use Your Illusion era. Seeing a 2025 crowd lose it to “Welcome to the Jungle” right after that footage feels like stepping from VHS grain into 8K reality.

The set-piece moments.

• Wembley for scale and history.
• Buenos Aires x2 because Argentina sings every guitar line back at the band.
• Mexico City as a lights-up, lighters-out finale.
• Cuscatlán’s ripple effect beyond music—a stadium re-purposed around a single night.

Quick-reference timeline for editors

Title: Because What You Want & What You Get Are Two Completely Different Things Tour (2025)
Leg 1: May 23–July 31 (Middle East/Europe) – Riyadh → Wacken (full route above).
Leg 2: Oct 1–Nov 8 (Latin America) – San José → Mexico City (dates/venues above).
Special Guests (select shows): Public Enemy, Rival Sons, Sex Pistols feat. Frank Carter.
Notables: Extra night added in Buenos Aires; Wacken caps Europe; Cuscatlán impacts national football fixtures.

Photo notes (for layout)

• Tour poster: Official 2025 art (use as opener or section divider).
• Live shot (2025): Axl and Slash under stadium lights—ideal for a double-truck spread.
• Wacken screen: Announcement graphic for the European finale (caption: “Grand finale, Wacken Open Air—July 31”).
• Documentary still: Title card from The Most Dangerous Band in the World (caption: “Origins, explained: BBC Four, 2016”).

Final riff

Guns N’ Roses have always thrived on friction—between melody and menace, myth and reality, what you want and what you get. In 2025, the difference is part of the show. The poster promises fire; the set delivers it. The past barrels forward on fresh legs. And somewhere between Wembley and Mexico City, as a hundred thousand voices belt the coda to “Paradise City,” the most dangerous band in the world reminds us that danger, done right, is just another word for alive.