The Doors: The Disastrous Tour With The Cult's Ian Astbury (Doors Of the 21st Century Tour)
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Published 2020-09-08
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Today we take a look at the Doors Of the 21st Century Tour with Ian Astbury which became a legal landmine for the group.
Past Cult Videos
The Cult's Ceremony 1991 Lawsuit
• Video
The Cult's Beyond Good and Evil Disastrous Tour
• Video
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Ian Astbury would discover the Doors at age 10 and the Danny Sugarman book about the band titled No One Here Gets Out Here Alive and it would be a sort of bible for him. He would reveal in a 2003 interview "I probably first heard them when I was nine or 10, on my parents' transistor radio," "At the time I loved David Bowie and T. Rex. But I was drawn to The Doors - they were so different, so much darker."
Astbury was such a fan of the Doors he almost got cast in Oliver Stone’s biopic about the doors in 1989 but the role went to Val Kilmer. That close call though got astbury on the radar of the surviving doors members of the band.
By the mid to late 90’s Astbury's world fell apart. The Cult had taken a hiatus as tensions with guitarist Billy Duffy reached new heights following the release of their commercially disappointing self titled album in 1994. On top of that his marriage at the time crumbled and he started abusing alcohol and was still reeling from a 61 million lawsuit brought by the family of a young American Indian boy who claimed his image had been used on an album cover of The Cult’s 1991 record Ceremony without permission. Side note I also did a video on that lawsuit and album. The Links are down below
Astbury would find “sanctuary in a "spiritual trip" to Tibet and a trip to the island of Cuba. When he returned home he left his wife and went into therapy. He would reveal. "I made big breakthroughs in therapy in 1998," "That was my big clear-out year." he’d remember
The following year Astbury’s involvement with the surviving members of the Doors got started as he joined The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger during one of his solo gigs.
The Doors surviving members would reunite in 2000 to perform on the VH1's Storytellers TV Show. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan and Travis Meeks.
By 2002 the Doors were ready to hit the road with Astbury fronting the band. The reunited lineup plus Astbury would call themselves The Doors Of the 21st century. Surviving drummer John Densmore wasn’t able to be part of a reunion as his bandmates claimed he was suffering from a hearing condition known as tinnitus and would be replaced by the Police’s drummer Stewart Copeland. But Densmore contended by the time the tour started he had recovered fully and that he was fired by the band after reading an article in billboard magazine saying
And Copeland would be forced to withdraw from touring after he broke his arm following a biking accident. He would be replaced by Ty Dennis who played in Krieger’s solo band.
Interestingly, Astbury wasn't the band’s first choice to replace Jim Morrison on stage. Following his passing, the surviving members had talks with Joe Cocker and Audience singer Howard Werth, but neither came to fruition. And The Doors would play together again in 1993 at their induction into the rock and roll hall of fame, with Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder fronting the band
As the Doors of the 21st Century hit the road, they were slapped with lawsuit after lawsuit.
In April of 2003 it was reported that Jim Morrison’s parents had filed a lawsuit against the surviving members of the Doors and even Ian Astbury for misappropriating the band’s name claiming it isn’t the doors without their son. Also involved in the lawsuit were the parents of morrison’s girlfriend, Pamela Courson, who claimed she owned half of Morrison’s share in The Doors. To make matters worse in 2003 the band was hit with a lawsuit by original drummer John Densmore -Densmore’s suit, which seeked unspecified damages, claims that written and oral agreements mandate that the Doors name and logo can be used only by the original band members and that “Doors of the 21st Century” and the Doors logo for the Astbury collaboration was a violation of their band’s agreement.
And The lawsuits didn’t end there as drummer Stewart Copeland filed his own lawsuit as well claiming he was dismissed without reason and not paid money owed to him, which amounted to about a million dollars.x. Copeland’s lawsuit was settled out of court in 2003.
All Comments (21)
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Throw your suggestions for future topics below. This story was a fan suggestion
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I attended several of these shows and every one was FREAKIN’ AWESOME!! The crowds were really into it and Ian was great. Anyone who says otherwise probably wasn’t there.
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Ian Astbury did an amazing job as the Doors singer. Perfect fit.
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Actually Pamela Courson’s family getting ANY royalties or say in any Doors matters is the biggest shame.....
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I saw this tour. It was absolutely fabulous and right on the mark. So glad I got to see it
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My brother actually worked with the band on this tour. He realized a lifelong dream by jamming with Ray and Robbie. The show I got to see was great. Stewart Copeland brought such an energy to the performance. It did have that "tribute band with the original members" vibe, but the spirit of Jim was there. It was good for a while there.
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When art and commerce collide, what a mess. Jim’s father finally realized what his son accomplished after he died, when the money kept coming in.
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I saw them at Wembley Arena, and they were brilliant. To have the opportunity to even see part of the band was an honour and completely disrespectful to say otherwise
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I saw the Doors with Ian at the Waikiki Shell in about 2005. Ian did it justice, incredible show. Too bad about all the attorneys.
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The tours were class and Ian was perfect to play with Ray & Robbie.
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I attended the show in Zurich and I found it amazing. Astbury did not just do a simple cover of the songs but made them sound different according to his unique style which gave the whole show a vibe of respect to Jim Morrison as he just didn't try to copy it. It was an amazing show and too bad all these people had to go through this legal mess to bring the Doors music to a whole new generation.
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i seen d21c twice once in sioux city ia and las vegas nv both times i jumped on stage with them the shows were beyond mind blowing i’m only 48 years old this was my only chance to see any version of the doors.. i’m so glad i got to experience it killer killer shows ..
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Gross. What a bunch of vultures. People can be so selfish and greedy.
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All this legal battles from the hippie generation. So much for peace and love ..
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I saw the tour when they did four shows in Boston. It was awesome. They did everything. Ray and Robbie were spectacular.
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I saw them play at the 930 Club in Washington, DC. They were fantastic. Ian Astbury sounded great.
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Being such a mega fan of The Doors for decades, I jumped at seeing D21C at Sunfest in West Palm Beach. It was a great show. Ian clearly loved and respected the material. It's a shame business entanglements complicate just playing live shows. Toto is in the same boat.
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Dude, that was superb. This 69yo is impressed with the accuracy and depth of your research. Thank you from a Morrison & Doors fan.
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I saw the doors with Ian astbury 3 times. I really enjoyed the shows!
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Talk about how Billy Duffy ditched his first band with Morrissey to form the Cult and how he help Morrissey form the Smiths with Johnny Marr after that... now that’s a true rock n roll legend there
