What type of vocal performance do you expect from Axl?

[Pedrolg]

Would you guys be happy with this?

Some clean but powerful vocals, a lot of rasp in between. At around 4:20, 2010 Axl kicks in for a bit. This is the absolute best he's reached since 2010. I'd be ok with this in the reunion.

Another song from that show: again, rasp, mixed in with clean vocals, generally a good performance.

If Axl kept that standard, most reviews and fans would conclude he still got it. That show is almost a freak wave of sorts, as it happened literally once, and it took axl 2 more years until the last few vegas shows to replicate it, in a smaller scale.

[ChristmasFnatic]

If its age and partying, why is Steven Tyler retaining a lot of his old voice? He is waay older and partied just as much, and been to rehab lots of times.

[trqster]

contractually obligated to have some vocal coach lessons (usual with this kind of show fee).

Wow that's a thing? I'd never heard that but it's interesting.

I'm pretty sure that the promoters having agreed paying a fortune to have Axl headlining the shows (after the RIR '11 fiasco and others) they'd have to make sure he's in decent shape, both physically (we've heard already about him doing exercise and dieting) and vocally. The only way to assure that would be to have him contractually obligated to 'deliver' in some way...

Edited January 10, 2016 by trqster

[sonofnazareth]

If its age and partying, why is Steven Tyler retaining a lot of his old voice? He is waay older and partied just as much, and been to rehab lots of times.

that's steven's natural voice. the rasp/head/falsetto/chest blend that axl does is not his natural voice...it takes work. his real voice can be heard on patience or its so easy etc.

Edited January 10, 2016 by sonofnazareth

[tbaugerud]

If its age and partying, why is Steven Tyler retaining a lot of his old voice? He is waay older and partied just as much, and been to rehab lots of times.

that's steven's natural voice. the rasp/head/falsetto/chest blend that axl does is not his natural voice...it takes work. his real voice can be heard on patience or its so easy etc.

Kinda agree. But to hit the high notes with power/rasp takes exercise. Also for Steven Tyler. It's a muscle, you know.

Having good lungs/stamina is very important if you wanna keep that voice for a whole show.

And I think that's why Axl just rasps sporadically. He's out of breath.

I think he will come back in shape?

[IRanOutOfIdeas]

I know there's always going to be the argument that Axl owes nothing to the fans, but realistically I want to see the return of the 2006-era Axl. He may not have had the consistent rasp as he did in 2006, but he was on fire and in great shape physically and vocally.

Even if this is just a cash grab, I hope that they all put in the effort to make it seem like it's a bit more than that.

[Strange Broue]

1. Full rasp, no hint of mickey (UYI/some parts of the 2006/2010 voice)

2. Some rasp, some mickey..like Chinese Democracy.

3. Full mickey.

4. AFD/Lies voice.

Would you rather have Axl stand still (Dublin) and sing well or dance and sing with the mickey voice?

2. that is the most likely scenario

But i wish the first

Lol at 4, he is too old for that

[sonofnazareth]

1. Full rasp, no hint of mickey (UYI/some parts of the 2006/2010 voice)

2. Some rasp, some mickey..like Chinese Democracy.

3. Full mickey.

4. AFD/Lies voice.

Would you rather have Axl stand still (Dublin) and sing well or dance and sing with the mickey voice?

2. that is the most likely scenario

But i wish the first

Lol at 4, he is too old for that

I think he pulled off the AFD/Lies voice when he did Nice boys with Duff in 2010.

[Strange Broue]

This time around Axl will deliver a decent vocal performance, for several reasons: to make a statement that he's still got it, to prove it to Slash and finally because he's probably contractually obligated to have some vocal coach lessons (usual with this kind of show fee).

I highly doubt that

He probably thinks he has sounded amazing these past few years.

Nah... he is not that stupid

He even mentioned on twitter that he is a bit "rusty" on the last SA tour with Duff... so he admitted it.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Strange Broue

[Strange Broue]

1. Full rasp, no hint of mickey (UYI/some parts of the 2006/2010 voice)

2. Some rasp, some mickey..like Chinese Democracy.

3. Full mickey.

4. AFD/Lies voice.

Would you rather have Axl stand still (Dublin) and sing well or dance and sing with the mickey voice?

2. that is the most likely scenario

But i wish the first

Lol at 4, he is too old for that

I think he pulled off the AFD/Lies voice when he did Nice boys with Duff in 2010.

Even on that amazing performance, his voice was different from the AFD days, remainded me of 1991 Axl a bit.

You can't expect that voice in his age... his vocal chords are deteriorated so much over the years, plus if you add the "out of breath" thing to the mix, you can only HOPE for 2010 voice, nothing else

Watching the Philly video from 2012, i think we will hear that voice again, not 2010 level, but good enough

Edited January 10, 2016 by Strange Broue

[RussTCB]

What I want and what I expect are two different things.

I want him to sound like 2006 at a minimum but I'm keeping my hopes low.

[W. Axl Kev]

Same as always.

People who go to the shows will say "Axl is on fire! He sounds amazing."

People who watch the videos back and can actually focus and hear what he sounds like will say he sounds like Mickey Mouse.

People who went to the shows will say "Watching YouTube videos doesn't give you the full effect of how his voice sounds" which makes no fuckin' sense.

They will argue that the experience/atmosphere of being at the show somehow means that Axl is better singer when you see him in person. When in reality, the combination of adrenaline, excitement, instrument/speaker sounds, and crowd noise is what is making it seem so great. You can hear it to an extent. But for the most part, it's drowned out and surrounded by all of those things, making it seem better than it is. Most people are willing to accept that.

I for one trust the video/audio recordings more to judge what his voice sounds like, because it makes a lot more sense.

I accept that but does it matter? Going to a Guns N' Roses show is all about the adrenaline and excitement. Of the 20,000 people that go to their shows probably less than 5% go back and obsess over his vocal delivery.

I've seen them 3 times and I've never come away thinking Axl sounded anything other than sublime. Maybe the combination of music and vocals make the songs rather than just the direct audio of his microphone? I don't care what percentage of so-called "rasp" he's able to deliver. I want to drink cold beers and sing along to my favourite songs. Can't that be enough?

Of course that's enough. I'm not saying that people shouldn't enjoy themselves and should go home and obsess over whether or not he had rasp.

What I'm saying is, when the specific topic of "Axl's vocal performance" comes up, people shouldn't use the defense of "Oh, it doesn't matter, I was at the show and he sounded great. That soundboard recording of his vocals doesn't give you the full experience."

As if "the experience" has anything to do with how someone's singing sounds. It's just a stupid defense.

And for the record, I've seen the band live many times between 2006-2014 and have enjoyed the hell out of myself. And I will be at Coachella. But when I go home and watch a video of the show, there's no denying if his vocals sound bad. I'm not gonna be like "Nahh, I was there. He sounded awesome. That video is a lie."

You're setting yourself for a fall in that case. He's 50+ now and simply can't sing like a 29 year old. If he can sustain something from the past 10 years then everyone should go home happy.

At this point he's not going to get better and if you go to enjoy the shows to then go and pick apart his singing ability on YouTube then you'll find yourself disappointed.

Because he has fans who exercise this level of scrutiny on his vocals, he should definitely consider miming or vocal aid. Then it's out of your hands and can only be about the experience, as it should be.

[Strange Broue]

contractually obligated to have some vocal coach lessons (usual with this kind of show fee).

Wow that's a thing? I'd never heard that but it's interesting.

I'm pretty sure that the promoters having agreed paying a fortune to have Axl headlining the shows (after the RIR '11 fiasco and others) they'd have to make sure he's in decent shape, both physically (we've heard already about him doing exercise and dieting) and vocally. The only way to assure that would be to have him contractually obligated to 'deliver' in some way...

arr you serious? we are talking about Axl Rose here...

Say what you want about him, but there's NO WAY that he obeys to contractual orders... He is what he is since day 1

Edited January 10, 2016 by Strange Broue

[Tyler Drama]

Same as always.

People who go to the shows will say "Axl is on fire! He sounds amazing."

People who watch the videos back and can actually focus and hear what he sounds like will say he sounds like Mickey Mouse.

People who went to the shows will say "Watching YouTube videos doesn't give you the full effect of how his voice sounds" which makes no fuckin' sense.

They will argue that the experience/atmosphere of being at the show somehow means that Axl is better singer when you see him in person. When in reality, the combination of adrenaline, excitement, instrument/speaker sounds, and crowd noise is what is making it seem so great. You can hear it to an extent. But for the most part, it's drowned out and surrounded by all of those things, making it seem better than it is. Most people are willing to accept that.

I for one trust the video/audio recordings more to judge what his voice sounds like, because it makes a lot more sense.

I accept that but does it matter? Going to a Guns N' Roses show is all about the adrenaline and excitement. Of the 20,000 people that go to their shows probably less than 5% go back and obsess over his vocal delivery.

I've seen them 3 times and I've never come away thinking Axl sounded anything other than sublime. Maybe the combination of music and vocals make the songs rather than just the direct audio of his microphone? I don't care what percentage of so-called "rasp" he's able to deliver. I want to drink cold beers and sing along to my favourite songs. Can't that be enough?

Of course that's enough. I'm not saying that people shouldn't enjoy themselves and should go home and obsess over whether or not he had rasp.

What I'm saying is, when the specific topic of "Axl's vocal performance" comes up, people shouldn't use the defense of "Oh, it doesn't matter, I was at the show and he sounded great. That soundboard recording of his vocals doesn't give you the full experience."

As if "the experience" has anything to do with how someone's singing sounds. It's just a stupid defense.

And for the record, I've seen the band live many times between 2006-2014 and have enjoyed the hell out of myself. And I will be at Coachella. But when I go home and watch a video of the show, there's no denying if his vocals sound bad. I'm not gonna be like "Nahh, I was there. He sounded awesome. That video is a lie."

You're setting yourself for a fall in that case. He's 50+ now and simply can't sing like a 29 year old. If he can sustain something from the past 10 years then everyone should go home happy.

At this point he's not going to get better and if you go to enjoy the shows to then go and pick apart his singing ability on YouTube then you'll find yourself disappointed.

Because he has fans who exercise this level of scrutiny on his vocals, he should definitely consider miming or vocal aid. Then it's out of your hands and can only be about the experience, as it should be.

Dude... It IS only about the experience.

But when the topic of Axl's voice comes up and people are willing to discuss it, I'm not just gonna be like "Yo, fuck you, it doesn't matter how Axl sings. Shouldn't even be a discussion. Blah."

I will discuss it if it's brought up. And I will pick apart his singing ability on YouTube. For the SPECIFIC discussion of Axl Rose's ability to sing.

[Gackt]

he'll phone it in

not setting the expectation bar any higher than that

[CardinalGunner]

I suspect he will be working with a vocal coach beforehand and work on his cardio.

[Ak1nney]

he'll phone it in

not setting the expectation bar any higher than that

If that happened, this will crash and burn. Dude needs to put forward the performance of a lifetime to not get shit on.

[FabioRoses]

He'll sound like 2011 shows i think. Clean voice all the way and a few songs with rasp.

[Pedrolg]

He'll sound like 2011 shows i think. Clean voice all the way and a few songs with rasp.

Early 2011 is disastrous. Late 2011 is bad.

I'll be devastated if that's what happens. I'm not expecting him to rasp YCBM, but I really, really hope for no mickey.

[Hollywood Gunner]

2010 level

[Tom2112]

I would assume it'll be rasp and mickey combined... Best scenario would be 2006 power, but that was 10 years ago and he was in top shape.

I would be fairly happy if he gave us the end of Vegas '14 style vocals (not that they were breath taking... Wait a minute ).

I guess we don't have to wait too long to see anyway.

I doubt he wants to be the weak link, and I'm sure he's in some way aware of the talk about his vocal woes so he might actually put a tiny, teeny bit if effort in for the run... Fingers crossed I suppose.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Tom2112

[wasted]

I doubt a desert of hipsters will notice. 2 shows. 2 mil each. Then ride into the sunset on harleys.

[F*ck Fear]

I hope for this.

However, I expect him to sound like he did in 2014.

[spliff]

whats with the 2006 min quotes? 2006 was better than 2010.. you'll be lucky to get his 2014 vegas voice

[pugachev]

I hope for this.

However, I expect him to sound like he did in 2014.

If 2010 sounded that bad, I really dont wanna hear how he sounded in 2014.