The "Axl's Voice" Thread - Please Keep All Discussion Here

[sl4yer]

Because everything is fine, except from the first lines. Stop being negative, show that isn't perfect can be brilliant too and it was

[Old_school_gnr_fan]

26 minutes ago, Pedrolg said:

The performance people are calling "brilliant" from today.

 

How he sounded 2 years ago:

But nah, everything is fine.

It's coming up on two years when I saw them in Foxboro, MA. I actually saw the 2nd show on 7/20, it was the first time the band had done back to back nights since the tour began. Axl sounded really good, considering he'd done a show the night before.

Maybe Axl saw the writing on the wall, and realized Father Time was not going to be kind to his voice. Get a couple of the original guys back, add a female keyboardist who can sing backup vocals, go out and try to make amends for years of bad behavior. Some nights he has a little bit of old mojo, other nights he struggles. Obviously, you can't expect a 56 year old man to be 25 again. You just hope he's taking care of his vocal chords as best he can, and hope he can give you 60-70% of what he used to be.

In the meantime, get some new music out with the 56 year old vocals of Axl Rose, so those songs can replace some of the older material that puts such a strain on his voice.

 

 

[Gordon Comstock]

9 minutes ago, sl4yer said:

Because everything is fine, except from the first lines. Stop being negative, show that isn't perfect can be brilliant too and it was

The whole first verse is weak, but the rest is actually 'fine'. In NA 2016 he'd sing the first line in a clean voice, after 2 years he's singing the first 8~ lines clean. 2nd verse is better but still a mix of clean and very forced rasp. He really gets going about halfway through the song, like he did last year. It's sort of a 'standard' WTTJ at this point but that doesn't mean it wasn't objectively bad... even in 2011-14, Jungle was usually one of the songs we could point to and say 'well, at least he cant still bring it on some songs when he wants to', but in 2017-18 that's not really the case 'cause he almost always sounds weak on the first half of the song.

[GNRfanMILO]

I’ve decided to stop discussing Axl’s current voice because everyone seems to like it anyway. You can post any video of the 2011-2014 era and you’ll see that Axl sounds better, even when at that time we thought he was done as a singer. But hey, people are acting like it’s all good. Then we get proshots and...

 

2018 may be Axl’s worst year in his entire career. But who cares, everything’s okay just because Slash is back (for 2 years now).  

[IncitingChaos]

16 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

The whole first verse is weak, but the rest is actually 'fine'. In NA 2016 he'd sing the first line in a clean voice, after 2 years he's singing the first 8~ lines clean. 2nd verse is better but still a mix of clean and very forced rasp. He really gets going about halfway through the song, like he did last year. It's sort of a 'standard' WTTJ at this point but that doesn't mean it wasn't objectively bad... even in 2011-14, Jungle was usually one of the songs we could point to and say 'well, at least he cant still bring it on some songs when he wants to', but in 2017-18 that's not really the case 'cause he almost always sounds weak on the first half of the song.

I’d say Axl in 2016 was clean a few times and Detroit likely the worst

but for the most part he could rasp that first line fine then

 

 

 

But yea now it’s weak. The videos from2016 have more energy in them even with the crowd not being as good 

[IncitingChaos]

Rocket Queen is another that sucks now. I enjoyed it in 2016

2018 vocals start at 1:30

2016 Arlington vocals start at 1:22

and that’s a 2016 dallas show that many were saying wasn’t very good vocally from Axl, especially after Houston blew everything away the next night 

[Gordon Comstock]

28 minutes ago, IncitingChaos said:

I’d say Axl in 2016 was clean a few times and Detroit likely the worst

but for the most part he could rasp that first line fine then

But yea now it’s weak. The videos from2016 have more energy in them even with the crowd not being as good 

Yea 2016 had more energy for sure, but to be fair those were the first stadium gigs and WTTJ was the first huge 'anthem' in the set so it makes sense that the band and Axl had more energy for it then. I would say the first Vegas 2016 show would be a good 'bar' at this point performance-wise, and right now he's still below that standard IMO.

Edited July 10, 2018 by Gordon Comstock

[Tom-Ass]

Just watched a bunch of clips from today's gig and Axl sounded good.

[Jw224]

53 minutes ago, GNRfanMILO said:

I’ve decided to stop discussing Axl’s current voice because everyone seems to like it anyway. You can post any video of the 2011-2014 era and you’ll see that Axl sounds better, even when at that time we thought he was done as a singer. But hey, people are acting like it’s all good. Then we get proshots and...

 

2018 may be Axl’s worst year in his entire career. But who cares, everything’s okay just because Slash is back (for 2 years now).  

Yeah, I feel like some people are legit just convincing themselves that he sounds good. Definitely the worst vocally he's possibly every been. 

[Fashionista]

9 hours ago, Loseyourillusions98 said:

he still had the uyi voice but you can tell it sounds a lot thinner. It reminds me of the 94 rock n roll hof performance, although he did sing that unprepared. Whats weird to me is how different he sounded 5 years later on the live era record with the re recorded vocals

His voice began thinning out toward the end of the 93 leg. Like, I think he sounds great at those last shows, but you can tell the touring wrecked his voice. Like, listen to how (comparatively) weak and strained his voice here, compared to say 88:

Like, he sounds great, but go back and listen to how much fuller his voice sounded in 88 or even 92 compared to here. Listen to how strained his voice is when he says "Burn" and "learn." Something happened to his voice between early 93 and July. In early 93 (March) he recorded SIDHY and his vocals are at a peak there; compare those vox to the above. He lost a lot of power somewhere in 93 and it slowly thinned out after over the rest of the decade. Like, even Live Era, Live Era is great but that's because he's using a Hollywood Rose like falsetto rasp; his mid range (YCBM voice) was already mostly gone. Even when he had rasp in 06 and 10, it was in a different style than the 80s and early 90s.

[Tom-Ass]

1 hour ago, GNRfanMILO said:

I’ve decided to stop discussing Axl’s current voice because everyone seems to like it anyway. You can post any video of the 2011-2014 era and you’ll see that Axl sounds better, even when at that time we thought he was done as a singer. But hey, people are acting like it’s all good. Then we get proshots and...

 

2018 may be Axl’s worst year in his entire career. But who cares, everything’s okay just because Slash is back (for 2 years now).  

He was pretty awful the first handful of shows this leg but he is sounding much better now.

[IncitingChaos]

47 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

Just watched a bunch of clips from today's gig and Axl sounded good.

Post em! 

[Tom-Ass]

9 minutes ago, IncitingChaos said:

Post em! 

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by Tom-Ass

[Fashionista]

Compare here to:

His mid range was really really wrecked in 93. Wtf happened?

[IncitingChaos]

16 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

 

Yea he’s been pretty good on this song all tour! Any others? 

[Tom-Ass]

7 minutes ago, IncitingChaos said:

Yea he’s been pretty good on this song all tour! Any others? 

I though November Rain was good.. Jungle... I usually never watch Sweet Child and PC but they were both very listenable. He obviously isn't what he was and struggles in certain ranges but it isn't as bad as some make it out to be.  The first few shows this leg were bad for sure. I blame that on lack of practice.. No excuse.. But there has definitely been improvement and the effort is there.

[Underhardy]

1 hour ago, Fashionista said:

His voice began thinning out toward the end of the 93 leg. Like, I think he sounds great at those last shows, but you can tell the touring wrecked his voice. Like, listen to how (comparatively) weak and strained his voice here, compared to say 88:

Like, he sounds great, but go back and listen to how much fuller his voice sounded in 88 or even 92 compared to here. Listen to how strained his voice is when he says "Burn" and "learn." Something happened to his voice between early 93 and July. In early 93 (March) he recorded SIDHY and his vocals are at a peak there; compare those vox to the above. He lost a lot of power somewhere in 93 and it slowly thinned out after over the rest of the decade. Like, even Live Era, Live Era is great but that's because he's using a Hollywood Rose like falsetto rasp; his mid range (YCBM voice) was already mostly gone. Even when he had rasp in 06 and 10, it was in a different style than the 80s and early 90s.

His mid range was better than ever on live era. Some of his best vocals are showcased on those re-recordings. Makes me want to hear appetite 99 so bad. 

[AxlRoseCDII]

Anyone know what happened in Rosie tonight? Not trying to be negative for the sake of being negative but that was pretty damn bad. If I was Axl I’d be worried if someone forwarded that performance to Angus.

[Loseyourillusions98]

4 hours ago, Fashionista said:

His voice began thinning out toward the end of the 93 leg. Like, I think he sounds great at those last shows, but you can tell the touring wrecked his voice. Like, listen to how (comparatively) weak and strained his voice here, compared to say 88:

Like, he sounds great, but go back and listen to how much fuller his voice sounded in 88 or even 92 compared to here. Listen to how strained his voice is when he says "Burn" and "learn." Something happened to his voice between early 93 and July. In early 93 (March) he recorded SIDHY and his vocals are at a peak there; compare those vox to the above. He lost a lot of power somewhere in 93 and it slowly thinned out after over the rest of the decade. Like, even Live Era, Live Era is great but that's because he's using a Hollywood Rose like falsetto rasp; his mid range (YCBM voice) was already mostly gone. Even when he had rasp in 06 and 10, it was in a different style than the 80s and early 90s.

Yeah definitely. I mean that 93 nightrain performance is honestly one of the greatest performances of that song  but you can tell when it comes to songs like rocket queen, ycbm or even November rain that his voice thinned out although I liked the clearer voice in 93.  Imo, mid 92 around the Freddy tribute concert was peak axl with the perfect amount of rasp and control. 

Ive always wondered how much damage 91 did to his voice, yeah it sounded really cool for songs like perfect crime but it also sounded like he was gargaling razor blades for an entire year. 

Theres 2 things I’ve always wondered about his voice and it’s what happened between 94-99 as, like you said, the transition from the classic axl voice to his hybrid falsetto rasp and also what in the actual fuck happened from 2010 to 2011. He sang so effortlessly and with crazy power in 2010 and then I watch 2011 pro shot performances like Los Angeles or 2012 at the o2 and it’s literal night and day. 

[shootingstar]

Getting tired of some here still don't get that Axls ablitity to hit high notes is one of the things that's still "intact". 

That's why he sings the bridge on YCBM awesome, but not the rest of the song. That's why he sound 87-ish on SOYL. That's why nightrain sounds awesome. That's why he sounds great on almost the entire AcDc catalogue. That's why he sounds great on the one single word that happens to be the highest note on the entire song Slither: "Black holy water..."at 3:24 

 

But listening to some of the three last concerts, especially when Madagascar were reintroduced, I'm starting to believe it's not a question about ability, but of choice.

The voice on Maddy been raspy and deep every time on verses, and the high notes sounds powerful and raspy. And most importantly, it's been a consequent thing he does. 

The verse after the solo on Don't cry and the outro on UTLH is other examples where he sound like "old" Axl. Every time.

 

[sl4yer]

2018 the worst? Berlin show was propably the weakest or surely one of the weakest performaces in his career but after this he is on 2017 level. For me he can sing clean and I understand why he is not putting rasp at major time and it's ok if he won't sound like he was dying. I mean Coma at Rio. Yesterday he sang ending of coma mickeyhs but stable and with add a little lower voice and some rasp in some parts It sounded good.  And stop comparing to 2016. It was his biggest year since IDK when..he had to give all his best cause all eyes were on him, Slashs fans eyes, AC/DCs fans eyes. And now he is sing clean to not destroy/save his voice for ACDC.

Oh, yeah Whole lotta Rosie yesterday was awful. But it was first performance in 7 months and he sounded good at the end so I forgive 

@IncitingChaos songs that sounded good:

Why is everybody bitching about NR? It's nice mix of his lower voice and falsetto. 

First 5 songs, all the ballads (ok except TIL) , seeker, Madagascar, Paradise City was not bad at all, Coma as I said was Mickeysh but stable and pretty good, Slither

[IncitingChaos]

9 minutes ago, sl4yer said:

2018 the worst? Berlin show was propably the weakest or surely one of the weakest performaces in his career but after this he is on 2017 level. For me he can sing clean and I understand why he is not putting rasp at major time and it's ok if he won't sound like he was dying. I mean Coma at Rio. Yesterday he sang ending of coma mickeyhs but stable and with add a little lower voice and some rasp in some parts It sounded good.  And stop comparing to 2016. It was his biggest year since IDK when..he had to give all his best cause all eyes were on him, Slashs fans eyes, AC/DCs fans eyes. And now he is sing clean to not destroy/save his voice for ACDC.

Oh, yeah Whole lotta Rosie yesterday was awful. But it was first performance in 7 months and he sounded good at the end so I forgive 

@IncitingChaos songs that sounded good:

Why is everybody bitching about NR? It's nice mix of his lower voice and falsetto. 

First 5 songs, all the ballads (ok except TIL) , seeker, Madagascar, Paradise City was not bad at all, Coma as I said was Mickeysh but stable and pretty good, Slither

Look we can compare Axl to any year you want but you’re going to find an excuse like “oh but he was 53 then of course he could still do that stuff when he was young..he’s 56 now give him a break!” We have to understand Axl is a professional singer and should be held to that standard.  It’s ok to have an opinion on his vocals even if they are deemed poor.

However, I have to say that Nightrain was great! Loved hearing that. Thought he lost it at 1:30 but got it back, somewhat went to the clean vocals at 2:50 for a bit but came back strong after and started to falter near the end but overall it makes a big difference when he comes out on the song sounding mean. He can mess with that mickey voice in the middle as long as it’s not dominating the song. Would like to see this approach on YCBM. 

I don’t compare KOHD often Bc I cant stand listening to it currently...it’s too long, sometimes Axl tells good stories though.

i have been tracking NR lately and really like it compared to what it was from 11-17. One big difference I notice is he’s carrying out the notes at the end of lines, it gives the song some of its life back and his voice is much smoother now on it. Waiting for the one where he completely nails it! It might be coming.

back to what I was saying on starting a song strong and getting breaks where you can I think this is my favorite example 

when he gets to the part with back up singers he wisely goes to his clean voice knowing he’s covered. But when his vocals are isolated he has that grit and projects his voice with pure power and aggression! I love it 

[Axl_morris]

Rosie didn't seem weak last night when I was there.

I have noticed he sings it differently since he has been with acdc. Up until 2012 he done a more powerful Intro, but now he sings it more like the studio version.

Haven't listened back but it's the first time sung since last year so if it did sound generally weaker than  last year it's probably because he hasn't sung it since then.

As for the whole show, he is on the level he was last year. I actually think coma sounds better this year than it was in 16/17, when Axl did the outro full Mickey.

Long show tonight and I think Axl holds up well for 3.5 hours at his age. 

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by Axl_morris

[sl4yer]

I can't listen to KOHD too xD but live it wasgood. Axl sounds good on it guitar solos are nice and all the people in audience singing..

And I don't say that he sounds worse than 2016 because he is old but because now he doesn't have to prove anything because he did this two years ago. That and propably lack of preparations. But you know if he'd sound like in Berlin I would not stand it. But now he is ok. It's standard now. He sounds like year ago. He sounded very similiar in 2012,13. 14 on beggining even worse then in Vegas better than now

Edited August 9, 2018 by sl4yer

[TheGeneral]

What if...

...Angus listened to that Rosie from yesterday and decides to get rid of Axl...

...Axl then is so pissed that he decides to make the most amazing GNR album ever just to completely bury AC/DC, as a big FU to Angus...

Okay okay, one can dream