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

[Pedrolg]

Something seriously has to be done. His performances have reached an unacceptable level. It's cringe from start to finish. I've seen amateur karaoke dudes perform those "seriously demanding" GNR song. Hell, I'm one of those, had a band in high school and currently can perform a better (albeit bad) rendition of YCBM. It is simply terrible. Sad that it came to this. In 2016 we had hints of old Axl coming back all over the shows. 

It's just too much of a coincidence that he sounded good on GNR songs right when he was working his ass off for AC/DC. 

[Gordon Comstock]

On 11/6/2018 at 2:14 AM, nikothebellic said:

For sure it's not the only or even the major factor, but weather, temperature, air's cleaness also affect singer's voice . If it's dusty how do you sing? Especially when you need so much air as Axl needs. The are many additional reasons, such Axl's lazyness and absence on rehearsal, but all factors matter. One of the best shows was in Texas, right... but it was on a covered NRG stadium! The same thing in Arlington - also a good show. These are one of the biggest covered stadiums in the world. So, artificial conditioning, no dust or other distractions. I don't say that this is a panacea, but what a coincidence, that the longest Axl's "good form run" took place on NA arena shows in autumn 2017. In europe sometimes he was bad, sometimes good, but overall - better than in SA or Australia. In Japan he was good only on Tokyo shows (besides, on an arena also), but the leg had started with this region, so he was just unprepared.  In Mexico 2016 he sounded good because it was a part of a several reunion show-off shows, where he rehearsed and wanted to impress everyone. Vegas, Coachella - all these shows where decent in terms of voice, despite some other misses. So, the scheme is pretty the same: Axl needs time to get into "touring" with several shows (usually up to 10), it gets faster when stadiums are covered (NA 2016 and 2017) and prefers countries with more mild climate.    

Yet again, he does not improving, more worsening, but I can't say that it's so serious. I mean, SA 2016 wasn't a top spot either, but he nailed many shows the next year. This time he improved a bit on EU shows, but now again in a low form. Axl's voice rollecrcoaster, if you want. He's like a stock market - to go up, he needs to back down, ha-ha. Nevertheless, the venue and the region really matters, maybe not the major factor, but it does. 

I don't agree that he was good on the NA 2017 run or the Tokyo shows. 2017 was better than the shit we've seen this year, but still, listening to the Forum or Apollo soundboards for example, he sounds bad on most songs. He's played all over the world in all types of venues, and consistently sounds bad. I don't even think it's a case of needing to get into 'touring mode' anymore, he must know his voice is fucked but he seemingly won't do anything about it - whether that means vocal surgery, quitting drinking, re-learning his own material, or whatever. But he's making money regardless, so there's no incentive to prepare, let alone improve his voice. It used to be like a rollercoaster, but now it's like a sinking ship.

[jacdaniel]

He didn't even sound that good in Guns in 2016. It's just that the bar was so low after the final years in Nu Guns. The first leg was quite good, particularly Houston, been going further downhill since then. 

 

[Jw224]

8 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

He didn't even sound that good in Guns in 2016. It's just that the bar was so low after the final years in Nu Guns. The first leg was quite good, particularly Houston, been going further downhill since then. 

 

He still had some rasp then and his voice didn't sound like he's signing with a cushion in his mouth. 

[IncitingChaos]

The second leg of Axl/DC was really good and there were songs that he was much better on than the first leg. Particularly the Bon stuff. 

2016 with gnr he was pretty good. I can name all the drop offs in that set. There weren’t many. He was good on RQ, TIL, LALD. His voice wasn’t weak like it is now. He sounds comically bad now. 

most disappointing is that these vocals never translated over to gnr and now his voice is seemingly crashed. Plus looking back at this time he appeared to be down 15 pounds compared to now 

[Gordon Comstock]

1 hour ago, jacdaniel said:

He didn't even sound that good in Guns in 2016. It's just that the bar was so low after the final years in Nu Guns. The first leg was quite good, particularly Houston, been going further downhill since then. 

 

In 2016, he often sounded weak on 'the usual songs': YCBM, Estranged, Better, PC.... basically the same songs that he'd struggled with for years. But he also sounded great on plenty of songs (that eventually became awful). The (NA) 2016 renditions of Coma, This I Love, OTGM, My Michelle, LALD, Nightrain, WTTJ, etc. were awesome, whereas the 2017-18 performances of those songs aren't nearly as good and they keep getting worse. Even songs like November Rain, Rocket Queen or Civil War, while not necessarily super-raspy or powerful, were much better in 2016 than they were later.

[IncitingChaos]

1 minute ago, Gordon Comstock said:

In 2016, he often sounded weak on 'the usual songs': YCBM, Estranged, Better, PC.... basically the same songs that he'd struggled with for years. But he also sounded great on plenty of songs (that eventually became awful). The (NA) 2016 renditions of Coma, This I Love, OTGM, My Michelle, LALD, Nightrain, WTTJ, etc. were awesome, whereas the 2017-18 performances of those songs aren't nearly as good and they keep getting worse. Even songs like November Rain, Rocket Queen or Civil War, while not necessarily super-raspy or powerful, were much better in 2016 than they were later.

Exactly! At 54 years of age Axl was doing incredible with that set. It was more hopeful that he could pull off a good YCBM, or PC but he was still sounding good enough to justify the shows prices and those shows were fun. All given great reviews, now I can’t go watch any of the videos of the current shows. It’s not good 80% of the show. 

The last good show imo was San Diego 2016. That’s the last time I felt they played to their abilities. 

[Gordon Comstock]

5 minutes ago, IncitingChaos said:

Exactly! At 54 years of age Axl was doing incredible with that set. It was more hopeful that he could pull off a good YCBM, or PC but he was still sounding good enough to justify the shows prices and those shows were fun. All given great reviews, now I can’t go watch any of the videos of the current shows. It’s not good 80% of the show. 

The last good show imo was San Diego 2016. That’s the last time I felt they played to their abilities. 

Those shows were as good as they needed to be, or better. A couple weak songs weren't enough to drag a show down... now a couple good songs aren't enough to make the shows listenable.

[nikothebellic]

9 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

I don't agree that he was good on the NA 2017 run or the Tokyo shows. 2017 was better than the shit we've seen this year, but still, listening to the Forum or Apollo soundboards for example, he sounds bad on most songs. He's played all over the world in all types of venues, and consistently sounds bad. I don't even think it's a case of needing to get into 'touring mode' anymore, he must know his voice is fucked but he seemingly won't do anything about it - whether that means vocal surgery, quitting drinking, re-learning his own material, or whatever. But he's making money regardless, so there's no incentive to prepare, let alone improve his voice. It used to be like a rollercoaster, but now it's like a sinking ship.

Well, if there may be some disputes about Tokyo shows, but in NA Arena Tour 2017 Axl was in a great form. Not in a 2017 Summer US tour - he sucked there, but on the one after Rock in Rio. If in summer US 2016 he delivered 1 full-rasp PC - Houston, in autumn 2017 he did it 3 times - Detroit, San Diego, Toronto 30th, and had a good try for other 2 - MSG 16, Toronto 29th. Though, there were some spots where he was better in 2016 (Civil War) , but we also got many new ones - Madagascar, Whole Lotta Rosie, etc. and he rocked his favourite spots - WTTJ, Nightrain and KOHD. Overall, agree that the 2016 US tour is still the "favourite" as it was fresh, unusually tight and raspy, but if there is #2, the autumn 2017 is for sure owns this place. Apollo is an example of a failed show and Forum was a show-off with the longest set ever, so give him a credit on this one. Besides, he still nailed many songs there - My Michelle and WTTJ just for instance. And I still listen a lot for its Paradise City - apart from mickey opening, it's magnificent. 

I absolutely agree, that he could treat himself better, prepare for concerts and don't sing on auto-pilot, but it's just not a coincedence that if to take all the bad and all the good performance, the best ones would be taken from covered stadiums in US. And the worst would be from southern countries. Frankly, it's even not my original idea - someone said about "wheather factor"  while discussing Rock in Rio, I've made some research and indeed - such pattern exists. For sure, there some great shows on open air, but yet again, mostly - in Europe. He doesn't look improving, however after 3 years of touring it could be worse, just don't necessary mean that he fucked voice up. He had somewhere the same "losing streak" in 2017 - after auto-piloted European tour he was pretty weak for 2 month during US summer tour, than was Rock in Rio - everything seemed like comng to end... but he rocked in the fall US tour. So, maybe this time we have the same case. It's jsut "correction" territory, like in stock market.  

Edited November 9, 2018 by nikothebellic

[Towelie]

What I don't understand is, Axl didn't even sing Coma hardly at all even when he was at his peak, so why he thinks he can pull it off nightly nowadays when his voice is in far worse shape is a real mystery.

[ArvydaS]

On 2018-06-04 at 9:13 PM, Pedrolg said:

 

In my opinion it is very clear that Axl can sing with full rasp but it hurts his singing voice and causes strong hoarseness. He adapted technique that suits his voice the best and he is doing well. 

[sl4yer]

4 hours ago, ArvydaS said:

In my opinion it is very clear that Axl can sing with full rasp but it hurts his singing voice and causes strong hoarseness. He adapted technique that suits his voice the best and he is doing well. 

But in the last two shows he sounds rough and it's not even Mickey issue

[Pedrolg]

Doing well is something he is very far from. It's painful to listen to.

[trqster]

Probably Axl's vocal heydays are over and gone and he should start adapting his tone to his voice current capacities. He's got such a strong lower tone that he should just start exploring more than just going for the cringeworthy stuff he's been doing of lately...

[IncitingChaos]

Axl probably needs to go to country music. I hate country music but it’s easy to sing and the last 5-7 years he’s developed a bit of a southern sound in his vocals. He can write 40 albums like Witchita Lineman in his sleep 

[IncitingChaos]

Actually I’d like Hawaii to be Axl’s last GNR show. He’s performed these songs enough for one career. Get cameras out there, announce the Hawaii gig as the last one. Get someone to air it on tv and give it all you got then write the gnr chapter off. I know that would be sad to some of you but we can’t expect Axl to continue performing this set into his 60’s. He’s made enough on this tour to call it a day. He can relax, work on movie scores, produce, do a solo thing. I dont know. 

It just feels like we’ve reached that point where it’s not going to get any better. But if you can keep making millions off performing like this then I guess it’s hard to retire 

Edited November 9, 2018 by IncitingChaos

[lame ass security]

Axl is a natural baritone so he sings out of his true vocal register most of the time. But his vocal mechanism is so powerful that he's been able to get away with it for a very long time. Elvis was a baritone, could you imagine him trying to sing WTTJ, PC, or TIL? I can't.  The wear and tear along with the age factor is catching up with him a bit.  But the bottom line is that his voice, along with his charisma and stage presence, has made him an icon and a very wealthy man.  Maybe he's still trying to fool his old choir teacher who had  "ears like a bat".

Edited November 9, 2018 by lame ass security

[Underhardy]

On 11/8/2018 at 3:01 AM, sl4yer said:

Second run with ACDC was a lot worse than first one to be honest

Not true at all. You either didn’t watch every show or your memory fails you 

[Pedrolg]

this is the last Axl/DC show. Sounds good to me.

[Dangom1]

Axl at moment when he tries and sings with rasp sounds like Tom Keifer during the 90s when he had all them vocal  problems. It sounds like it's damaging his chords 

I think a good year off from touring is what he needs, and then Guns should do a sensible amount of touring 3 months on the road 6 months off etc 

[Sydney Fan]

Think the setlist needs to start reverting around his vocals, doing coma nightly just isnt sustainsble. That way he can change the setlist and do some deeper sounding songs such as bad obsession  would suit his vocal chords.

[ironmt]

8 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

Axl probably needs to go to country music. I hate country music but it’s easy to sing and the last 5-7 years he’s developed a bit of a southern sound in his vocals. He can write 40 albums like Witchita Lineman in his sleep 

He would never reduce himself to playing that "my tractor and dog down by the barn" bullshit. 

[Gnrcane]

18 hours ago, Towelie said:

What I don't understand is, Axl didn't even sing Coma hardly at all even when he was at his peak, so why he thinks he can pull it off nightly nowadays when his voice is in far worse shape is a real mystery.

I guess because Slash really wants to play it and it'd be boring to listen with no vocals.

Trying to sing the "crass communication" line until the end is a bitch.  Try it yourself at performance volume.  Especially try doing it with rasp. 

In general, you have to think that Axl singing clean/Mickey might not make for the greatest vocal performance but has probably allowed him to do this whole tour.  I'm just guessing that, especially at his age, trying to sing raspy in that register hurts (causes pain) and can cause nodules or other lasting damage.

The list of singers that have had vocal chord issues causing cancelled shows and delayed tours is very long.  I remember back in 2006 Steven Tyler popped a blood vessel on his vocal chord and had an experimental laser surgery to fix it without altering his voice.

It's also possible that Axl had a surgery and it didn't go quite as well as Tyler's.

My gut tells me that if they did a Super Bowl halftime show medely, he could sound similar to the 90's on a really short set like that.  Same gut says that if they ever get around to recording new songs, he could probably sound really good in the studio where he can sing a line or 2 at a time and do multiple takes.

[lame ass security]

29 minutes ago, ironmt said:

He would never reduce himself to playing that "my tractor and dog down by the barn" bullshit. 

Wichita Lineman is a classic country song.

[bigpoop]

That Nightrain from the other day was unreal. I thought it was some kind of spoof at first. He's using like five different voices and they're all terrible.