06/03/18 - Berlin, Germany - Olympiastadion

[donny]

if they where having some technical issues then axl should have thrown his mic as hard as he could at the tech guy, missed and accidentally hit fernando instead. 

if he has a cold/man flu or something like that stopping him being able to sing then the next gig in 2 days time might get pulled.

duff is probably the best singer in GNR right now so he should get up and sing a couple of his old songs  (believe in me and 10 years would be good) to give axl a vocal break half way through the set. 

[AlexC]

5 minutes ago, donny said:

if they where having some technical issues then axl should have thrown his mic as hard as he could at the tech guy, missed and accidentally hit fernando instead.

[sl4yer]

But guys slither didn't sound that bad

I mean i really like how he sounded in verses, in chorus... 

If he sang the chorus with his normal voice like in verses it would be really great

[jacdaniel]

I was at the show and I enjoyed it. Slash makes the show. Axl really struggled. 

Hard to know why they skipped some songs and did a tiny encore. 

[TheGeneral]

I think when Axl feels better he should get rid of the mic stand for Slither. It's a very "kick ass" song and I can imagine him running from one end of the stage to the other during the verses, standing still for the chorus. He "under-performed" it IMHO.

But I'm not complaining about him. Something went seriously wrong and I can understand the way he was performing. I'm sure he'll get better during the next concerts.

If not, we might get a bit of '91 Axl with him storming off stage. But this time because he's pissed at himself lol

[alfierose]

5 hours ago, Kelmi said:

It was a midshow decision. I was there, had a great sound and view.

My review or recap. I saw Guns twice in 2017.

So Im sitting on Duff side of stage in a very good lower bowl seat and see that now Mercedes Van arrived and after 10min Axl goes to stage singing Its so Easy. Crowd went nuts. I read here that crowd sucked. Well that is not true at all. Even the people reaching their 60s seemed to have a lot of love and applause for the band.

I noticed during WTTJ that Axl is a bit rusty and for me it was OK, sounded good at the stadium. But then after Live and Let Die troubles started for Axls voice. At the end of Rocket Queen he was out of place missing beat and then he started dropping lines because his voice got shot.

Vibe in stadium changed in Civil War when Axl still hadnt got ridden of the shades and his voice was cracking as hell when he was going for the higher notes. He seemed pissed at himself and he skipped many lines to prevent his voice from completely blowing out.

Before Slither and Used to love her he stated that he sucks and it feels like singing under water he cannot hear himself.

They talked in ear monitors and after civil war decided to cut many songs and then it was band intros and solos... axl got time to rest.

Knocking on Heavens door was the highlight of the show. When Axl finally removed his shades he got a huge loving applause from the audience. He seemed teary eyed and heart broken about his vocal performance at the end of KOHD. He soldiered trough end of set.

I have to say even if it was shorter set this was more tight. Enjoyed the show and everyone who I saw in metro and walking were still amazed and in good spirits.. Paradise City was strong.

 

 

Great review thanks. Seems clear they were having sound issues and did what they could to soldier through. Shit happens sometimes even with massive productions, I went to a West End show recently and the whole thing was shut down for 30 minutes because the lead performer was taken ill mid show and the understudy had to take over. 

Axl is nearly always a bit rusty and under confident at a first show, arguably there are ways in which he could be more prepared I expect but this combined with technical issues obviously really fucked things up a bit. It's a shame because it might have been less of a problem if it was mid tour and they were all warmed up a bit.

As always I think we need to give them a few shows before reaching any major conclusions about setlist/voice etc...I recall many weren't thrilled with Slane as the first show in the last Euro leg but things improved. Ideally all shows would be spot on whether the first or the last of a tour but we all know Axl well enough by now to know it's a bit of a gamble to go to a tour opener or anything that's a live broadcast. 

[RussTCB]

I'm so sick of the "technical difficulties" excuse from GNR. If you're constantly having technical issues then fire whoever the hell is to blame for it and find someone who can do their jobs correctly. 

Acts have toured for years with a much bigger production and more peope on stage, yet those shows don't constantly sound terrible due to "technical difficulties". 

[NicoRourke]

 

[Gibbo]

7 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I'm so sick of the "technical difficulties" excuse from GNR. If you're constantly having technical issues then fire whoever the hell is to blame for it and find someone who can do their jobs correctly. 

Acts have toured for years with a much bigger production and more peope on stage, yet those shows don't constantly sound terrible due to "technical difficulties". 

Yeah I watched a few videos and you can hear his mic cutting in and out but as well i think he was sick coz he missed parts in alot of songs sang TIL in a lower key before slash solo and doesnt do the scream at the end of scom missed parts in civil war and wttj. Thats why i reckon they skipped YCBM.

Edited June 4, 2018 by Gibbo

[Padme]

3 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I'm so sick of the "technical difficulties" excuse from GNR. If you're constantly having technical issues then fire whoever the hell is to blame for it and find someone who can do their jobs correctly. 

Acts have toured for years with a much bigger production and more peope on stage, yet those shows don't constantly sound terrible due to "technical difficulties". 

This!

Ysterday show wasn't a one off. We've seen before during NuGN'R era and also during this reunion tour. Sure things will be better. But shows should be without "technical incidents" from day one. I didn't see "technical problems" at soundcheck. And if there were problems. Well fix them before the show starts

[alfierose]

He sure does have a lot of bad luck with in ear monitors and sound. Did this ever happen with AC/DC? If not maybe they need to hire that person. 

[Free Bird]

Anybody took a camera to the venue? Any problems with that?

[Banesto]

6 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

Anybody took a camera to the venue? Any problems with that?

It was not allowed

[MaskingApathy]

21 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I'm so sick of the "technical difficulties" excuse from GNR. If you're constantly having technical issues then fire whoever the hell is to blame for it and find someone who can do their jobs correctly. 

Acts have toured for years with a much bigger production and more peope on stage, yet those shows don't constantly sound terrible due to "technical difficulties". 

Caram- throw his ass out. Idk why they keep bringing him along when they could get someone else who actually knows how to do FOH for big venues. North American stadium run was the same way.

Taylor Swift played a few weeks ago at the same stadium that I saw GnR at in 2016, and everyone said it sounded great. The few videos I saw from Instagram and Snapchat (people I knew who went to the show) sounded good too - big, full sound with everything heard clearly. Wish GnR would do the same.

[alfierose]

I had a look at the GNR Facebook page, it seems like a combination of Olympiastadion being known for not having great sound, the GNR team not taking that into account and mitigating it as much as possible plus whatever technical issues equipment was having. A number of attendees are not happy with the quality and it seems they have a good point to make. A lot appear to have attended other NITL shows so were able to compare experiences.

Sucks really, I'm sure the band are probably pissed at starting off on a bad footing too. Maybe to compensate the next show will end up being a mammoth 4 hour extravaganza! 

[BrayWyatt]

I just watched some of last nights songs on YouTube and while axl didn't sound great, there wasn't much off a difference between last night and london 2017. 

Whether he was ill, didn't rehearse or had technical problems, some of the criticism on here was over the top. 

From a personal point of view please dump fortus and frank, i don't care who replaces them, izzy or gilby. Matt or steven but please replace them.

[AxlSlashthebest]

TIL = worst ever version. incredible. If he still sing like that I will not going to see them in Paris. The new singer of Steven Adler is better . hope it's just because he is sick and he will feel better soon

[GoForJMark]

7 minutes ago, BrayWyatt said:

I just watched some of last nights songs on YouTube and while axl didn't sound great, there wasn't much off a difference between last night and london 2017. 

Whether he was ill, didn't rehearse or had technical problems, some of the criticism on here was over the top. 

From a personal point of view please dump fortus and frank, i don't care who replaces them, izzy or gilby. Matt or steven but please replace them.

Brother Bray, I don't know about you. But if we can't have Izzy I'd rather pick Fortus over Gilby. 

[God of Thunder]

My take from Berlin (FOS 1; Duff side):

The show started really early at around 7:20 in order to meet the e 10 pm curfew (which is ridiculous). The first couple of songs were really bad soundwise, one could hardly hear Axl, whole lines one would hear nothing. Mid show it got better and towards the end it was very bad again. Almost like his mic was not even on at times. Before playing Slither -which was a big surprise -  he confessed that it was an experiment and perhaps a bad one and "plus today I suck". Which was a quite adequate description for his vocals. After November Rain, he complained "that was an interesting experience, like playing underwater...you know what that sounds like!?" So also troubles with his in ear monitors. My take is that he was too lazy to practice and a really bad day for the sound engineer and the bad acoustics in the stadium. But it was definetely not Axl`s day - there is no way of making excuses here - when Duff sang he sounded much better and clearer than Axl. Never heard them play "Wichita Lineman" before, so that was kind of a nice surprise.

Audience was actually quite alright, there several small moshpits on our side. Overall I think most people enjoyed the show, as Slash, Richard and Duff were saving the day. Most reviews here were also quite good; all mentioning the bad sound and that Axl had some troubles, but all in all they agree it was an enjoyable show. Except the German "Bild" Zeitung, they gave a really bad review - mainly about Axl. Personally I think it was not as bad as they wrote it.

Think it will improve as the tour goes on.

[Draguns]

8 hours ago, Tom-Ass said:

Gn'R charge about 3 times as much as those other bands..

Not in the NYC/NJ area. The  ticket prices for GNR, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Def  Leppard/Journey, and AC/DC with Brian Johnson and Axl were all within the same price range.  I know since I paid for those tickets. My brother wanted to go see Pink and those tickets were expensive and within the same price range. He also wanted to go see a rap artist and pop artist at PNC Arts Center, which are touring together.  Lawn seats were $50 and you still have to rent the chairs. I talked him out of it because there was no value to it.  

For any artist nowadays, ticket prices are expensive. 

[SAU3R]

4 hours ago, t-p-d-a said:

a professional vocalist who forgets his words or can't hit high notes at the moment, he can let the crowd sing these parts.

but Axl never let the crowd participate, only KOHD and WTTJ "i wanna hear your scream"

For example Jon Bon Jovi can not hit the high note on Livin On A Prayer but he knows his voice so he let the crowd sing with the help of Keayboarder David Bryan. And that's make a vocalist professional. Yes humans are getting older but you must learn your voice over and over.

For me, Axl Rose is not a professional vocalist and not a live singer.. It's just a human who damage his voice

Sorry, but you can't expect the crowd to sing the high parts in for example Better or the chorus in this I love... Livin on a prayer is a classic, everybody knows it, especially the fans, but probably only 20% of the GNR crowd know TIL, no one would sing even if axl told them so

[GoForJMark]

2 minutes ago, Draguns said:

Not in the NYC/NJ area. The  ticket prices for GNR, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Def  Leppard/Journey, and AC/DC with Brian Johnson and Axl were all within the same price range.  I know since I paid for those tickets. My brother wanted to go see Pink and those tickets were expensive and within the same price range. He also wanted to go see a rap artist and pop artist at PNC Arts Center, which are touring together.  Lawn seats were $50 and you still have to rent the chairs. I talked him out of it because there was no value to it.  

For any artist nowadays, ticket prices are expensive. 

Dude the cheapest seat in their Philippine date is 16 US Dollars. 

[-Jaro-]

58 minutes ago, NicoRourke said:

 

after seeing this - Slither performance was kick-ass...

[felixGNR]

8 minutes ago, Draguns said:

Not in the NYC/NJ area. The  ticket prices for GNR, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Def  Leppard/Journey, and AC/DC with Brian Johnson and Axl were all within the same price range.  I know since I paid for those tickets. My brother wanted to go see Pink and those tickets were expensive and within the same price range. He also wanted to go see a rap artist and pop artist at PNC Arts Center, which are touring together.  Lawn seats were $50 and you still have to rent the chairs. I talked him out of it because there was no value to it.  

For any artist nowadays, ticket prices are expensive. 

BS. AC/DC most expensive ticket for stadiums show (NY/NJ) was $140 plus fees, saw metallica at an arena in long island most expensive  ticket  $200, stadium tour $160

[Draguns]

28 minutes ago, felixGNR said:

BS. AC/DC most expensive ticket for stadiums show (NY/NJ) was $140 plus fees, saw metallica at an arena in long island most expensive  ticket  $200, stadium tour $160

With fees, it’s in the same ballpark. I paid $130 for Metallica tickets in the 300s section at Metlife. Bon Jovi was around the same price at MSG. Ditto with Def Leppard. The only concert that is cheap will be the Godsmack/Shinedown which was $20 and no fees at PNC. LiveNnation was doing a sale the week i bought them.

 

28 minutes ago, felixGNR said:

BS. AC/DC most expensive ticket for stadiums show (NY/NJ) was $140 plus fees, saw metallica at an arena in long island most expensive  ticket  $200, stadium tour $160