hudsonsaul

I dont moan for new material on tour, but when i see the setlists of recent gigs I know that I've pretty much seen the show a handful of times now, and know that until they shake it up I won't be going to another GNR show if/when it rolls into a city near me. So that annoys me, and quite frankly allows me to judge, as one of my favorite bands I don't have a desire to see again until it becomes less sterile. (enjoy reading about folk that go and have a killer time though).

I think he has lost some punch n' balls to his voice. BUT i think he can still sing and it predominately comes down to fitness. He moves about heaps on stage, and singing uses lots of muscles. IMO getting in shape before a tour and maintaing a vocal coach would lift his game and increases consistency and balls to his voice.

Wonder if he still doesnt rehearse with the band before tours, as that woudl help him get into vocal shape before touring too.

Hudson -

Yes, you are dead on. Because those lineups operated quietly and never released anything, it's not really the public's fault for feeling like Axl Rose returned one day with a bunch of new guys that had no ties to GNR's lineage. From a PR perspective, it was handled very poorly on GNR's part. At the time though, it seemed like PR was the least of Axl's concerns. It certainly has had long lasting effects.

I think people give Paul a lot of shit because they don't know much about him and former members have certainly painted a picture that Paul's presence caused the band to fall apart. In some ways that may be true, although certainly not through any fault of Paul's.

Once Izzy leaves the band, the struggle for power between Axl and Slash, with Duff stuck in the middle, ultimately was going to end that version of the band eventually regardless of any other factors. It's another situation where I find both sides to be understandable. Axl and Izzy had always been the band's primary songwriters. Slash's amazing lead playing was obviously a huge part of the band's success, but with Izzy gone, Axl wanted to bring someone in that could help with songwriting. Enter, Paul.

So, Axl wanting to replace Izzy (essentially, really it's Gilby being replaced) with another friend he'd be comfortable writing with (Paul) certainly seems reasonable.

But it's just as reasonable for Slash and others to be upset and resentful that Axl would think it's okay to arbitrarily replace Gilby without input or consent from the others.

And whether Paul was a good songwriter or not, the circumstances that led to him joining the group, obviously he's not going to be very well liked.

Not to mention the fact that with Izzy gone, Slash probably felt like he should be the one stepping up to fill that void. Why is an outsider being brought in to fill the creative hole left by Izzy instead of Slash taking on a larger role in regards to songwriting?

To me, it's always been very sad to see so many fans arguing and fighting all these years later over a situation that really has no hero or villain, just a lot of shades of gray.

Great post. Personally I don't always agree with some of the stuff you write & do,... but this post is spot on imo and is pretty much exactly how I interpret things as well.

Does anyone have an interviews or any detail about Paul Tobias?

I have never seen an interview with him, but I have collected some quotes on him: http://www.a-4-d.com/t140-paul-tobias#158

EDIT: And great post by MSL above.

Thanks SoulMonster.

RE: SYmpathy for the Devil solo - I can understand Slash thinking the call / response thing done to his solo as being rude (especially if he was never made light of it until release)....but quite frankly it sounds awesome. The whole song is an upgrade on the original too, and I'd say the solo adds to this. TBH it would have been a lazy sounding solo otherwise as well. Always dug GnR's version of this track.

Less solo sections, less slower ballards, more upbeat rockin songs. The ballards & solos get the audience bored as hell.

Also shake the set list up more. They've been doing the same show night in night our for ages now. Make the setlist more organic, shitload of songs to choose from, whilst the band also nails covers well, so really no excuse for same show every night imo.

Axl to stay on stage more, and not bail everytime he isn't singing.

Great points by Clark and it's that evolution that still makes it GNR and not a solo project in my opinion. I think there are a lot of fans who mistakenly believe that Axl kicked everyone out of the band and then started over from scratch (while managing to "steal" the name along the way). The truth is very different from that common misconception. When people say to me, "It's not really GNR," I always ask them when it stopped being GNR and very rarely are they able to give me any sort of logical answer.

I think as a fan who followed the band very closely from 1988 until now, it never felt like Axl simply re-appeared with a totally different lineup. If Axl/Duff/Dizzy/Paul/Robin/Matt was GNR, I really saw no reason why Axl/Dizzy/Paul/Robin/Tommy/Brain/Bucket/Pitman wasn't GNR either. The band has slowly evolved over time, with each lineup having strong connections to the lineup before it.

Good points. But the linesup never delivered anything for the public to see, and thats one of the main reasons imo why there is such a high volume of "its not really GNR" & "axl stole name kicking everyone out".

Does anyone have an interviews or any detail about Paul Tobias? - lots of ppl bash him, but I personally dont know shit about him (apart fact he was mates with Axl and his relation with GNR over the years). Only crap I've heard about him is from Slash and Matt mentioning him in interviews (slashing saying he doesn't like him: bedroom guitarist. Matt saying he called him Yoko Ono or something).

I'd be keen to read something more about him tbh, even in this thread there are lots of ppl giving him shit so there must be more info on him out there then I'm aware of.

Us gnr geeks know that the lineups slowly evolved like you've listed. However the general music listening public don't, as nothing was delivered during all those phases. Even CD's lineup isn't about anymore. If somewhere during thoe lineups you've listed SOMETHING was released, an EP length album or something, then I reckon shit wouldn't have ended up so bad n' bitter.

Why do they even bother printing setlists n' stuff?....they play the same songs pretty much every night. THe show is more or less exactly the same each night (this used to bother me during the UYI heyday tours as well). Bit stale for me personally after seeing them plenty of times and just having the same set, attitude, approach etc.

Neither of them are, or have been, doing anything particularly good of late or of any musical importance / significance. Just IMO of course. Still fan of them, and always intrigued as to what they'll do and say in the future. But otherwise musically, neither are particularly kicking ass tbh.

So I'm neutral. Don't care. Although Slash is full of crap & a bit of a media whore, whilst Axl does come across somewhat loony and is a bit inconsistent vocally currently.

*shrug*

The list of stuff is interesting. I also wonder where the band gets their tastes from, JD is some of the worst whiskey out there, Jagermiester is also rough as, and Becks is a piss poor beer.

Lol'd at the 'Assortment of Adult Magazines' ESPECIALLY the 'ie. playboy penthouse' section. Does 'adult magazines' really need examples

Didn't understand a thing, but it's always interesting to see behind the scenes stuff.

Most of Axl's lyrics (and most lyrics in general tbh) aren't about just one thing, and is often broader than that, and often up to the listener to a degree.

It could be somewhat directed at slash, whilst also being at management, labels etc. (can totally imagine some fat suited record excutive saying that to him sometime in his past...or him hearing of someone saying it about him through the grapevine).

Axl's dealt with a lot more ppl then just Slash in his life,....if it were about slash and nothing else, then that is a crazy infatuation on his behalf and he should move on

Quite like Alabama Shakes.

Axl looks happy

Still the same angels around him, allowing him to be open minded and very creative since years.

Actual lol.

Was the whole track leaked or just the initial 30secs or so that started the chain thats since been deleted?

Chinese Democracy would have been far better sales wise if released in and around Oh My God, and if it had that aggressive vibe, new guns would have been more accepted too, critics less bitter, and plenty of more time to allow the band to grow and release more tunes.

CD's biggest problem imo, was the over production of every tiny bit of the album, and far too many slower numbers the average listener gets bored too easily and doesn't give the album time to settle in.

All imo.

Never heard of him. Recommended?

Wow what?? How's that even possible if you even just like music just a small bit? Defo worth looking in to. Jack White has delivered more music than Axl to be honest, and is a phenomenal talent.

Leslie Michele Derrough:: "So what else do you have going on for the rest of the year?"

Richard Fortus:: In May, I go back to Europe with Guns and luckily, Thin Lizzy is going to be out with us, which is going to be awesome. They’re going to be supporting us so I’ll be able to play a couple of songs with them every night. But I’ll be out with Guns in May, June and July and then we have to finish up some more recording and hopefully get the record out and be on tour in the fall in the States I’m hoping."

http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/58387/richard-fortus-of-guns-n-roses.html

Thanks...

Could someone please post the link to the interview?,....had a quick search but failed to find it. Cheers.

Nope, definitely not.

TBH I wouldn't see any band Steven is in even for free. Regardless if they playing Gnr songs or not.

Whilst I wouldn't go and watch Duff and Slash and other randoms play old Gnr songs. Would catch them if they were in town doing anything else mind you and would be a good night no doubt.

lol @ everyone getting so excited and commenting both positively and negatively to this performance. After hearing GUnsGuys uploads I can't say if it was good or bad...it could be anyone playing tbh, quality is so poor for obvious reasons.

I'll hold for the actual footage and judge. But tbh, HOF should have distinguished what is current guns, and what they are celebrating here, which is a phase of the band .. of which has gone through heaps of lineups which is just the nature of the beast.

THe only bashing I've seen is from fans on this forum. All press and news reports I've seen (not that i'm looking hard, its just shit i stumble on like the 30 second news report just now on TV - which is what majority of others will see) just reports on Axl declining, like a conclusion story to the few bits n' pieces that were reported previously about "will there, or won't there, be a reunion?"

TBH what Axl said in that letter, is the most clear and concise I've ever heard/read from him in recent years. His rants, forum chats, interviews, often are a wee bit out there and don't make that much sense. This on the other hand was completely fine, and he came across as a dude who isn't as difficult as ppl make out, and who has thought about it all, weighed up his priorities, acted accordingly and has some standards.

I don't see what the fuss is. Other than the fact fans are upset cause a bunch of old farts aren't going ot be doing a reunion anytime soon or holding hands having 15mins in the spotlight again.

There is also plenty of great music out there, outside of this forum and GNR, which if you go listen will help put everything into even more of a perspective for you :/

TBH I think that was a well worded, well put together letter, with valid points. Respectful, and clear.

Good on him. Perfectly acceptable decision and well explained.

I'll still tune in to see if Izzy does turn up, would love to hear some words form him, whilst I'll also be eager to see how Adler next embarrasses himself in his final 15 minutes in the limelight. Pretty sure Duff and Slash will handle the event fine, Matt n' Adler might shake their dicks and look like fools though.

lol - was that letter seriously BBA?

*facepalm*

God, watching Matt play and doing some lame acceptance speech will be horrid.

Would love for Axl and Izzy to stay quiet on the subject the whole time, and then turn up, say thanks and move on.

Izzy is the man though, coolest guy in rock.

he is the best thing that happened to gnr, and remains the most grounded and realistic.

good on him. (though would be great seeing him and hearing his thoughts in an interview / book)

I find it funny that the versions after the demo we all know, sounds more dated & cheesy then this 1st version. If the Asphalt Ballet one was released in 96 its even more laughable.

IMO the bucket era guns would have done a cool version of this song though.

Its a fun song.