OTHAFA

I don't think there's any correlation between Axl's weight and the Mickey voice. He was in pretty good shape in 2002 and couldn't get any rasp to save his life. I think it's just a matter of how he prepares and how he takes care of his vocal chords.

If I sign up for Nightrain membership right now can I still take advantage of the fan club pre-sale?

Thing is, there's any number of examples of frontmen still slaying it well past 50, it's just we can't trust Axl to be in the best shape of his life, not based on the last 5 or so years at least

We want him to prove us wrong of course

Slash is probably playing the best guitar of his life right now and I would imagine the last thing Axl wants is to wake up the day after a concert and read headlines like "Slash sounded great, but what happened to Axl?" so if being up on stage with him doesn't motivate Axl to get his shit together nothing will.

I don't see any big arena shows before Coachella, but I could definitely see a "last minute" show at the Roxy or Wiltern or something like that.

Guns N' Roses have always hung their hat on being the world's most dangerous band. In the group's glory years, you didn't know whether they would show up, whether they would be strung out or sober, whether they would attack someone in the crowd, whether they would storm off before the show is over.

Now they're all in their 50s, most of them married with kids. There's not much danger left anymore. If they want to keep some aura of "danger" going by not tweeting out to fans about their every movement and leaving some suspense about what is actually going to happen when they take the stage at Coachella, I don't think that's the worst thing in the world.

I admittedly haven't paid much attention to NuGNR after 2008, but I just went to YouTube and watched some of the live DVD Axl put out and HOLY SHIT does he sound bad. If that's how he's going to sound, they honestly shouldn't even bother showing up Coachella. The world is going to be watching and it will just further tarnish his legacy.

All that said, he sounded awful in 2002 and came back to sound great in 2006. I recall hearing around that time that he was working with Baz's vocal coach on doing vocal exercises before/after shows during those tours. Maybe he needs to give that guy a call.

He left Baz's vocal coach after he repeatedly got sick doing the vocal excercises. I think his current vocal coach is that guy that's been with him forever, he sent him one of those commemorative Chinese Democracy things last year...I can't remember the name though

Ron Anderson is the name

http://www.ronandersonvocals.com

That's too bad. I know people will pick out certain shows here and there they really like, but Baz's guy had him sounding better on a night-in-night-out basis than anytime in Axl's career post-1993.

I admittedly haven't paid much attention to NuGNR after 2008, but I just went to YouTube and watched some of the live DVD Axl put out and HOLY SHIT does he sound bad. If that's how he's going to sound, they honestly shouldn't even bother showing up Coachella. The world is going to be watching and it will just further tarnish his legacy.

All that said, he sounded awful in 2002 and came back to sound great in 2006. I recall hearing around that time that he was working with Baz's vocal coach on doing vocal exercises before/after shows during those tours. Maybe he needs to give that guy a call.

I'm sure Axl, Slash and Duff can say whatever they want - but the last thing management (the new management, i.e. Slash and Duff's people) probably want is some nobody keyboard player tweeting endlessly about Guns N' Roses reunion.

Guns N' Roses website states "Guns N' Roses is managed by Team Brazil".

There's not one person or group managing GNR anymore. I'm sure Axl/Slash/Duff all have their own people negotiating to make agreements on everything that happens.

I'm sure Axl, Slash and Duff can say whatever they want - but the last thing management (the new management, i.e. Slash and Duff's people) probably want is some nobody keyboard player tweeting endlessly about Guns N' Roses reunion.

Chris Pitman's future:

I would imagine every single thing has been put in writing in a contract, from money (guessing Axl and Slash get the biggest cut) to time they hit the stage, to amount of rehearsals and how many of them Axl has to show up to.

I would anticipate part of the Coachella deal is that no future tour dates will be announced until after the performance. Or at least until well after all the tickets have been sold. I imagine Coachella wants to retain some air of exclusivity in the sense that this "may" be the one and only show the reunited Guns N' Roses plays. If the band announces a whole US/World Tour before Coachella even happens, it makes the Coachella performance a little less special.

I don’t think this would be happening if there wasn’t something of a real friendship being rekindled. The money has always been there, so why do it now? I would like to think they have re-connected on some level, even if it’s just texting here and there. I don’t expect them to go out to dinner together and stuff - Slash has another band and two kids, and Axl has.. whatever he has going on.

This has been the worst reunion announcement ever. Not only has everyone known for a while thanks to the constants drabs of info leaked, but these shows were basically confirmed last week before they even announced it, and the "official" announcement has gotten almost no attention outside the forums. An Axl appearance on Kimmel (especially with Slash) would have been monumental, so of course it couldn't happen.

What sucked was no one could handle their shit. So it leaked in drips and drabs. And last week when it was basically out there, no news sites (TV or reliable internet) could really report it because there was still no CONCRETE info from the band about yes or no. A TV news station isn't gonna say something when we all knew there wasn't a single confirmation from the band. To their eyes, it was all just rumors. By the time Billboard came out, definitely confirming, you then got one lousy Rolling Stone article about Kimmel, which then gets cancelled anyway. So at that point, real news doesn't care at all cause its all been out there for awhile and we still have very little talk from members.

All of this contributes to a bad announcement. I'm shocked you can argue otherwise. My news station aired a story about them ONCE, with 20 seconds left of our broadcast. It never reaired, we never did the story again, and the whole thing was relegated to a little blip at the bottom of your screen, sharing the headline with LCD Soundsystem. So either real life doesn't give a fuck, or Guns really blew their big fucking announcement.

After being teased with a trailer before STAR WARS, the reunion has been covered by just about every major news and entertainment outlet, including but not limited to: Forbes, Time, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox News, E!, People, TMZ, Billboard, USA Today, New York and LA Times.

What exactly did you expect? A special executive order declaring today a national holiday by President Obama?

I can't fathom why Izzy wouldn't at least do Coachella. It makes no sense for him not to be there.

I'm the last person to make apologies for Axl, but a few things:

A.) We have no clue why he canceled. Maybe Slash and Duff didnt now about it and didn't want it announced that way. Maybe he's self-conscious about his weight. Maybe Coachella asked him to cancel because they have a deal lined up with some other TV network. Who knows.

B.) What exactly do you want addressed? They can announce the lineup via Twitter if it really comes down to it. Are you expecting Axl to sit down with Jimmy Kimmel and have some heart-to-heart about why they are back together? We may never know the real answer, and we may not want the real answer (if it's just money driven) so what does it matter?

C.) The "reunion" was officially announced less than 24 hours ago. There's three months to go until the big show. Let's at least give them a few days before we start freaking out.

Ugh. I need it straight from Axl's mouth before believing it's a reunion. Didn't someone say Slash and Duff shared the Coachella poster on Facebook?

Nu GNR isn't big enough to headline Coachella. So the fact that they've been announced as the headliner already tells you the reunion is official. Why do people need some stupid sitdown TV interview to confirm that?

Not that it's needed. It was promoted and booked and then canceled. Which is so typical of the band.

Kimmel Semmed pissed. Laughed it off but seemed a little pissed cuz he's now left with vacant space at the last minute.

I want to go. I want to buy tickets. What am I getting with it from GnR??

I'd like to know and depending on what the lineup is and etc etc would sway my decision on purchasing tickets, flight, hotel etc..etc..

GNR never promoted that Axl would be on the show.

There are a lot of ways to announce whatever they want to announce without going on Jimmy Kimmel. Do you realize how many, to steal an Axl-ish phrase, "moving parts" there must be with this reunion? Axl, Slash and Duff (and Izzy if he's involved) all have their own managers, lawyers and PR people. It's never going to be like the old days where they were just one big group. So when things this big happen, EVERYONE has to be on the same page.

Ugh. I need it straight from Axl's mouth before believing it's a reunion. Didn't someone say Slash and Duff shared the Coachella poster on Facebook?

Nu GNR isn't big enough to headline Coachella. So the fact that they've been announced as the headliner already tells you the reunion is official. Why do people need some stupid sitdown TV interview to confirm that?

My guess is Axl was never supposed to be on the schedule. He wasn't on when it first came out, then got added sometime last night, probably by mistake. I think it's supposed to be a "surprise" even though everyone already knows about it.

It wouldn't entirely surprise me if all they announce is that Axl-Slash-Duff are back together, and we're left wondering who else is in the band until they actually take the stage at Coachella. That would be very Axl-ish, i recall being constantly left in the dark about who the new lead guitarist would be everytime someone left NuGNR.

I saw Kushner with VR live 3 times...the guy is fuckin top notch, plays like a motherfucker and has lots of energy on stage.

He is very guitar pedal effect savvy...maybe Axl ok'd that.

Guy is reliable as hell and doesn't drink or do drugs. Always heard he was the only guy who was squeaky clean on the VR tours.

That being said, I can't imagine why Axl would go with him over Fortus if given the choice, unless Slash really wanted to get his buddy that payday and convinced Axl.

According to Lafon,Kushner is not in place of Fortus, he's in addition to him. I'm not sure why anyone thought Axl would give up the three guitar lineup even with Slash returning.

Lafon said that was just his opinion though, not based on any facts.

I personally don't see the three guitar lineup sticking, but we'll see.

Where did Lafon say that? All I see is his last tweet mentioning all 8 guys.

A wild prediction (not based on any known facts). I predict GNR 2016 will be Axl, Slash, Duff, Frank, Richard, Dizzy and Dave. Why not?

I saw Kushner with VR live 3 times...the guy is fuckin top notch, plays like a motherfucker and has lots of energy on stage.

He is very guitar pedal effect savvy...maybe Axl ok'd that.

Guy is reliable as hell and doesn't drink or do drugs. Always heard he was the only guy who was squeaky clean on the VR tours.

That being said, I can't imagine why Axl would go with him over Fortus if given the choice, unless Slash really wanted to get his buddy that payday and convinced Axl.

According to Lafon,Kushner is not in place of Fortus, he's in addition to him. I'm not sure why anyone thought Axl would give up the three guitar lineup even with Slash returning.

Lafon said that was just his opinion though, not based on any facts.

I personally don't see the three guitar lineup sticking, but we'll see.

I saw Kushner with VR live 3 times...the guy is fuckin top notch, plays like a motherfucker and has lots of energy on stage.

He is very guitar pedal effect savvy...maybe Axl ok'd that.

Guy is reliable as hell and doesn't drink or do drugs. Always heard he was the only guy who was squeaky clean on the VR tours.

That being said, I can't imagine why Axl would go with him over Fortus if given the choice, unless Slash really wanted to get his buddy that payday and convinced Axl.

Retire from what? Touring once every 4/5 years? He's basically semi-retired as it is.