Janis

Of course nothing would be better than new music but Axl is still putting on great performances.

This used to be a fan forum.

Axl used to sound good

Not really !! GN'R shows were not predictable. I'm a fan since 1987, and had K7 tapes of shows, when it was hard to find them, and VHS, etc. In many shows Slash was completely drunk and out of tune in some parts, and Axl had serious problems to reach the high notes, and the rasp was a way to keep singing, but it hurts the vocal chords. The original Tokyo VHS shows that, as the Illusions tour. He COULDN'T sing anymore without the rasp !!! BUT, they were raw and they were "rock n'roll", they had attitude...and we were young ! Now that magic scenario does not exist anymore. The Slash departure was a shot in the band imaginary. So that's the question. If we look to GN'R nowadays and try to find that spirit...we would be beating a dead horse. From a technical point of view, Axl can sing with less pressure to the vocal chords, letting the air to flow more freely, which is the correct way TO BE ABLE TO DO LIVE SHOWS. You may not like the result. But he is not sounding bad at all, maybe different. He do the rasp, but in a controlled way. Of course I would prefer to be 16 years again, to live that rn'r moment....but I'm almost 40....and I like to have Axl still singing. And one last thing: we can't compare GN'R/ AXL to Mettalica, Stones, etc... Axl is a natural baritone, who sings in the hyper acute registre of the voice, and this makes all the difference with the aging.

Great post and you're right about his voice and that's the problem as he gets older it naturally gets harder to do the high register stuff. If you listen properly his baritone voice is even richer and stronger these days and I wish he would use it more.

how can you look in axl's eyes he's wearing sunglasses all the time

He wasn't wearing them on most of the songs that night

Yeah, Axl used to be an amazing performer. One of the best. Nowadays, you are lucky if you get one spontaneous moment from him.

He still moves around good on the videos but I can't judge properly coz I haven't seen him live in person this week.

That was weird, someone replied and then deleted!

C'mon guys, you all are saying like it was a horrible end, but to me was nothing like that, and I believe that if you were there you won't be saying this. It's a youtube video.

They did a mistake in the end, but it's rock n roll, do you want a perfect show, axl singing like 25 years ago? Go hear the records then!

At this point I would take 2002 mickey mouse over this.

Yeah. At least in 02' there were new songs and Axls voice could be excused a little bit because he'd been out of the loop for awhile. But now? What's the excuse?

Yea exactly, I mean I wasn't the biggest fan of that 2002 voice, but it was passable.

Improvement he has made since 2002 gives me hope that he will do it again in the future.

Yeah but he was 40 in 02. He's now 52. It's a much harder battle against himself now for many reasons. A lot of people compare different singers, but truth is everyone is different. His throat is different, his stamina and fitness is different. I reckon he knows his voice better than anyone listening on youtube does. He will know his problems. If you are going to see GNR purely for his voice alone then you are aware of the risks you take. I go to see the band, to see Axl, to hear the songs and to hear him... and If im geeky enough i might try to catch them at the end for some photos or whatever. For me that's what I weight up.

Exactly, Axl has always been so much more than his voice. It's the whole concert experience

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/guns-n-roses-wiltern-concert-review-298885

It's quite a short review so please read it. I wanted to make a positive thread to remind people what an amazing experience it is seeing Axl in concert. This above review totally captures how he came across when I went to see him especially these lines :

In delicate, rather feminine gestures, his right hand interpreted the songs (helpful for those half-deafened by GNR). He ended “Sorry” by placing a dainty hand to his chest, then making a fist, then gazing down movingly on the last syllable. Sometimes he waggled and waved his fingers like Al Jolson. "

He was an entertainer so charming, you’d never know he had the reputation of an asshole. It’s almost like Rose's appetite for destruction became an appetite for audience seduction.

But even the raw moments had an autumnal feel of emotion recollected in tranquility. Rose’s urgent need to kill her, it seems, is no longer a present danger. He seemed as fond of his old hatreds as the audience was -- blissed-out with reminiscence. The most telling moments were the radiant ones, like his exquisite vibrato as he sang, “She wouldn’t say goodbye, it just might be that I had seen it in her eyes.”

I know it sounds so corny but if you've seen Axl perform you know it's true! His gestures, the way he moved round the stage and the sincerity in his eyes I still remember and I don't get how anyone could say they're done with being a fan of Axl's unless you have never seen him in concert. This reviewer totally gets it and you can tell he was effected by him. Did anyone else have same experience?

^ Replace Myles with Baz and you got a killer version of Guns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lamuYdAiXvg

No Slash there, though, and I think Myles is great on SCOM. Todd Kerns was pretty good on WTTJ when I saw Slash in 2012.

Yeah, I know there's no Slash there, but I meant that if you combine that video and the one you posted you can see/hear that line-up with Slash, Duff, Sorum, Gilby and Baz would be killer. Myles sounds good and he sings perfectly, but I just think that he lacks that special spark that rock singers need. He's great technical-wise, but I don't know... He doesn't have that certain edge. Nowadays Baz has the perfect balance of technicality and swagger, for the lack of a better word. He's not as good as Myles and he's not as bad as Axl, but he has that wild rock'n'roll thing going on that Axl has, but Myles don't.

Bach doing it like it should be done with passion, heart and rasp. Even before Axl sequels like a pig at the end of NR you can hear the boredom in his voice. Everyone knows this act is stale, even Axl.

Bach does the same check out mickey mouse voice at 0.48 secs

He has always been an inconsistent singer and often sings flat. He was totally flat all throughout youth gone wild and this was in his prime!

Plus he's 10 years younger than Axl so it's not fair to judge-wait til Bach is 52 and see if he still has power in his voice.

He's an incredible rock performer no doubt but his voice has never been perfect.

Went to two shows in 2014 . "He s not fat" and "great voice" are the two most used words by casual fans.

This

It's ok to release an album

It's unfortunate he can't sing full on rock like he used to but he never had great technique to start with so he was bound to lose the strength. It's a pity he didn't mature gracefully and sing more laid back style in his baritone voice. Then again I'd still like to see him doing Jungle etc.. but I wish he'd so more acoustic which would suit his older voice.

Jeez stop bashing him it's not that bad, he was great in concert when I saw him. I'm just glad he's still performing compared to the boring rock bands we have today. Very few or I can't think of any have the stage presence Axl has. He is the last of the truly great frontman. Yeh he coould dress better but he's slim, 52 and trying to sing in a hard rock style from when he was younger. Some rock singers' voices last when they're older some don't depends on genetics, lifestyle, taking care of your voice over the years..He still has his natural baritone voice. It's just his "harsh" voice or whatever you call it well that kind of singing is not going to last into your 50s as it's too damaging on the voice. Axl had vocal probelems even in the 90s. What did you expect? Unfortunately this all could be fixed as instead of doing loud falsetto screams on LALD and KOHD for example, if he just lowered the key and sang in his natural voice which is still strong on the verses of Patience and Don't Cry.

Now I understand why Axl's wearing shades all the time.

Omg that was hilarious

I can understand how the chidem after effects bummed him out but if he's still down about it after 6 years that's scary. Move on and put new songs out. Eh I rarely post here so moving on isn't an option. Why don't you attack a diehard fan? I hardly knew about gnr til they made headlines here over that Dublin show in 2010 and then I started listening to the music out of curiosity. Why don't you move on and do something else with you time rather than reply to a stranger on a message board! How boring either make conversation or ignore my post but to take the time to attack someone god you really have time on your hands

I can understand how the chidem after effects bummed him out but if he's still down about it after 6 years that's scary. Move on and put new songs out.

Yes in shape, clothes are ill fitting makes him look bigger, no new songs, Dj ashba I don't know he bores me

I think the whole experience with Chinese democracy, specifically the bull shit around it essentially being forced out, as well with the subsequent general shrug with which it was received (it almost would have been better if it sold 3 copies and was ripped the shreds critically, at least there would be motivation there) sort of made Axl not give a damn about releasing new music. What incentive is there for him really? If Axl has to go through a quarter of the bull shit he went through (granted a large portion was out upon himself) to release another album to a collective "eh," why the fuck would he bother? He can write and record an album of Elton john piano ballads and listen to them himself and that would like be more satisfying than releasing a new guns n roses album.

Yup.

Posted this before, it's still relevant:

A : The main thing about the next record is this is our dream, to get these songs out there into the public. Then once we get out there we’ll fight for them with the business side and stuff. But at this point that’s not what’s important. What’s important is the recording of the songs. If the business comes down on us really hard in a weird way, then we’ll make our choices - do we wanna deal with this, or do we not wanna fuckin’ deal with it? The record will sell a certain amount of copies the minute it comes out anyway, and we could live off that for the rest of our lives and record our records on small independent labels, it doesn’t matter. I mean, that’s not in the plans, but...ultimately, it just doesn’t matter, you know? It’s all down to what we want to deal with. Do we wanna give everything that we feel we have inside of ourselves, to do the shows to our top potential? Yes, we do. But I don’t choreograph things. I don’t know when I’m gonna slam down on my knees or whatever. It’s like, you have to ask yourself, do I wanna give all that, and have someone fuckin’ spitting in my face? Does it mean that much to me? No! I dig the songs. If you don’t want ‘em, fine. But I don’t have to give them to you.

K : I know you’ve often threatened it, but if you wanted to, could you really leave all this behind - the band, your career in the music business - not just financially, but emotionally, artistically?

A : If I wanted to badly enough, sure. This is all right, in bits and pieces, but whether it’ll take up all the chapters in the book of my life, I don’t know. I would like to record for a long time....I have to make this album. Then it doesn’t matter. This album is the album I’ve always been waiting on. Our second album is the album I’ve been waiting on since before we got signed. We were planning out the second album before we started work on the first one! But as much as it means to me, if it bombs, if that happens, yeah, I’m sure I’ll be bummed business-wise and let down or whatever, but at the same time it doesn’t matter. It’s like, I got it out there. That’s the artistic thing taken care of. Then I could walk away...

K : What about the money - could you walk away from that?

A : I’d like to make the cash off the touring, and then I’d like to walk away knowing that I can support my kids, for whatever they want, for the rest of my life, you know?....and that I can still donate to charities. I’d like to have that security. I’ve never known any security in my whole life. The financial aspect is just to get that security. If I have that in the bank I can live off the interest and still have money to spend on whatever - including, top of the list, the welfare of my own immediate and future family.

Interview from April 1990.

Looks that pretty much answered it. Chidem was created and he felt no need to do anymore and he likes to tour for the cash.

If he has a contract with the label for more gnr records why isn't the label pushing Axl to release something? How do contracts work wiht this situation?

Some artists retire even if they still owe albums. Billy Joel said he owes 3 albums, so they keep putting greatest hits collections out.

Thanks, that explains that gnr GH a few years ago I think it was or maybe it got cancelled

If he has a contract with the label for more gnr records why isn't the label pushing Axl to release something? How do contracts work wiht this situation?

I loved Chidem too that's why it's sad to see such a great talent like Axl not release new music. I don't think in history of rock has another artist so big as Axl ever come to such a standstill creatively for so long as he has. This is the guy who wrote some of the greatest rock songs of all time. I was watching a Joni Mitchell interview recently and she mentioned how she's been lucky to have hardly ever experienced writer's block. She mentioned that there are musicians who have written a couple of great songs or one great album and that was it for them creatively. Axl still had it on Chidem but that was years ago. Maybe Axl has severe writer's block.

Or, he got rid of anyone that ever possibly give him a kick in the ass when needed.

Look at all the producers he fired. What was the common denominator? Eventually, they all reached that same point where it was time to get on with it, and Axl didn't want to hear that.

I agree. I said earlier that it's weird that Chidem was forced out and even weirder that they were good songs and Axl didn't think it was ready. He was crazy to let Buckethead go-Axl and him could've been a great duo! Axl reminds me of what Jimi Hendrix said in an interview a couple of weeks before his death. He said "I've been dead a long time" explaining he was just touring playing the hits and not creating anymore. He was still creative but sadly that's how he saw himself. However this could be perfectly applied to Axl!

I think Chidem is on another level creatively from anything the original Gnr members have created. Slash, Duff's music since gnr split is pretty average. Axl's output is smaller than them but has more soul and heart in my opinion.

Yeah? What level of creativity are we talking here? Having BBF tunelessly shred a million miles all over incredibly boring and uninspired Pitman synth beds?

It's an interesting and profoundly personal album This review says it all.http://www.antimusic.com/reviews/11/Another_Look-_Guns_N_Roses_Chinese_Democracy.shtml#.UyyCxPl_uSo

Of the original 5 he is literally the last one I could see of that group being content to tour appetite every night and churn out the hits with no interest in anything but cashing a check.

His career has been in the shitter since he hooked up with TB. Read into that what you will.

I think Chidem is on another level creatively from anything the original Gnr members have created. Slash, Duff's music since gnr split is pretty average. Axl's output is smaller than them but has more soul and heart in my opinion.

Now is the time for new music though and it's frustrating he can't release anything anymore.

Sadly, he appears to have lost his creative drive.

At this point, I just wish my favorite rock singer of all time would release ONE more album in his career. How sad is it that I'm saying that about a guy who has release one album in the last 20 years. SOOOOOOOO much talented wasted.

Agree

You can't judge a performance, specially a vocal one, using cell phone videos as a basis. His voice was good, he hit the notes. Many press vehicles are calling it his best performance in Brazil after the golden days.

This!

You people are the reason why Axl doesn't have to give a shit anymore. Your mediocre standards are so low you would buy Axl's shit for $200.

Haha no thanks I won't be buying it!

I loved Chidem too that's why it's sad to see such a great talent like Axl not release new music. I don't think in history of rock has another artist so big as Axl ever come to such a standstill creatively for so long as he has. This is the guy who wrote some of the greatest rock songs of all time. I was watching a Joni Mitchell interview recently and she mentioned how she's been lucky to have hardly ever experienced writer's block. She mentioned that there are musicians who have written a couple of great songs or one great album and that was it for them creatively. Axl still had it on Chidem but that was years ago. Maybe Axl has severe writer's block.

You can't judge a performance, specially a vocal one, using cell phone videos as a basis. His voice was good, he hit the notes. Many press vehicles are calling it his best performance in Brazil after the golden days.

This!

Also the fans know so little about Axl now compared to when he was more open in his younger days. I mean does he even compose every day? Does he have material recorded and ready to go? Is he frustrated that he can't release new music or does he want to but the record company don't want another nuGnr album? If he communicated even just once a year with the fans then they're wouldn't be all this backlash. Why in Axl's last 2 interviews could they not have asked him proper questions? In Bumblefoot, Dizzy, Ashba's interviews they express frustration and never mention it's the record cpmpany's fault so is because of Axl? It's neverending mystery why even middle aged acts like Stevie Nicks, Kate Bush and Motley Crue can release albuns but Axl can't.