gunsfanoldie

I'm sorry, he doesn't sound ANYTHING like 1992 there. Certainly not in the his spirit has inhabited his body or anything. I don't know how to describe what that is but its not 1992. Its more like a muppet croaking than anything else. And I'm really not meaning to be negative, but, to me, thats such a weird thing to call out as "prime Axl". Prime Axl is the voice we know him to have back then, not just anytime he's not totally clean voiced.

Sure, but have you met Irving Azoff? His goal is to make the most amount of money for his client. A GNR reunion is what would do that, especially once Axl kinda squandered opportunities for NuGuns to really be its own entity. Its not surprising to me at all that Azoff would push that. I wouldn't expect it to go over well with Axl, but I could also see Azoff thinking he could sweet talk Axl in a way that others couldn't. He's not wrong to have pushed it, any sane man would, or at least massage Axl into thinking its his own idea. But in the end it seems it was never gonna happen until Slash, unfortunately, got a divorce and kinda came crawling back with his tail between his legs. I was team Slash the whole way, but Axl won the war with the reunion. Done on his terms.

The bar has been set so low that this is being seen as the greatest thing ever. Its fine, but like you say it doesn't touch top tier CD. Its just shiny and new and it was unexpected, but to come even close to comparing it to TWAT or Prostitute, to me, shows how desperate we are for new material that we're not thinking straight.

Slightly curious if there's a handwritten stage setlist to reference for last night. Very curious what the original set must have been before Axl clearly hit a wall and called some audibles. Curious if the General was setlisted or not.

Can't imagine much changing. I actually thought before this year they really needed to shake it up, and to their credit they did. From here on out, I expect just more of the same. They covered most of the songs this time around that hadn't come out and I'd have expected earlier like Bad Obsession and Pretty Tied Up. At this point, the biggest songs that haven't been revived are Think About You, Move To The City and Perfect Crime. I guess Dust N Bones and 14 Years if Izzy came back, and maybe You Ain't The First but thats about it. They've covered about 60 different songs at this point since 2016, including all the various covers. The only two "gimmicks" I could see them having left to play if they wanted are an original 5 Appetite lineup, or a tour where they play all of Appetite, both of which seemed more likely to me before this year. Now I don't feel they'll really have to. Then I guess there's the farewell tour but yeah, I don't know. I think they could just continue this as long as they want. There's no way we get an album. IMO.

Another praise I want to heap on them/Axl. This year was the first time I'd seen them since 2021. And I got 8 songs I'd never heard them do. 7 years into the reunion, thats pretty good. And then on top of that, 3 more songs I hadn't heard this week in Perhaps, Locomotive and The Blues (by this lineup). Definitely give them credit for the shake up this year that really warranted returning to a show again.

Without question, this is the most I've enjoyed Axl since the reunion started. He killed it for the most part, and his energy and enthusiasm was my favorite part of most shows. The other guys are usually reliably good, and Axl absolutely held his own this year, with some excellent choice new songs that freshened up the set and didn't strain his voice. I think his biggest issue is the undroppable songs are the ones he just can't do anymore. I saw Bon Jovi years ago and his set was great till he got to Bad Medicine, Runaway, Wanted Dead or Alive and Livin On A Prayer at the end. He just can't sing them anymore, and that sucks cause he can't not play them. Its like Jungle, Sweet Child, Paradise City and November Rain. Vocally his hardest songs are the ones people wait to hear from him and he's known for, but he still sounds great on the lower register ones.

Same here! There's a video my friend took of he and I going nuts during Nightrain and Paradise City. I've seen the band enough, doesn't really matter how he sounds to me, I'm there to have fun and thats exactly what we did. And I got fucking Locomotive. They could do the worst version of it ever and I'll still be happy. Moments like that and the General for you, thats just being there. We're all there to have a blast while this band still exists, criticisms aren't meant to cancel that out, its just other notes.

Absolutely there's good and bad. I was thrilled with what I saw on Wednesday, but I'm not gonna lie to people and say he sounded good. I was with a friend, he has ears, he'd think I was crazy to defend that lol. I was like "this is worse than usual." And again, thats not said in a judgey way. I saw him in August and thought he sounded better, this is later in the tour I'm sure he's more tired. I also give him credit I really had no problem with his voice this week because I thought he was a lot more animated, which is a perfectly reasonable trade off for me. I'm not expecting the world from him. Hollywood Bowl didn't help him either, as I'm sure you noticed last night, cause his voice was really high in the mix. Which I liked but doesn't help to drown out any of his bum notes.

The hoops people will jump through to defend him is really an Olympic sport at this point. He sounds terrible, there's nothing wrong with saying that. If its not weak, then its strong Mickey, which is still Mickey, and still at times sounds a lot like a dying cat. Dude is 62? I'm not judging him for it, I applaud he even goes out on stage. But seriously, its like there's no objectivity in anything with Axl anymore.

Realistically? They probably wouldn't have played it. I wish, WISH, it wasn't like pulling teeth with this band but it always is. Not putting out Chinese from 2000-2008? What are we supposed to do? At some point, we needed leaks. By the time the band finally gets somewhere its usually because some other entity has pushed them. It would have been great if we got the General without ever having heard it, but thats just not how they operate. Its the same as the whole Perhaps release as well. There's just always an issue with these guys and while this was a great moment, it could have been even more epic if they were a little more well run. And I don't think thats asking too much. Just feels like they get mad about stuff that is mostly self inflicted.

I couldn't BELIEVE his show at the Beacon was like $125 in New York. I get it, its NY, its a premium, he's back in GNR so it costs more. But fuck, I used to see Slash for $50 AFTER fees. And the setlists were SO much better. Guns, VR and Snakepit material, in addition to quality solo music. Now all of that is gone and the new solo music is quite bland. And what he plays from his other solo albums are basically just the hits, which were never my most favorite. Still love the guy and that band, which I think is seriously underrated, but rising prices and poorer sets can't bring me back to seeing him again. I've just seen too many far superior shows before he rejoined Guns that it can't compare.

Anyone else think Axl kinda looks like Danny Elfman these days lol? Random thought I had when I was at Hollywood Bowl #1.

A shorter set will probably be necessary at some point, but I just hope it doesn't end up as this every night: 1. Its So Easy 2. Mr. Brownstone 3. Chinese Democracy 4. Welcome To The Jungle 5. Live And Let Die 6. Estranged 7. Double Talkin' Jive 8. Rocket Queen 9. You Could Be Mine 10. Civil War 11. Sweet Child O Mine 12. November Rain 13. Knockin' On Heaven's Door 14. Nightrain ENCORE: 15. Patience/Don't Cry 16. Paradise City Casuals will love it, but thats the 2 hour show there. We get almost an hour and a half of extras these days, which really help to go repeat times. And its hard for me to picture shows where they don't feel obligated to play ALL of them (even though I think you could certainly rotate those all in but not play them every night).

Wow! I'm truly shocked. Was so glad to see you were at this show too! I was there last night so I'm bummed to miss The General but also that looks like the only thing of note here. He must have been really crushed after last night. I was thrilled to get Locomotive, but also Axl sounded rough almost the whole show. Its not totally surprised he's destroyed tonight. Cool that he gave the moment of the General to make up for an almost 45 minute shorter show. Still hope you had a great time! You got an all time moment for sure!