Torb

He was a better guitarist with Conspirators until about 2012, then something happened.
With Gn'R is nowhere near where he was in the 90's: lack of taste in improvising, poor lick selection and endless noodling.

We all agree that making comparison with the early days in general could be pointless, but he's really the worst aged rock guitarist right now. Playing guitar in time should make you better and better (experience grows fast with instruments), not the opposite.

I really believe it's just laziness tho, almost the same shit as Axl. As long as most of fans are ok with that, we'll never see those two willing to improve, or give their real 100% at least.

I guess there's no much to say about: he just needs a vocal coach, re-learn how to sing those songs again and fuckin' prepare to tour. In 2016 he surely had someone to tell him how to do his shit, the """reunion""" thing was too big to leave it to chance.

Well, if this means "suck as guitar player"...

Watching some clips from this gig. Weird as fuck, to say the least.

Band with absolutely no identity, but Axl's "Mickey" was definitely more powerful and 1985-ish than now. The only good thing that has Axl now is that he can control the screams very well, along with the rasp he uses on SOYL.

35 minutes ago, T-Minus said:

Slash certainly isn't perfect or going full tilt these days but to bring him down to anywhere near the depth that Ashba is, is frankly ludicrous.  Ashba's tone, technical skills and "persona" are all completely laughable.  He never even hid it when he was in GnR… He'd play solos until they got too fast or technical then he'd hold a note whilst Ron would come in and do the hard work.  Check Sweet Child or Rocket Queen as examples of this.  He may aswell have had a nap when they played shackler's, he did literally nothing during the song and if I remember used to hit a drum or some shit during Maddy.  They should have just gave him a board to wear hocking his overpriced, shitty merch and music and a triangle..  That would be about his level.

I recommend you to listen to his solo work, he has DEFINITELY technical skills. Letting Ron play those parts was a band choice imho. Tone is a matter of personal taste, for example I hate how Slash' classic LP sounds nowadays. The Goldtop instead is freakin' awesome.

Robin tone was disgusting tbh  

For the persona matter...well, he came to greet us fans twice at the 2012 Gn'R show in Milan and seemed humble indeed. On stage he may look cocky, I agree with that, but as long he's cool in real life I'm ok.

13 minutes ago, Lio said:

But music isn't objective to me. A large part is about how it makes you feel. I don't have to be a musician to decide who is the better one for me. And many people seem to agree, hence the positive reviews and people being overwhelmed by him.

To my knowledge, Slash hasn't butchered anything as badly as that SCOM intro, technical issue or not (he should've stopped instead of making them all look like fools), and his Patience solo is outright atrocious. Even other band members were mocking him on stage.

On topic: I don't hate Mi Amor or Ballad of Death, but without vocals, I don't really care.

It starts to be objective when someone points out at live mistakes (or remarkable wins). I'm not comparing Slash and DJ, I only said that it's incoherent to highlight someone's mistakes when praising a guy who does basically the same stuff.

Last year Slash failed on SCOM not playing the entire intro and cutting it even before the drums entrance. It'll be hard to find that video again but I'll do my best if you're interested.

3 minutes ago, zombux said:

I've just came to an interesting point.

all the big 3 - Axl, Slash and Duff - have sort of dried out and exhausted their creative force around the same time. 

just think about it.

Axl - doing the last creative efforts on ChiDem around 2004. later only BBF and Frank additions were made.

Slash - Contraband was still fresh, but Libertad was shit and the later solo albums shit as well.

Duff - 90's solos and early 2000's Loaded were great, but post VR Loaded are mediocre crap.

those guys seem to consume all their creative energy around the same time in 2004 and now they're just together in the nostalgia wagon.

I'd add a couple of things:

Axl burnt out his creativity but performance-wise was still prepared and on point until 2010 (AXL/DC and NA 2016 being the exception).

Same for Slash, until World On Fire he was playing very good and kinda improved technically.
Duff never did anything remarkable tbh, Loaded and Walking Papers are cool though.

Just now, Lio said:

Too bad that you don't seem to enjoy Slash as much as most do.

Enjoy something is personal, I'm talking about facts: people like the way Slash is playing nowadays? Cool, no problem with that, but they have to be objective.

1 minute ago, Lio said:

Oh please, cut it out. Slash is butchering nothing at all. You don't ahve to believe me. All reviews I've seen confirm he's stellar.

I don't hate DJ, but come on, he's in a different league and a poser to boot.

Reviews? I've been there twice mate. He doesn't play a lot of UYI solos in the way they're meant to be, neither half of it. He tries to improvise on that stuff with meh results.
And I'm not going into the technical errors, that's another whole story.

3 minutes ago, zombux said:

true. Slash is butchering Robin's and Bucket's solo as well. 

Even some of his own solos.

These two are really good pieces of music, there's no need to hate.

I remind to you Ashba haters that Slash nowadays is doing mistakes and bad impro as well...but people don't want to bash at him only because it's Slash. I don't care if he's the original player of those solos, it's the same f'n live butchering.

On 23/6/2018 at 3:11 AM, AlexC said:

Any videos of This I Love yet? I suspect it was probably the best of this leg in terms of vocals. Be interesting to hear it.

You're right man. Definitely improved since Berlin, I think he was/is not 100% healthy throat-wise.

1 hour ago, AFGnR said:

This I Love is not the greatest this leg, and the solo doesn't go anywhere. Great crowd tho.

Yeah, they could easily drop it. Song was best with in 2009-2014. They proved in an entire tour that they can play it with Slash and Duff too (despite the horrible solos), but now it's time to move on. So Fine maybe? 

5 hours ago, Pedrolg said:

People listening to this and saying Axl is great and his voice is fine is truly beyond me. Hope he knows what he is doing with his voice. 

TIL is basically the only song on which he had troubles. He tries to push it too much and he goes well only on the last chorus. Definitely needs to practice more on the voice management. 

15 minutes ago, colonizedmind said:

News Flash : Franks Still in the band 

He fuckin' ruled tonight. Solid and powerful till the end. 

Came back just now in my hotel room. I'll be brief: I forgive them for the disappointing show last year in Imola. The entire band was focused as fuck and played the songs at their own tempo. Slash actually tried to play some phrases in his solos and did less useless noodling. Most of his improvising is still structureless, but he did a step forward indeed. 

Axl..I honestly don't remember him singing so well in this last year. It's like he was aware of his voice problems when he pushes it too much and found a way to avoid it. RQ outro was pretty impressive and he kinda nailed the ending of Coma. Some great rasp on PC too. Nightrain was killer, I jumped all the time. In few words, he was still far away from NA 2016, but not THAT far. Almost forgot, it was crystal clear that he "mickeys" on purpose, he did a lot of voice changes also in few seconds. 

The equalization was definitely better this time, but also kinda bad again. Slash guitar was too loud (poor Richard) and the general sound a bit to bassy. I guess there's something with Frank's noise gates or shit like that. 

8-/10

48 minutes ago, bangit said:

Axl's voice is a wild animal, he never has had full control of that rasp! plenty of times back in the illusion period where it sounded like it was 'out of control'. On the occasion where he does tame the beast it sounds best obviously. He never was perfect and never will be. The consequences of singing like that are more than likely why we he struggles today to sing some of the old the stuff the same way. He certainly has less control of it these days though. 

Back in the day he didn't squeak during those screams. Speaking of nowadays, 2010, 2016 and AXL/DC proves that he can do it whenever he wants, he's just lazy AF I guess. 

23 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

What? Axl was on fucking point.

Pay more attention to the videos. Didn't say it sucked though, but he's definitely losing control. I'm just worried about the consequences of singing like that. 

43 minutes ago, Nosaj Thing said:

Exactly what I thought.  Frank ruins every real Gn'R song.

Keep this in mind: Frank plays like that because the band wants so. Period. I remember him playing different (even better maybe) during 2009-2014. When Stinson&co were there, the arrangements were different also. 

Then if you like it or not it's another story and I may agree with you. 

I was there when they joined Foo Fighters.

At first only Duff walked on stage and I went already nuts for that...when Axl came in I completed lost it

Couldn't help to notice that his voice cracked a bit on the final part though. I guess he just pushes it too much,  should go easier on those screams with less power. 

Let's see tonight what happens. 

A year ago, after the Imola show I said: "Won't attend any other Gn'R show, as long as I have to burst my ass in the sun waiting for hours"...Well, I'll be there. I purchased the 4-days pit ticket for Firenze Rocks and found a hotel which is literally less than 10 minutes by walk from the venue. So no more melting in the sun for me, gonna go in at about 7.30. I have really low expectations tbh.

In the worst scenario I'll please myself with Iron Maiden, Helloween, Judas Priest and Ozzy, the following days  

Coma was a total train wreck. The solo was bad too this time, the stream got off at the right time 

'Nuff for me, goodnight folks!

Just now, BorderlineCrazy said:

Shocking thing to see in a rock n' roll show. This is Guns N' fn' Roses, not Axl's shitty solo band full of heartless technical machines  (that doesn't include Buckethead, he's perfect at everything).

Perfection in rock n' roll doesn't exist, I agree, but Slash is a lazy ass guitarist. Still trying to figure out what the hell happened to him after 2011, with SMKC he was on a whole another level.

Back in topic, this is the worst Coma ever. Axl is off both on key and tempo, WTF

2 minutes ago, BorderlineCrazy said:

Let's focus on how awesome Slash is! 

I already counted at least 3 bends botched on Civil War lol

Just started watching and...god. Painful to hear. I know that Axl sounds better in person, but he really needs to put his shit together and re-learn how to sing those songs. Don't wanna use rasp? Fine, but he needs to study and figure out a way.