Pedrolg

Still didn't get around to look for videos. Did Axl sing most of the songs in his low voice?

1 minute ago, --DEA-- said:

The big question.. Is he cracking jokes? 

He seemed pissed, tbh, but thankfully not as pissed as he would get 30 years ago.

19 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

No, he doesn't sing them higher, but you're into something valid here. Where he "normally" sings with the upper spectrum of his normal low/mid range voice, he now uses the lower range of his falsetto instead and it all sounds weak. But a good way to save his voice.

Funny is that he could easily sing ycbm with the same voice as as he use on the chorus on ChiDem, for example. That would sound awsome.

But I'm a bit tired of the suggestion he should sing in lower tunes. His high falsetto is just fine. 

It is not just fine. I challenge you to show WTJ or SCOM from last gig to anybody who is not a hardcore fan, get a positive reaction "hmm, this sounds fine" and post it here. Fine it is not. Axl sounds like a parody, I've seen better renditions of GNR songs at karaoke bars.

3 minutes ago, DTJ80 said:

I’m going next month so A) I know what I’ll be getting and B) I’m still absolutely looking forward to it and will totally rock out. But that doesn’t mean we can’t point out clear issues - Better has always been dodgy live but recently it’s plain bad….to the point it should be a one-off if he thinks he can do it justice (a special 3 song set somewhere where he could go absolutely hell for leather and rest for about 6 months 🤣).

There are others in the set too which could be rested and rotated. Bad Obsession is an obvious one which is always given as an example - yet is never played?!

The obvious thing would be to add new stuff with current vocals but we know the current situation on that.

Ive conversed with you before on this and had good chat as you seem quite knowledgeable about vocals - I personally would be quite pleased if he kept the current approach on the big guns (SCOM, NR) but completely refreshed his approach to others. It might be stark but I think it would be cool - go deep on stuff he was high on before as he still has that voice, its got real power and for the ‘non-hits’ who would really complain?

As I say - I’ll be going next month and enjoying the hell out of it as apart from a few terrors like Better - I’m absolutely used to the current approach and can still dig the overall band.

It should be better next month. Axl always gets better as the tour goes on. The first 5 shows or so are usually him at his worst in any given leg of a tour.

2 minutes ago, Powderfinger said:

He should change his approach by stopping. Whatever may come from studio sessions will or won’t come, but live he’s finished. When you can’t sing it doesn’t matter what approach you take. 

To say he should stop is harsh. I don't think most rock fans realize that in about 20 years or so all our favourite bands and artists will be gone, either retired or dead. Guys like Mick Jagger are approaching 80, Angus will soon be 70. Metallica might last a little bit longer, but the point being that we are witnessing the classic rock era withering away. Most of us will see the end of this era, and I don't think everybody realizes how much we will miss being able to go to a stadium concert. When he is really finished and all you can do is go see Greta von Fleet for a rock concert you'll probably regret those words . I'd rather have Axl mickeying the shit out of GNR songs for a few more years than no GNR at all. At least he is still Axl, some songs still sound decent etc.

With that said, there has to be a a way he can change his approach. The mickey thing worked to some extent from 2011 up to 2016, while he could still bring out the power at some spots and balance things out. It is not working anymore. Unless you are there, drinking etc, live versions of GNR songs are impossible to enjoy at this point. They range from passable for very few songs (Patience, ISE) to absolutely painful to listen to (YCBM, SCOM, Better).

I have this feeling that Axl is fully aware of his vocal decline and this is a huge factor in his lack of motivation to release new music. He used to be such a powerhouse, and with all its faults, Chi Dem really pushes the limits of his abilities as a singer, with songs like TWAT, IRS. Being such a shell of his former self is probably hard on him too. He isn't stupid, he is a trained musician with decades of experience, I'm sure he knows what's up.

Anyway, in 2019 I had a few beers with someone I know involved in organizing RIR here in Brazil. He shared a story about people from Axl's camp mentioning to RIR organizers that Axl had considered retirement in the past few years, the reason being that he felt he was losing his voice and was unsure if it was right to keep performing like that. 

This is just bar talk, a rumour that hasn't been checked at all. I'm by no means well informed on the topic and don't claim to be, but since it's on topic I tought I'd share it anyway.

It's not only with Axl, Slash and Fortus had issues there too. 

Axl is really a step above the rest of this leg tonight.

1 minute ago, FabioRoses said:

I'm prepared. June 4th at Portugal, everybody will say "Axl is done" "Oh mickey is singing for Guns N' Roses now" and by mid-tour everything will be fine again. 

Well, the rough starts are getting rougher and rougher, aren't they? And everything being fine is a little less awesome with each year. You are right though, I really thought he was done for good this time and it seems I overreacted. Still, those first few shows sucked on a whole new level.

Lol at Axl actually sounding good right at the time to home. Probably will come back sounding terrible in a few months again.

1 hour ago, WVsax27 said:

I'd rather Axl sing use his falsetto or sing "clean" and hit the notes than down-tune to hell like Kiss does

Kiss is actually lip syncing these days. I'm fine with Axl doing what he is doing, it is serviceable and he is doing his best.

The thing that bothers me is why release stuff made by a late 30's Axl for a late 30's Axl? Hard skool is a bitch to sing. Hell, I can see Axl in 92, 93 having some issues with it on bad vocal days. New material is really an opportunity for Axl to come up with music that play into his strenghts (and he still can perform quite well when he sticks to those). Instead he releases a screamfest from 99.

2 minutes ago, FabioRoses said:

Okay, I'm cutting the Hard Skool crap. That was the best I heard Axl sound since 2016. He was really pumped and warmed up. 

Which makes it even more bizarre that they didn't play it. 

It has nothing to do with vocals I think. Axl is having a really good night vocally, he could pull it off. It's just typical GNR disfunctional behaviour.

For what we have come to expect post 2016 Axl is fuckin on tonight. All around decent with some beastly moments.

Axl is handling Coma pretty decently tbh

3 hours ago, Towelie said:

So I actually watched the AFDemocracy DVD the other day for the first time in years and was shocked by how much better he was even back in 2012. 

Anyhoo, I've spent some time watching Youtube vids of the recent shows. Yeah, I know he sounds magically better in person and Youtube videos lie blah blah blah, but putting all that aside for a moment, I was surprised to see how he sings almost everything exclusively clean nowadays. Any rasp is blink and you miss it. 

Of course, Hershey was a complete trainwreck, but no worse than some of the lows from 17-19. His voice has become more stable since then. These days, I actually think I prefer Axl embracing the clean sound totally, rather than wheezing and struggling to muster up some rasp which just wrecks his voice and doesn't sound good. No use trying to find something that simply isn't there.

Some songs don't sound too bad with his clean voice, Madagascar, Live & Let Die and even SCOM is passable. Jungle suffers these days. It's a shame as that one always used to be one he could knock out of the park, even on a bad day.

I really think a new arrangement of Nov Rain is needed at this stage. It's just sounded ropey for what seems like forever now. An acoustic version with some melody-line tweaks from Axl would make the world of difference imo.

This time he is really going out of the way to avoid the rasp and as you put, embracing the clean voice. Even the screams are clean.  As awesome as it is, the rasp does wreck his voice and using it as much as he did in 2016 did him in. Is not as big a step down as the one between 2010 and 2011.

I thought he sounded quite passable on the past 2 or 3 shows. Not great but a lot of 59 year old dudes doing worse these days. His performances are also really intense and there are a lot hints of classic axl in the way he's been movimg and running around on stage. Not much more you can ask from the guy at this point. Except for more new music, of course.

Of course there are reasonable concerns over the vaccines. In fact, there are reasonable concerns over the use of advil or paracetamol. There are reasonable concerns over the comsumption of alcohol. The main thing here is that the benefits at this point when it comes to covid vaccines outweight the potential risks by so much that there shouldn't be a debate. In Brazil for instance, around 97% of deaths right now are in unvaccinated people. This seems to be a trend in most places where vaccination is underway.

Covid is not mild respiratory disease. The death rate of 1% thrown around here is a rough estimate. Covid has death rates that vary from less than 1% to upwards of 8% depending on the dominant variant, population age, each countries response to it and, wait for it... availability of vaccines.  

The disease is evolving and adapting to us, becoming more transmissible yet, apparently, more dangerous, with higher viral loads. At this point it could conceivably evolve into deadlier and deadlier strains, rendering current treatments and vaccines useless - there are some scientists in England that actually predict this is happening. Even if the death toll remains at 1%, the impact of the ongoing pandemic is catastrophic, it's weight on health systems and economic consequences becoming a burden for generations.

As I said before, I don't think anybody here wants to go out of their way to attack and insult other members. At the same time it is really hard to supress how I feel on this matter. There isn't a single rational argument that justifies refusing vaccines at this point. Sweden gets thrown around. It's a failure, a deathzone when compared to it's neighbours and a country that has disgraceful numbers for it's hdi and social and economic standing. Vaccines are proven to immensely help in death prevention ate every single country they have been deployed so far.

I understand that nobody should be objectively forced to inject a substance in their bodies against the will, but restrictions are the way forward. I hate to say this but I hope they get severe to the point where the only place antivaxxers can linger are antivaxxers homes. Wanting to remain unvaccinated and go to events like huge rock concerts is absolutely selfish and insane.

Axl's voice coming back a bit. Nightrain is noticeably better than the old one lol. I mean the previous renditions in this leg.

14 minutes ago, PatrickS77 said:

Uh, I'm sure I do. Once again, for the people in the back:

The virus can be deadly. But "often" (the majority of cases?) it is not deadly. That's the point.

And to make the point clearer, as for you to not chime in again, saying there is no point: If the virus would be really deadly, then everyone would die. But some don't even notice they have it, so, it is not deadly. It's only sometimes, for some people deadly. Getting it is not a death sentence.

Still, what is exactly the point? Playing russian roulette with a six shooter is also not deadly. Only one in six will end up shooting themselves, and not all of them will die, some of them will be saved with medical care. So it will only sometimes, for some people, be deadly. Still, if millions of people decide to play russian roulette daily, the death toll and serious physical injury toll will be catastrophic.

21 minutes ago, FabioRoses said:

Saw some vids right now on YT, he's doing fine, full clean voice, but in songs like Rocket Queen (ending) and others like (Sweet Child O' Mine, Kohd) where the clean voice usually annoys me, in this particular concert it didn't, may be his best performance since 2017, considering we are setting the bar pretty low here. Yeah, of course he's struggling sometimes, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be fine by the end of the tour, and in 2022 we're going down this road again, rough start, then it's fine. 

But the rough is getting rougher, and the fine is getting less fine each year. Today's fine was 2016's rough.