Stress Fracture

Out Ta Get Me is fixed in the new video.

I prefer Estranged.

I wouldn’t mind November Rain being left in. It’s a fun moment from Axl, something that shows how much he’s changed, but obviously it would be a better listening experience if they edited out the broken piano carrying on after the band restarts. That said, my expectation even before the tour started was that they would do another Live Era type of release from various shows.

I imagine trying to find a chemistry with Buckethead would be difficult for anyone but always thought the final line up was a rock solid unit to the point of being boring. Easy to see why Richard would enjoy playing second fiddle to Slash more than third fiddle to Ashba, though. This line up is by far the best it’s ever been for him even if he has had to give up some of the solos he did before.

Re: the adverts. I saw a tip in the YouTube comments section to skip to the end of the video and then hit replay to lose them. It costs them earnings, I guess, but the way the ads have been clumsily placed makes it their own fault. It’s not a coincidence the ads come in after the songs have started or are about to end, it’s a mistake by whoever’s responsible.

I hope Fernando is just being his usual self for whatever reason is going through his head and that this isn’t the best the Houston show can be made to sound.

November Rain being the only song from Houston would be Fernando’s defining moment.

Anything positive I could say about this new song is countered by another waste of Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha’s talents. This is a weird reunion.

It’s what I would imagine a collaboration between Nickelback and Tim McGraw to sound like, but that would be a hit and loved by many, so if that’s what they’re going for, fair enough. Joe Elliott also automatically makes it sound like a latter day Def Leppard ballad when doing his bit but I cringe for and at Corey Taylor.

It would be good for them and us if they did. The Metallica show isn’t a proper live one, their production team is going to iron out any kinks. So this would be a good opportunity for GNR to put out a perfect NITL show. But I’d rather watch any such show at home than a drive-in.

Taken on its own I’ve always enjoyed it, but in the context of coming off the back of a covers album (on top of two covers being released as singles from UYI) it said everything about the sad demise of that band. And here we still are waiting for a second album since then.

Just listened to Frank’s interview with Eddie Trunk who asked him about new GNR music. ’Sooner than later’ was the best he could offer. That will age well over the coming years.

Even Nirvana included a new song on their greatest hits in 2002. Kurt Cobain managed to do what Axl couldn’t while he was dead.

Listening back to back, I now think Axl’s vocal is entirely new but messed about with in some way. The ‘s’ at the end of lines sound very... ‘processed’? Even so, I’ll take them doing that on a new album because he does a respectable job of performing this song live. There are three guitars in there and it would be nice to think Izzy is in the mix as a mark of respect if nothing else but I suspect he isn’t because there is no respect.

When they reformed, the obvious bet was that a new compilation with two new tracks would appear sometime in 2016. So in 2020 here’s what you get. From Hollywood! Guns N’ Roses!