Blackstar

I have started a separate thread for this

Being discussed in the last few pages of the New Album thread (discussion starts here), but that thread is for general new music (and random) discussion and it's very likely that this new information is not related to new GN'R music, so it's better to have a separate thread for it. So, Axl did a recording session at Metropolis studios in London last night with producer/engineer Michael Voss (apparently Voss flew to London from Germany just for that session). A few weeks back, Voss also recorded Slash with Michael Schenker in a studio in Frankfurt. Apparently Voss is Michael Schenker's producer and the session with Slash was for the new Michael Schenker album.

Yeah, I agree. Maybe I'll do that a bit later (if someone else hasn't in the meantime).

I thought Axl was back in L.A., because TB (Vanessa, at least) are, but apparently he's in London (or at least he was until yesterday).

Yeah, though in this case the guy, Michael Voss, is really Michael Schenker's producer, and it appears he's indeed working on a new MS album currently and that the Slash session with MS was for that. So it's a reasonable guess that Axl's session was for that as well.

Maybe it's piano (for Michael Schenker's album) and not vocals?

Well, that seems very likely. But how random, if true (for Axl, not Slash). Then again, Axl has done random things like that before.

Yeah, now I can see them. I couldn't see them moments ago though. Weird.

The comments under the IG post are gone. The post itself is still there though https://www.instagram.com/p/CvWtT8uq-kj/ EDIT: My bad. Comments are still there.

3:30 A.M. Classic Axl...

I don't. I can't think of anything that seems related. Here is a translation of that article: https://www.a-4-d.com/t7429-2001-mm-dd-rs-argentina-axl-rose-fifteen-days-in-the-life

We don't know. People have just speculated what it might stand for.

Here is a translation: ---------------------------- Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, gives a solo performance at a luxury club near Saint-Tropez This week, the Guns N' Roses singer performed at a charity gala in the green setting of Gassin. A top-secret appearance that some guests were nevertheless able to capture on video. It was the best-kept secret on the peninsula this week: "An intimate private dinner in support of Unicef". While the theme of the event may not be the most exciting in these days of numerous summer charity events on our shores, there was one participant who had what it takes to turn things around. All you had to do in order to find out was get hold of a copy of the precious invitation card that certain privileged guests had received over the last few days to attend the Polo Club de Saint-Tropez in Gassin on Tuesday July 25. There, on an elegant blue background, was Axl Rose's name in capital letters, with the words "Special Guest". If there was any doubt about the announcement, the temperamental Guns N' Roses singer lived up to his word between petits fours and cocktails, singing behind a piano and performing a solo version of November Rain. An almost old-fashioned appearance on the fringes of a triumphant Guns world tour, as the band left Europe to return to American stadiums with a date in Moncton (Canada) on August 5, before playing in front of our Quebec cousins at Montreal's Parc Jean Drapeau on August 8. That wasn’t, however, Mr. Rose's first appearance at a private party in Saint-Tropez. In July 2012, he took to the stage for a special show at a wedding party at the Château de Saint-Tropez, with the unexpected presence of old friend Izzy Stradlin, who joined DJ Ashba and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal on guitars (Slash was out of the band at the time). For its part, Unicef's French head office, contacted on Wednesday, said it was "not at all informed" of the event, which had been organized in its name. Nor did the organizers provide the slightest information on the terms and conditions of the performance (and the potential fee, which we assume would be a substantial amount...) of the American singer, who at 61 years of age is once again filling stadiums since his reconciliation with Slash and Duff McKagan.

It's highly questionable that he had "the band of his dreams" and "everything he wanted" from his perspective. He probably indeed thought that the band he had put together was the best possible lineup for "New GN'R". But, on the other hand, he evidently still carried resentment over the breakup of old GN'R, so he hadn't really moved forward; and his rants on that subject during the 2002 tour are also an indication about the state of his mental health. That quote about "burying Appetite" has been awfully misused and taken out of context. It's from an MTV interview in 1989 (not with Kurt Loder) and the context was the follow-up to AFD (Axl meant that he didn't want to be defined by that one album). It had nothing to do with NuGnR or CD. Actually, by the time of NuGnR, Axl had come to terms with the fact that he would never outdo/"bury" AFD (and that's what he more or less told Loder in 1999).

That's your perception as a fan, but the majority of the reviews on that tour were negative and the shows undersold (with the exception of the show at MSG and maybe another one, the arenas were half full - ironically, though, most of the remaining dates that were cancelled had sold well). And then, after the NYC show that went well, Howard Stern's TV producer said on radio that Axl was lip-syncing - which, according to a rumour, was the last straw for Axl's fragile mental state and resulted in the no-show in Philadelphia.

Full show is on youtube.

Yes, there were rumours about his bad mental state, which, if true, had to do with the no-show in Philadelphia. However, the tour (the remaining dates after Philadelphia) wasn't cancelled by Axl. It was the promoter (Clear Channel) that pulled the plug on it.

I think it's not a matter of level of popularity. It's just that the competition in the US is bigger (more concerts and bands touring at a given time, hence more options for concertgoers). Plus, ticket prices for GN'R shows in NA seem to be outrageously high compared to Europe.

But he doesn't have a show currently doing this kind of interviews, as far as I can see.

I guess not... https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/sarah-polley-film-television-actress-director-trauma-jian-ghomeshi-historical-assault-allegations-1.6363477 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jian_Ghomeshi He doesn't seem to have any related shows or podcasts with this kind of interviews currently anyway.

And some more official pictures (from the reviews above):

Three more reviews (all positive - the third one a bit less so): https://www.monopoli.gr/2023/07/25/reviews/eidame-synavlies/701713/guns-n-roses-sto-o-a-k-a-i-synaylia-tou-kalokairiou/ https://www.avopolis.gr/live/live-international/80470-guns-n-roses-live https://mikropragmata.lifo.gr/zoi/eidame-tous-guns-and-roses-sto-o-a-k-a/ Translation of the first one (I have incorporated some pictures with captions so that non-Greeks can somewhat get the funny comparisons with references to Greek popular culture):

The big cash is in that back catalogue though. Sanctuary didn't get anything really, since it went bankrupt in 2007, two years after Axl's deal was signed - and that's when the buyout from Universal took place. So Universal already had the deal when CD was released.

The thing is that there's no publishing deal with Sanctuary, It was bought out by Universal years ago, so now Axl has a publishing deal with Universal, which we don't know if it ends at the same time the original Sanctuary deal was supposed to end.