Gnrcane

Most importantly Axl seems to be having fun on stage and interacting with the crowd. At this show he waved, pointed and smiled at people in the crowd several times. When he asked the crowd "how ya doing?" he pointed out a guy who motioned "cheers" with his drink back in the crowd somewhere. He told a couple of jokes, after Perhaps clarifying that he wasn't wrong. Before Patience (I think) he said, "this next one is from the Tom Jones collection" and then said he "thought we were in Vegas." During KOHD he yelled out "Hollywood" (where the venue is technically) and got a good cheer, and then yelled out "Ft. Lauderdale" to another cheer and then "Miami" before finishing with "Hard Rock." When there wasn't much response to the last one he shrugged his shoulders and made a "what?" type of face. Point is that he seems to be enjoying performing which hopefully means he will want to put out some new songs and then do another tour or two while he can still put on a good, high energy show.

Pavarotti seemed to sing well with a lot of extra weight! As well as a lot of female opera singers that led to the saying about it not being over until the fat lady sings!

There also seems to be some randomizing by Axl (maybe with consultation with Slash sometimes). He seems to do a lot of talking into the private channel between songs (which is separate from his joking with Melissa during songs). The other night, after Wichita Lineman, Duff was still sitting on the steps to the drum riser for a good 15-20 seconds after Slash and Richard went to switch guitars and then he got up and went to the side of the stage for a different Bass. It seemed like they might have been planning to do something other than KOHD and then it got nixed (debut of the General? ). Also, after TWAT after some time of Axl walking around by his tissues, he signaled to the side for a new shirt to get his Ukraine shirt for Civil War. It wasn't until after he started walking over that Slash switched guitars. Again, it seemed there was some discussion about doing another song before CW.

As long as it doesn't effect his performance, I don't really care what Axl's physical condition is. I'm paying to see him sing and perform rock songs. If he was a model and I was going to a fashion show then it would matter. Just for care of his health I don't want to see him morbidly obese but being in the kind of shape Duff is in takes a lot of dedication (helped by genes). It's hard for a lot of people to be in that kind of shape in their late 50s and early 60s.

Fair point. 8 of the unique songs were from the most recent show. That still means I got 36 different songs in the pre-2023 shows and, as I said, the order definitely changed a bit between all 4 of those shows.

After my 5th show since the reunion I was thinking about the setlists and how there were a lot of complaints about the setlist being stale. I saw them in Orlando (2016), Miami (2017), Missoula (2021), Hollywood, FL (Oct 3 2021) and Hollywood, FL (2023) as of this post. If I combine all of the setlists, I have seen/heard 44 different songs played (not counting solos/jams). The breakdown is 11 AFD (all except Think About You), 13 UYI (The "covers" that were on UYI are counted here), 2 Lies, 1 Like a Suicide, 4 CD, 4 Reunion Releases (I counted SOYL here), 6 Covers and 3 Duff Covers. I counted "You're Crazy" as AFD although I guess that is debatable. There have been a few songs that they've played at other shows that I haven't gotten (SOD and Madagascar for sure). Even before the most recent show, the order of the songs they have played at all shows did move around a bit from show to show that I attended. There were 15 songs that were played at all 5 shows I attended. Here is the list of the songs I have seen/heard live with the number of times I've seen them: It's So Easy-5 Mr. Brownstone-5 Chinese Democracy-5 Welcome to the Jungle-5 Double Talkin' Jive-5 Estranged-5 Live and Let Die-5 Rocket Queen-5 You Could Be Mine-5 Civil War-5 Sweet Child o' Mine-5 November Rain-5 Knockin' on Heaven's Door-5 Nightrain-5 Paradise City-5 Coma-4 Better-4 Patience-4 Don't Cry-3 The Seeker-3 Slither-3 Absurd-3 Wichita Lineman-3 Attitude-2 This I Love-2 Black Hole Sun-2 You're Crazy-2 I Wanna Be Your Dog-2 Hard Skool-2 Out ta Get Me-1 Yesterdays-1 Used to Love Her-1 My Michelle-1 Don't Cry-1 Whole Lotta Rosie-1 Shadow of Your Love-1 Bad Obsession-1 Pretty Tied Up-1 Perhaps-1 Reckless Life-1 Down on the Farm-1 Anything Goes-1 T.V. Eye-1 There Was a Time-1

One other observation which I assume they are doing everywhere but they put carpet down on the stage. I noticed when a few guys were vacuuming with cordless Dyson vacuums between The Warning and GNR. I wonder if it's too give better traction so Axl doesn't slip and fall.

For the shorter trips it definitely makes sense. Hollywood, FL to Atlanta is almost a 9 hour drive. I guess if they don't have a private jet then it's better to drive 9 hours on a luxury bus than deal with trying to get through an airport and flying with the public. Although he may not be quite as famous as Axl, I've been on flights from Las Vegas to Miami that I saw Steve Aoki on in first class (him, not me) and nobody seemed to bother him and he didn't appear to have any security with him. If they are each on their own bus I doubt it is "a lot" more efficient. Maybe a little bit but if they all flew on the same smaller jet it might actually be more efficient.

Are they really bussing around at this stage in their career?

Define "ages." I saw 2 shows in 2021 and he 100% did it at one of them (replacing "in the Jungle") with the location of the show and I'm pretty sure he did the same at the other show but I'd have to find a video.

I was at the same prior shows as you but I also saw them in 2021 at this venue. I would say that the 2021 show was the best I've heard Axl sound in person since the reunion. It was the last show of the tour and they weren't playing again for several months. Axl seemed to really let it rip that night and bring out the rasp on a lot of songs that he normally doesn't. The Patience outro that night was as close as I've heard to the 90's and Paradise City had the most rasp of any version I've listened to since the reunion. He wasn't at that level last night but it was definitely one of the better vocal performances of recent years. At the beginning of the show I thought the vocals were really good. As the night went on there were a few moments that he struggled a little bit. I agree on Hard Skool. On that one it just seems like he can't catch his breath. I do have to give Axl a ton of credit for continuing to deliver high energy shows over 3 hours and putting everything he has into singing and not using autotune or backing tracks to double up the vocals. I'm amazed that he can perform Coma as well as he does when he didn't even do it in his prime. I did notice that he dropped the "you in the jungle baby, you're gonna die........" from the beginning of Jungle. I don't know if that's the new standard way he does it or it was just this show.

This venue is very well designed so the seats don't get to far from the stage. Even though it holds 10k people the worst seat is better than a lot of the "closer" seats in an area and better than almost any seat in a stadium. From the stage you can see clear faces in the upper level.

Great show. On the rail near the edge of the stage on Slash's side was incredible. Watching him play from 6 feet away is something I'll never forget. The sound was great. They had little speakers in front of the stage so I could clearly hear all of the layers of sound including all of the backing vocals. A couple of times I could hear the strumming of Slash's guitar strings directly. Axl was in a good mood and pretty chatty. He clarified after Perhaps that he wasn't wrong. He complemented the venue and said he was being genuine. Towards the end of the show his IEM box died and he yelled over to side stage, "it's dead." I never thought I'd be close enough to hear Axl on stage without a microphone. It is interesting that he spends his time during the instrumental parts rotating between blowing his nose, hocking loogies and telling jokes to Melissa.. Set list was very good and Axl sounded good for the most part. I didn't think I was transported to 1991 but it was good enough that I prefer what I heard tonight to singing high pitched songs in baritone. I'm not positive but I think Melissa might actually sing the screams in Absurd. Axl kept pointing to her and it looked like she was singing. If she was triggering a recording she wouldn't need Axl to give her a cue nor would he point out that she's doing a good job pressing a button. That's it for now. Maybe I'll have some other comments tomorrow.

It definitely will be.

Pit early entry is 5:30 or close to that.

I did some quick sampling through that video and I agree. He basically sounds the same as he has in other videos from this year. I think some people have an expectation bias due to the illness that his voice was going to be completely shot so they think he sounds worse than the prior shows. I don't really hear much difference and I don't think that the "illness" was a significant vocal issue. A vocal issue that would have caused a cancellation a day before a show would not have allowed him to sing for 3+ hours 4 days later. Assuming it was Axl, I think he was just sick like a normal person gets too sick to work sometimes.

ZERO chance. They aren't eating a few hundred grams in partial setup and teardown for that. He knew she'd be there far in advance. If he felt he needed to be there he had months to arrange a replacement bassist for the show or work with the promoter to change the date before spending money.

Perhaps Axl doesn't feel he's figured out how to sing it and thinks it doesn't sound good? Did Axl make any references to illness or his voice during the show?

Definitely impressive. I passed on getting tickets for their farewell tour because I was worried he wouldn't sound good at that age and wanted my memories from seeing them in the past.

A little? Steven Tyler is like 14 years older than Axl. Almost old enough that he could be his father.

When they postponed St. Louis it wasn't worded in a way that would indicate more postponements are expected. That was people jumping to the conclusion that "illness" meant that Axl's voice had issues from strain and he would need rest. Maybe "illness" was actually an illness that had nothing to do with his voice. We'll never know unless he says something during a show. Bands don't normally confirm shows are happening, they announce postponements or cancellations. Less than 12 hours before they hit the stage, if there hasn't been any word of cancellation or postponement I would assume they intend to perform.

Steven can guest for the AFD stuff. Brain could play the stuff he knows and they could just leave out the songs he can't learn fast enough. Steven would probably pay Axl to let him do it so there would be no expense there. :-)

If it was Frank they would definitely get a fill in. Melissa is harder to fill in for on short notice but a lot of the stuff she triggers and the orchestral stuff she plays could probably be done with a backing track. It looks like this investigation has come full circle and the member of Guns n' Roses who is ill is also the person who owns the band name. If he was in a hospital somewhere I'm sure that would have leaked within 10 minutes so whatever it is can't be all that serious from an overall health standpoint. It could definitely be somewhat serious with respect to his voice.

Sherlock Holmes is on the case. The clues are starting to fall into place now. The odds are even between Axl and Dizzy. Both are equally integral to the show. Imagine Jungle without the bongos!

Dizzy! At this point what's the difference.? COVID has hit every camp and is everywhere all the time. It's just another endemic illness like the flu. Just like the flu, the overwhelming majority of people will either feel bad or feel like shit for a few days and recover. A few people will have a serious illness and possibly die.