This Rio show was a complete DISASTER

[Ali]

Folks, Axl clearly is not one of them folks who ages well.

Sure, maybe if he stopped being a night owl, big eater, and drinker, it will help him stay in shape, but more than anything, it is a genetics issue. Axl clearly does not have the athletic fit genes.

Because of Axl's shape, he was not equipped to handle the heavy downfall of rain. As the show went on, the rain was clearly having an effect him.

No offense, but how do ANY of us know about Axl's eating, drinking or sleeping habits? I'm not saying it isn't possible, but I don't see how a fan could know about that.

Ali

[Steamboat]

axl had a huge chance to prove himself and show everyone this band was still worth something

he could have played new songs, switched up the setlist, done more tracks from CD or at least practiced and sang well

in front of the largest audience the band will probably ever play to from now until its demise

what did they/he do , played a sub standard setlist despite the occasion, utterly disappointing his voice is far worse than it was a year ago and he couldnt even be bothered to change up his wardrobe

this band is a fucking joke now, they will probably never release another album, they have wasted so much talent and skill and time and could have made some truly amazing music but they just stagnated and that really shows that even axl isn't taking it seriously

all they are going to do is perform the same drawn out setlist for a few years and unless there's a reunion, slowly flicker out and axl will go into hiding until he dies

The disappointment was and should be eye-opening. i genuinely feel there's nothing left now.

and no its not a case of 'oh the singer had one bad day' its a case of realizing (thanks to the disappointment) that the setlist has been the same for A DECADE. A god damn decade. Axl does not care about the fans and so they shouldnt care about him, his mystique is gone, he's a psychopath and a prick who cant even be bothered rehearsing songs for concerts and then proceeds to get mad over nothing

no-one should give a shit about this band any more. there is absolutely no reason they should still exist

[Carburetta]

He sang the wrong words at the end of Estranged, he sang "the waves they get so high" again, should have been "and all my friends said I was high."

I don't think they got the quiet bits of the song right either, the "subtleties", one of things that make the song so great, maybe it was the mix, the piano was too low down for a start. The solos were good, the rest of the song needs work. As Slash said, Estranged isn't a song you can attack, they should listen to his words, it needs to played 'gentler',

Edited October 3, 2011 by Carburetta

[gunnari]

When Axl doesn't do any interviews the rumour mill gets ridicilous...Axl why not one interview per year? It's not good for him hiding in his mansion...

[GNR123GNR456]

axl had a huge chance to prove himself and show everyone this band was still worth something

he could have played new songs, switched up the setlist, done more tracks from CD or at least practiced and sang well

in front of the largest audience the band will probably ever play to from now until its demise

what did they/he do , played a sub standard setlist despite the occasion, utterly disappointing his voice is far worse than it was a year ago and he couldnt even be bothered to change up his wardrobe

this band is a fucking joke now, they will probably never release another album, they have wasted so much talent and skill and time and could have made some truly amazing music but they just stagnated and that really shows that even axl isn't taking it seriously

all they are going to do is perform the same drawn out setlist for a few years and unless there's a reunion, slowly flicker out and axl will go into hiding until he dies

The disappointment was and should be eye-opening. i genuinely feel there's nothing left now.

and no its not a case of 'oh the singer had one bad day' its a case of realizing (thanks to the disappointment) that the setlist has been the same for A DECADE. A god damn decade. Axl does not care about the fans and so they shouldnt care about him, his mystique is gone, he's a psychopath and a prick who cant even be bothered rehearsing songs for concerts and then proceeds to get mad over nothing

no-one should give a shit about this band any more. there is absolutely no reason they should still exist

Then why are you still here than?

[funeral.]

There is nothing wrong with Axl. He just got old and lazy, that's all.

and he might have Alzheimer's?, or maybe not.

[gunnari]

The sad thing to this is that this whole situation puts gnr fans to different camps, to those who support Axl and to those who criticise Axl's odd behaviour and I don't like how

gnr has evolved to this joke...I mean, no promotion, interview from Axl, no new songs, same setlist for 10 years...Old guns did a lot more than this new "act"...

[CoBrA2168]

Do you guys know how fucking hard it is to play a piano with wet keys? When you find out come back and tell us. Then continue to hate on Axl for screwing up on November Rain.

[Cosmo]

There is nothing wrong with Axl. He just got old and lazy, that's all.

and he might have Alzheimer's?, or maybe not.

Alzheimer's? Holy shit. You people are sick, even if it's just a joke... it's RIDICULOUS...

[Ana_1991]

I was really hoping Axl would sound like he did on last tour and that we would hear some new songs. It's beet too fucking long time since something new happened with this band, apart from Axl turning into Mickey Mouse once again...

Axl, save your but, give us FUCKING NEW SINGLE ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[Turn_It_Up]

I can't believe I an saying this, but seeing Axl up there tonight just going through the motions made me question whether I would even want a reunion if we could ever have one, because he just doesn't give a shit. Leaving aside all the "it will never happen" stuff, Today was the first day I found myself thinking I hope it never does.

This was the first time it really hit home he just doesn't care all that much. To be so arrogant as to think you could just show up and play that festival with no practice, no conditioning, no nothing, is simply stunning. I think it gives us a tremendous insight into his commitment to this band and music in general.

I bag on Axl because he just wastes his talent. Pure and simple.

People chalk way too much up to age. Look at Chris Cornell, Bon Jovi, and even Myles.....all guys in their 40's, who still have the same body they did when they were in their 20's. None of them would ever show up miserably out of shape and just mail it in like Axl did tonight on this kind of a stage.

It saddens me deeply that Axl is choosing to age more like Vince Neil than Steven Tyler. At his age you can't keep your body if you don't work at it. Thing is, you can keep it if you work at it. Axl seems to have made his choice though, so not much we can do about it.

Dude, please, anyone who caught a recent Soundgarden gig knows even on Axl's best days now, he's not in the same front man galaxy as Cornell. Not even fair to compare the 2 Cornell's so superior on every level.

Really hope we never do get an Old Guns reunion, not even a one-off at something like the R&RHOF. Let Old GNR live in its history and mystique. Time to RIP that one forever....

Edited October 3, 2011 by Turn_It_Up

[Naupis]

Do you guys know how fucking hard it is to play a piano with wet keys? When you find out come back and tell us. Then continue to hate on Axl for screwing up on November Rain.

It's only the last 2 minutes because that is all I can find, but check out Axl doing the NR outro in the pouring rain in Columbia in 92. He was fucking ace, and was not bothered in the least by the rain.

The again he used to give a shit back then, so that might explain alot of that.

[:: Vicente ::]

So, I just got back home from Rio. Now let me tell you guys my impressions. It will be a long read (and please, forgive any english mistakes).

I saw Guns live for the first time in RIR 3, in 2001. Ita was awesome, despite axl being a little out of breath and with that mickey mouse voice. The band was also entirely new, so that was a little strange too. But the fact that it was a fisrt in years was amazing. Plus, we got some new songs.

Then, last year I saw them twice. In Sydney and in Abu Dhabi. It was the end of the tour, the band/axl had an awesome chemistry and he was in a better shape.

Since the band didn't change and since it was Rio, I was expecting something huge for last night.

Well, being a Guns fan, I got to the concert around 8pm, knowing they would start way past the scheduled 1pm slot.

Evanescence did a good job.

SOAD is not my kind of music, and people around me in the crowd got a little bored after a while, 'cause every fucking song sounds just the same. They finished their set at 1pm, so the wait was upon us. But I already knew that. And then came the rain. And man, it poured.

I don't know how much of the delay is to blame on Axl. Serioulsy, with the ending time of SOAD's gig, plus all the stage set up and the effort to make the floor a little less wet and slippery, there wasn't much he could do. But, I guess when one has a bad reputation...

Anyway, the crowd was getting restless. People started booing and screaming "son of a bitch" and stuff like that. But mostly it was due to the rain and the cold (I was freezing) and the fact that it was already 2:30 am on a monday morning, after a whole day of concerts in a festival. To sum up: people were exhausted.

Then Guns came to the stage. And the usual follows: all the classics were well received by the crowd, who sang along and jumped up and down. Everyone went bananas when Estranged was played. And everyone went almost mute when the new songs were played, although they cheered a lot with some vocal efforts from Axl, particularly on This I Love. Of all the new songs Better and Chinese were the best ones regarding crowd reaction, but that might have been due to the fact that they were the "fastest" ones, compared to TIL, Sorry and SOD, and that the crowded needed the energy of them to keep jumping and warm themselves up.

Also, the main complaint was Axl's constant wardrobe/oxygen tank/whatever exits. One guy around me, during one of the solos/jams, said "it's too many songs for too little concert", meaning there were a lot of fillers and breaks. And that was the problem with those breaks last night. The crowd was tired and cold and that didn't help it.

I had already noticed that during TIL he had fucked up the lyrics. I never thought I'd know the lyrics to the songs better than the man who created them, but that was the case last night. Still, it was only a minor mistake, nothing too big. Then came NR.

And man, that was really weird. This is a song that he sings constantly since 1983. As someone said, it is his baby. And he forgot huge parts of it. When he fucked up the last verse you could see the disappointment on his face. I'm pretty sure that Bumble going next to him to play was some kind of "hey, man, it happens, keep up and don't let it get you down". When he didn't sing the outro I actually feared he could decide to end the show. And maybe he didn't do it 'cause he knew it was totally his fault and he had no one else to blame. But you could see he wasn't happy with it.

After that I left from the front part of the crowd and started moving to the back, and then I realized the place was starting to get empty. Nightrain and KOHD were ok, but then he fucked up Patience as well. He said something like "I need some patience myself tonight" and I couldn't tel if something else was bothering him or if he was mad at himself for making such silly mistakes. I mean, even in other concerts, when he wasn't at his best, at least he knew the whole lyrics...

Paradise City came as a relief, to the crowd that stayed until the end and could finally go home and to the band, that were finally through with it.

A few final remarks:

- The band was awesome, specially Dizzy, DJ, Fortus and Bumble. And you can tell that they could actually make an awesome band with new, own material, if they had the chance.

- The crowd wasn't buying/into Frank's GUNS. N'. ROSES, drum chants. Might've been the cold, though.

- Everyone around me had the impression that it was a great concert. Maybe, because we were seeing it live and singing along with it, Axl's voice problems weren't so noticeable. For example, the lack of Outro in NR was interpreted as a "let the crowd sing it" thing, and not as a "I'm too pissed off at myself that I won't even gonna sing it" issue. But I'm gonna watch it again on youtube to see what the rest of the world saw.

- Axl was in a surprisingly good mood until he fucked up NR. He was making jokes, funny voices, trying to interacct with the crowd. It could have been an awesome night.

- I thought it was a great show for the whole package: Rio, Estranged, 1st concert of the tour, all the rain, the band. But from the 4 Guns' concerts I saw in my life it comes in the last spot.

- Cheers to the band (and to him), for nailing Estranged after only 2 rehearsals and after 18 years without singing it.

- Finally, I think it is clear that he has to do something about his looks (and not for a fashion point of view, but from a health/performance point of view). Unless something changes, new material gets released, the setlist gets different, there ain't no point for seeing the same show a 5th time.

That's it folks. Lets hope something changes for better, for the sake of Axl himself.

Cheers,

:: vicente ::

[CoBrA2168]

Do you guys know how fucking hard it is to play a piano with wet keys? When you find out come back and tell us. Then continue to hate on Axl for screwing up on November Rain.

It's only the last 2 minutes because that is all I can find, but check out Axl doing the NR outro in the pouring rain in Columbia in 92. He was fucking ace, and was not bothered in the least by the rain.

The again he used to give a shit back then, so that might explain alot of that.

I knew I was going to get that in response.

Yes I know he used to be able to play in the rain in the past. That was almost 20 years ago. Reality is - he is getting older, we can't expect an Axl of '92 anymore. Hell I'm grateful that we have a Guns N' Roses at all to begin with. I still enjoy listening to Chinese Democracy and I think how lucky we are that at least we have that.

[batman007]

Just saw Jungle, not worse than the Vma's 02. He improved after that. I hope he can do the same.

[Yesterdays-Civil-War]

Well no rant, no nothing except Estranged. A "surprise" doesn't make up for a fucking huge amateurism that Axl showed tonight. Worst vocals ever (2001 terrible voice back again), wrong lyrics, auto-pilot setlist (TWAT and Prostitute were planned.. lol). You don't do Rock in Rio when you're this unprepared. Evanescence was 1000 times better than GNR. Don't get me wrong: DJ was amazing (out of all 3 guitarists, he's the most pro, he brought a new solo because he KNOWS IT'S A FUCKING NEW TOUR. Heads up DJ), Bumblefoot fucking nailed all of his parts amazing as hell considering his state, Fortus rocks as ever, and the rest of the band was pretty square as well.

But Axl sucked balls. Terribly out of shape (it's like we're back in 2009 when he was forgivable considering what happened with the CD release and all the trials and shit that happened to him), terribly out of tune, he totally butchered November Rain, his own song, a song he has played hundreds of times before, even the band didn't understand what the fuck he was doing. I gotta admit I was impressed he got everything right about Estranged (except the sighs and little sounds he used to do but can't blame him since it's been so long) but on all of the other songs, it's like he didn't rehearse shit.

I'm one of GNR most hardcore fans, I defended them throughout ALL TOUR last year as you know, because there were surprises, good vocals and given the mess that was the CD release, i forgave Axl.

But Axl had A FULL YEAR to prepare for Rock in Rio, nothing was stopping him from being great. Instead it's like he waited the very last moment to rehearse Estranged (twice according to him) and looks like he didn't use his voice at all this year.

He let his voice die once again. He completely RUINED everything for the upcoming US tour. He looks really bad, this facelift/botox whatever it is doesn't help, but damn HIT THE GYM like every other major singer does, look at Steven Tyler for christ's sake, one of your models, older than you are. I don't understand what's in his head. If he doesn't seriously hit the gym and train his vocals, then GNR is fucking over. If Axl succeeded in maintaining GNR alive, it's because he's always kept some edge, some rants, something that make him be Axl. Even in 2001, his physical shape and rants did make up for the terrible vocals. Here, there was absolutely nothing to back up the voice catastrophee.

This show was exactly the same as any of the show last year except there was estranged and the vocals were a lot worse. How can y ou set on a new tour when you don't totally renew your setlist and intentions?

And where are the rants? Axl is slowly vanishing from the face of the earth. He appears to live safe at home with Beta and he's forgotten the danger. GNR spirit is dying. I don't even recognizing him physically. I'm fucking disappointed. I'd rate this show 2 stars out of 5, one being for Estranged and one for the amazing band that DO practice the songs and rock like hell. But overall, let's be honest, it was a BAD show, BAD vocals, WRONG lyrics, NO surprise, it's unforgivable for an event such as Rock in Rio.

Axl, you've become a fucking amateur. You were such a pro back in the days, playing Coma out of nowhere, and now you can't even play november rain properly. Fucking disappointment. I hate myself for writing this, I should probably shut the fuck up, deal with it and forget for GNR and just wait for an hypothetical CD II with buckethead leftovers.

But GNR's records aren't as important for me as Axl's attitude and Axl's spirit. GNR to me has always been about attitude, fucking the establishment and putting up a great show with professionalism and a sense of perfection. Look at Estranged played in Tokyo in 1992. Damn it was pristine.

Now, on every single song, there's a lyric forgotten or Axl's voice isn't there. It's a catastrophee. Axl is totally losing it. Retiring now would be better or fucking train and rehearse like fuck for months before going on a tour. Look at Evanescence, it was perfect. She trained well. Having the GNR legacy doesn't excuse everything. How perfect GNR was in the 80's and 90's don't excuse everything. Life is about work, hard work, perfectionism, rage. Axl, you're losing it.

I agree with everything stated above.

Estranged salvaged the show to say the least. Last night (this morning) was such a disappointment.

Edited October 3, 2011 by Yesterdays-Civil-War

[Cosmo]

Do you guys know how fucking hard it is to play a piano with wet keys? When you find out come back and tell us. Then continue to hate on Axl for screwing up on November Rain.

It's only the last 2 minutes because that is all I can find, but check out Axl doing the NR outro in the pouring rain in Columbia in 92. He was fucking ace, and was not bothered in the least by the rain.

The again he used to give a shit back then, so that might explain alot of that.

I knew I was going to get that in response.

Yes I know he used to be able to play in the rain in the past. That was almost 20 years ago. Reality is - he is getting older, we can't expect an Axl of '92 anymore. Hell I'm grateful that we have a Guns N' Roses at all to begin with. I still enjoy listening to Chinese Democracy and I think how lucky we are that at least we have that.

True. I wanna see these people complaining about RiR 2011 when Axl retires....

[Ana_1991]

Do you guys know how fucking hard it is to play a piano with wet keys? When you find out come back and tell us. Then continue to hate on Axl for screwing up on November Rain.

I'm multi-instrumentalist and a music producer!

If you play piano hard, your fingers get sweaty and you play it like it has wet keys!

Everyone that plays piano well, plays well with wet keys too!

Axl fucked it up big time!

No new songs, boring, no rehearsals, no singing...

...just Mickey Mouse on crack!

[suckerpunched03]

Haha this is funny. All the conclusions people make that gnr is dead. Hahah. You all sound like needy girlfriends and you hang all your hopes living through a rock star. And to u that say new gnr is dead, okay you will still be one of the .01 percent of hard rock fans that follow their setlists coming up. And then like every other tour, they get better in a few shows and the only things you can complain about is new material and setlists.

[Kosonen]

Do you guys know how fucking hard it is to play a piano with wet keys? When you find out come back and tell us. Then continue to hate on Axl for screwing up on November Rain.

It's only the last 2 minutes because that is all I can find, but check out Axl doing the NR outro in the pouring rain in Columbia in 92. He was fucking ace, and was not bothered in the least by the rain.

The again he used to give a shit back then, so that might explain alot of that.

I knew I was going to get that in response.

Yes I know he used to be able to play in the rain in the past. That was almost 20 years ago. Reality is - he is getting older, we can't expect an Axl of '92 anymore. Hell I'm grateful that we have a Guns N' Roses at all to begin with. I still enjoy listening to Chinese Democracy and I think how lucky we are that at least we have that.

yeah it is a well known thing young people can play piano in a rain, but when 50....its a no no. it has nothing to with the fucking rain, he just fucked it up, so what, it happens. The guy needs to practice.

[batman007]

This I love wasnt too bad either.

[Janabis]

I have to say it's refreshing to hear honest feedback about this band from all the long-time fans in this thread. I was reading the HTGTH forums while watching the stream last night because this site wasn't working. It was pretty sickening watching half the posts get censored/deleted because they had a less than favorable opinion of the performance.

What this show made me realize is that not even a reunion with the original members could save GNR at this point. Being the frontman for a band like GNR takes real passion, work ethic, vision, and athleticism. There were some hints of that ten years ago when Axl debuted his first incarnation of new GNR with a fresh setlist and promises that there would be lots of exciting new music on the horizon. Ten years later it's obvious that somewhere along the way Axl lost his fire. Instead of pushing forward, GNR became stagnant; a decade-long plateau of inconsistent vocals, stale setlists, and band members that come and go because they say the wrong thing to Axl or just get bored with the whole situation. GNR's band members have always had tremendous musicianship, and it's clear that for the past ten years it has been mostly wasted. The sudden and unexplained disappearances of Buckethead, Finck, and others over the years are in retrospect not the least bit mysterious or surprising. They knew what most of us know now; that GNR is going nowhere.

The disappointing thing is that every time a new tour starts it's as though the band is starting over from scratch all over again. Axl shows up unrehearsed, often in poor physical shape, and with vocals that have clearly regressed from where they were at on the previous tour. We see no signs of any creativity from Axl or the band outside of a couple decent solos that only serve to remind us of the talent that is wasted rehashing the same material year after year after year. At this point Axl would have to work his ass off to have a successful tour in the US. He'd have to rehearse diligently on his off days, improve his conditioning and vocals dramatically (and quickly), and get out of his comfort zone by rotating a lot more songs in and out of the set (Estranged was the only highlight of last night's gig). Realistically, I don't think much of that will happen, since Axl seems content to leave things alone as long as he can look over and see Beta dancing happily on side of the stage every night.

[TiedHands]

After watching it back today, it's honest to God not quite as bad as I remember last night. The band was on fire and what upsets me the most isn't that Axl screwed up on the lyrics so much, it's how he reacted. He acted so immature and it was because of something he did. I can see getting pissed because someone threw something, or even if someone in the band was fucking up, but they were blazin' and he fucked up, but instead of soldiering on like he did at Download '06, he went and sat in the corner, sulled up. In the long run, this show won't matter, even though it could have and should have, but I'm sure they'll pick up momentum...

[wasteofammo]

Axl, please get your voice back to 2006 form by the time you enter the states!

[batman007]

Axl, please get your voice back to 2006 form by the time you enter the states!

I have faith he will!