Why is axl amazing for half the show and subpar for the rest?

[ChristianGNR]

The best thing about Rocket Queen from LA was the intro, Tommy plays that song so well. Dizzy's singing was also horrendous.

Pitman's

[Young_Gun]

I think it's probably because he's just doing this tour for the settlement. When they toured in '01 and '02 it was more the label forcing him if I recall correctly, and he did the Mickey Mouse thing then, but in '06 he was a fucking machine, and I think that's because he was intending to get CD out then and trying to prove himself after the 2002 disaster. Now that he's doing this tour out of being legally required to, I don't think he wants to put every ounce of his vocals into it again. And hell, maybe he's trying to save it to go into the studio, too...

Valid point actually. However in 2010 I think he was also reluctant to tour but sounded fucken INSANE after the first 2 months. I do not believe he would hold back on the US audiences as he does know they are his harshest critics. I think he is giving it his all but something is holding him back. Probably the bronchitis or maybe the downtime from the 2010 tour made it hard to get back to his peak.

[RussTCB]

I've said it before on other forums so I might as well say it here;

Anyone bitching about Axl's voice need to walk (or run) a mile in his shoes. Here's what you do; be 49, do a 3 hour show, run all over the stage, sing songs in the same key you sang them 25 years ago, do all of that 4-5 nights a week, have people record your voice straight off the sound board on a random night and upload it.

At that time, you and Axl will be on level footing for criticism. Until then, you have absolutely no position to sit in judgement from.

[Apollo]

I've said it before on other forums so I might as well say it here;

Anyone bitching about Axl's voice need to walk (or run) a mile in his shoes. Here's what you do; be 49, do a 3 hour show, run all over the stage, sing songs in the same key you sang them 25 years ago, do all of that 4-5 nights a week, have people record your voice straight off the sound board on a random night and upload it.

At that time, you and Axl will be on level footing for criticism. Until then, you have absolutely no position to sit in judgement from.

Exactly.

And......opinions need to come from people seeing them live. Not on YouTube.

[Janabis]

I've said it before on other forums so I might as well say it here...

Well you should stop saying it because it's an utterly retarded argument. You don't need to be a professional rock musician to know when something doesn't sound right.

[Young_Gun]

I've said it before on other forums so I might as well say it here;

Anyone bitching about Axl's voice need to walk (or run) a mile in his shoes. Here's what you do; be 49, do a 3 hour show, run all over the stage, sing songs in the same key you sang them 25 years ago, do all of that 4-5 nights a week, have people record your voice straight off the sound board on a random night and upload it.

At that time, you and Axl will be on level footing for criticism. Until then, you have absolutely no position to sit in judgement from.

Exactly.

And......opinions need to come from people seeing them live. Not on YouTube.

You are a hypocrite. Want to know why?? Because when the forum members watch those very YouTube videos and praise Axl, you don't say "No you are wrong, opinions need to come from seeing him live". You have never said that. You only pull out this stuff when you feel the need to defend Axl.

To everyone bringing up the age excuse, what about less than a year ago when he was absolutely on fucken fire?? Oh was there a MASSIVE change from 48 to 49 was there?? Did he go through a second puberty in less than 12 months?

[F*ck Fear]

Why do songs like rocket queen and you could be mine sound like a horrendous cover but civil war and nightrain and songs like that sound fuckin out of this world? i just dont get it at all and its so frustrating cuz he shows over n over he can do it with ease. Rocket queen is almost unlistenable especially on the la stream.

I thought Civil War was awful.

That was probably the worst part of the L.A. Show. He sang parts way too low, and it didn't sound good.

[RussTCB]

I've said it before on other forums so I might as well say it here...

Well you should stop saying it because it's an utterly retarded argument. You don't need to be a professional rock musician to know when something doesn't sound right.

Thanks for replying in a fashion that examples why I post here the least out of the 3 forums I visits. Not sure why a lot of members here feel that the only way to attempt to make your point is to insult others, but it's just not necessary.

Go back and read what I wrote again. There's nothing "retarded" about it. It has nothing to do with being a "professional musician" nor did I post anything claiming that. Feel free to read it again.

[James Bond]

He must be trying to do certain things with his voice he shouldn't do in those. Also on some of the good ones there are apparently recordings accompanying his voice because his voice will echo and do weird things witho0ut him using a different type of mic.

By the way, the first time I heard this I love on the cd at release I was addicted to the haunting sound of it. Even that one I was just waiting for him to finish at the concert. I hope they keep having U.S. tours where eventually he will be great on all of the songs. Since fans have eben too lame to go to the shows it gives Axl more reason to not do tours for years yet again.

The microphone has nothing to do with it. Delay and Reverb are controlled from the soundboard. All the guy who's running Axl's effects has to do when he wants a part to echo is quite literally click an "on" button. For example, for the "You're gonna die!" final scream before the last chorus in Jungle, the sound guy will just turn on the delay to carry out that scream as an echo, then turn it off right after. In general, they seem to have scrapped most of the playback from the Chinese Democracy songs this tour, but that was all just backing vocals and sound effects, never his main vocal.

It's also worth noting that Guns N' Roses still do all the old songs in the original keys. Many bands around the same age as Guns have tuned down in recent years. AC/DC (okay, they're older than Guns) did the Black Ice tour in E-flat tuning as opposed to E standard tuning. Brian has obviously done a number on his throat over the years so that was to make the songs easier to sing. As a result he sounded the best he has since 1991.

Guns is sticking to the original keys, which Axl can still hit for the most part. There just isn't going to be as much power as there was 20 years ago. I really think after singing so raspy in 2010 he felt he needed to cut back because it probably killed his throat by the end of the tour. Now he seems to "reserve" it for some songs and sing clean for others. The most important thing is that he can still sing in key. He may be off a note here or there, but his live singing has always been like that.