The closest Axl has sounded to his old self since his 'comeback'

[D..]

I have been very critical of Axl at times, but you saying his voice was poor to mediocre this tour couldnt be farther from the truth. What show were you at D? I was at the ATL show and he was on fucking fire. He was in the zone. I never heard him miss a note and he held all the notes for their appropriate duration.

Believe me, if his performance wasn't uP to par, I would not hesitate to express that,

But Axl Roses voice at the 2011 ATL GA show could not have been better.

I was totally sober ( besides a couple of joints) and I am a musician with a music degree and almost perfect pitch and what I heard was a practically perfect performance.

I'll be willing to bet you didn't go to any shows this tour because if you had you wouldn't feel so negative about his voice.

I didn't go at the show because I don't live in America, otherwise I would have paid the ticket to see one show. However from what I've heard on youtube (which equals 99% the reality, I was at 4 shows in 2010 and youtube totally does justice to those shows, bear people who have crap cameras, but in 2011 we had lots of pro-shots), it's totally not up to what I heard in 2010. I'm a musician myself and learnt classical music (don't know how you call it in america) in a conservatory where I had a music degree, don't know if that's much of value to judge GNR's work, but anyway, I'm not judging the fact whether Axl hits the correct notes or not, but the lack of rasp and energy in his voice, that's what makes the difference between a mediocre show and an amazing show.

[axlsalinger]

Also, this so-called mickey mouse voice (and yes, I do know exactly what it refers to) only appears in a limited number of songs, and often not for the whole song. Far less of a big deal than people make it out to be. And barely noticeable during the actual live shows.

I'd like to see some of our more whiny bitches set up a karaoke machine and sing like Axl Rose with perfect pitch and vocal tone for 3 fucking hours. At age 49.

The truth is, I'm amazed that Axl sings as well as he does these days. Let's simply enjoy having him around. It's a lot better than not having him around.

Bullshit, obviously nobody can sing like Axl Rose, even talented singers like Myles Kennedy do a pitiful job at trying to sound like Axl. You don't need to be as good as someone to be able to make a judgment. Whether someone sounds good or not is a fact, I don't need to be a singer to tell you that Axl sounded very bad to mediocre on this US tour. I'm really grateful that I was able to hear him 4 times in 2010. What's incredible is that some people here used to bash GNR because they weren't touring us in 2010 and were criticizing his voice when it was damn fine, and now that he toured us "oh my god he sounds unbelievable omg" when in reality he sounded weak on this last tour.

That doesn't mean I think I'd do a better job because I will never have such a good voice. Axl is my absolute favourite singer of all times. He must have his reasons for having done Rock in Rio IV like an amateur, but to be honest I'd rather not having him around than going into this kind of mess.

I don't think I'm the only one here who prefers to dream rather than facing the harsh reality. In 2009/2010, Axl was up to what I expected from him, in 2011, I didn't like anything I saw, it was painful to watch for me and I would have prefered to stay on my 2010 memories. If you want to push this kind of thinking: would I enjoy seeing Axl perform at age 90 completely bold, wrinkled and in a wheelchair? OF COURSE NOT. It's kind of the same problem here. If you really think about this kind of thing, why did Jim Morrison, Jeff Buckley, Kurt Cobain and others became such unforgotten icons that still inspire people? Because they never aged. Being an artist is a desire to escape, escape our human condition, escape aging, escape the obvious, and it seems to me people like Michael Jackson or Axl know that. Why is it that an artist refuses to age? For one, being an artist means that you want to escape your basic boring human life: having a dull job that repeats every day of the week, take vacations at the same period as everyone else and getting yourself in a traffic jam, facing yourself in the mirror every morning and basically, watching yourself die. And when you're such icons, you can't allow yourself to put on a lesser show than you did a year, two years or twenty years ago, being an artist is topping yourself constantly.

That's why I think this 2011 tour is a failure.

We can all agree that Axl did more good for the world than any of us have here and probably ever will be so this criticism isn't the end of the world, just a personal disappointment. Doesn't mean shit next to the real end of the world, where we'll all realise that we've all spent way too much time wasting time on this board or other trivial stuff, even a GNR show doesn't mean shit next to the real problems of humanity, but I'm too bored to go into the details.

Your argument is complete and utter "bullshit". I saw GNR on the 09/10 tour, and I saw them on this tour, and this show was better. Axl sounded great throughout. I think I was in a better spot within the venue to hear the music this time around though so perhaps that had something to do with it, but I doubt it. It's the general consensus of some posters that he sounded better in 2010, it is possible although I've yet to be convinced. Your argument is really one-sided, as it ignores the fact that Axl sounded great most of this tour, admittedly there were some weaker moments in shows but you are basically saying he sucked throughout and that is not even close to being the general consensus of people who saw them live on this tour, and from what I can see on the board it's not the general consensus of people watching YouTube clips and streams either.

Looking at Rio specifically, there were a number of songs in the show where he sounded pretty good. Some songs were pretty bad, especially November Rain and Patience which were awful, but it was the first show in the tour. Blame Axl for not being prepared if you want, but it was pouring rain at the time and you gotta cut them at least a little bit of slack for performing in awful conditions.

You misunderstood my point, obviously if you were to sing GNR karaoke you wouldn't sound as good as Axl, none of us could possibly come remotely close. I was simply saying that if you tried to sing in his style for 10 minutes you would struggle. Axl sounded like shit quite often on the UYI tour so your argument about it being solely related to age is off target. Yes as he continues to age this will get harder to do, and perhaps this process has already begun, but that point was already built in to what I was saying in my post.

At the end of the day, your argument seems to be that if Axl killed himself a long time ago, it would be better for your memories of seeing him live. What an arrogant and borderline retarded thing to argue.

[Stro]

The closest he's sounded to "his old self" was for sure during some of the Nice Boys performances in 2010. It sounded just like the Axl of Lies, which was right around his actual peak in terms of power, control of power, and range, except a little deeper. I think 1988-1990 was really his peak, which is pretty insane to think about how regularly awesome he was after that.

[moreblack]

What's wrong with calling it a "clean" voice? That's just what it is - Axl's clean vocals.

Because clean is pretty vague, for someone who doesn't know, "clean" tells them nothing of what he sounds like.

But the other thing is pretty specific.

[D..]

Your argument is complete and utter "bullshit". I saw GNR on the 09/10 tour, and I saw them on this tour, and this show was better.

It's the general consensus of some posters that he sounded better in 2010, it is possible although I've yet to be convinced.

Looking at Rio specifically, there were a number of songs in the show where he sounded pretty good.

Like Dante said, "abandon all hope ye who enter here". You must be blind deaf, my friend.

At the end of the day, your argument seems to be that if Axl killed himself a long time ago, it would be better for your memories of seeing him live. What an arrogant and borderline retarded thing to argue.

Not at all, you missed my point, I invite you to re-read again later in your life. I know it sounds arrogant but in reality I'm not arrogant at all, don't care for arrogance, don't have time for it, I don't even know why I waste time writing here as I'm doing things much more interesting, perhaps I love GNR so much that I feel the need to meet with some other passionate GNR people, but I never learn anything when I'm coming here.

[feconroses]

Kinda agree with D..

Saw GNR in 2010 and again in 2011 and Axl's voice was weak, too clean for my taste and out of breath many times.

Its still awesome to see Axl Rose live though.

[D..]

I know what you mean fecon

Again, here is what we got in 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ppOntR_b4Y&feature=fvwrel

At times, it's really like Axl sounds like in the 90's, it's unbelievable. Also he looks amazingly young without the bandana. Really wish we could have a blu-ray of this 02 2010 show... with Duff btw.

[TiedHands]

I can't believe some people are so passionately *against* his '11 voice. There are 2 alternatives: he either goes on full rasp and gargled razors, and proceeds to probably blow out or at least damage his voice, or he just doesn't perform at all. Axl at his worst is STILL Axl Rose. Years and years and years of silence and shit, and then he performs and "oh, he's not using enough rasp on 'You Could Be Mine'". Give me a break...

[loko]

To be honest I'm not big fan of rasp, I prefer his 2001's voice... it was very clear he did very high notes(highest in his music history).But for me the best compromise was 2006... he still could make high notes but in some moments make very powerfull rasp in the old songs.

[Duda]

I can't believe some people are so passionately *against* his '11 voice. There are 2 alternatives: he either goes on full rasp and gargled razors, and proceeds to probably blow out or at least damage his voice, or he just doesn't perform at all. Axl at his worst is STILL Axl Rose. Years and years and years of silence and shit, and then he performs and "oh, he's not using enough rasp on 'You Could Be Mine'". Give me a break...

+1

[DocBrown]

His 2011 voice was great. Sure he may have sounded better in 2010 at points, but we also had no pro shot video from that tour. I saw him live in 2011 three times and he was absolutely amazing on most of the songs.

[Apollo]

I have been very critical of Axl at times, but you saying his voice was poor to mediocre this tour couldnt be farther from the truth. What show were you at D? I was at the ATL show and he was on fucking fire. He was in the zone. I never heard him miss a note and he held all the notes for their appropriate duration.

Believe me, if his performance wasn't uP to par, I would not hesitate to express that,

But Axl Roses voice at the 2011 ATL GA show could not have been better.

I was totally sober ( besides a couple of joints) and I am a musician with a music degree and almost perfect pitch and what I heard was a practically perfect performance.

I'll be willing to bet you didn't go to any shows this tour because if you had you wouldn't feel so negative about his voice.

I didn't go at the show because I don't live in America, otherwise I would have paid the ticket to see one show. However from what I've heard on youtube (which equals 99% the reality, I was at 4 shows in 2010 and youtube totally does justice to those shows, bear people who have crap cameras, but in 2011 we had lots of pro-shots), it's totally not up to what I heard in 2010. I'm a musician myself and learnt classical music (don't know how you call it in america) in a conservatory where I had a music degree, don't know if that's much of value to judge GNR's work, but anyway, I'm not judging the fact whether Axl hits the correct notes or not, but the lack of rasp and energy in his voice, that's what makes the difference between a mediocre show and an amazing show.

Saying that listening on YouTube is 99% the same as hearing live pretty much makes anything you post irrelevant.

[Damn_Smooth]

I have been very critical of Axl at times, but you saying his voice was poor to mediocre this tour couldnt be farther from the truth. What show were you at D? I was at the ATL show and he was on fucking fire. He was in the zone. I never heard him miss a note and he held all the notes for their appropriate duration.

Believe me, if his performance wasn't uP to par, I would not hesitate to express that,

But Axl Roses voice at the 2011 ATL GA show could not have been better.

I was totally sober ( besides a couple of joints) and I am a musician with a music degree and almost perfect pitch and what I heard was a practically perfect performance.

I'll be willing to bet you didn't go to any shows this tour because if you had you wouldn't feel so negative about his voice.

I didn't go at the show because I don't live in America, otherwise I would have paid the ticket to see one show. However from what I've heard on youtube (which equals 99% the reality, I was at 4 shows in 2010 and youtube totally does justice to those shows, bear people who have crap cameras, but in 2011 we had lots of pro-shots), it's totally not up to what I heard in 2010. I'm a musician myself and learnt classical music (don't know how you call it in america) in a conservatory where I had a music degree, don't know if that's much of value to judge GNR's work, but anyway, I'm not judging the fact whether Axl hits the correct notes or not, but the lack of rasp and energy in his voice, that's what makes the difference between a mediocre show and an amazing show.

Saying that listening on YouTube is 99% the same as hearing live pretty much makes anything you post irrelevant.

I completely agree. I have been fortunate enough to see them in 93, 02 and 10. None of the youtube videos I have seen have come close to representing the experience of being there. I wish I could have caught a show this tour.

[DrBrownstone]

That's definitely true, and I can't believe someone would say youtube displays 99% similarity as a live show. WTF? Are you serious? First of all, if you're gonna go 99%, just say 100, I mean what, in your mind, is that last 1% lacking? But secondly, and more important, is that is completely bullshit...I saw them in Phoenix a few weeks ago, and in Manchester in 2010, and I don't care what kind of camera is used, and what the quality level is, as far as comparing it to actually being there and hearing it live, right in front of you? Not. Even. Close.

People complained about Axl's voice on this tour, and, having nothing else to go by except for youtube videos, I will admit I was a little worried. Then I saw the show, and he blew me away.

[Damn_Smooth]

That's definitely true, and I can't believe someone would say youtube displays 99% similarity as a live show. WTF? Are you serious? First of all, if you're gonna go 99%, just say 100, I mean what, in your mind, is that last 1% lacking? But secondly, and more important, is that is completely bullshit...I saw them in Phoenix a few weeks ago, and in Manchester in 2010, and I don't care what kind of camera is used, and what the quality level is, as far as comparing it to actually being there and hearing it live, right in front of you? Not. Even. Close.

People complained about Axl's voice on this tour, and, having nothing else to go by except for youtube videos, I will admit I was a little worried. Then I saw the show, and he blew me away.

Which show was better? I'm expecting you to say 2011, but I'm hoping that you say 2010 because I am still insanely jealous of everyone that got to go this tour.

[DrBrownstone]

Truthfully the 2011 show was better. I know people often have skewed opinions and always say the most recent show they saw was the best, but the one I just saw really was the best. Not to downplay the '10 show, it was fuckin killer. Maybe it's how much I was involved in the concert...last year, I was about 30-40 feet from the stage, not in the GA section, and off to the side, with a friend who wasn't a huge fan like me. This show I went with my brother, a fellow GNR hardcore, and we were in GA, right at the front, got to shake Axl's hand, just felt like I was more involved...if that makes sense, and that may be why it was a better concert overall, for me. I even took off my charlie dont surf shirt and waved it in the air and yelled Axl's name to get his attention, and he looked at me and the shirt and started laughing.

Really though, sound wise, and band-chemistry wise, they were pretty much identical....IMO.

[Damn_Smooth]

Truthfully the 2011 show was better. I know people often have skewed opinions and always say the most recent show they saw was the best, but the one I just saw really was the best. Not to downplay the '10 show, it was fuckin killer. Maybe it's how much I was involved in the concert...last year, I was about 30-40 feet from the stage, not in the GA section, and off to the side, with a friend who wasn't a huge fan like me. This show I went with my brother, a fellow GNR hardcore, and we were in GA, right at the front, got to shake Axl's hand, just felt like I was more involved...if that makes sense, and that may be why it was a better concert overall, for me. I even took off my charlie dont surf shirt and waved it in the air and yelled Axl's name to get his attention, and he looked at me and the shirt and started laughing.

Really though, sound wise, and band-chemistry wise, they were pretty much identical....IMO.

Thanks, it's awesome that you had such a great experience. It did absolutely nothing to lessen my jealousy though, There really is nothing on earth like having Axl's voice completely cut through you, I wish I could have been there.

[rudolf1978]

Lisbon 2010 was awesome... same as Bucharest.

Axl singin Irs in the 90's should sound like this for sure

Veeeeeeeeeeery good performance,im going to check if there are more videos of that show.like so much when axl sings like that!

FULL SHOW

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=841F8620A0EB4627

Im watching You could be mine,and full rasp,like the good old days.

Edited January 16, 2012 by rudolf1978

[D..]

A lot of people here will say anything as long as we all agree that GNR today is totally perfect. The objective truth is that Youtube DOES justice to the actual sound (I'm really talking about the pro-shots and to some extents some HD amateur footage but obviously not the horrible phone videos) of a show, and that Axl sounded a LOT better in 2010. It's facts, there's no subjectivity here.

Now I'll agree that the 2011 setlists are definitely badass with Estranged and Civil War, and you can definitely tell Axl worked hard on those two. The problem is that his voice has weakened a lot, don't know what the cause, but it's like he's not singing full power now and there's too much helium. That being said, I find it really too bad that contrary to 2010, we didn't see Catcher or TWAT in the setlists. The thing is, I'd rather hear those songs than the old songs, I know I'm an exception here, but I love Chinese Democracy this much. This is why I found Axl's choices regarding the 2009 and early 2010 (and even some late 2010 shows like "l'arc" which was fucking killer... catcher acoustic, nothing beats that) setlists much more ballsy. I was afraid that the disappointing sales of CD would result in Axl not backing up his album, but on the contrary, he sang every song except Riad. Really miss those CD songs in the setlist, but most of all, really miss his 2010 voice.

I just hope he takes a good rest and comes back fully charged next tour.

[bigcountry]

To me he sounded best in this order.....

2006

2010

2002

2011

I fell he sounded better at the 2002 VMA's and the 2002 tour than he did on the 2011 US tour.

Everyone talks about what a train wreck the VMAs where but in 2011 he vocals sounded weaker. We keep hearing Axl was spot on during alot of the 2011 US tour but I don't hear it happening.

I think 2006 is the best he has been, he could still move around the stage alot and keep his wind for the vocals.

Edited January 16, 2012 by bigcountry

[Nosaj Thing]

Lisbon 2010 was awesome... same as Bucharest.

Axl singin Irs in the 90's should sound like this for sure

Veeeeeeeeeeery good performance,im going to check if there are more videos of that show.like so much when axl sings like that!

FULL SHOW

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=841F8620A0EB4627

Im watching You could be mine,and full rasp,like the good old days.

WTTJ sounds pretty fuckin' good. Damn Axl, you had it and you let it go...

[trqster]

Maybe Axl will recover his full mind-blowing vocals and rasp once again - one's gotta be hopeful.... 2011 vocals weren't that bad - the problem was that we were treated with excellence just a year shorter...

One thing's for sure, a studio record with Axl's 2010 vocals would blew us all away.

[Apollo]

In no way shape or form is listening on YouTube the same as listening live. Regardless of what band you are listening to. And the quality of the singers voice has EVERYTHING to do with it. To say people are biased because of them enjoying the experience live is just arrogant on your part.

I've been to more concerts that I can remember. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell if the singer sounds good or not.

Anybody who says that YouTube videos give you the same listening quality as hearing a band live clearly has not attended a show before.

I actually attended a show this year and Axl was spot on in pretty much every song. Madagascar was sketchy though.

And estranged was amazing.

People need to relax and enjoy the music rather than nit picking every thing to death.

[Gurri]

Im agree, but i went to see him to La Plata and i can tell you that he didn't sing like in 10' and i've been there too...

Of course i enjoyed it and i was really happy to see him and all the band once more, but the fact is that something happened with his voice and energy (maybe he's trying to be carefull with the rasp who knows)

Have you ever heard a better version on KOHD than this one since 1993? 2010 was the perfection for me

Edited January 16, 2012 by Gurri

[Rovim]

Axl's 2010 voice was simply great. This year it was very good for the most part too. The shows were great, long, with Estranged and Civil War back in after such a long time.

The band, I felt, really gelled together for the first time, and had a blast doing it.

I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about even little differences in quality when it comes to Axl's voice, but maybe it'll be a good thing to have a little perspective about it, that's all.

As a whole, this is probably one of the best years ever for the new line up, with the band actualy functioning as something close to a 'normal band'.

3 hour shows with Axl happy for the most part, interviews, and pro shots, talk about writing and wanting to release new material.

Besides, Axl's voice was always like this imo: ever changing, and coming back from weak years to full power more then once.

I'm not worried at all. Personally I think he's just taking care of his voice, and if he wanted to he could use more rasp or whatever.

Also, studio wise, I have a feeling he can still do the 'angel down' full on rasp with power experiencing no trouble at all.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Rovim