Bridge School Benefit Show and Webcast Oct. 20, 2012

[axlsalinger]

Well, after reading the reviews on this site (both hysterically good and bad) I just watched the whole thing. And yeah, Axl wasn't very good last night. I think the haters are going a little far, 'You're Crazy' and 'Sweet Child' actually weren't too bad, 'Patience' was good. 'Jungle' was a mess.

Axl definitely went Full Mickey in this one. 'Used to Love Her' was probably the worst, Bad Mickey from start to finish and probably an inappropriate song choice for this gig to begin with. Hope he's feeling better tonight. Get rid of UTLH and give us some 'Yesterdays' and 'Sailing'.

[Brodie]

I love the cause, kudos there, but the performance in and of itself was disappointing.

DJ raping "Better" was unforgivable. Just terrible.

Axl's voice was bad and it's easy to say it's because Axl didn't prepare properly. Do we know? Nope.

But unless we're told otherwise, that's what people will assume. People are cynical and illogical, need to be kept on track. Professional PR is needed.

Even though Axl's voice was not good, it will improve. It's like a football. Your players have natural ability and talent but they need practice and games to get up to speed.

But it sucks because whenever the spotlight is on Guns, they seem to perform poorer than we know they're capable of. We want them to be on top, the best.

"Victory or death", as a wise tattoo once stated.

Does that still apply, Ax?

[James Bond]

From what I've watched so far, I'd say the band sounds amazing. They can play anything. Better was a pleasant surprise acoustically. As for Axl? This is Rio all over again, if not worse. Strep throat or not, it's unfortunate that this always happens when it's a pro-shot because a casual fan who sees this will presume this is what he always sounds like. It is what it is though. I just hope he can get his voice into shape for Vegas, at least as good as UCAP.

[iftheworld]

I'm sorry but I struggled to listen through Better. First off, I don't even think that was a good choice to play acoustically. Secondly, I listened for about twenty seconds and exited out.

[Guest RonMexico82]

I'm just waiting for tonights performance with Bubbles to go down as one of the most inappropriate moments in the history of charity gigs ever.

[Tom1447]

I'm just waiting for tonights performance with Bubbles to go down as one of the most inappropriate moments in the history of charity gigs ever.

their not going to play that song they do with bubbles at a charity gig with kids are they?

[Guest Gunns]

I'm just waiting for tonights performance with Bubbles to go down as one of the most inappropriate moments in the history of charity gigs ever.

their not going to play that song they do with bubbles at a charity gig with kids are they?

why?

liquors and whores are appropriate at any event

[Guest RonMexico82]

Sure what is wrong with singing liquor and whores with a guy pretending to be handicapped to a bunch of kids that are actually handicapped.

[Apollo]

Hilarious to watch the Axl Nutters defend this awful performance.

Funny how Axl always is "sick" for the first show of tours.

[NachoLZ]

Sure what is wrong with singing liquor and whores with a guy pretending to be handicapped to a bunch of kids that are actually handicapped.

Oh, man, they are fucking up really bad...

[bumblecool]

[Kapitch_77]

Paradise city is on YouTube now.... needless to say that it's like the rest of the performance...

[Apollo]

I'm just waiting for tonights performance with Bubbles to go down as one of the most inappropriate moments in the history of charity gigs ever.

I'd say all the f-bombs in you're crazy proved that they didn't care about being age appropriate.

[MEXzilla]

Everyone sucking up to Neil Young lmao I love that Axl the legend left hehehe

He was probably backstage jamming and writing new songs with Jack White

Imagine if that were true; wouldn't that be something.

[ColdHeartBreaker]

Hilarious to watch the Axl Nutters defend this awful performance.

Funny how Axl always is "sick" for the first show of tours.

I'm just waiting for tonights performance with Bubbles to go down as one of the most inappropriate moments in the history of charity gigs ever.

I'd say all the f-bombs in you're crazy proved that they didn't care about being age appropriate.

I don't think I've seen anyone try to say it was even a good performance. Believing guys like Bumblefoot - that Axl, being only human, was ill? I mean, that's just ridiculous right? They MUST be lying.

Edited October 21, 2012 by ColdHeartBreaker

[Guest RonMexico82]

language is one thing (Americans are over sensitive to that anyway) but bringing some rent-a-joke 2 bit actor that pretends to be handicapped in the name of entertainment is low. Real low.

[fozzie]

It is obvious he was sick. Bumblefoot even came on gunsnroses.com and confirmed it and gave him props for even doing the show. His voice was cutting out at many parts where it never would before and I am not talking back in the 90s or early 2000s, his voice would have never cut out like that at any of the shows earlier this year. He sounded amazing when I saw him in February on the UCAP tour. I am very sorry he was sick and sorry for the luck of these streamed shows always getting the sick voice, I remember back in 2011 him having bronchitis as well possibly near the RIR show. Axl always says himself back luck follows him around, so this could be just one of those things. Being a singer and one that travels around to different climates and being cooped in hotels much of the time it is not a surprise that he acquires these upper respiratory illnesses.

This is not the end of the world or the end of GNR by any means, he was sick, period. I thought Patience sounded pretty good. Just the songs that require the growl and scream were out of reach with strep throat. Think how frustrating it must be for him. I'm glad he did the show despite the illness and did not cause another no-show headline right before the Vegas shows.

You literally have so many professional singers in the world, that also travel and age, and yet this only happens to Axl Rose. Yes, that sounds like a way of explaining things correctly...

Yes.... only Axl.

These are just a few news articles from the past couple of weeks:

http://perezhilton.c...roat-vocal-rest

http://www.contactmu...ormance_3334388

http://web.orange.co..._tv_performance

http://global.christ...-twitter-82873/

some more...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0jChXK2OHw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oolgONF7gS0

You made me click a link to Cherly Cole and Bieber..warn people man

[Apollo]

Hilarious to watch the Axl Nutters defend this awful performance.

Funny how Axl always is "sick" for the first show of tours.

I'm just waiting for tonights performance with Bubbles to go down as one of the most inappropriate moments in the history of charity gigs ever.

I'd say all the f-bombs in you're crazy proved that they didn't care about being age appropriate.

I don't think I've seen anyone try to say it was even a good performance. Believing guys like Bumblefoot - that Axl, being only human, was ill? I mean, that's just ridiculous right? They MUST be lying.

Cold.....don't you ever get tired of all the excuses?

If somebody said before the show:

One singer will come on late, swear, sound terrible and blame it on being sick, and will forget lyrics to his own classic song.

And

One singer will tear it up. Sound awesome.

Axl or Eddie vedder?

Axl or Jack White?

Axl or Neil Young?

What would your guess be for all three of those???

I'm a diehard Axl fan since 1988.

Just getting tired of the story line the next day never being "Axl rose took stage and kicked ass" at these high profile events. the story is always something negative.

Call me a hater. I'm just a diehard fan who is ass that his favorite singer doesn't seem to really care that much anymore.

[Naupis]

Axl totally fits the description of "hot mess" at this point.

He looks ridiculous up there, and his vocal performances are abysmal.

He must not have any shame at this juncture because he has to know people are laughing at him when he goes out there looking and sounding like that. Clearly it doesn't bother him enough to do anything about it through.

[Kira]

Hilarious to watch the Axl Nutters defend this awful performance.

Funny how Axl always is "sick" for the first show of tours.

I'm just waiting for tonights performance with Bubbles to go down as one of the most inappropriate moments in the history of charity gigs ever.

I'd say all the f-bombs in you're crazy proved that they didn't care about being age appropriate.

I don't think I've seen anyone try to say it was even a good performance. Believing guys like Bumblefoot - that Axl, being only human, was ill? I mean, that's just ridiculous right? They MUST be lying.

Cold.....don't you ever get tired of all the excuses?

If somebody said before the show:

One singer will come on late, swear, sound terrible and blame it on being sick, and will forget lyrics to his own classic song.

And

One singer will tear it up. Sound awesome.

Axl or Eddie vedder?

Axl or Jack White?

Axl or Neil Young?

What would your guess be for all three of those???

I'm a diehard Axl fan since 1988.

Just getting tired of the story line the next day never being "Axl rose took stage and kicked ass" at these high profile events. the story is always something negative.

Call me a hater. I'm just a diehard fan who is ass that his favorite singer doesn't seem to really care that much anymore.

Co-signed

[Kira]

Sure what is wrong with singing liquor and whores with a guy pretending to be handicapped to a bunch of kids that are actually handicapped.

How did GnR get on this bill anyway? I realize it's charity but, you would think Neil Young and the organizers would have second thoughts booking Axl for this based on his reputation. I bet you there were a lot of pissed off people behind the scenes when he was late yesterday.

[GNR123GNR456]

Hilarious to watch the Axl Nutters defend this awful performance.

Funny how Axl always is "sick" for the first show of tours.

I'm just waiting for tonights performance with Bubbles to go down as one of the most inappropriate moments in the history of charity gigs ever.

I'd say all the f-bombs in you're crazy proved that they didn't care about being age appropriate.

I don't think I've seen anyone try to say it was even a good performance. Believing guys like Bumblefoot - that Axl, being only human, was ill? I mean, that's just ridiculous right? They MUST be lying.

Cold.....don't you ever get tired of all the excuses?

If somebody said before the show:

One singer will come on late, swear, sound terrible and blame it on being sick, and will forget lyrics to his own classic song.

And

One singer will tear it up. Sound awesome.

Axl or Eddie vedder?

Axl or Jack White?

Axl or Neil Young?

What would your guess be for all three of those???

I'm a diehard Axl fan since 1988.

Just getting tired of the story line the next day never being "Axl rose took stage and kicked ass" at these high profile events. the story is always something negative.

Call me a hater. I'm just a diehard fan who is ass that his favorite singer doesn't seem to really care that much anymore.

[Freddie Mercury's Ghost]

Negative review:

http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Bridge-School-review-A-year-to-forget-3968964.php

Bridge School review: A year to forget

MUSIC REVIEW

Aidin Vaziri

Updated 5:29 p.m., Sunday, October 21, 2012

Wearing a red flannel shirt over a second red flannel shirt, a scraggly Neil Young brought the 26th annual Bridge School Benefit Concert at Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheatre to a chilly close on Saturday with his usual all-star run through "Rockin' in the Free World." Only one thing was lacking - any discernible stars.

It was an anticlimactic end to an unusually anticlimactic concert that started some seven hours earlier with Young standing in the same spot. The venerated rocker and his wife, Pegi, typically have no problem drawing rock 'n' roll heavyweights to their annual shindig benefiting children with severe physical and speech impairments - from the Who and Paul McCartney to Green Day and Radiohead. It's a great cause and an honor to share the stage with the host.

But this year's lineup felt lacking from the start. The most popular names on the bill could have made up an "I Love the '90s" package show: Sarah McLachlan, the Flaming Lips, k.d. lang, Lucinda Williams and whatever passes for Guns N' Roses these days.

Even worse, they performed like it.

An unkempt Axl Rose arrived onstage late, hunched over a microphone stand and huffed his way through tunes that sounded vaguely familiar with a cast of misfits that looked vaguely like a band. His voice and blue jeans equally shredded, Rose forgot the lyrics to his group's biggest hit, "Welcome to the Jungle," and delivered an off-key version of "Sweet Child o' Mine" that most likely had all the dogs within earshot of the concert howling in pain.

The Flaming Lips did their best to scale down their acid-infused psychedelic pop to the concert's acoustic setting, even drafting the comedian Reggie Watts for live beat-boxing duties. But singer Wayne Coyne, in his unwashed gray suit, seemed unsettled. Determined to rile the crowd, he flapped his arms and beseeched, "Come on! Come on!"

Arriving onstage after the woefully mellow double shot of McLachlan and singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne didn't do his band any favors. Nor did its surreal set, in which Coyne rambled incoherently, played "Taps" on a broken bugle and attempted a cover of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" with Watts reading the words off an iPhone.

Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, putting in a surprise guest appearance, provided some relief from the general incompetence of the night as he efficiently revived a couple of his band's "Seinfeld"-era hits. "When I woke up this morning, this is the last thing I thought I would be doing," he said, having been drafted to kill time before Guns N' Roses' late arrival.

This year it was the more contemporary acts that put in the most memorable sets. Jack White, backed by a pale all-female band resembling zombies, charged through a handful of blues-tinged songs from his solo album, "Blunderbuss," while coyly flirting with the musicians. He also threw in a couple of White Stripes classics, "Hotel Yorba" and "We're Going to Be Friends," for good measure.

Foster the People, who had a huge hit last year with "Pumped Up Kicks" but skipped it altogether on Saturday, also managed to make the most of their brief time onstage, revamping their synthetic pop tunes with remarkable practicality.

Earlier in the day, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers performed a passable set of bluegrass as the comedian recycled his old stage jokes ("People say to me, 'Steve, why a music career? Why now?' And I say, 'Hey, you guys are my band.' "); Lucinda Williams warbled tentatively; and k.d. lang, well, apparently she was there too.

The lackluster lineup left the weight of expectation on Young and his band, Crazy Horse, to close out the show with something substantial. Instead, the band merely revisited a bulk of its Outside Lands set from August - most of it new, unreleased or entirely forgotten material - only without the gnarled gusts of feedback to drive it along.

Toward the end of the night, Young performed a lovely rendition of "The Needle and the Damage Done," which took on gut-wrenching intensity in light of the past-their-prime performers that came before. Its mournful note struck a tone - with even Rose and White bailing on the jam session, this was clearly a year to forget.

[saber_]

What is the significance of Axl's t-shirt?

[LuanVictor]

Bumblefoot is awesome, very kindness.