08/08/21 - Detroit, MI - Comerica Park

[TheDemocracyRose]

PC was pretty decent. But missing the confettis...😎

[Politania]

25 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I know "in a good mood and cracking jokes" is a meme, but wow does it go a long way for the whole vibe of the show when Axl is in a great mood. I've seen GN'R in concert 18 times now since 1991. Last night was the best mood I've ever seen Axl in by a country mile. The stuff during Jungle is a great example. Something fairly major went wrong and the dude just had fun with it. He let the crowd in on the joke, laughed it off with the band, then got back to handling the song.                                                                                    *

Regarding his voice, this is going to sound like an excuse but he was trying VERY hard. That matters to me a lot. That's the difference between me saying "if you would only put some effort in" and me sitting there thinking "well the dude IS almost 60 and has been singing at an inhuman level for decades" 

                                                                                             **

Another thing about Axl's voice is that I was with all casuals and two of the guys I was with are music industry professionals. They were in and around the music industry 24/7, so while they're casual GN'R fans, they're very critical. Outside of the glaring timing issues here and there, both of them kept saying things like "Axl sounds fucking amazing" even in full ass Mickey moments. So it's a reminded that we're the most critical of how he sounds by a long shot. 

 

 

I enjoyed reading ur post. Im glad you had a good time with your family.

 You said very important stuff Russ! (bold parts!) thanks

[jimisbatman]

Just a thought, could attendance be poor due to fear of covid transmission? Or are there other factors at play? 

[RussTCB]

16 minutes ago, DTJ80 said:

I’ve been waiting on this review! 🤣

Glad you are on the mend - mental health is so important. 👍

How did Absurd go down - I’m really keen to know if the crowd were into it/chanting ABSURD etc?

Judging by the WTTJ video doing the rounds it looked like Axl tweaked the vocal approach slightly making it more clean/consistent….was that evident elsewhere or were the usual dodgy ones still dodgy (YCBM….Better)?

 

Absurd was such an odd moment. Axl said "this is our new song" and the crowd was just kinda like "OK....?". Then people around us looked like they were rocking out during it, but it received a golf clap after. 

[Towelie]

36 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Here's some scattered, long winded thoughts on the show:

First up; I was nearing "old man yelling to get off my lawn" status prior to the start of this tour regarding this whole leg. Anyone who pays any attention to this forum was probably crystal clear on how I felt. 

HOWEVER, the biggest things I bitched about were the following: the stale setlist, the entire band looking & feeling like they were going through the motions and the lack of new material. 

I would've have probably gone if 1 of the 3 of those things were addressed, but by some miracle, all 3 were. 

Here's some bad things to get out of the way: Axl's voice. I'll revisit this in my positive remarks too, but he was rough in spots. He also had a lot of timing issues that were really odd. Not a huge deal, but really odd. 

Bad thing #2: the attendance. Jesus. I know I was telling everyone the numbers would be low but holy shit. 2 of the 3 casinos were passing out free tickets prior to the show and the place was still only 3/4 by well into GN'R. Before you "bUt ThE tOuR iS mAkINg MoNeY! WhY dO yOu CaRe?!" people jump down my throat....it's about a LOT more than GN'R making money for me. They're MY band. I've always rooting for them to win. A 3/4 fill stadium during Estranged, even after handfuls of tickets were being given out at two major casinos is not winning. 

The good: every goddamn thing else. 

I know "in a good mood and cracking jokes" is a meme, but wow does it go a long way for the whole vibe of the show when Axl is in a great mood. I've seen GN'R in concert 18 times now since 1991. Last night was the best mood I've ever seen Axl in by a country mile. The stuff during Jungle is a great example. Something fairly major went wrong and the dude just had fun with it. He let the crowd in on the joke, laughed it off with the band, then got back to handling the song. 

Regarding his voice, this is going to sound like an excuse but he was trying VERY hard. That matters to me a lot. That's the difference between me saying "if you would only put some effort in" and me sitting there thinking "well the dude IS almost 60 and has been singing at an inhuman level for decades" 

Another thing about Axl's voice is that I was with all casuals and two of the guys I was with are music industry professionals. They were in and around the music industry 24/7, so while they're casual GN'R fans, they're very critical. Outside of the glaring timing issues here and there, both of them kept saying things like "Axl sounds fucking amazing" even in full ass Mickey moments. So it's a reminded that we're the most critical of how he sounds by a long shot. 

The crowd size ended up working in my favor, so I can even partially include that in my good things. We were upgraded the moment we walked in. My son was at the show with his mom, so I was also able to grab tickets for him and her. So instead of all of us being in the upper bowl and me not sitting with my son, we all got moved down to the lower bowl and our new seats were all in the same section. 

The minor setlist tweaks also went a very long way for me. There were BIG songs that I didn't even think of until they started. Both CW and NR were moments where I was like "oh yeah, they haven't done that song yet". As opposed to the last leg where I knew exactly what was coming for every second of the show. 

The general chemistry between the band themselves and the crowd was rad as hell to be a part of. Everyone on stage was having fun with each other, then in turn having fun with the crowd. As a side note, Slash was ON FIRE the whole night. 

OK....let's get absurd now. Say what you will about that song but goddamn is it fun live. For disclosure: the song grew on me ahead of time but it was really something else live. Even if I still hated it, I probably would have had fun while they were playing it. 

As stated at the beginning, I knew this was going to be a rambling post so I'm sorry if it was hard to read / didn't make sense lol. 

In short, I had 100x more fun than I ever expected I would. You know why? Because the band put it a lot more effort, they tweaked the setlist and they included new music. 

I feel like I'm forgetting stuff I wanted to say, so if I left something out that anyone has questions on, just tag me in the thread and I'll do my best to answer. 

I had a very rough time with my mental health last week but a few things happened over the weekend that reminded me that there are many GREAT human beings in the GN'R community. Not the least of which were some of the things surrounding the show itself. 

If you took the time to read this whole thing, thanks

Great review.

It's amazing what just a minor difference can make to the overall vibe. There are two kinds of "critical" GNR fans, there's the ones that shit on the band no matter what they do and then there's the ones who just care and want to see that the band care also. I think at times we all get lumped in as one big pain in the ass to the band/management, but there's a big difference between those two groups. 

I haven't seen the band live since 2012. I couldn't see the reunion the first time they came to the UK because my son had just been born and the second time they came I was so jaded by how corporate it had all become, the interest just wasn't there on my part. I'm seriously thinking about seeing them on next years Euro tour if they can just keep building on the momentum. I'm not expecting miracles, but just a sign that they give a shit, that they're interested in doing normal things that bands do, even if it's just the odd song here and there, I'd be happy.

So Axl didn't see your Absurd T-shirt and invite you both onstage to admire them further? Damnit.

So glad you and the family had such a good time. 

 

Edited August 9, 2021 by Towelie

[PatrickS77]

31 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Here's some scattered, long winded thoughts on the show:

First up; I was nearing "old man yelling to get off my lawn" status prior to the start of this tour regarding this whole leg. Anyone who pays any attention to this forum was probably crystal clear on how I felt. 

HOWEVER, the biggest things I bitched about were the following: the stale setlist, the entire band looking & feeling like they were going through the motions and the lack of new material. 

I would've have probably gone if 1 of the 3 of those things were addressed, but by some miracle, all 3 were. 

Here's some bad things to get out of the way: Axl's voice. I'll revisit this in my positive remarks too, but he was rough in spots. He also had a lot of timing issues that were really odd. Not a huge deal, but really odd. 

Bad thing #2: the attendance. Jesus. I know I was telling everyone the numbers would be low but holy shit. 2 of the 3 casinos were passing out free tickets prior to the show and the place was still only 3/4 by well into GN'R. Before you "bUt ThE tOuR iS mAkINg MoNeY! WhY dO yOu CaRe?!" people jump down my throat....it's about a LOT more than GN'R making money for me. They're MY band. I've always rooting for them to win. A 3/4 fill stadium during Estranged, even after handfuls of tickets were being given out at two major casinos is not winning. 

The good: every goddamn thing else. 

I know "in a good mood and cracking jokes" is a meme, but wow does it go a long way for the whole vibe of the show when Axl is in a great mood. I've seen GN'R in concert 18 times now since 1991. Last night was the best mood I've ever seen Axl in by a country mile. The stuff during Jungle is a great example. Something fairly major went wrong and the dude just had fun with it. He let the crowd in on the joke, laughed it off with the band, then got back to handling the song. 

Regarding his voice, this is going to sound like an excuse but he was trying VERY hard. That matters to me a lot. That's the difference between me saying "if you would only put some effort in" and me sitting there thinking "well the dude IS almost 60 and has been singing at an inhuman level for decades" 

Another thing about Axl's voice is that I was with all casuals and two of the guys I was with are music industry professionals. They were in and around the music industry 24/7, so while they're casual GN'R fans, they're very critical. Outside of the glaring timing issues here and there, both of them kept saying things like "Axl sounds fucking amazing" even in full ass Mickey moments. So it's a reminded that we're the most critical of how he sounds by a long shot. 

The crowd size ended up working in my favor, so I can even partially include that in my good things. We were upgraded the moment we walked in. My son was at the show with his mom, so I was also able to grab tickets for him and her. So instead of all of us being in the upper bowl and me not sitting with my son, we all got moved down to the lower bowl and our new seats were all in the same section. 

The minor setlist tweaks also went a very long way for me. There were BIG songs that I didn't even think of until they started. Both CW and NR were moments where I was like "oh yeah, they haven't done that song yet". As opposed to the last leg where I knew exactly what was coming for every second of the show. 

The general chemistry between the band themselves and the crowd was rad as hell to be a part of. Everyone on stage was having fun with each other, then in turn having fun with the crowd. As a side note, Slash was ON FIRE the whole night. 

OK....let's get absurd now. Say what you will about that song but goddamn is it fun live. For disclosure: the song grew on me ahead of time but it was really something else live. Even if I still hated it, I probably would have had fun while they were playing it. 

As stated at the beginning, I knew this was going to be a rambling post so I'm sorry if it was hard to read / didn't make sense lol. 

In short, I had 100x more fun than I ever expected I would. You know why? Because the band put it a lot more effort, they tweaked the setlist and they included new music. 

I feel like I'm forgetting stuff I wanted to say, so if I left something out that anyone has questions on, just tag me in the thread and I'll do my best to answer. 

I had a very rough time with my mental health last week but a few things happened over the weekend that reminded me that there are many GREAT human beings in the GN'R community. Not the least of which were some of the things surrounding the show itself. 

If you took the time to read this whole thing, thanks

Or maybe we'll file this under "Oooh, I have been a negative Nancy judging Youtube snippets and I have been wrong.". I have seen one or two (or three or four...) shows since the reunion and Axl seemed in a good mood ever since the 3 of them got back together. And Slash and Duff have been in it having fund and putting the effort, ever since they stepped back on a GNR stage again. Judging videos and being at the actual show never is the same thing.

[RussTCB]

4 minutes ago, jimisbatman said:

Just a thought, could attendance be poor due to fear of covid transmission? Or are there other factors at play? 

That's a valid argument, but here's a counter point: they were passing out handfuls of tickets at the casinos and attendance was still low.

The casinos are much smaller and people are packed in together. There is also no mask mandate at the casinos. So, even for free, people with no fear of Covid were like "nah, I'm good" 

[DTJ80]

4 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Absurd was such an odd moment. Axl said "this is our new song" and the crowd was just kinda like "OK....?". Then people around us looked like they were rocking out during it, but it received a golf clap after. 

Cool - I just saw a clip on YouTube and it seemed to get a really good reception after. 👍

[RussTCB]

2 minutes ago, Towelie said:

Great review.

It's amazing what just a minor difference can make to the overall vibe. There are two kinds of "critical" GNR fans, there's the ones that shit on the band no matter what they do and then there's the ones who just care and want to see that the band care also. I think at times we all get lumped in as one big pain in the ass to the band/management, but there's a big difference between those two groups. 

I haven't seen the band live since 2012. I couldn't see the reunion the first time they came to the UK because my son had just been born and the second time they came I was so jaded by how corporate it had all become, the interest just wasn't there on my part. I'm seriously thinking about seeing them on next years Euro tour if they can just keep building on the momentum. I'm not expecting miracles, but just a sign that they give a shit, that they're interested in doing normal things that bands do, even if it's just the odd song here and there, I'd be happy.

So Axl didn't see your Absurd T-shirt and invite you both onstage to admire them further? Damnit.

So glad you and the family had such a good time. 

Zero chance Axl saw my shirt from our seats but two funny notes about the shirt:

1) I posted it on my podcasts Instagram and Beta replied "thanks for the support" to which I replied and said "tonight is my son's first GN'R show. He's very excited". Beta replied "Happy Birthday!" 

What. Lol

2) I was asked by 4 different people in the crowd where I got it. One woman said "they have a new song! That's the name of it!" and I just smiled and said "I'm aware" lol

4 minutes ago, PatrickS77 said:

Or maybe we'll file this under "Oooh, I have been a negative Nancy judging Youtube snippets and I have been wrong.". I have seen one or two (or three or four...) shows since the reunion and Axl seemed in a good mood ever since the 3 of them got back together. And Slash and Duff have been in it having fund and putting the effort, ever since they stepped back on a GNR stage again. Judging videos and being at the actual show never is the same thing.

Yet another example of you looking for a way to negative. Well done

[Towelie]

2 minutes ago, DTJ80 said:

Cool - I just saw a clip on YouTube and it seemed to get a really good reception after. 👍

New songs are never going to get the same reception as the classics. The band must know this, but it shouldn't stop them from playing them. I'm sure even the casual fans would rather hear new material than endless covers that have nothing to do with GNR. 

[Politania]

2 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Zero chance Axl saw my shirt from our seats but two funny notes about the shirt:

1) I posted it on my podcasts Instagram and Beta replied "thanks for the support" to which I replied and said "tonight is my son's first GN'R show. He's very excited". Beta replied "Happy Birthday!" 

What. Lol

 

New GNR fan has been born 

( I wanna see the T-shirt now )

[RussTCB]

Just now, Politania said:

New GNR fan has been born 

( I wanna see the T-shirt now )

My wife made them for my son and I

[Politania]

Just now, RussTCB said:

My wife made them for my son and I

  cool T-shirts. She is a rockstar!

[Towelie]

8 minutes ago, PatrickS77 said:

Or maybe we'll file this under "Oooh, I have been a negative Nancy judging Youtube snippets and I have been wrong.". I have seen one or two (or three or four...) shows since the reunion and Axl seemed in a good mood ever since the 3 of them got back together. And Slash and Duff have been in it having fund and putting the effort, ever since they stepped back on a GNR stage again. Judging videos and being at the actual show never is the same thing.

Russ has seen quite a large number of reunion shows IIRC, so I think he's very much in a position to judge these things. I haven't attended one reunion show, but followed it closely online and can tell the difference between the times Axl seems to be enjoying himself and the times where he looks disinterested/phoning it in. It's called having eyes. 

 

 

[RussTCB]

Just now, Towelie said:

Russ has seen quite a large number of reunion shows IIRC, so I think he's very much in a position to judge these things. I haven't attended one reunion show, but followed it closely online and can tell the difference between the times Axl seems to be enjoying himself and the times where he looks disinterested/phoning it in. It's called having eyes. 

Thanks. That's exactly the reply I was expecting from that user, so it is what it is. None of those arguments are valid, so I just replied the best way I knew how lol. 

And yeah, there is a huge difference between "in a good mood cracking jokes" Axl and the Axl we got last night. He was way more than just "in a good mood". He looked like he was ELATED to be performing for us. That's a big, big difference. 

3 minutes ago, Politania said:

  cool T-shirts. She is a rockstar!

They actually look way cooler in person too. The "Absurd" is in hot pink and I have no idea why it doesn't show up right in the pic. In any case yeah, my wife rules. A lot of people in the GN'R community and the band itself have met her and they all love her. 

[jimisbatman]

20 hours ago, Tourettes2400 said:

Tonight’s event tee is up

https://gnrtourtruck.com/collections/featured/products/2021-event-tee-detroit

Cant see the previous event tees for this tour in the online store. Do they only sell the current one available then discontinue them? 

[James Bond]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the "can't judge his voice off bootlegs" argument is dumb and hypocritical. For one, people only seem to suggest that when Axl sounds bad (I never see anybody suggest that when he sounds good). Quite the double standard. I watched some of the stream last night and thought Axl sounded pretty solid on the songs I heard. But I guess I'm not allowed to voice that opinion since it was a stream and I wasn't there.

Second, this is a Guns N' Roses forum. Axl's voice is going to be discussed. If we follow the logic that we are not allowed to discuss it based off bootlegs, then I guess we can't discuss how he sounded on the Appetite tour or during the Illusions. I thought he sounded amazing at Paris 1992 but I wasn't there so I guess I'm not allowed to critique.

[ShadowOfTheWave]

It's amazing the "Axl sounds great in person it's just something wrong with Youtube videos" problem seemed to complete skip 2016. Axl sounded great in 2016, and has sounded like shit since. Period.

[RussTCB]

@Politaniahere's another pic:

Edited August 9, 2021 by RussTCB

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

57 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Here's some scattered, long winded thoughts on the show:

First up; I was nearing "old man yelling to get off my lawn" status prior to the start of this tour regarding this whole leg. Anyone who pays any attention to this forum was probably crystal clear on how I felt. 

HOWEVER, the biggest things I bitched about were the following: the stale setlist, the entire band looking & feeling like they were going through the motions and the lack of new material. 

I would've have probably gone if 1 of the 3 of those things were addressed, but by some miracle, all 3 were. 

Here's some bad things to get out of the way: Axl's voice. I'll revisit this in my positive remarks too, but he was rough in spots. He also had a lot of timing issues that were really odd. Not a huge deal, but really odd. 

Bad thing #2: the attendance. Jesus. I know I was telling everyone the numbers would be low but holy shit. 2 of the 3 casinos were passing out free tickets prior to the show and the place was still only 3/4 by well into GN'R. Before you "bUt ThE tOuR iS mAkINg MoNeY! WhY dO yOu CaRe?!" people jump down my throat....it's about a LOT more than GN'R making money for me. They're MY band. I've always rooting for them to win. A 3/4 fill stadium during Estranged, even after handfuls of tickets were being given out at two major casinos is not winning. 

The good: every goddamn thing else. 

I know "in a good mood and cracking jokes" is a meme, but wow does it go a long way for the whole vibe of the show when Axl is in a great mood. I've seen GN'R in concert 18 times now since 1991. Last night was the best mood I've ever seen Axl in by a country mile. The stuff during Jungle is a great example. Something fairly major went wrong and the dude just had fun with it. He let the crowd in on the joke, laughed it off with the band, then got back to handling the song. 

Regarding his voice, this is going to sound like an excuse but he was trying VERY hard. That matters to me a lot. That's the difference between me saying "if you would only put some effort in" and me sitting there thinking "well the dude IS almost 60 and has been singing at an inhuman level for decades" 

Another thing about Axl's voice is that I was with all casuals and two of the guys I was with are music industry professionals. They were in and around the music industry 24/7, so while they're casual GN'R fans, they're very critical. Outside of the glaring timing issues here and there, both of them kept saying things like "Axl sounds fucking amazing" even in full ass Mickey moments. So it's a reminded that we're the most critical of how he sounds by a long shot. 

The crowd size ended up working in my favor, so I can even partially include that in my good things. We were upgraded the moment we walked in. My son was at the show with his mom, so I was also able to grab tickets for him and her. So instead of all of us being in the upper bowl and me not sitting with my son, we all got moved down to the lower bowl and our new seats were all in the same section. 

The minor setlist tweaks also went a very long way for me. There were BIG songs that I didn't even think of until they started. Both CW and NR were moments where I was like "oh yeah, they haven't done that song yet". As opposed to the last leg where I knew exactly what was coming for every second of the show. 

The general chemistry between the band themselves and the crowd was rad as hell to be a part of. Everyone on stage was having fun with each other, then in turn having fun with the crowd. As a side note, Slash was ON FIRE the whole night. 

OK....let's get absurd now. Say what you will about that song but goddamn is it fun live. For disclosure: the song grew on me ahead of time but it was really something else live. Even if I still hated it, I probably would have had fun while they were playing it. 

As stated at the beginning, I knew this was going to be a rambling post so I'm sorry if it was hard to read / didn't make sense lol. 

In short, I had 100x more fun than I ever expected I would. You know why? Because the band put it a lot more effort, they tweaked the setlist and they included new music. 

I feel like I'm forgetting stuff I wanted to say, so if I left something out that anyone has questions on, just tag me in the thread and I'll do my best to answer. 

I had a very rough time with my mental health last week but a few things happened over the weekend that reminded me that there are many GREAT human beings in the GN'R community. Not the least of which were some of the things surrounding the show itself. 

If you took the time to read this whole thing, thanks

Excellent review and I'm so happy for ya mate. I'm so pissed off with the band for millions of reasons, but it's good to see them tryin and delivering a new song is worlds to me in these difficult times of mine.  As Elton and Bernie said "how wonderful life is while you're in the world, GNR!" 

[Towelie]

11 minutes ago, James Bond said:

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the "can't judge his voice off bootlegs" argument is dumb and hypocritical. For one, people only seem to suggest that when Axl sounds bad (I never see anybody suggest that when he sounds good). Quite the double standard. I watched some of the stream last night and thought Axl sounded pretty solid on the songs I heard. But I guess I'm not allowed to voice that opinion since it was a stream and I wasn't there.

Second, this is a Guns N' Roses forum. Axl's voice is going to be discussed. If we follow the logic that we are not allowed to discuss it based off bootlegs, then I guess we can't discuss how he sounded on the Appetite tour or during the Illusions. I thought he sounded amazing at Paris 1992 but I wasn't there so I guess I'm not allowed to critique.

Yeah, it's like me insisting that a label executive can't critique my bad singing based on an online video, he just doesn't get how talented I am without hearing my caterwauling in person. By this logic, no singer can be deemed talented based on any recording. Might as well disregard 100 years of popular recorded music whilst we're at it.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Towelie

[DTJ80]

5 minutes ago, Towelie said:

New songs are never going to get the same reception as the classics. The band must know this, but it shouldn't stop them from playing them. I'm sure even the casual fans would rather hear new material than endless covers that have nothing to do with GNR. 

Oh totally….was just keen to know if it was a ‘yeah cool whatever’ response or something better and the video/Russ confirmed it was pretty good. Which is a bonus!

[ZoSoRose]

49 minutes ago, DTJ80 said:

How did Absurd go down - I’m really keen to know if the crowd were into it/chanting ABSURD etc?

 

 

God no 

[James Bond]

What I saw of Axl's mood last night, the slight refinements to the set list, and now the user reviews here of people who had a good time makes me wish Toronto hadn't been cancelled. I'd definitely be reconsidering going at this point.

[DTJ80]

2 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

God no 

Aww come on man….it’s a rock show! Damn right I’d be chanting ABSURD ! 🤣

Just a pity I have another 10 months to go before I see them!