09/23/21 - Columbus, OH - Schottenstein Center

[Dangom1]

Coma and Madagascar sound outstanding 🤘

[EvanG]

There's too much analyzing as always. It's like what Duff writes in his book... the band has always been about ''fuck expectations''. They do whatever they want, take it or leave it. Just because they debuted song # 1 live first, doesn't mean that will happen with song # 2, and who knows what will happen with song # 3.

[adamsapple]

So they did play Coma, a 30 year old ten minutes long deep cut from UYI I and perhaps one of the most challenging songs for Axl to sing. But they did not play their new 3-minute single released on the same day.

I wouldn't be surprised if they drop a triple album next week and announce their retirement from touring the same day.

 

[Tom2112]

3 hours ago, WhazUp said:

Hard Skool aside, I am happy to see Coma back in the setlist.  From what I caught on the streams Axl didn't sound bad on it either.  I think that if Hard Skool is added eventually and they keep swapping out for UYI deep cuts like Coma and Locmotive, with Shadow occasionally popping up - that honestly gets rid of a ton of setlist staleness for me

Yeah that's how I'd hope for it to go. There's no need to playa Coma every night. I'm not a big fan of the song, but it's nice to get some rotation going after a few weeks of a stationary set

[Draguns]

As usual, too many people complaining and not being happy with the studio release of Hard Skool. Some people need to chill out and just enjoy something.

[We love Axl Rose]

11 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

There is no way GNR are playing a show on the day they're releasing a single and not play it, stop doing drugs

Ok 

[downzy]

5 hours ago, Towelie said:

Hard Skool is much harder to sing. Absurd isn't even really sang, so it's an easy song for Axl to perform. I really think that's what it boils down to.

 

”Hey Axl, let’s perform our new single.”

”Can’t. Voice not up to it. Let’s do Coma instead!”

[downzy]

3 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

It's so strange. If they don't play it next show, days after release, I don't see them actually playing it live at all. They'll have newer songs out by the time of the EU leg 2022. I'm not really bummed about this, but it's just such odd behaviour, where else would you see something like this happen?

Yeah, that’s essentially where I am on this.

It doesn’t really matter to me one way or another whether the song gets played live. Too many in this thread and elsewhere on this forum think we’re critical when really it’s just a matter of trying to make sense of a weird situation. You just never see an artist who is out on tour not play a single that’s about to be released.

They followed the script with Absurd, but not with this far superior song. It just doesn’t make any sense.

It doesn’t piss me off.

It doesn’t make me upset.

It just leaves me scratching my head. 

[James Bond]

5 minutes ago, downzy said:

They followed the script with Absurd, but not with this far superior song. It just doesn’t make any sense.

It doesn’t piss me off.

It doesn’t make me upset.

It just leaves me scratching my head. 

Would you say that it's a little.... ABSU

Oh fuck it.

[Rovim]

3 minutes ago, downzy said:

Yeah, that’s essentially where I am on this.

It doesn’t really matter to me one way or another whether the song gets played live. Too many in this thread and elsewhere on this forum think we’re critical when really it’s just a matter of trying to make sense of a weird situation. You just never see an artist who is out on tour not play a single that’s about to be released.

They followed the script with Absurd, but not with this far superior song. It just doesn’t make any sense.

It doesn’t piss me off.

It doesn’t make me upset.

It just leaves me scratching my head. 

but maybe there was never a commitment to a script, just because the Absurd release aligned with the industry standard. Some of us just assumed that there will be some kind of consistent approach to it but it's Axl so maybe it was an opportunity for us to learn something here.

also I think it's ok to be critical but with Gn'R, it often doesn't make any sense so when something like this happens, maybe it shouldn't come as a surprise anymore.

[Towelie]

19 minutes ago, downzy said:

 

”Hey Axl, let’s perform our new single.”

”Can’t. Voice not up to it. Let’s do Coma instead!”

Point taken.

[downzy]

9 minutes ago, Rovim said:

but maybe there was never a commitment to a script, just because the Absurd release aligned with the industry standard. Some of us just assumed that there will be some kind of consistent approach to it but it's Axl so maybe it was an opportunity for us to learn something here.

also I think it's ok to be critical but with Gn'R, it often doesn't make any sense so when something like this happens, maybe it shouldn't come as a surprise anymore.

You’re right. A lot of people called it before the show. But it felt more like joining in on a joke that’s been ongoing for decades: this band almost never gets on the same page.

In the grand scheme of things does it matter that the fine people of Columbus and the few hundred/thousand watching at home were denied a live rendition of GNR’s new single? 

No.

But it’s just another reminder of what you point out that this band rarely makes sense. As one of the mods said to the staff in our private chat, two steps forward and one step backward.  We still have a lot to celebrate. But it’s kind of like buying a birthday cake but neglecting the candles. Doesn’t prevent anyone from enjoying some cake, but damn, it would have been more fun if someone had lit the fucking cake up. 

[Rovim]

1 minute ago, downzy said:

You’re right. A lot of people called it before the show. But it felt more like joining in on a joke that’s been ongoing for decades: this band almost never gets on the same page.

In the grand scheme of things does it matter that the fine people of Columbus and the few hundred/thousand watching at home were denied a live rendition of GNR’s new single? 

No.

But it’s just another reminder of what you point out that this band rarely makes sense. As one of the mods said to the staff in our private chat, two steps forward and one step backward.  We still have a lot to celebrate. But it’s kind of like buying a birthday cake but neglecting the candles. Doesn’t prevent anyone from enjoying some cake, but damn, it would have been more fun if someone had lit the fucking cake up. 

as I said in an earlier post today, yes, it would have been even better had Gn'R performed HS in Columbus. I just think that maybe Axl is very flexible when it comes to updating his Gn'R plans and my guess is (if true) that it's because he takes into consideration many factors so it becomes even more difficult, if not impossible to predict how it'll go down.

it really seems like Axl won't do it if he doesn't feel like doing it and the situation isn't good enough for it to happen which is really the bottom line of it imo so it's possible it's a mix of planning it and improvising based on what each particular day allows him to do.

[downzy]

2 hours ago, North Korean Democracy said:

I'd say the Hardskool chorus is harder to sing than the ending of Coma since it goes faster and leaves less time to breathe.

 

The challenge with Coma is that there’s really no break. It’s Axl singing for two minutes straight without any place to rest his vocal chords. There are other songs where he needs to hit higher notes or there are moments where there are fewer pauses, but Coma requires Axl to sustain his voice for such a longer period of time, ending with a crescendo that’s anything but easy. Think of it as a four minute sprint.  

[Mansin Humanity]

legitimately hilarious they didn't do HS

[downzy]

49 minutes ago, Rovim said:

it really seems like Axl won't do it if he doesn't feel like doing it and the situation isn't good enough for it to happen which is really the bottom line of it imo so it's possible it's a mix of planning it and improvising based on what each particular day allows him to do.

I agree.  Except those "factors" didn't seem present last night.

He seemed like he was having fun and in a great mood.

The same people who suggest he wasn't up for it vocally are also the same people who say he sounded the best of the tour so far, and perhaps the best he's sounded in years.  So which is it?

I do agree there are reasons for the omission, but the suggested ones offered in this discussion (mood, voice) don't make any sense when we consider how the show went last night.

Personally I'm kind of shocked they released Hard Skool so soon after Absurd.  Traditionally singles have a shelf life of six to eight weeks.  We're getting close to the end of that time frame but still within where they could have gone another couple of weeks pushing Absurd before moving on.

Perhaps it is logistical.  Maybe the plan all along was to release the single for the Mexican dates with live dates to follow.  But with the Mexican shows being postponed and only a handful of US dates left (and Australia/New Zealand looking iffy at this point), they moved the release schedule up without having time to properly rehearse the song to the point where they felt comfortable playing it.  That to me makes the most sense.  Suggestions that Axl just wasn't feeling it in light of the great mood he had last night or that vocally he wasn't up for it despite the reintroduction of Coma, GNR's hardest song vocally, doesn't add up.  

[NicoRourke]

Regardless of the fact that they didn't play Hard Skool when we were all expecting it; Axl is sounding fantastic on a lot of the set and is giving awesome performances - the whole band is.

Loving the videos from last night, would love to see them again when they hit Europe next year!

[Axl_morris]

5 hours ago, Bansidhe said:

Efe

[Rovim]

3 minutes ago, downzy said:

I agree.  Except those "factors" didn't seem present last night.

He seemed like he was having fun and in a great mood.

The same people who suggest he wasn't up for it vocally are also the same people who say he sounded the best of the tour so far, and perhaps the best he's sounded in years.  So which is it?

I do agree there are reasons for the omission, but the suggested ones offered in this discussion (mood, voice) don't make any sense when we consider how the show went last night.

Personally I'm kind of shocked they released Hard Skool so soon after Absurd.  Traditionally singles have a shelf life of six to eight weeks.  We're getting close to the end of that time frame but still within where they could have gone another couple of weeks pushing Absurd before moving on.

Perhaps it is logistical.  Maybe the plan all along was to release the single for the Mexican dates with live dates to follow.  But with the Mexican shows being postponed and only a handful of US dates left (and Australia/New Zealand looking iffy at this point), they moved the release schedule up without having time to properly rehearse the song to the point where they felt comfortable playing it.  That to me makes the most sense.  Suggestions that Axl just wasn't feeling it in light of the great mood he had last night or that vocally he wasn't up for it despite the reintroduction of Coma, GNR's hardest song vocally, doesn't add up.  

oh I think he was up for it vocally and in a good enough of a mood to do it, but tonight's show proved those factors are not enough for him to perform a new song so something must have been missing, but we have no way of knowing what for sure.

Could be he read the "room" and didn't feel a need to perform it for the Columbus crowd, despite feeling great which I understand could be viewed as weird or it's for logistical reasons like you said or something entirely different.

I've always believed the practices of other musicians don't apply to Axl much of the time because he seems to concern himself way more with the details compared to most and there seems to be a fairly high quality standard at least in some areas with maybe the desire to not perform a song he doesn't have to play just for the sake of playing it.

 

[Nick85]

2 hours ago, downzy said:

 

”Hey Axl, let’s perform our new single.”

”Can’t. Voice not up to it. Let’s do Coma instead!”

I think the logic (assuming logic is involved somewhere) Axl wanted the first impression to be the studio version. That's really the only thing I can chalk it up to.

[downzy]

24 minutes ago, sofine11 said:

I think the logic (assuming logic is involved somewhere) Axl wanted the first impression to be the studio version. That's really the only thing I can chalk it up to.

Maybe you’re right.

Why that doesn’t make any sense to me is they didn’t take that approach with Absurd AND the studio version of Hard Skool was already out there (both officially and unofficially depending where in the world you live). I was listening to it yesterday morning.

[WVsax27]

Axl had some good moments from what I could hear on the stream. I thought the ending of Patience sounded great

[jafeijo]

5 hours ago, North Korean Democracy said:

I'd say the Hardskool chorus is harder to sing than the ending of Coma since it goes faster and leaves less time to breathe.

The problem with HardSchool is really the middle range that Axl had in the early 2000's, in that period he would went really smooth from chest voice to head voice. Nowadays there's such a big gap between the two voices and his 'chest voice' has diminished considerably, you can check the Mexico 2020 soundcheck when Axl tried to go for it and his voice broke big time.

For him it will be definitely one of the toughest themes on the catalogue. The screaming chorus might be the easiest part, I mean, he goes fine with Shadow of Love and that's basically the same range, the problem is the verse melody.

Edited September 24, 2021 by jafeijo

[Nick85]

39 minutes ago, downzy said:

Maybe you’re right.

Why that doesn’t make any sense to me is they didn’t take that approach with Absurd AND the studio version of Hard Skool was already out there (both officially and unofficially depending where in the world you live). I was listening to it yesterday morning.

Yeah, it's definitely unusual to not play your new single the day it's released. It's just the only explanation I can come up with other than he just doesn't want to sing it yet. 

[AxlRoseCDII]

Maybe Axl just doesn’t like the song??? He never really talked about it, never got excited about it, may not have mentioned it had it not been for the 15 second leak, it was clearly kind of a B Roll for him during the CD era. Then there’s Silkworms which he played a bunch in 2001 and expressed genuine excitement for. Who knows, maybe HS is getting treated like a B Side to Absurd. It’s really odd but I still can’t decipher any of this.