Get well, Axl!

[nikosgnr]

7 hours ago, ChrisMaciel said:

And find a vocal coach, too.

No vocal coach can help. Sorry..

[Free Bird]

7 hours ago, Blackstar said:

But how do we know that he doesn't prepare? I mean, we know that he doesn't rehearse much - although in the recent years he has rehearsed more than he used to. But he does do vocal exercises, warm-ups and warm-downs. I don't think Duff would make that up. I'm also sure that even if he didn't work with Ron Anderson systematically, he consulted him here and there.

From the videos I've watched on this tour it's clear to me that he's been trying really hard with what he has; it's just not there anymore.

Because people here use to believe every forum myth without any real knowledge and like to present their sciolism as a fact. Unfortunately. 

Never have thought Axl would suffer from something like this. Get well old dude!

[THELINESMAN]

Axl, please put your health first. We don’t want you to suffer for us. We’ll be grateful for whatever you feel up to. Get better soon! 

[Dani_1455]

Please Axl get well soon, health is the most important thing!

 

[EvH]

Take care and get well, Axl  

[rocknroll41]

Hope he’s okay.

[Jw224]

1 hour ago, Free Bird said:

Because people here use to believe every forum myth without any real knowledge and like to present their sciolism as a fact. Unfortunately. 

Never have thought Axl would suffer from something like this. Get well old dude!

I don't think three years video evidence of him absolutely wrecking his voice at every show is "forum myth". 

Don't really get why this fanbase has such selective memory lol. 

[Marj]

So sorry to hear this. 
Get better soon Axl.

 

Not very rock n roll… but efficient for panic attack:

xox

[Free Bird]

40 minutes ago, Jw224 said:

I don't think three years video evidence of him absolutely wrecking his voice at every show is "forum myth". 

Don't really get why this fanbase has such selective memory lol. 

That's not the myth, that's a fact. The myth is that he doesn't prepare. That's what we assume because he sounds like shit at certain songs but we do not know it for a fact. Duff even said otherwise. 

[MrSoftie]

Going forward it would definitely help to have more rest time between shows. Rather than doing 3-4 shows each week cut it down to 2.

[SoulMonster]

A 60 year old man simply wouldn't be able to sing like Axl has been singing these last 4-5 years, with that range and strength, without putting in a good amount of practising. It is naive to think that a professional singer who has encountered all kinds of problems with his voice previously, including having to cancel shows and tours, would not have learnt to take care of his instrument. Furthermore, people around him have talked about how vigorously he has been caring for him voice before and after shows. And we know he has been working with vocal coaches at times.

When people hear his thin high-register voice (="Mickey") and take that as proof that he isn't practising, while not realizing that he is still displaying an incredible range and hitting the right notes with sustain and strength, but just not masking the voice with that cherished "rasp", then they don't get it. I don't know why he isn't more regularly masking his voice but I think the most likely explanation is that it hurts his voice and therefore he has to use it more sparingly. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, just rasp away for a few minutes at full strength and see if it doesn't hurt. Technique goes a long way, but obviously not enough for Axl, so he has to mostly sing without the rasp and then his voice automatically becomes thinner.

But what we had yesterday seems to have been something different. It wasn't a case of - as some here seems to think - Axl suddenly agreeing with them that the thin unmasked voice is not good enough; what happened, as far as I can tell, was that he wasn't able to hit the high notes with any predictability or sustain anymore, and hence had to drop down to a lower register. This could be entirely temporary (especially if it was caused by some respiratory illness) and he could be back in good shape like he was earlier in the tour on the 5th in Glasgow, or he could have hurt the voice so much that the rest of the tour is cancelled, or, maybe he will continue singing in a lower register as a work-around. 

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by SoulMonster

[there is no dana only zool]

5 hours ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

. I think it makes me most sad that he’s having anxiety attacks over it.

 

But I mean... do we honestly have any ACKSHUALL source that this anxiety attack story is even true??

[Blackstar]

8 minutes ago, there is no dana only zool said:

But I mean... do we honestly have any ACKSHUALL source that this anxiety attack story is even true??

Axl slept in the venue. He wouldn't do that for the sake of it, would he?

[Alexmee239]

7 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Axl slept in the venue. He wouldn't do that for the sake of it, would he?

But I don't understand how sleeping at the venue would help?

[Blackstar]

39 minutes ago, Alexmee239 said:

But I don't understand how sleeping at the venue would help?

Maybe it was just to make sure that he'd be there for the show. Because if he had an anxiety attack he might not even be able to get there.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Blackstar

[Draguns]

Get well soon Axl! 

[Dangom1]

Wasn't Kat sick with a bug before the tour kicked off? Maybe Axl has caught the tail end of this which has caused his throat to go sore etc. We could be back to the norm on Tuesday now 

[Tom2112]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

A 60 year old man simply wouldn't be able to sing like Axl has been singing these last 4-5 years, with that range and strength, without putting in a good amount of practising. It is naive to think that a professional singer who has encountered all kinds of problems with his voice previously, including having to cancel shows and tours, would not have learnt to take care of his instrument. Furthermore, people around him have talked about how vigorously he has been caring for him voice before and after shows. And we know he has been working with vocal coaches at times.

When people hear his thin high-register voice (="Mickey") and take that as proof that he isn't practising, while not realizing that he is still displaying an incredible range and hitting the right notes with sustain and strength, but just not masking the voice with that cherished "rasp", then they don't get it. I don't know why he isn't more regularly masking his voice but I think the most likely explanation is that it hurts his voice and therefore he has to use it more sparingly. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, just rasp away for a few minutes at full strength and see if it doesn't hurt. Technique goes a long way, but obviously not enough for Axl, so he has to mostly sing without the rasp and then his voice automatically becomes thinner.

But what we had yesterday seems to have been something different. It wasn't a case of - as some here seems to think - Axl suddenly agreeing with them that the thin unmasked voice is not good enough; what happened, as far as I can tell, was that he wasn't able to hit the high notes with any predictability or sustain anymore, and hence had to drop down to a lower register. This could be entirely temporary (especially if it was caused by some respiratory illness) and he could be back in good shape like he was earlier in the tour on the 5th in Glasgow, or he could have hurt the voice so much that the rest of the tour is cancelled, or, maybe he will continue singing in a lower register as a work-around. 

 

How do you explain the US tour last year? He might have prepared but it was not enough and the results spoke for their self.

Regardless. Anxiety attacks are no joke, he is trying and I hope he takes a long stint away from the internet. A little criticism is fine, but at present almost every post/article about him is saying how shit his voice is.... Not about to say he's excellent, but I think he's actually put on some great shows. Of course Sweden rock had all the journalists and he wasn't really great that night, that's unfortunate... And it's unfortunate that one article highly circulated can effectively change the minds of your average fan. 

We are used to Axls ups and downs, I'd also sag the majority here are quite critical of his voice and say it how it is and the majority here are pleased with his recent efforts. I know I am. Far more prep work, he looks better and the set is Luke 1% less stagnant.

[sl4yer]

Well, he was already coughing and sneezing in Prague 2 weeks ago. Seems like it got worse.

I hope he will get well soon, both physically and mentally

[SoulMonster]

4 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

How do you explain the US tour last year? He might have prepared but it was not enough and the results spoke for their self.

Was it that much different from this tour? He is 60, he can't sing consistently well any more, there will be more ups and down throughout a tour and the strain means that he needs more time between shows to recover.  It's not like you can just prepare away age's effect on the vocal chords. My point is, if he hadn't taken care of his voice he wouldn't be able to sing nearly as well as he does. I don't think people fully appreciate the vocal skills he still has, they hear mickey voice, which they don't like, and thus they think he is bad at singing. 

[Alexmee239]

3 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Was it that much different from this tour? 

I would say it's a pretty big difference, yes. 

[Blackstar]

As far as I can remember, the first shows (and especially the very first one ) of last year's tour were rougher compared to this tour, but the last shows were at the same level as the current shows.

[Tom2112]

41 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Was it that much different from this tour? He is 60, he can't sing consistently well any more, there will be more ups and down throughout a tour and the strain means that he needs more time between shows to recover.  It's not like you can just prepare away age's effect on the vocal chords. My point is, if he hadn't taken care of his voice he wouldn't be able to sing nearly as well as he does. I don't think people fully appreciate the vocal skills he still has, they hear mickey voice, which they don't like, and thus they think he is bad at singing. 

Quite a lot different. 

Also you can prepare and stabilize your voice at any age, it would take considerable work and training though. If Axl wanted he could go work with a vocal coach for a few months learn essentially how to sing again and learn how to Mai Tai his upper register, bring back (some of) the body he'x lost from his voice and sing with his trademark rasp without killing himself. 

He does need to be taking bigger breaks between shows though. 2 in a row is a bad idea for a band playing over 1.5hrs each night. Gnr do 3.5hrs a lot of the time... It's not a great plan!

[SoulMonster]

36 minutes ago, Alexmee239 said:

I would say it's a pretty big difference, yes. 

Right. I don't think so. Pretty much the same, in my opinion, like most recent years, with a general decline and quite far away from his heydays (which to me was back in '87 while for many others, who love the rasp, would say the '90s). Not to take anything away from 2006 and 2010, and the UCAP tour in 2012, and so on. That being said, the heydays were quite extraordinary and its admirable how Axl has been able to preserve much of his range and sustain and versatility. But the overall trend is clear: Axl is getting older. The right amount of preparing, the right amount of time between shows, the overall health (physical and mental), the setlist structures, etc will all affect how it goes and might explain smaller differences between recent tours, like 2021 compared to 2022. But these are smaller differences that don't take away from the general trend of decline. And this is exactly how we would expect it to be. Just listen to Appetite and Illusions, the vocals are otherworldly at times, in my opinion, and OF COURSE Axl wouldn't be able to replicate that perfectly in his early 60s. The fact that he still has been able to tour this material, in the original key, hitting the same high notes (until now), to some extent by finding new ways to sing the songs, speaks of a man who takes his job seriously and is skilled at what he does. I think it is evident he has been working hard to sing this material for so long, and the fact that he stayed the night in the venue after suffering an anxiety attack when his voice started troubling him, only emphasizes his dedication to giving us a good show that is as close to the material as possible.

[SoulMonster]

3 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Also you can prepare and stabilize your voice at any age, it would take considerable work and training though. 

Hmm, not to the extent that you can sing the Appetite material in original key. Seriously? You think you can take a random 60-year old man and get him to sing the screams in Paradise City, the intro to Welcome or the dynamics of Nightrain? I think you are entirely wrong about what can be achieved through coaching to counter the effect of age deterioration when considering material like Appetite which is ridiculously hard to sing the right way. It is not without reason that very few other singers cover GN'R and that Axl is considered to have one of the greatest voice ranges ever.