Here Today... Gone To Hell!

I was having a conversation with a guy in a music message board  yesterday and he was telling me about his experience at the Chicago Gnr concert in 2002.  He said that Axl  voice was terrible and that Axl had absolutely no stage presence.(he would just stand still and occasionally move to other side of stage and stand there)  I know that old Axl had his problems at times vocally but his stage performance was never in questioned.  I would like to know what you guys think of his comments. Hopefully someone that attended the same show can elaberate on this.  I saw the new GNR at MSG and they were very good   but I also noticed that Axl isn't the same performer he used to be.  Axl's voice wasn't that good at Rock in rio 3  but I feel that is the best performance he has given with new GNR.  He had some attitude in that show and was very mobile.  I hope that with the release of the new album  his performances will be better.  I want Axl to use his mic stand more often  . I remember when Axl would mesmorize the audience  I remember because i was one of the them .  Steven Tyler said it best   " Axl had a swagger on stage  he was like a lizard".    If I had a choice between Axl sounding great live or  not sounding so well  with an incredible stage performance    I would choose the stage performance .  Live rock isn't about sounding perfect it is about entertaining.   I hope GNR doesn't become just a studio band.

well axl certainly had stage presence is his youth....

Maybe on the next tour there could be jumbo screens showing Axl perform in his youth.

Hahaha  :hihi:

I've seen many boots from the 02 tour and he certainly doesn't stand still. Throughout his career he has regularly sacrificed the quality of the vocals for the on stage energy. Of course the vocals would sound better if he stood still but instead he throws himself into the song and runs around etc.

well the man is geting older.. I honestly don't mind a few of his sprints but not if it effects his sound.. He definetly had energy at msg

I wouldn't know cuz I was in Philly!  :crying:

He looks like he's in better shape now than in 2002 though.  : ok:

I don't know about others but he was ON IT at the Vegas shows.. they were better than Rio for sure!!

His stage energy is definitely still more than adequate... especially in comparison to the other garbage frontmen out there... it's just that the guy was a freaking maniac in the 87-93 era... so of course he seems a little more reserved in the '02 shows... plus, as I said in another thread... I don't think he was really "committed" to the whole '02 tour at all... that may have had some bearing on his performance... he confessed (in RS back in the day I believe) to having some blah stretches during the UYI tour as well....

I was at that concert and that guy is 1000% wrong! Axl totally blew me away! It was one of the greatest night of my life since this really nice guy invited me up front! Besides GNR my current obsession is the musical WICKED which I have seen 11 times and even that can't top seeing AXL live! AXL IS THE GREATEST FRONT MAN EVER!

When they played Toronto Canada in 2002 I thought he sounded fucking ace. Better than he ever did in the past. I did notice that he didn't move around as much,but I think that has something to do with what he wears on stage. Big jersey's with fucking long sleeve shirts underneath must be heavy. Plus his hair,and necklace ?:hihi:
He still has the stage presence,but doesn't run miles on stage anymore,which I think it a bit better as well.

Sounds good to me, at least he will look the part a bit more instead of havign crazy dreads. But no, that wasnt my point lol.

Here's the thing: If he didn't have the same energetic prescence as he did in his youth, the jumbo screens would be really depressing.

I saw the new band at Rock in Rio. You should really ask this guy for proof that he was there.

HUGE!!! :peace:

This thread is B.S.  Axl fucking rules!!!!!!!!!!  lol

Well if you notice the stage for 2002 seemed lot smaller than most venues for the UYI tour.  Less room to do shit I guess. I seen him in Hartford and WOW.  For a 40 Year old man, Damn.  The guy draws your attention to him like no other.  He was a bit heavier for the tour so maybe that had some bearing on it but also imagine the stage rust.  He was away for like nine years, and to just come back in itself is amazing.  You have to get the rust off before you can go all out, and IMO Axl went probably 90 percent out and that I can't complain about. 



This part is just me bullshitting.... Don't have to read it if you don't want to. 

He seems to go through period of weight gain and weight loss.  I mean his first public appearance with gilby he was heavier then he went down for Rio.  Then he became the anerexic looking axl of back in the day for the New Years Eve 2001 show.  Then he gained some weight for the 2002 Tour.  Then at he went back to Anerexic looking Axl with that shot outside the studio with the car.  And now he looks at least healthy. 

Good post.
I always thought that the 2002 shows were rather, well, boring, due in large part  to Axl's changed stage presence. Granted, I have only seen the DVDs, thanks to the fact  the show in my city  was cancelled one week  prior. Go back to 1988 and he was so energetic. That was magic. I also love the 1991 tour. By 1992 he had slowed  down, purposely I think. It was more a performance  than a rock show. I wonder  why this choice  was made. Steven Tyler is still going strong, even after knee surgery.

If he moves around too much he'll be out of breath.

See: VMA 2002.

I was at the Chicago 2002, and I thought it was a great show. ?Even my two friends (not diehard Gn'R fans like me, but do like them) said he sounded damn good. ?I went in there just excited as hell that he was back and it was the first time in over a decade I got to see him again. ?Sure, in 89 and 92 when I saw him/them it was intense, but I was just as pumped in 02. ?I never was a big fan of all the running around, but he still did so at the '02 show I went to at Rosemont. ?It was a great freakin show. ?Just to see him onstage again was exhilarating.

He still has an edge and will always have it for the certain songs that require it, I think this time around he is gearing up for a huge tour/release etc. and will be more focused to blow us all away. ?I think he is excited to perform the new songs in "his style" and will rock our worlds! ?He is Axl F'n Rose, the greatest frontman I have ever seen.

As far as his voice during a live show, I don't care, sometimes the sound blows in certain arenas and its not his or any singers fault. ?Certain venues in Chicago have shitty sound production. ?But the intensity of the music and his stage presence will always be amazing, even if his voice isn't "studio quality". ?I am not worried one bit. ?

He still has stage presence just not as much as in 92-93, plus you dont notice it because your distracted by the jerseys and cornrows

I was at the Columbus 2002 show, while he wasn't as energetic as the 88 Ritz show....he still had a ton of stage presence and seemed more involved then many of today's younger frontmen

yeah i agree, what the fuck are u guys talking about, hes still awesome. Even if his vocals were off at the VMA performance his stage presence was still amazing, same with the bootlegs i've seen, hes still got it.  Case closed.

I was there too and he dominated the stage : ok: I thought he ran like a fucking maniac though :yes:

He may have slowed down at the end of the Illusion tour because he kept spraining his ankles on the ramps.  But yeah, a little movement will help the act: Dance with the mike stand a bit, a stage dive every couple of shows would totally rock!

No, he was pretty fucking lazy during the 2002 shows compared to his Rock in Rio III performance.

That is what I mean . He was very good at Rio,  isn't it logical  that you would improve your performance  the more shows you do ??   He was the opposite.    maybe it was because of the huge attendance in Brazil.  He probably saw how small the crowds were in the U.S  and said  "fuck this, I'm just going to chill  fill the arena if you want my best ". I still don't understand why he didn't leave his hair the way it was in Rio.  I hope he rocks out for real next time around   he has alot to prove.

Total Frickin Rubbish.  I was at the 2002 Chicago show, and Axl sounded incredible, the band was phenomenal, and the fucking crowd went wild.  There were times, when the crowd was going so wild, that it was tough to hear the band!!  That show, which can be found in parts online, was critically acclaimed!!  The fans were going nuts!! 

Way, way off the mark.  2002 Chicago show was one of GNR's best!!

In your opinion, but if you watch Axl at Rock in Rio III, and then watch him during any of the 2002 shows, it looks like two different people.

He gained weight and was out of breath often during the 2002 shows.

And as already stated on Page 1, his stage moves in 2002 were limited to "run, stop and sing, run some more".

I was at the Chicago show also. Its been a couple years so I don't remember every little thing Axl did, however I can still remember during Paradise City he was running from one side of the stage to the other just going crazy. It was obviously the last song of the night and he must have been exhausted from 90 minutes of running around, but he was still doing it and PC sounded just great. I was in the upper level off to the side of the stage and everyone was standing and just going nuts. ?He had us all in awe. ?: ok:

Total idioic rubbish!!  The Chicago show rocked! 

Don't bother offering a rebuttal or anything.

Axl had a lot more room to run around in rio than the 2002 tour.

A xl has stage presence - B uckethead gives presents from the stage  :hihi:

I think Axl had pretty good stage prescence in 02, he wasn't jumping off of Matt Sorum's drum perch, but he did his share of running around.

PS I like Axl's voice better in 2002 than it was in the old days. Someone aggree with me please!

When i got to see Guns N'Roses back in 1993 at the National Bowl (open air venue) and they stormed onto stage (seconds after a helicopter had landed, just behind the stage) Axl wearing the red manson t-shit and baseball cap, it all seemed surreal. The sound was so loud, and the show was kicking, Slash was great, the theme from the god father was played to perfection and Matt Sorum with his impresive drum solo rocked. That's what i wanted, that's what the crowd got.
Out of 10 i would give the show an 11 for stage presence.

When i got to see (the new) Guns N'Roses back in 2002 at London Arena/UK it was simply ok. I could not really tell if the band were at fault or the venue. London Arena/UK is an indoors (possibly ice hockey venue) that feels like being in a warehouse with all the feeling of a hospital, it sucked. I have said i would never goto the London Arena in my life ever again. On the up side, Axl was in a good mood, Robin played well and i got to see and hear buckethead.
Out of 10 i would give the show an 7.5 for stage presence.

The stage for the 2002 tour was not the same as the illusion tours-the Illusion tours, Axl kind of had more room to run-remember, it was kind of a ramp that would circle around all the way up to where the horn section was-the 2002 tour had stairs going up, so he would kind of have to be careful where he was running-he also had 1 more guitarist to look out for

I think Axl still has "it". But he was wilder with the old band. He was like a beast onstage he was younger and had to proove evrything to everyone.
Today Axl has nothing to proove to anyone, he has sold over 80 or 85 million records with Guns N' Roses...you know... he succeeded. So he is sober, just more mature. He doesn't have to proove he is a "Rockstar", he is. He doesn't have to proove he is "one of the greatest frontman ever", he is.? Do you see what I mean? He has nothing to proove to anyone, anymore. He did everything he could have imagined in the music buisness. Exept breaking Michael Jackson "Thriller" record sales, I can't see what he can do more. But this is something that will never happen. Breaking "Thriller" record sales is an impossible dream, even in 100 years. It just will never happen.

Yeah, he doesn't have anything to prove, but it would be nice for his long suffering fans, eh?

I saw him in Boston, I thought he did fine.  I bet most people feel he is "off" a bit because he walks off stage for every solo.

Stage size doesn't mean squat. ?Watch the Ritz 88 show. ?AXL is a great frontman in that show. ?he is kicking major ass.

When I saw them on the UYI tour, I thought they were all great. ?

When I saw AXL in 2002, he was disapponiting IMO, but the show was still good.

When I saw VR this past tour, I thought they were alright also. ?Nothing really special.

All the members have gone up in age. ?They don't have that type of energy as in their youth. ?They are not the same performers they used to be.

You're kidding right?, The greatest frontman ever is FREDDIE MERCURY and nothing else you say can change that, He had the most stage presence.! :yes:

 Axl is a good second :)

aint he dead? freddie mercury? so i think that means he WAS the greatest frontman ever. or atleast in your book.

never seen Freddie Mercury, eh?

Freddie is about 34859023583902 times better than ANY front man EVER.

I think we just cant see it enouph cause theres no good proshot except rio and that was there second show back. They didnt have Fortus then either.

StoneTempleRoses

I agree. I'm not even a Queen fan but I've heard/seen some of their stuff. Freddie Mercury was amazing, his stage presence was great and his voice just can't be beaten it was like rock and oprah combined, genius.

This thread is BS. I have seen Axl in Belgium in 2002 and his stage presence was awesome. He did not run around as much as in the late 80s but he surely ran a lot. Besides him not running as excessively benefits his voice, which was awesome that night. He was extraordinary good mooded, joking and definetely rocking. Further discussing this is not necessary since we will all (hopefully) be convinced lateron this year when GnR tour....

I remember there was a show on the UYI Tour, when he was sitting on a monitor for half an hour LOL.

Mercury was good, but Axl, Roth, Plant, Bon Scott, Steven Tyler, Alice Cooper, Jagger, Roger Daltry were all bad asses.  I think Mercury may have had the greatest voice, but these other guys were right up there with him.

just looking at axl is amazing. they could hang him upside down and he could just hang there. people would go nuts. but i hope he has the image back tho. i didnt realy like how he was whereing the baggy jersey and baggy pants. thats kind of the new hip hop grove. which is out now btw. lol only dirtys ( gangster fag's that get picked on by everyone else ) dress like that. im in 12th grade i know how it is. but id rather see a new age rock n roll image. like VR. but axl has been off stage so long i think that in 2002 his voice wasnt use to it. he wasnt use to running all over anymore. he just needs to get back in to it.

I was at the Columbus show back in 2002 and the fuckin crowd went nuts and hit stage peformance wasn't bad. certanly doesn't compare to the 87-93 era but who gives a shit. His MSG peformance was fantastic. You also have to take into consideration that back in the old days axl was in phnomenal shape, all he did was run, non-stop on stage, and since he took an 8 year break from peforming, well he got out of shape (reference RIR3). but he seems in better shape now than he did five or even 3 years ago. i think he will do better in the next tour.

corn rows rock but what i mean by it as after i watched the MTv show 3000030 times u realize that isnt the image GNR stands for. that isnt rock n roll

Good points so far.. he is older so he doesnt have some of that crazy young man energy that he used to have for sure, and he has also matured so he doesn't do as much crazy shit that we all loved in the old days.  he is still such a magnetic front man, i had to almost force myself to watch some of the other guys at the shows...
His stage presence is just different, but it is still undeniably Huge!!

p.s. I love his voice now, even if it is inconsistent sometimes and maybe a bit thinner. His range and sustain are better and he has more control over his voice so he doesn't blow it out like he has done in the past. I just saw the 88 VMA awards and its clear that he's learned a LOT about singing and keeping himself in good shape.  I think he can still sing like he used to but he chooses not to.