Here Today... Gone To Hell!

It was as close to 2010 as any show... Even on civil war, he was raspy and old school.  Seems like he doesn't use the rasp on Early NR, SCOM, Estranged, and very few others.  On PC, he has gone all out.
What a pleasure to see.

I truly believe when Duffy came back into the scene with Axl he must've said something to Axl about singing with the raspy old school voice because that's when I noticed a difference. Maybe it's just me but that's my opinion.

Axl sounded amazing last night and I give him all the credit in the world for gutting through the rest of the Troubadour show and giving the performance I saw yesterday all with a serious injury. 

Axl was spot on on saturday show! Unbelievable!  You guys have nothing to worry, the summer tour will rock : ok: : ok:

He sounded great last night especially on Coma. The last two minutes were insane. It was like he sounded on the album.

Better than ever imo.
Not being able to run and dance around for 2+ hours while singing seems to save his voice.
So try to do the whole tour sitting down !!!!

Yeah the vocals were better than the previous night. The were good on the 8th though too.

He kills any "Don't Cry" or "Patience" type mid to slow song.

He does good, but not great on songs like "You Could Be Mine". He did better on the 9th. Overall it was really good vocals. I'm happy with it. I can't complain.

He's a great singer and did a great job, and he was sitting down too!

I dont think axl voice was good at all, if we think about 2010 he is far from that great form,hope he reach those levels during the tour.Maybe because he is sitting on a chair,and its really dificult to sing like this

It's called aging. IMO, Axl sings pretty damn good for a man in his mid-fifties, who's been screaming like a banshee for the last thirty years.

Are you insane? Those Vegas shows were epic. His voice was strong and he totally nailed every song.

I know Axl was sitting down for the Vegas shows, but you could see it at the Troubadour show as well, he doesn't get winded easily now. There were parts of certain vocally demanding songs were he before had to cut short words in order to grab some air before the next line, I haven't seen much of that in these shows.

I think he's up for the task, breaking out which ever song he wants to do now. Maybe Don't Damn Me even, although I think he considered that one too hard to sing even back in the day. That must have been the reason they never played it, right?

This past weekend was my 11th n 12th GnR show since 2002; The April 9th show is top 3 for me. Axl and the band were on fire. Cant describe it.

Coma  :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

Listening to a bootleg now, Axl on WTTJ is amazing!

Axl does sound better.  It's not 1992 and never will be again, but that is not realistic.  2006, same thing.

I do think he sounds better than any point from 2011-2014.  Flirting with how he sounded in 2010.

I even thought YCBM was good, and that's been a trouble spot.  The only ones I still see as weak links are SCOM and PC, but not to the point they don't still work.

It was fun hearing Axl sing "Coma" and "Double Talking Jive" again. Can't wait to hear him sing throughout the Tour.

Axl Rose Vocal Change ('88, '91, '92, '93, '01, '06, '09, '11, '12, '14) - Nightrain (Live)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCe8C0Cz6-w

I remember stumbling across this last year.

My advice?  Stop at 2009.

If you don?t expect Axl to give full rasp on everything like he did back in 2010, then we can say his form now is mind blowing, especially compared to anything from 2011?14.

I stumbled upon this official recap of the  troubadour gig and with the exception pc, axl sounded spot on.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlbWVdqpmoc

Axl sounded pretty great on PC saturday! Full blown rasp and all that. The thing is, he usually starts the tour pretty poorly, and this time he started it sound the best he's sounded in 5 years. Things look pretty promising, unless something derails them.

I believe with Slash and Duff coming back Axl decided to himself that he didn't want to be the weakest link and started taking care of himself. Healthy diet and lifestyle led to the return of his voice

4Ever... Good Voice

There's no way Don't Damn Me is hard to sing. It's mostly in low to mid register with only one high pitch bit in the middle. I sing along to it fine and I'm no Axl Rose. You Could Be Mine would be more difficult I reckon. Anyway I want the guys to play this fucking song. Axl shouldn't find any song hard to sing, particularly one he wrote and recorded himself

The guy is in his mid 50's and has been screaming into a microphone for 30 years. Don't be naive.

The Troubadour was a small stage, tho.

Yeah. Also, one thing is to record a song the way you want, with possibility to have multiple takes and overdubs. Live is another thing.

After hearing him sing last weekend I know he can sing that song no problem

There's no retakes or over dubs here on this demo version and it sounds fine. It's not a hard song for Axl to sing and I hope he fuckin proves me right on this tour!!!
http://youtu.be/COG1KV6acNU

This is still a studio recording, just with another take(s). The problem is the limited time to breath. In a live environment, after god knows how many songs and after having been running around, you really think it's the same thing?

I love the song and I really would love to see them playing it live. And thanks, its been a long time since I heard this one.

I still think he can do it. If he can pull off Coma's ending then he can do it. I think it'll happen and if it did sound shit at least he can finish with..."Alright..that sucked!!!"

It's very hard to sing.  Lot of lyrics spit out in rapid fire fashion. 

It's the same reason you are highly unlikely to ever hear 'Perfect Crime' again.

Hahahaha, that was brilliant.

Your point of view is very simplistic. There are many aspects entering the equation.

I remember in a video interview from a couple of years ago Axl indicated that You Could Be Mine was pretty tough, night after night.

I believe the context of the question was "What song have you written that you find particularly hard to sing on tour" or something like that, and he said YCBM, no question.

I believe it.  That last outro is no joke.

Wow, the opinions are all over the place on the matter!  Having seen the original recording, writing and touring line-up in '88 and again in '91 before UYI were released (but with Sorum on drums), Axl sounded better on the live stream that I watched on April 9, 2016 than at EITHER the '88 or '91 shows.  Listen to Nightrain on the 9th then listen to the Hershey show in '91 and tell me that Axl doesn't sound better twenty-five years later!  Quite frankly, with the DVD's/CD's that I have of '91-93 (and years later watching YouTube), his voice just got progressively worse after seeing them in Hershey (as that was near the start of the 2 1/2 year tour).  His power, of course, was greater in '91 but he sounded hoarse as hell (people say "rasp,"--no, that was someone damaging his vocal chords), and, really, just sounded like someone screaming hoarsely in key.  People disparage the back line as "sloppy" during those years, but in my experience at that time seeing them live was Axl's sloppy vocals far more so than whether Adler was in time or whether Izzy was scratching out the chords as recorded or whether Slash was hitting all the notes in his solos.  In '11, when I took my wife bragging him up (and ignoring the fact of what had become of the most legendary kickass band to walk the face of the earth), I ended up, literally, being embarrassed during the show--for a number of reasons, but also because of the clean, weak falsetto he used most of the show.  It sounded like Barry Gibb meets Mickey Mouse.  But listening to the stream on the 9th was awesome for me--for a number of reasons--but also because it was obvious that Axl can still walk into a recording studio and bring it!  Actual singers (not just rock singers) that I've read who have commented on the way that Axl sings have always complimented him/his range but also have noted how hard/unhealthy his technique was on his vocal chords.  It seems that he's taught himself to work the higher notes with the "rasp" that people love without causing nightly damage to his vocal chords.  Or maybe, in the back of his head, he was always saving himself for the day of the return of Gn'R to the studio!

And, I'd add if I'm not much mistaken, that Axl literally laid down his vocals LINE-BY-LINE on Appetite and UYI.  I don't know whether this was true with the last 4 songs on Lies (doesn't sound like it) or CD (which does sound like it).  There's one helluva difference between singing ONE LINE AT A TIME in a studio and then singing each song live for over two hours!

I've been a fan of this board for a long time, but it was the recent concerts that inspired me to finally create an account. I agree that this is the best Axl has sounded in years, and I think the entire band seems inspired. Do you think Axl will continue to use the rasp wisely, or do you think he might feel obligated to try too hard for the stadium shows? I hope he doesn't let the pressure of a bigger audience affect his approach to singing.

It's not hard to sing. I just drove home listening to it and sang it three times in a row at the top of my voice and I didn't find it difficult. Axl could do it a million times better with ease. The rapid fire lyrics are sang almost in a talking snarl. There's a breathing gap in the right place to keep going. It's nearly like rapping in a way. Try it yourself. I would love to hear Axl's view. I respect your opinion but I still think it's a handy enough number. Perfect Crime is harder and You Could Be Mine but Don't Damn Me is grand.

I must admit I had major doubts about his vocals before the reunion,but holy fu## he nailed it to the door ,it wasn't just his rasp that was good but he sang with a passion and aggression that's being missing for years ,and he sounded well rehearsed knowing the media vultures would be there to feed on his carcass had he blown it.

Don't Damn Me is one of my favorite. And I'd also like to hear Perfect Crime. I think he can pull it off. I don't mean he has to do every single show. But it would be great to hear from time to time

A lot of interesting opinions here to say the least. Apparently some think Axl can just sing raspy on demand and chose not to for years... ::)

I think Axl sounds as good as he possibly can at this point. Like JustanUrchin said, he RUINED his voice back in the day singing like he did. I recall him blaming part of it on a screwed up monitor during the UYI tour that forced him to sing even louder and strain his voice. And then more recently, he would keep touring long after his voice was shot. 2012-2014, anyone? He should have stopped to recover before continuing. I've been saying that I thought he would sound good for the reunion because he's had two years off to rest his voice. And I was right. ;)

The fact is, nobody can sing with that kind of raspy style and not ruin their voice. Have any of you tried? I can do a great raspy-Axl style vocal but my throat is killing me by the end of one song and the rasp starts to go away after that. Look at Brian Johnson, he had to constantly change the register he sang in to make live touring workable, even back in 1983!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuzMRgfUiAY

Its a challenge because GnR songs are hard for any guy in the early 20s to sing.  Id love to see Axl and company come out
with an older classic rock type album.  He would kill.  They need more material.  I hope they find time to get in the studio,
and hash out some stuff. 

A nearly 30 min video I made on the 2nd night in Vegas. Songs are incomplete and some are missing. Sorry, I paid a fortune for those tickets I had to rock out :). However, the footage is good quality, shows the overall feel of the show and I really think Axl sounded GREAT!

https://youtu.be/KqbM-YbT4xI