I've had hope all these years and been very confident with the New GN'R. In fact if you had asked me last year I would have supported Axl on almost anything. I really felt like Chinese Democracy was some kind of epic masterpiece waiting to save the music industry. The demos are awesome (TWAT and IRS are great, Better is pretty good and CITR is a nice throwback to Lennon/Queen) -- but, surprisingly, seeing Axl on stage again -- despite his improved wardrobe -- has drawn comparisons to the past, and I've almost felt disappointed.
RIR5 in my opinion was inferior to RIR3 - not vocally, but just performance-wise. RIR3 unveiled new songs, had a lot of energy on Axl's behalf, had some badass moments ("That guy! Out!"), and had a really dramatic finale with Axl saying goodbye to everyone. This time I felt like he was more or less going through the motions.
His voice has improved, but he still can't reach the heights of the old days. I've realized that Axl has great difficulty overpowering the instruments these days. That's why he wears ear plugs - to hear himself, because his voice gets lost under all the guitars, syths, pianos, drums, etc. I think part of this is due to the fact that he's getting older and can't sustain himself as well vocally - and another factor is that in the "old days" GN'R didn't have as many elaborate instruments and they also didn't have four guitarists on stage.
Anyway, some people have been saying that Axl is "at the top of his game" and so on and so forth - and that it's better than the old days - but I don't think it is. RIR 5 I was hoping to see some kind of connection with his bandmembers - but Axl could replace Finck, Fortus and co. tomorrow and I don't think they'd be missed. All the Axlites would immediately support whoever else he would choose to fill their shoes and it would once again be "Guns N' Roses" minus the Guns, leaving just the Rose.
I used to bash people when they would say Slash, Izzy and Duff were equal parts of GN'R and I even went as far as to claim Axl was the mastermind behind the band - but after seeing the new performances, I'd do anything just to have a "band" again rather than musicians for hire.
I still have an interest in GN'R, I still can't wait for the album, I still think Axl is awesome, but it's just not the same as before and unfortunately this tour so far has left me feeling disappointed with the state of the band, the state of Axl's performance, and so on.
I think part of the reason I also didn't like RIR5 is due to the fact that Axl was trying to be a rebel again (the finger during It's So Easy and Out Ta Get Me, the leather and shades, etc.), but when you're 45 years old you're not a rebel anymore - Axl mellowed out a lot in '02 which I thought was cool, but I think after the bad reviews then he's trying to go back to the roots of the old band - which is a dumb move because he's not in his '20s anymore and GN'R will never be a "dangerous" band ever again. (And I don't think it should be.)
Compare the performance at RIR5 to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Sr1A8C8DY&search=coma and you'll see why I think this.
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