Not In This Lifetime Selects starts today

[C0ma]

Why in the world would you pick that show (or really even that year) for any of this content.

I can think of multiple reasons for "why this, and not that?" etc.
Maybe it was easily available since it was the most recent full tour? Maybe this was never considered to be released (as in something you'd pay for) to begin with, and therefore is just something they shared with us for free instead of, well, not sharing anything during 2020?



People complained that Live Era wasn't live enough, and now these clips aren't the best ever. Maybe it was never the purpose to begin with. Maybe the purpose was just to give fans something in a time of a lot of nothing? I guess I'm reading too much into the name, Not In This Lifetime Selects? It's not called the Not In This Lifetime Greatest Performances or Highlights... Or even Best Of The Not In This Lifetime tour.

I enjoyed these clips for what they are. Some looks back at shows from 2019, and a bit from 2018 and 2016. It doesn't replace anything in my mind. Is better than this or that? No, it's in addition to everything.



So in the end, you didn't like a clip, big deal. We all know what would happen if there were no clips to comment on to begin with.....



/jarmo

I agree with COma to some extent Jarmo. Yes, there's been too much whining and complaining here in the past...17 years hehe, and I understand you don't want to revisit any of that.

But, in my opinion, posters should be free to discuss if Axl's voice sucks or whether Slash misses a few notes, or if Frank is not keeping up with Duff. We are just expressing an opinion. This is our favorite band. All of us are in the same boat here, we want the best for GNR.

But I concur with COma, Axl's performance in LALD is subpar. I don't want to get into why some clips are chosen over others, as you said, there could many reasons why. But hey, nothing wrong with commenting on how we perceive the quality of performances. I don't think we are just complaining, just sharing something that's relevant to the topic.

We are grateful to enjoy something to watch/listen to from the GNR camp until we get new music / new gigs, but I see no harm in saying "Axl's voice is crap in LALD".

No one is censoring anybody here. Everyone is free to express their opinions. So too is Jarmo if he disagrees with you. There are over 400 pages in this thread to display complaints relative to the topic. The persecution complex is ridiculous...

I totally agree... my opinion is my opinion and other posters (Jarmo included) have their opinions. We can question each others opinions, try to counter each others opinions etc... I don't view Jarmo's response to my post as an attack or some kind of persecution.

One of the reasons I like this forum over some of the other popular options is that there is far less bullshit here. Yes this thread is pages and pages long, but it is less fighting, and less comments just to comment and somehow raise post count and status.

I asked a question about the latest release because I was struck by how bad it was and how bad the public reaction to it is. Yet in reading this site there was a lot of "that is the best version of BHS yet" and "Axl sounds great" which genuinely shocked me to see. Then that is always followed "We are lucky to have gotten anything in 2020". My opinion is that is a cop out... You can dislike the artists, but Taylor Swift has released 2 albums in 2020 that have been widely praised. The Rolling Stones released old material from the Steel Wheels Tour. AC/DC released what is widely considered the Rock Album of the year and their best effort since the 90's. Bon Jovi released an Album, Pearl Jam released an album. Yet we got clips from random shows with very little editing and mixing spread out over a 7 month period. Meanwhile Metallica and Peral Jam have been releasing every live show they've done for the better part of a decade (and almost 20 years for Pearl Jam).

I should really subscribe to the be happy with what you get mentality, but it just feels so weird that a band that wants to control everything and make everything perfect seems to butcher things like this all the time. They turn wrenches on an album from 99-08 to then butcher the release with the Best Buy fiasco, Dr. Pepper certificates, etc... Now you have the biggest reunion in recent memory with a successful tour and never quite capitalize on it. They messed up the Nightrain thing every year, they focus on BS merchandising and pinball machines... They release basically raw soundboard audio from super random shows where they definitely didn't sound great, then the excuse is "they released what they had, what else do you want, we are lucky we got anything." Bullshit... they have every show they've done on tour. They are just capturing the video board feeds and mixing that with the soundboard. It's possible that those shows for whatever reason took less effort to mix and throw some graphics on, but there is a less than zero chance that in this day and age they don't have every second of audio and video from this tour starting with the Troubador show.

Again this is all my opinion and analysis of what I see, so I take no offense in Jarmo not agreeing. At the end of the day I have a real life and real things to worry about, but for some stupid reason this band is a source of enjoyment so when they lay an egg it bothers me and sometimes I need to get it off my chest. My wife was done listening to it in about 2005, so this is my sounding board.

[jarmo]

Maybe the problem is that just because you think something, doesn't make it true? Who said they want to make everything perfect?

Because many of the things you listed were the best options available at the time. Chinese Democracy at Best Buy, or nowhere? Which one is better? Even if it's not perfect....

NITL Selects from some shows, or from no shows?

So many examples like this. Like people not liking GN'R playing a certain festival when in reality if they didn't the tour would've probably skipped that part of the world. So then it's festival gig, or no gig this time? No one said it has to be perfect....

You don't like certain merch? Well, maybe the next guy does? Who said it needs to appeal to everyone. I'm not gonna buy myself the women's or kids' shirts , but that doesn't mean I don't understand why they are sold.



Basically what we have now are certain people complaining that something isn't perfect, yet they're the same ones who keep pointing out that Axl just needs to release music instead of trying to make it perfect.... 



/jarmo

[C0ma]

Basically what we have now are certain people complaining that something isn't perfect, yet they're the same ones who keep pointing out that Axl just needs to release music instead of trying to make it perfect.... 

/jarmo

I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but you can't deny that their constant tinkering on the last album and the overthinking exclusivity in everything they do doesn't exist. Like the Best Buy thing... in what world did it need to be Best Buy or no where, how about release it like every other band on the f**king planet and just make the damn thing available everywhere.

I have no issue with them playing Festival's, I'd actually like to see them in that environment once, but it is 100% false to think that they only had Exit 111 for footage to release, and yes it was terrible. I just find it odd that the one thing with "creative" content that they seem to be all willy nilly with is this YouTube content. Everything else is controlled and this is "what do we have that we can put on the website in the next 4 hours?"

There has to be a happy medium between the Chinese Democracy sessions/mixing/release and Hey lets drop raw poorly mixed audio every few months because nothing else was going to happen this year. Did I hate the years that passed with nothing in the late 90's and early 2000's... sure, but at the same time no one would have wanted a new "VMA 2002" or "Metal Hammer Sweet Child O Mine" to drop every few months to just embarrass the legacy.

Rick Dunsford has release more useful GnR material since 2008 than GnR has. That is sad... Axl, Slash and Duff have been back together for 5+ years at this point... In their first 5 years we got LLAS, AFD, LIES, and we were on the cusp of early Illusions releases.

[jarmo]

I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but you can't deny that their constant tinkering on the last album and the overthinking exclusivity in everything they do doesn't exist. Like the Best Buy thing... in what world did it need to be Best Buy or no where, how about release it like every other band on the f**king planet and just make the damn thing available everywhere.

You mean, why did AC/DC need Walmart?

It's called a catalyst. Or a deal that makes (or at least seems to at the time) sense to everyone involved.

Why did GN'R need Coachella to get Duff and Slash back? It happened that way.... Would it had happened without them? Who knows.


Why did GN'R release song Z from show X, instead of song A from show B? Maybe because it was the fastest option? Maybe they wanted to give fans something? Was it perfect? Was it supposed to be? Or just something to take your mind off whatever else was going on in the world in 2020?





/jarmo

[C0ma]

I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but you can't deny that their constant tinkering on the last album and the overthinking exclusivity in everything they do doesn't exist. Like the Best Buy thing... in what world did it need to be Best Buy or no where, how about release it like every other band on the f**king planet and just make the damn thing available everywhere.

You mean, why did AC/DC need Walmart?

It's called a catalyst. Or a deal that makes (or at least seems to at the time) sense to everyone involved.

Why did GN'R need Coachella to get Duff and Slash back? It happened that way.... Would it had happened without them? Who knows.


Why did GN'R release song Z from show X, instead of song A from show B? Maybe because it was the fastest option? Maybe they wanted to give fans something? Was it perfect? Was it supposed to be? Or just something to take your mind off whatever else was going on in the world in 2020?





/jarmo

AC/DC had a limited exclusive Vinyl release, but also released a music video and multiple singles just since November. GnR never released any official video for CD... they had the goat thing that somehow blew up because (shocker) there was a miscommunication and someone sent the wrong thing to the wrong company and butchered the Harley thing, also much like the time they mistakenly announced a tour no one knew about. The closest thing to a music video for a GnR release since WTTJ Live Era is the Lyric Video for Shadow of Your Love which then thankfully became the tour footage version.

I don't think it's unrealistic to hope and talk about them even matching 1/5th of the output of pretty much every other band out there... and I don't mean rushed unproduced tour snippets. Like I've mentioned Metallica and Pearl Jam have found a way to release every show they do, but we should be excited by YouTube clips and no new material of any kind.

Hey we probably have Valentines Day shirts and bandanas coming soon!

[cineater]

I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but you can't deny that their constant tinkering on the last album and the overthinking exclusivity in everything they do doesn't exist. Like the Best Buy thing... in what world did it need to be Best Buy or no where, how about release it like every other band on the f**king planet and just make the damn thing available everywhere.

You mean, why did AC/DC need Walmart?

It's called a catalyst. Or a deal that makes (or at least seems to at the time) sense to everyone involved.

Why did GN'R need Coachella to get Duff and Slash back? It happened that way.... Would it had happened without them? Who knows.


Why did GN'R release song Z from show X, instead of song A from show B? Maybe because it was the fastest option? Maybe they wanted to give fans something? Was it perfect? Was it supposed to be? Or just something to take your mind off whatever else was going on in the world in 2020?





/jarmo

AC/DC had a limited exclusive Vinyl release, but also released a music video and multiple singles just since November. GnR never released any official video for CD... they had the goat thing that somehow blew up because (shocker) there was a miscommunication and someone sent the wrong thing to the wrong company and butchered the Harley thing, also much like the time they mistakenly announced a tour no one knew about. The closest thing to a music video for a GnR release since WTTJ Live Era is the Lyric Video for Shadow of Your Love which then thankfully became the tour footage version.

I don't think it's unrealistic to hope and talk about them even matching 1/5th of the output of pretty much every other band out there... and I don't mean rushed unproduced tour snippets. Like I've mentioned Metallica and Pearl Jam have found a way to release every show they do, but we should be excited by YouTube clips and no new material of any kind.

Hey we probably have Valentines Day shirts and bandanas coming soon!

You mean the black sheep used for the Harley promotion that was pulled because the black sheep analogy was deemed racist?  That was a cute video.

[jarmo]

AC/DC had a limited exclusive Vinyl release, but also released a music video and multiple singles just since November.

AC/DC did a Walmart exclusive release for Black Ice. The independent stores got the vinyl only.

So for such a professionally run operation, they did something so... wrong? Oh no!

GnR never released any official video for CD... they had the goat thing that somehow blew up because (shocker) there was a miscommunication and someone sent the wrong thing to the wrong company and butchered the Harley thing, also much like the time they mistakenly announced a tour no one knew about. The closest thing to a music video for a GnR release since WTTJ Live Era is the Lyric Video for Shadow of Your Love which then thankfully became the tour footage version.

You're mixing things up. The Harley Davidson advert was way before Chinese Democracy was released. You think it was weird that they weren't allowed to use an unreleased song in an ad years before the album was released?

Maybe GN'R didn't release videos because once the album was out, the record company disappeared?

Hey we probably have Valentines Day shirts and bandanas coming soon!

Possibly. Fingers crossed.





/jarmo

[PermissionToLand]

Why in the world would you pick that show (or really even that year) for any of this content. There is no power to Axl's voice, the Mickey Mouse things is on display everywhere but Shadow (because he has to scream it like he did with ACDC), but the troubling part is the Mickey Mouse is paired with pitch and tune issues. The on line reviews of this aren't without merit, this sounds like a bad karaoke version of most of these songs.

I pray that 2020 was spent with a personal trainer like he's Brad Pitt getting ready for Fight Club 2, along with a vocal coach. I also wonder how their (Axl's) forced use of in ears and iso cabs with no live sound effects this sound and mix. I know people have also complained about Slash's tone, but he doesn't sound nearly as "thin" with the Conspirators... the difference there is that there is actually live sound coming from the stage, which coincidentally is exactly what Axl performed in front of with AC/DC.   

I don't think it's that bad. And when it comes to BHS and Shadow, they weren't playing those songs in 2016 or even 2017 I believe. These are definitely the best versions in terms of having none of the frankly common mistakes in timing they would make, especially with Shadow. I think we just have to accept that to some extent they will never sound like they used to, and enjoy touring too much to stop when they probably should for the sake of Axl's voice. However, there's not really any reason why Slash can't make his tone identical to the UYI tour if he wants to. That's not temperamental and uncontrollable like the human vocal cords.

Also, I think he sounds just as bad with the Conspirators. He plays way too clean, especially for some of the heavy, almost metal material he did on World on Fire, it was just incomprehensible to me.

The effect you are looking for that is missing on Paradise City is Chorus, not reverb... BUT his sound is too dry and needs more reverb (although it does show up on the SCOM intro).

I never looked into it before, but it seems like you're right. Must be a light use of it, because it's really not that noticeable.

[PermissionToLand]

I asked a question about the latest release because I was struck by how bad it was and how bad the public reaction to it is. Yet in reading this site there was a lot of "that is the best version of BHS yet" and "Axl sounds great" which genuinely shocked me to see.

They release basically raw soundboard audio from super random shows where they definitely didn't sound great

I said it was the best version of BHS literally amidst the comments that LALD was subpar and Slash's tone sucks. So it's not like there is just mindless praise on this board. I explained above why I think these were the best versions of BHS and Shadow. Axl's voice isn't noticeably different from how I recall the debut performance of BHS anyway, so what show would have been superior?

I think the big difference from many other places where it will get you a lot of upvotes to say hyperbolic things like "Axl sounds like shit", is that we (or at least speaking for myself) try to have more nuanced takes here. I think Slash's tone has been lackluster for years, but there are still moments where he really shines, and there's no denying Richard has really stepped up to the plate.

Also, I don't think these are raw soundboard rips. Especially with the last two, I've noticed Richard up front in the mix, seemingly to deliberately highlight his contribution. And they just sound well mixed overall, IMO.

[C0ma]

I asked a question about the latest release because I was struck by how bad it was and how bad the public reaction to it is. Yet in reading this site there was a lot of "that is the best version of BHS yet" and "Axl sounds great" which genuinely shocked me to see.

They release basically raw soundboard audio from super random shows where they definitely didn't sound great

I said it was the best version of BHS literally amidst the comments that LALD was subpar and Slash's tone sucks. So it's not like there is just mindless praise on this board. I explained above why I think these were the best versions of BHS and Shadow. Axl's voice isn't noticeably different from how I recall the debut performance of BHS anyway, so what show would have been superior?

I think the big difference from many other places where it will get you a lot of upvotes to say hyperbolic things like "Axl sounds like shit", is that we (or at least speaking for myself) try to have more nuanced takes here. I think Slash's tone has been lackluster for years, but there are still moments where he really shines, and there's no denying Richard has really stepped up to the plate.

Also, I don't think these are raw soundboard rips. Especially with the last two, I've noticed Richard up front in the mix, seemingly to deliberately highlight his contribution. And they just sound well mixed overall, IMO.

Outside of Shadow which is like Jungle, it's just good at every show... I think the rest of them were embarrassingly bad for Axl. BUT that is my opinion, everyone has different ears.

I will say I have always thought Richard was by far the best of the CD era guitar players and the best pairing with Slash. Having said that his tone is considerably better than Slash's at this point because of his tireless search for the perfect effect, amp, and pickup. Slash caught lightning in a bottle with a Les Paul with SD Alnico II pickups into a Marshall with little in the way of effects and just chugs along with the same tired rig. I do think that there is a huge difference in even his Conspirators tone when he switched from Ace back to Adam Day... The distortion in his amp really dropped off, I thought it was him swapping from the AFD amps to the Jubilee's and old 90's Slash Model Amps. I would love to see some complexity to his rig even just pushing the amp with something like a King of Tone or OCD pedal would make a huge difference.

As far as the mix, I really think we are getting what Caram and crew does day of show and nothing more. There is a mix but it is tuned to what he is hearing in the venue which doesn't translate to say headphones or speakers in your room. Which could explain why The Download Festival and Exit 111 shows are IMO the worst of the Selects, Axl comes off as very weak in those shows Slither, BHS, and LALD really highlight that shrill Mickey thing. I really wonder if there wasn't also some level of sickness because like I mentioned above he is also having major pitch and tune issues. If they spent time mixing it post show/pre YouTube then why not choose a better version? There is a 0% chance that they don't have every second of on stage audio (including soundcheck) since the tour started on April Fools Day... I get that certain songs came at different times, but they've only have 9 months to work on this stuff, find the best version, or top 3 if they are planning to use the best for an official release.

[PermissionToLand]

I will say I have always thought Richard was by far the best of the CD era guitar players and the best pairing with Slash. Having said that his tone is considerably better than Slash's at this point because of his tireless search for the perfect effect, amp, and pickup. Slash caught lightning in a bottle with a Les Paul with SD Alnico II pickups into a Marshall with little in the way of effects and just chugs along with the same tired rig. I do think that there is a huge difference in even his Conspirators tone when he switched from Ace back to Adam Day... The distortion in his amp really dropped off, I thought it was him swapping from the AFD amps to the Jubilee's and old 90's Slash Model Amps. I would love to see some complexity to his rig even just pushing the amp with something like a King of Tone or OCD pedal would make a huge difference.

As far as the mix, I really think we are getting what Caram and crew does day of show and nothing more. There is a mix but it is tuned to what he is hearing in the venue which doesn't translate to say headphones or speakers in your room. Which could explain why The Download Festival and Exit 111 shows are IMO the worst of the Selects, Axl comes off as very weak in those shows Slither, BHS, and LALD really highlight that shrill Mickey thing. I really wonder if there wasn't also some level of sickness because like I mentioned above he is also having major pitch and tune issues. If they spent time mixing it post show/pre YouTube then why not choose a better version? There is a 0% chance that they don't have every second of on stage audio (including soundcheck) since the tour started on April Fools Day... I get that certain songs came at different times, but they've only have 9 months to work on this stuff, find the best version, or top 3 if they are planning to use the best for an official release.

That's the thing though, Slash's tone used to kick ass. I love his UYI tour sound, which he basically kept the same through the 2nd Snakepit album and tour. Ever since VR, he's been dialing back the gain and just can't get the sustain necessary for his style of playing as a result. You can see him visibly work harder and even strike a sustained note twice because it decayed too quickly (often on Nov Rain).

When did he switch back to Adam Day? I know he was with Ace on Apocalyptic Love, which was already too clean for me. In any case, I don't think he needs any pedals, because he didn't in 1992. He just needs to twist the gain knob a little more like he used to. His tone and playing from '92-93 will forever be a huge inspiration to me.

Frankly, I don't think Axl ever really shone on Slither or BHS. I didn't notice any pitch issues, just that his voice doesn't have the power it used to in the register he uses for those songs.

What would you consider a better version of BHS?

[C0ma]

What would you consider a better version of BHS?

Obviously I haven't heard it from every show, but doing this off the top of my head it was one of the two Sirius Radio shows, I think LA. It was pretty good there, and the audio mix from both of those are spot on (with some hiccups dialing it in early for the Apollo gig). I would assume other shows from that time frame as opposed to much later in the tour sound better... but the mixing of those 2 shows Apollo and LA really to my ear sounds much better than almost any of the Selects we've gotten and obviously they were broadcast live.

[PermissionToLand]

What would you consider a better version of BHS?

Obviously I haven't heard it from every show, but doing this off the top of my head it was one of the two Sirius Radio shows, I think LA. It was pretty good there, and the audio mix from both of those are spot on (with some hiccups dialing it in early for the Apollo gig). I would assume other shows from that time frame as opposed to much later in the tour sound better... but the mixing of those 2 shows Apollo and LA really to my ear sounds much better than almost any of the Selects we've gotten and obviously they were broadcast live.

I don't think they played BHS at those shows, did they?

... Huh, it looks like they did. Man, it's already been 3 years since Cornell died?

[jarmo]

Not In This Lifetime Selects

November 20th, 2016 - Brasília, DF, Brazil @ Estádio Nacional de Brasília Mané Garrincha  

It’s So Easy, Welcome To The Jungle, Sorry, Rocket Queen, Used To Love Her, Nightrain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnnQPbWi7pw


Premiere: April 9th, 2021






/jarmo

[GnRScouse]

Best one yet I think in terms of performance, all brilliant and on top form.

[rizzo160]

Thanks Jarmo for the update, Axl sounded great and the band was really tight.  Can't wait for new music, hopefully in Australia.

[DeN]

I'm watching this at the moment.

I can't help but thinking, that band, what a mess, how much opportunities wasted in the last 30 years.

well, nothing new here and I'm playing captain obvious, but as much as I can enjoying the good old songs when they're well played, I'm thinking about the 3 albums of their prime years we'll never had too.

of course we lived our lives without, but it didn't have the same taste without Guns N'Roses around.
and now they're back, in some capacities, but it's still the same songs, played in the same way, and it gives me that bittersweet sensation, to think, if multiverse exists, they had some continuity in another reality and they produced a lot more of albums, a more dense oeuvre.

yeah I know, it is what it is, and it had way more impact on their lives that on ours. but still.

we have to live with that. sounds melodramatic maybe, maybe I'm the only to feel that way.

maybe it's just because it's 3 AM and I need to sleep.

[cineater]

That was nice.  Thanks GNR 

[westcoast_junkie]

Great! Sorry 

[Executioner]

Great vocals by Axl him and Fortus seem to really enjoy the gig hard to know with Slash and Duff they give very little away ,nothing wrong with their playing but they just don't seem like they are enjoying It I've noticed that in a lot of the gigs they've posted on YouTube maybe it's down to their stage persona or that they are fixated on playing well but sometimes it looks like they aren't overly enthusiastic to be there .