Since when did Axl cancel the 2006 tour because his voice was fucked?

Last I heard low ticket sales caused it, even though Axl claimed they were "going back into the studio to finish CD and deliver it within a couple months".

Anybody care to enlighten me?

I kept telling my friends who were at the Orlando show that and were absolutely blown away.

They thought Axl was killer, and he was (probably the best few shows of the entire tour were those Southeast U.S. shows, at least Axl-wise); great spirits, the voice was on... I still swear This I Love in Orlando was the best the song has ever been performed in the band's history. I think quite a few here at Evo were stunned at how fucking amazing Axl sounded on it.

But I kept telling them how Axl was so good in 2006 also. Although 2011 Axl was in better spirits, talking to the audience, having fun, smiling, fucking with Frank, just loving being alive... and vocally he was fucking on in Orlando, but there were still off-moments. LALD, YCBM, Blues, a couple others were 2002 Axl.

But 2006 was a different Axl. He was colder, but he was just a sight to see in 2006. A lean, mean, fighting machine. Seemed to be his last "cool ass rock star" moment. It's not so much that he can't get rasp now, nor that he didn't hit it in Orlando. Orlando 2011 Jungle > Tampa 2006 Jungle.

But like I said in another thread, Axl seems to lack POWER these days. The strength of the voice is hollow, and tired, almost like he could lose it at a moment's notice.

2006 Axl was POWERFUL. Although not as consistently raspy as in 2010, the power was more consistent. Axl's voice never wavered in 2006, and the added bonus in 2006 was that Axl was running around on stage, busting his ass old school Axl-style, yet still just hitting those notes with no problem. 2011 Axl couldn't dream of that. Granted he's 5 years older too, so I don't want to come across as mean on the guy.

I just think looking back that 2006 was Axl's last "young, lean mean rock star" moment. He won't get it back.

It's all the more tragic, just like Axl's wasted youth/prime in the mid-to-late 90's, that a 2006-07 rollout of CD worldwide with THAT Axl, would've been something incredibly special to see.

The way I see it, everyone did what they had to do to stay afloat.

Slash was a junkie and needed to be on tour to save himself from himself.

Axl was going through a dark time and struggling to cope with his emotional load and the demands of the tour.

Management was trying to push a collection of druggies and a moody wildcard into a unit that can continue to make them more money.

So everyone has an interest.

My issue is - if it related to succession law only - then papers could have been drawn up that only gave Axl full control once Slash and Duff passed away. But that's not what the deal said.

Meanwhile - considering Axl is the member of the group most likely to tell the record label to go fuck themselves, or to start some kind of incident at a show - I'm not sure I'm buying that management independently thought it would be a great idea to give him sole control.

I'm not saying Axl directly threatened anything. But it's obvious to me that he's a smart guy, who has powerful emotions that he puts into his music, but that sometimes those same thoughts fuck him up to a point where trouble happens (lateness, riots, anger). This makes him at risk. If the band had fired Axl what would he have done. He needed to put himself in a safe place. So I think it was his idea that management draw up papers that gives him control of the brand.   

I don't believe he directly threatened not to tour if it didn't happen to Slash or Duff. But I also don't think he needed to. His reputation alone would have covered that. They've been on the road with him for years - they know he's wild. Think in Slash's book when he says to Matt not to fight Axl even though he knows matt can handle himself - he says something like "you don't want to push Axl when he's back against a wall". Axl didn't need to say it explicitly.

Yeah I was saying in another thread that this is THE BEST SETLIST of the entire new era of Guns N' Roses.

It really is.

Think about it, you get a little bit of everything and a little bit of the best of the band.

Appetite

Welcome To The Jungle
It's So Easy
Nightrain
Mr. Brownstone
Paradise City
Sweet Child O' Mine
Rocket Queen

Lies

Patience

Illusion I

Live and Let Die
November Rain

Illusion II

Civil War
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Estranged
You Could Be Mine

Chinese

Chinese Democracy
Shackler's Revenge
Better
Street of Dreams
Sorry
Madagascar
This I Love

and "Whole Lotta Rosie" and Tommy's "Motivation" to boot.

I mean think about that. You are getting 7 tracks from Appetite, 6 tracks from Illusion, and 7 tracks from Chinese.

That pretty much covers the Guns N' Roses legacy.

So for as much as I think they should've shaken up the setlist for the final show (like I do for all bands who perform back-to-back shows at the same venue), like I said before this is THE BEST setlist of the new era, by far imo.

Maybe that's why they don't shake it up too much?

I think the setlist they do currently is the versitile equivalent of the 1991 & 1993 shows.

Well, when someone doesn't go on stage until he gets his beef, it's not far-fetched to think he'd cause a riot without getting the name.

BTW what would have happened if Slash or Duff had died? The wives, Renee and Linda would have become Guns N' Roses? Please.

I know that Duff, for whatever reasons, became an Axl-apologist (long way from the law suits he wanted to start and the 'Axl didn't write anything..ooops, I really like My World' comment), but first of all, nobody would sign away those rights without a penny, second, if they were so drugged-up that didn't know what they sign (what some forum members suggest sometimes), then it wasn't a friendly move by the Axl camp, not to mention that it would not have been lawful.

Anyway, Axl showed who he is, when he left Guns N' Roses and started a new band with the same name, inviting his ex-partners to be his employees. This was the dirtiest move in the history of GN'R, and possibly in the entire history of rock music.