The momentum has trended in the wrong direction and has exacerbated fan unrest.

Axl joining AC/DC and performing great kicked it off, those videos were a powder keg, and the fashion boutique cross-brand synergy $5000 leather jacket event thanks to Fernando was the straw that broke the camel's back.

I think people thought Axl and Slash and a mountain of money meant some sort of forward momentum for Guns N' Roses. Finally. The real band is back. Not necessarily new music but more than an ethos of "let's just fulfill the contract and then go back to solo projects".

The whole thing started with great foreplay but looks to end with an unsatisfying completion.

I think Axl cared very much between 2009-2010 and the performances show. He is on his game and the band follows suit. I am not a fan of either Ashba or Frank in the least but they showed up to play. It's only after repeated instances of slobbishness from The General and The General that the band followed suit.

The problem is Guns N' Roses makes virtues out of vices. I cannot think of another band that has a fanbase that uses their own personal decoder rings to ascertain what is going on with the band or is forced to digest as much shoveled shit on a regular basis. It is truly pitiful.

I think it was entirely unreasonable to expect much for most of 2016 given the behind the scenes drama. The key term here is behind the scenes. Which we still, admittedly, know very little about, and only know because we're hardcore fans. It was clear to anyone paying attention that it was a cash grab nostalgia tour. Okay, fine. Go make your money. But there was still lots of covers, little rotation in the setlist, and so forth. Again, I can't think of another band that has the same problem. Some bands talk out setlist during the flight over. Some jam things out during soundcheck. Cool, let's try this. Guns wasn't always this boring. I don't need to tell you this.

Let's put aside gripes about the show and expectations. The Nightrain membership has been garbage for years. Making two videos announcing another leg of your tour is misleading. Announcing a fashion event to celebrate AFD is laughable. Axl said something about taking business classes. This is Business 101 stuff. Basic Public Relations. Basic... decency.

As somewhat of an aside, some years ago I bought a paperback textbook. I read that fucker every night and a couple months in, the binding fell completely apart. This was a book from a big publisher, mind you. The guy who wrote the book had a Contact option on the book's website. I emailed him explaining the situation and asked how we can get this figured out. I included a line about how I had been lusting after the hardcover copy and if there was any way I could get a credit on the paperback and use that towards a hardcover copy. You know what this guy did? He overnighted me a hardcover copy free of charge. This is the author answering things from his personal email. He made it happen. Compare that with the horseshit mickey mouse fuckery Axl has been pulling for two decades.

Nonsense.

I think I'm a pretty even headed poster. I try to explore things through the different angles before making a judgment. But no matter how you slice it, Guns N' Roses is a poorly run band that treats it's fans like dogs at the feet of their masters.

Who wants to be in a relationship like that? Who wants to invest their time and money with a business with a "ehhh, wait and see..." approach? Do you buy stock in companies that are offloading shares?

Either you're growing or you're dying and Guns N' Roses, my friend, is deeaaaaaaaad.

AC/DC is easier to sing.

The entire discography has the same stop-and-go structure and sing-songy choruses. Lower register, amplified speaking voice to a louder shout. Easy to sustain throughout a show. Axl can do It's So Easy, Brownstone, and Chinese just fine for the same reasons.

Go check out "You Shook Me All Night Long" and other such songs. Same Mickey pitch, no rasp, inability to sustain the notes.

He clearly cares more about AC/DC. He has something to prove. Just like he did in 2006 and 2009.

I don't care, really. I've emotionally divested myself from GNR.

If Axl wanted his career and the "Chinese Democracy" project to survive, he should've decoupled it from the Guns N' Roses brand.

The problem is he like all the greats are filled with objectively delusional self-belief and cut-throat ambition. It's how they can get to such great heights in the first place and what allows them to survive and overcome grueling stretches of touring and mental and physical anguish. Axl also lacks any sort of formal training in professional matters and even consistently told the professionals to go fuck themselves.

So going along with your premise, if he walks away from his two album opus, a near miraculous event, where does he walk to? Back to a label that had already lost interest, to his arthouse band comporting to be one of the biggest bands in history, or to the public with record lows of popularity?

The only thing he could walk back to is right where he came from.

In the end, it was doomed from the start.