I got really excited after the new trailer.

I've heard some people complaining it's the same as TFA trailer like beat for beat. They're spot on - but I always liked that trailer for pumping me up without giving too much away.

So I must say I'm looking forward to it.

Strangely I didn't really like Rogue One all that much even though most of my friends seem to think its the best in the series, so I'm looking forward to Ep8 to get back into things.

I wonder about the pressure though, like realistically, how much of it is illusory at this point?

No one, even the most bullish label exec would be expecting this record to outsell AFD, there's also no longer the need for this record to justify the creative direction the band took or validate the band personnel as legitimate members of the band like there was after the silent years or during the "feud" with Slash. There's no pressure to justify cost or times.

This record would be treated the way all the comeback records are: The occasional negative reviewer will comment that it isn't 1987 anymore and that the band should have stayed retired, while the positive reviewers will discuss how good it is to hear the sound of the act back on the stereo and discuss how nicely a few of the new hits sit with the classic tracks on a playlist.

Odds are the response will be much like this tour: The fans will flock to it, the reviews will be mostly positive, a few commenting on missing factors like Izzy and some playing up the age, the people who hate Axl will hate it just like they do AFD, and the people who love it will love. Most will be happy overall just to have some GNR again....it won't be the best thing they did and it won't be the worst. It will just be nice to have - like this reunion.

So what pressure? The world cares about Drake now....I don't think the world is sitting around waiting for GNR to fail at an album the way there were in 1997. We just want them to exist and remind us of our childhoods.. The greater failure would be to do nothing.

Sure.

I went to my local show and had a good time of course. However, that reinforced my view that they left it too late. I mean Axl and Slash together is of course good anyway -  but things are now at the level of most normal professional good bands. What you used to see when seeing GNR was seeing the greatest band in the world and one of the best few of all time.  So it was fun but 10 or so years earlier and it would have been mind-blowingly awesome.

I saw the 1993 band and it was amazing. Literally amazing in the proper sense of the word. Then again you can respect that they arn't 28 anymore. My problem is what happened in between. You can watch a bootleg of say most 2006  shows (or even some 2009 shows) and Axl vocally and physically outperforms his current self. Obviously not his young man prime but still a devastating front man. then watch Slash at any boot from the last 10 years and it's incredible. You can't help but wonder what would have happened if they'd done it around then. We'd have bootlegs of a modern GNR with modern video standards and still-prime performances...it would have been the best stuff ever perhaps. But now things don't have the same ability unfortunately.

But I had some fun anyway. I bought the VIP tickets so i was right up front, and of course it's my favourite songs, and it's amazing to be so close to the action so it's not like it's a bad experience. However, sadly to me, it's just not what it could have been.

It's not like the shows are bad. From the boots of the rest of the tour, I think Axl's best performance was Houston Tx - recommend that one - he's closest to classic Axl there.I also enjoyed Axl/Dc quite a lot as i'm a big AC/DC fan. I recommend the Flordia or Greensbro videos of that show.

Another positive thing I could say was Slash's take on the CD songs. I loved how the CD riff sounds with his setup and his additions to them. I love TIL with Slash, and also TWAT sounded like it would be great if Axl could go back to nailing those vocals in the middle like he did in 2009. I'm glad they didn't just dump the CD material too as I always liked those songs despite the politics. Once again though, it's bitter-sweet - you can't help but wonder what a studio version would be like of Slash doing TIL..

To me it's like so much of GNR fandom has become 'what if'. What if Axl played on Snakepit? What if SLash played on CD? It's always been this way but it's frustrating that I'm still experiencing it even if they are together again. Look at how good slash's riffs were on the past few solo albums, look how good Axl sounds in Ac/Dc....look at the leaks of his CD remixes where he sounded good. It's beyond me why they can't make a "rock or bust" style single with some simple screamy vocals in his Ac/Dc voice and one of these Slash riffs that overflow out of Slash. What if, What if, it's always what if. I enjoy what we get but I'm left dreaming of what would happen if they did something more than the minimum.

Speaking of Axl/DC.... I think Axl in Axl/Dc outperformed GNR by a long way - I think those songs suit his modern voice, and it was clearly important to him to do well at it. I think their next album will be great, and I think we'll get a great DVD of that one day hopefully.

So I don't hate everything. I'm just very frustrated. It seems cynical to me. It seems like the reunion was held off until Axl needed to take the focus of himself because his voice was failing, and it seems like Slash figured out he could never win solo and needed the money from the divorce and realised it was now or never. Then the band decided money was the priority and so we have the situation with Adler/Sorum. I'll give them a pass on Izzy cos that does seem complex. Then they decide to go with the least resistance and not worry about songwriting. Because after all that's what drove them apart in the first place, Axl clearly has a complex over it these days, and they don't NEED to do it...they know they can get away with less...so they do.

There have been positives. It's just hard for me to fully get behind the media's presentation of "what you always wanted has happened" when basically I can't help but notice it's being done out of desperation not good will, that it's done prioritising the quality last, that it's done half hearted and that it's done as simply as they can get away with. it makes me an asshole I know but really it just makes me sad.

Frankly. I'd wet the bed for a modest effort. Hell take the silkworms remix clips that MSL floated around a few years back and throw Slash on it and release the bastard. Would be like a sick modern led zep style song. Do something please. But...they don't work for me so why should they right? I'm entitled

To be honest:

* I'm disappointed the band waited this long for a reunion. Axl does not have the vocal or physical presence he did even 10 years earlier. He's still good but it very much isn't what it would have been if it were done earlier - and there seems to be no actual reason it wasn't done earlier.

* I'm disappointed in the lack of new material. Most older bands offset the effects of age by giving new material. Live they play the classic hits (always a little bit less well than last tour) but it's offset with something fresh to keep it fun. This is particularly annoying given it's well known there are vaulted songs from 1995, as well as the 1999-2006 era band, as well as the 2013 era band, and whatever Slash was doing for the band just before this tour.

* I'm disappointed in the sorum/adler situation. I know I'll get no agreement in these parts but these are the guys who drummed ln 5/6 GNR records. It's absurd that in a tour that is grossing hundreds of millions of dollars petty squabbles and money is given priority over the quality of the art.

* I'm disappointed at the way it was handled. I think the way the original shows were sold in the wrong order (Coachella/Vegas) was inconsiderate to fans. I think the 'surprise' show at April fools would have been wonderful if it had been done before the Coachella news. It was all just implemented badly. Then you add in very limited interviews, no reunion album etc. First few shows of the tour seemed like there would be a return to excitement - such as the surprise addition of Coma, and the occasional shock like Twat. But now even with Coma it's very much a fixed list - and any of the really interesting ideas like a cover of Slither seem to be back off the table.

it creates a feeling of cynicism. They waited until it was just too late - until they had literally no other choice - just to do the easiest thing and give us the minimum they need to do to retire large.

I'm not normally so negative in life. I hate how fandom on the net (eg movies/wrestling etc) becomes about critiquing what they do and saying it's not good. But in this instance....I'm just so fed up with sub-par product.

It's 2017 - where's the 30th Aniversary AFD remaster? Where's the DVDs you shot but never released? Where's the lost albums?

Why do we have to wait until it's not as good as it good have been and then do a poorly executed minimum with every project in this band?

I'll be excited when we hear new music, but right now, I just find it all depressing. The GNR legacy has become a shameful waste of talent and an exercise in individualistic greed. Disgusting from musicians who in my opinion were one of the greatest acts of all time.

I've read a few people say they find the CD album lyrics to be a lesser quality.....personally I don't really agree....I feel there's just as much introspection on the UYI albums.

I'm not going to hang shit on those albums because they're some of the great works of all times, but all I'm saying is there's just as much personal thinking stuff going on there - I mean you have estranged and coma that seem to deal with suicidal thoughts, you have multiple lost love songs like NR and Breakdown, you have multiple rants at the media like Shotgun Blues and Get in the Ring, you have personal feuds like Right Next Door to Hell, and the same sort of "it's hard to be famous, why make me famous if you don't like me" stuff like Bad Apples and Don't Damn Me etc.

Love all those tracks by the way - I'm just saying its actually a very similar thematic record. CD has love songs, songs that address Axl's state of positive/negitive thinking at the time, songs that address the media/critics and songs that seem to touch on personal issues - law suits/friendships etc.

To me it is very much in keeping with the other stuff. Axl has always been a personal writer. The nature of things is just that these days his feuds are with lawyers rather than the cops throwing him up against a wall more often

As for it being cryptic....I take that point...my take is I think Axl specifically does that now to avoid media and fan criticism when people single out particular lines. Like how he seems concerned about what is written about him in the media, I notice the more he writes the more he goes to metaphor and analogy, and lines that imply things and perhaps hold particualr meanings to him that may not to everyone who knows less about his situation. Just a theory - I find it fun and poetic...but I agree that it's happening.