I've been thinking on this....there's a couple of things at play here:

1. First is the phenomenon that it's more boring when it's not in your own area. You guys see no interest in an Aussie tour because you don't live here. The same way I just spent 3 years snoozing through your "up close and personal" tours then this vegas stint. You can bet when this tour hits the USA again...Alex and I will be moaning that nothing happens....but right now I'm looking forward to seeing Axl...just the way you guys were keen to go to multiple shows in vegas.

2. As for people calling for estranged and so on. I'll give the band that they answered the call. But I think the problem is it's only ever 3rd option of what people really want. People really want:

(a) A reunion of "the real GNR"

or

(b) "Nu" GNR to be an active creative force putting out new works every few years the way bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slash and most other bands do.

or

(c) If the last 2 were impossible we wanted variety in the set list....including stopping ignoring 1/2 the band's catalogue.

So it's like they gave us (c) but only sort of (When did you last hear yesterdays, or locomotive or double talking jive?) but that was only ever the third choice anyway.

Thus the whole world is pissed off. hahah.

However, in Axl's defence I've been thinking about it - and why do we assume artistically that artists can or should be prolific? Sure some are. But the whole record cycle that I wish GNR would follow (new album every 3 or 4 years at least) was based around profits....I suspect some of the great artists of the past - painters and so on - might have taken stupid lengths of time to do their works...so I guess at the end of the day we may well be asking for something he can't do....maybe he's just not able to write the killer songs he does any faster than he does it now. Who knows how the creative mind really works?

now they're coming to australia again I'm kinda excited to see the guys live again - even if it' the same old same old...at the same time I notice a few people who were quite positive of late are starting to get fed up...which I understand....I'm just saying I think it's a factor....basically the live-only route isn't fulfilling fans as you said cos it's been 12 years of nearly identical stuff...but when they're in your own neibourhood it's at least partially happy-making... Although I take your point that some of us are jaded to the point where it's not any more pleasing.

To be honest I'd be more interested to hear a new song IN ANY STYLE than for this band to do stuff like estranged. For preference it wouldn't be an either/or - like the focus would be on new songs and they'd mix up which of the hits they play to keep it a little interesting. Hate to mention Slash given the war - but he has a good system setlist wise I think - you're guaranteed enough of his GNR classics to keep old school and casual fans happy....but there's also a real strong focus on new music and new records every couple of years and lots of new tracks played live.

The closest GNR has come to that approach I think was the 09 Japan tour. I really liked those shows....Axl was still screaming...and there was a nice mix of CD era songs and also the hits. Although I think that was like the 3rd CD tour - it was the first show since RIR3 that really seemed the band had adopted it's new material and was moving on.

Of course some of the problem now is that although CD is only 5 years old - as you said it's more like 12 years we've been listening to CD, Maddy, SOD and others as the "new" tracks....again that's why I liked 09 - the new stuff was like scrapped, If the world...not everyone's cup of tea but not burnt out either!

What would be cool now would be if in 2013 GNR started to work in new tracks - just as they did in 2001 or whatever and the band kinda started the progression into a CD2 era and moved on from CD. But of course I'm not holding my breath.