Guns N' Roses' performance at last weekend's Glastonbury Festival certainly polarised opinion, with the enthusiasm that greeted the band's two-and-a-half-hour set matched only by bickering about their presence, while a number of TV viewers watching the BBC's live broadcast reported that Axl Rose's voice kept dropping out of the mix.
"They’ve set that microphone lower than my current bank balance," posted Twitter user Jonathon, while Words Of Rich added, "It’s hard to judge Guns N’Roses Glastonbury set. The band sounded fantastic, and when you could hear Axl Rose he sounded great. However when you couldn’t it made it a hard watch. I’m not sure if that’s due to his voice or sound problems."
"The BBC's sound mix for Guns N' Roses is terrible," wrote Jon Sheasby. "The greatest live band I've ever seen, and all you can hear is Slash's guitar and Frank's drums. Axl, Duff, Richard, Dizzy and Melissa are all buried in the mix. How do the BBC f**k it up so bad, year after year?!"
Another Tweeter, Rik Henderson, reported similar problems, saying, "Watching GNR on an OLED with Ambilight and in UHD is great, but I wish they’d stop cocking about with Axl’s mic. The mix is all over the place."
Now a spokesman for the agency representing Guns N' Roses' has responded to the reported problems, telling Wales Online that the host broadcaster was responsible for the issues people had hearing Axl's voice.
"Axl was in top form last night," the agency said in an email. "We have dug deep into the matter, and it appears the broadcast had issues being played on certain TVs like UHDs. This was an unfortunate issue that the mix played through these TVs sounded so poorly; however, it was not the band’s fault but the BBC's."
Meanwhile, in a social media sequel to Get In The Ring, the 1991 song in which Axl Rose explicitly called out some of the band's critics, Guns N' Roses have tweeted the names of two journalists who wrote unfavourable reviews of their Glastonbury performance.
"It would take a lot more hate than you," posted the band, apparently in reference to reviews that appeared in the The Telegraph and The Independent.
Guns N' Roses' next show is in London's Hyde Park on Friday (June 30). Full dates below.
...it would take a lot more hate than you@neil_mccormick@MarkbeaumontukJune 27, 2023
Guns N' Roses: The World Tour 2023
Jun 30: London BST Hyde Park, UK
Jul 03: Frankfurt Deutsch Bank Park, Germany
Jul 05: Bern BERNEXPO, Switzerland
Jul 08: Rome Circo Massimo, Italy
Jul 11: Landgraaf Megaland, Netherlands
Jul 13: Paris La Defense, France
Jul 16: Bucharest National Arena, Romania
Jul 19: Budapest Puskás Arena, Hungary
Jul 22: Athens Olympic Stadium, Greece
Aug 05: Moncton Medavie Blue Cross Stadium, NB
Aug 08: Montreal Parc Jean Drapeau, QC
Aug 11: Hershey Hersheypark Stadium, PA
Aug 15: East Rutherford MetLife Stadium, NJ
Aug 18: PNC Park Pittsburgh, PA
Aug 21: Boston Fenway Park, MA
Aug 24: Chicago Wrigley Field, IL
Aug 26: Nashville GEODIS Park, TN
Aug 29: Charlotte Spectrum Center, NC
Sep 01: Saratoga Springs Saratoga Performing Arts Center, NY
Sep 03: Toronto Rogers Centre, ON
Sep 06: Lexington Rupp Arena, KY
Sep 09: St. Louis Busch Stadium, MO
Sep 12: Knoxville Thompson-Boling Arena, TN
Sep 15: Hollywood Hard Rock Live, FL
Sep 17: Atlanta Music Piedmont Park, GA
Sep 20: Biloxi Mississippi Coast Coliseum, MS
Sep 23: Kansas City Kauffman Stadium, MO
Sep 26: San Antonio Alamodome, TX
Sep 28: Houston Minute Maid Park, TX
Oct 01: San Diego Snapdragon Stadium, CA
Oct 06: Indio Powertrip Festival, CA
Oct 08: Sacramento Aftershock Festival, CA
Oct 11: Phoenix Chase Field, AZ
Oct 14: Climate Pledge Arena Seattle, WA
Oct 16: Vancouver BC Place, BC
