Guns N’ Roses have canceled their show that was scheduled to take place tonight (July 5) in Glasgow “due to illness and medical advice.” Though they didn’t specify which member is sick, frontman Axl Rose told the crowd at a show earlier this week that he wasn’t feeling well, and adjusted his vocal approach in order to make it through the performance.
“Sadly, due to illness and medical advice, GN’R will not be able to perform in Glasgow,” the band wrote in a brief statement on their social media. “We are working on rescheduling options for this show so please hold onto your tickets and wait for a further update. We appreciate your understanding and patience.”
Over the weekend, they played two back-to-back nights in Tottenham, England, and during the second night (July 2), Rose addressed his struggles to the audience. Halfway through their rendition of “Civil War,” the singer switched to a lower register, which you can hear in a video below.
According to Setlist.fm, he said, “Welcome to the world of the baritone” after the song concluded. In a fan-filmed video [via The Daily Mail], he later told the crowd, “As you can tell, I’m having a few issues but these shows are really important to us.” The rocker added that he actually slept at the Spurs Stadium after their July 1 show instead of returning to the hotel with the rest of the band due to feeling sick.
“So I’ll be switching the songs around a little bit vocally, I hope you don’t mind. We would like to keep going,” he concluded. As a result, their setlist was shorter than most of their prior shows have been.
Following the performance, a fan commented on one of guitarist Richard Fortus‘ Facebook posts noting the show’s shorter length and sound quality, and the rocker replied that the band almost canceled the shows due to Rose’s condition.
“Axl was really struggling. He damaged his vocal cords. I’m sorry to hear that you were disappointed. He really didn’t want to cancel,” Fortus wrote.
Many GN’R fans have since taken to Reddit to praise Rose’s vocal performance in the lower register, adding that they hope he’ll continue to use it in the future if it’s more beneficial to him.
“Honestly, sounds much better. He should just get Melissa [Reese] to back him up on the higher octave,” one user wrote. “Thing is, he always recorded multiple octaves on records. It would sound brilliant and consistent if he did this every night.”
“It makes me so sad that there haven’t been people in his orbit that care about him enough insisting that he sing principally in this register. Hopefully these recent tech issues allowed him to figure it out on his own,” another fan remarked.
See the posts and some videos below. We wish Rose the best as he recovers.
Facebook – Richard Fortus
Guns N’ Roses – ‘Civil War’ (Live in Tottenham 2022)
Guns N’ Roses – ‘Nightrain’ (Live in Tottenham 2022)
Axl Rose Adjusts Voice During Show Due to Illness
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