Axl Rose proved he’s still the combustible engine of Guns N’ Roses as the band’s massive “Because What You Want & What You Get Are Two Completely Different Things” world trek thundered across Asia and Europe this spring and early summer. As seen below, he looked like a cool grandpa in a new hotel photo. The 63-year-old front-man returned to the road on May 1 in Incheon, South Korea and will keep the circus rolling through Europe, the Middle East and Latin America into November, fronting a lineup rounded out by Slash, Duff McKagan and newly installed drummer Isaac Carpenter, who replaced longtime timekeeper Frank Ferrer in March.
Rose’s trademark sprint-and-snarl stage style has lost little of its unpredictability. Fans at Munich’s sold-out Allianz Arena on June 20 watched him tear through two-and-a-half hours while the stadium’s grass had literally been rolled up to accommodate the show. Social clips from the night show Rose pacing the length of the catwalk during “You Could Be Mine” and hammering the piano intro to “November Rain.” Reddit threads have remarked on a visibly trimmer physique—“He lost some weight, and seems happier,” one fan noted—crediting improved energy onstage.
Vocally, Rose remains polarizing but compelling. YouTube reaction videos from the Firenze Rocks stop on June 12 praise his gravel-rich low register on “Chinese Democracy,” while others lament the strain on the climactic screams of “Welcome to the Jungle.” Yet the singer leans into the limitations, often dropping an octave for verses before uncorking raspy highs on the choruses, a tactic that kept the Munich crowd roaring throughout a 26-song set.
Rather than shy away from mishaps, Rose and the band embraced them with a tongue-in-cheek Instagram “Greatest Hits” montage on May 19 compiling 14 of the singer’s most infamous on-stage wipe-outs—including a fresh tumble in Mumbai two days earlier. The clip, set to “Welcome to the Jungle,” went viral and reinforced the tour’s self-aware swagger.
Core Appetite-era staples like “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Mr. Brownstone” sit alongside deeper cuts like “Bad Obsession,” Chinese Democracy holdovers “Absurd” and “Slither,” and the 2023 single “Perhaps,” giving longtime followers and first-timers alike a career-spanning snapshot.
With strong ticket sales and social chatter running hot, Guns N’ Roses have turned what could have been a nostalgia jaunt into a reminder that, for all the ragged edges, Axl Rose still commands the arena spotlight—and nobody, grass included, is entirely safe when he does.
