Axl Rose Cut His Hair

Guns N’ Roses played an “intimate” show for “just” 5,000 fans over the weekend as a warm-up for the mini-tour they’ll kick off this week (get tickets here), and the big news from the gig isn’t that the band was re-joined by Steven Adler or Izzy Stradlin, or that they introduced some deep-cut they haven’t played in decades into the setlist. No no.

The big news from the gig, as evidenced by the below fan-filmed footage and GN’R Instagram post, is that lead singer and namesake W. Axl Rose has cut his hair.

Although Rose was once almost as famous for his soft ginger locks as he was for his voice and, uh, “demanding” personality, rumors that the singer is now bald have persisted for almost twenty years… and he certainly didn’t stave off those rumors with his infamous cornrows phase. Although I don’t think Rose is bald bald, it is apparent that his hair is thinning, and in the past few years, he’s seemed reticent to remove his bandana or hat during live shows… which, like the cornrows, seemed like a good indicator that something was amiss (Bret Michaels from Poison uses the same strategy).

But this actually isn’t the firs time Axl has cut his hair to that length. A mugshot taken after his 1998 arrest at an airport shows his hair at roughly the same length as it is now.

And that is surely the most hard-hitting piece of journalism you’ll read today.

Discuss Axl’s new ‘do in the comments section.