(Credits: Far Out / Guns N Roses / Andreas Lawen, Fotandi)
Sat 3 January 2026 18:00, UK
In the world of rock and roll, Dave Grohl and Axl Rose exist on two opposite sides of the musical spectrum half the time.
They both are proud to play rock and roll and deliver to any audience most of the time, but considering Grohl’s stint in Nirvana, it’s not like he was looking at Rose as the archetype of what a frontman should be. The Guns N’ Roses vocalist had his fair share of issues as far as Grohl was concerned, but it’s not like they couldn’t find subtle ways to agree as the years went on.
Then again, seeing the tension between Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses never stopped being entertaining back in the day. Kurt Cobain may have helped instigate everything when Rose started to become a bit too misogynistic in the press, but when the grunge titans made a mockery of the MTV Awards, Grohl is the one that can be heard sarcastically sounding like an overly obsessed fan trying to get Rose’s attention after the band smashed their gear.
But you have to remember that both bands were still about delivering the best performance they could whenever they played. Rose may have taken himself a bit too seriously when he brought out the sweeping pianos and started ridiculing members of the audience because of what they were wearing, but no one could deny he had the same passion that Grohl did whenever he stepped up with Foo Fighters.
If you look at them side by side, Grohl was the one that seemed to be having a lot more fun up there. Playing a gig never felt like work to him, and when it came to working a crowd in just the right way, he had the best teacher when listening to Queen. That kind of music may have been a bit alien to most grunge fans, but Grohl was going to study what Mercury did if he was going to entertain Wembley Stadium.
It’s daunting to get up onstage and hold court like that, but Grohl said it all came down to looking at how comfortable Mercury was, saying, “I once said in an interview that if you want to connect with an audience of 50,000 people, you either watch the Pope or Freddie Mercury. Freddie was the consummate star, one in a million, and one that will never be forgotten.” But if Grohl got Mercury’s sense of fun, Rose got his work ethic.
When talking about his favourite records, Rose had no problem calling Mercury one of the finest vocalists he had ever seen, saying, “For me, it’s easy – Queen is the greatest band and Freddie [Mercury] is the greatest frontman of all time. The band are the greatest because they embraced so many different styles.” That kind of adventurousness was wildly exciting, but in Rose’s case, it did come back to bite him in the ass a little bit.
Use Your Illusion did have a lot of great moments on it that were bound to last forever, but when looking at the high standard he set for himself, Rose really had no choice but to try and keep topping himself whenever he made something new. Which probably explains why he eventually became one of the more insufferable performers during the tour for that album, often missing shows or trying his best to make sure everything was absolutely perfect before he even touched the lip of the stage.
Any frontman is going to take whatever lessons they want out of Freddie Mercury, but the finesse that the Queen frontman had is the reason why so many people are chasing after what he did. No one could have tried to reach those high notes or go in vastly different directions on each of their records, but for Mercury, life was all about taking those kinds of risks no matter what kind of music you were playing.
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