Watching Mötley Crüe play live is many things: entertaining, fun, funny, morbid, and a good chance to ruminate on pop culture. And a chance to pretend you’re riding a motorbike, which long-suffering singer Vince Neil implored the Victoria (or, uh,”Vancouver area,” as he once awkwardly said after a too-long pause trying to remember where the heck he was) audience to do. (Incidentally, Vince, getting an arena full of mainly white dudes to all raise their right hands up in the air brought more than a couple awkward laughs from the audience; might wanna reconsider that one.)
(But, wait, let’s go back: the guy behind me in line to get inside the arena: “We can’t bring weapons inside? Should I cut off my dick?”)
All the usual weird live Crüe-isms went down: odd background vocals seemingly piped into the back of my brain, Crüe drummer/eternal six-year-old Tommy Lee and his absolutely ludicrous drum solo (these don’t get any more restrained as time goes on, do they?), the relentless shuffle-step of guitarist Mick Mars (who laid down a guitar solo that was pure ugly horror in the best of ways), the confusion of bassist Nikki Sixx as he bounces between angst heroin chic and ’80s glam guy, the mixture of the parts all up on stage for everyone to watch, warts and all.
Then there’s the thought that right now, the men who have been involved in some of the most revolting tales in rock history are in the same town where I walk to work every day, the men who I firmly believe sold their souls in the ’80s not to the devil but to the almighty god of feeling good are perhaps walking past a corner I drive past with the family frequently, sharing a laugh as they reminisce about horrible, horrible things.
The concert was great. They brought out oldies like “Piece of Your Action” and “Louder Than Hell,” which we appreciated. The Crüe is always great, in that Crüe kinda way (hey, at least it’s obvious Neil doesn’t lip-sync, right?). They’re all still standing, which is the most we can ask of these guys, guys who have seen more than we can ever even begin to imagine. Tonight, they brought that lifetime of decadence to us for a couple hours of greatest hits and newer songs we pretended to know but did not recognize whatsoever.
And to think, they did all of this to rock.
Fantastic concert, with 2 quirks, neither mentioned in your article.
1) no Tommy Lee 360 degree roller-coaster drumkit. Technical issues?
2) No encore. This is fine for Motley Crue fans who know they don’t believe in encores, they believe in putting on a kickass show from start to finish, and ending it with a salute to the fans, and that’s it. Not hanging out behind the stage waiting to be begged to come back. Which is good if you’re aware of it before hand, and confusing/disappointing if you’re not.
Long live the Crue!
I loved last night’s concert, it was epic. Love these guys. Big Fan.