Went to see Motley Crue's "final" tour last night. Alice Cooper opened. One of the best shows ever. Start to finish, absolutely phenomenal.
Alice Cooper may be 66 and not quite as lithe and limber as he was in the 70s, but he still put on a spectacle for the ages. He sounded great and he trotted out every accessory I remembered (plus some I didn't) including the swords, the snake, the giant Frankenstein, the guillotine, strait jackets, top hats and eye makeup. The people I was with had no idea what to expect and were blown away by just how good his show was. His vocals were crisp and clear and his backing group was outstanding. He had this super hot 27-year old blonde on guitar who was simply shredding it. She was amazing.
Crue was a lot louder, had a lot more flames, smoke, lights, fire and insanity but the sound quality was pretty bad. The entire set was a little muddy and sloppy. The mixing was out of sync to the point that it was sometimes hard to figure out what song they were playing due to the wall of noise. I saw Vince try several times to get his mike turned up so he could be heard and saw Nikki follow right behind asking for more bass and less Vince.
Speaking of Vince, he could have used a couple of weeks on a treadmill or something. He started out strong and finished strong but there were sections in the middle where he was struggling and out of breath. Dr. Feelgood came out "Imma uh dah FEEE GAAA, uh mada fee AAAAH RAAAH" My daughter looked at me and asked "Is he singing words or is this in a different language?" Well, she shouted it at me because every amp was cranked to 11.
The drum solo with the roller coaster track was crazy good. Tommy Lee is 52 and acts like he's still 15. Mick can barely move but can still destroy a guitar. For all Vince's trouble staying winded, his voice sounded as good as ever (when we could hear it). Nikki, even at 55, still radiates barely controlled danger. And he can maul a bass. Each might have found his own success if they'd never met, but together there's something magic. They aren't like other bands where you can plug in a different guitar player or vocalist (Van Halen, KISS...) and keep on going. There are four members of Crue and nothing else would ever work.
It was an extremely entertaining set. Not as tight or on target as they were in Birmingham in 2012, but still Crue, still good and worth seeing just in case they really do mean that the final tour is actually the final tour. Sort of funny but I saw a guy there wearing a KISS concert tshirt promoting their farewell final tour, the Last KISS. Don't miss it! The event date on the shirt was August 21, 2000. Fourteen years later they're still saying goodbye, I guess.
Last night was really, really good. Very enjoyable. If that was truly the last Crue tour ever, I'm glad I was there to see it in its final fiery glory.
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