No midgets, no strippers, no booty cam and no Tommy Lee drum tricks.
Was this really Mötley Crüe at the MTS Centre Friday?
It was, but it was a stripped-down show compared to 2005, 2006 and 2008 when the Los Angeles hard-rock survivors pulled out all the stops. This time they relied on pyro, concussion bombs and fireworks for their main effects.
Even the setlist was scaled back, with only 15 songs in 90 minutes. They called this the Dead of Winter Tour, maybe they should have called it the What’s the Point? Tour.
Perhaps their recent overplaying of the market and lack of a new stage show was the reason for the absence of any kind of excitement leading up to the concert. The official attendance was given as 9,500, but this was a heavily papered show with deals aplenty, including a two-for-one offer and tickets in the 300 level going for Ticketmaster’s $2.50 "convenience" fee on Friday morning.
The fans who showed up got most of what they wanted, though, as predictable as it was, with a few omissions like
Too Fast for Love,
Without You and
Too Young to Fall in Love.
The show started with some pyro blasts as the band launched into regular opening number
Kickstart My Heart, followed by more explosions for
Wild Side with the pumped-up crowd handling the vocals on the chorus, as they did on the next number, the classic
Shout at the Devil, with flames shooting into the air for every chant of "Shout!"
The band members have lived the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle to the extreme and have undergone every kind of tragedy a band can go through — near death experiences, stints in jail, rehab, lawsuits, reality television shows — but they still sound as good as ever and are probably tighter now than they were in their heyday as evidenced on songs like the punky
Live Wire, autobiographical anthem
Saints of Los Angeles, pop-metal sing-along
Same Ol’ Situation and their ode to strippers,
Girls, Girls, Girls.
Frontman Vince Neil’s distinctive shriek has held up surprisingly well over the years and he is a consummate showman, running around the stage and hyping up the crowd between songs.
Guitarist Mick Mars has been slowed down by the arthritic disorder ankylosing spondylitis but he hasn’t lost any of his skill as he showed early on during his solo and through riff after riff, while bassist Nikki Sixx — the band’s leader — and drummer Lee easily held down the rhythm section. Lee left his hilariously oversized drum kit and wandered to the front of the stage to share a bottle of Jagermeister with the crowd.
And you’ve got to hand it to the band for choosing two opening acts worth getting to the arena early for.
Australia’s Airbourne started the night off with a half-hour set of straight-up, balls-out rock ’n’ roll similar to their fellow countrymen AC/DC with rifftastic tunes about rockin’ out, partying and sex on songs like
Diamond in the Rough,
Stand Up for Rock ’N’ Roll,
Born to Kill and
Runnin’ Wild.
The energetic long-haired quartet, led by shirtless frontman Joel O’Keefe, even had their head-banging synchronized and won over almost everyone who saw them. They’ve got a new album coming out in March and will be back in town later this year on their own headlining tour.
Next up was the Joe Perry Project, led by the Aerosmith lead guitarist, who let newcomer Hagen Grohe handle all vocal duties while he stuck to cranking out bluesy riffs from his latest album with the JPP, some covers and a few Aerosmith songs, including
Toys in the Attic and
Walk This Way.
Grohe didn’t try to sound like Steven Tyler or copy his moves, letting Perry be the star as he played a variety of guitars – including the custom built old-west inspired Bullets and Bones guitar– in front of a massive pedal board.
