Motley Crue: Epic Stage Show

Today's post is from our friend DJ. He saw Motley Crue over the summer and wanted to share this review with everyone. 

On July 29th, I headed off to the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City to catch Motley Crue and Alice Cooper for the second time on their "Final Tour." 

We waited three hours outside the arena after scheduled time due to short staff for the show. Organizers blamed Salt Lake City due to many events happening that night, they blamed the arena for "safety violations," and they also blamed the band because Tommy Lee had a solo show in some bar that night. Some guy outside the arena got arrested for being drunk and trying to start fights, and some guy kept yelling "this ain't GnR, this is the CRUE!" Sorry Gene, rock isn't dead!

Anyways when they let us in, Alice Cooper started about twenty minutes later and absolutely killed it. He opened with "Hello Hooray" and went straight into "No More Mr. Nice Guy" the band sounded really great and Alice brought his whole stage show. They played "Under My Wheels" which is one of my favorite songs by Alice Cooper and went right into "I'm Eighteen" everybody seemed to be getting into it. The next songs he played were "Billion Dollar Babies" and "Poison" most of his show consisted of his hits and he delivered, I could see Alice a hundred times and never get sick of it.He played "Dirty Diamonds" which was followed by a guitar solo and a drum solo. I have to say I was blown away watching his drummer, he did a phenomenal job, I just couldn't take my eyes off of him. "Welcome To My Nightmare" was the next song, and everybody got into it. He did the whole guillotine thing and the straight jacket, which he always does, and what makes him such a Glam icon, perfecting the image part of the show, in my opinion that man is the godfather of theatrics and he has perfected it for many generations to copy. Sorry again Gene!

He did "Feed My Frankenstein" next and I couldn't help but sing along, he brought out the huge Frankenstein monster and I had the whole Wayne's World feeling "that I wasn't worthy." To tell you the truth, I wasn't and nobody in the arena was either of seeing Alice, because like I said before, he is a LEGEND. He finished the set with "Ballad Of Dwight Fry," "Killer," and "I Love The Dead" which is also one of my favorites. The finale was "School's Out" a song that everybody knows, and he did the medley with Pink Floyd "Another Brick In The Wall' which I still think is great. 

Motley was up next and they played "All Bad Things" and "So Long Farewell" over the speakers until they opened with "Girls Girls Girls" and they went right into "Wild Side" which I really loved. The next song, my favorite song of all time was "Primal Scream." I can't really say anything about that because I was so caught up in the song I hit my head on the rail in front of me. That part was amazing, I don't care what anyone says about Motley, I would go and see them play a two hour loop of that song! "Same 'Ol Situation" and "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" was next, two huge hits made for an arena. My least favorite Motley song "Smokin' In The Boys Room" was next. I don't hate it, I just think it is a cheesy song, but I enjoyed it live. "Looks That Kill' was next, which I've never seen them not play. There was lots of energy in it. But the energy slowed down when they played "Muther---er Of The Year." Do not get me wrong, I love the song, and I really love the lyrics, it just seems that they lost energy and were not really feeling it when they played it. After that Vince said "And now one of the baddest motherf---ers I know, Nikki Sixx!" Nikki gave his knife speech, and I do not know if you have heard it, but I really loved it, he talked about jamming a knife into your arm and never forgetting the pain it gave you, and compared it to the first moment you heard and fell in love with rock n' roll. I have to say, I didn't really expect it, but he kind of owns up to it saying stuff like "Be The Knife" and I have to say it was really true, how he said it. He then thanked us for "Letting Motley Crue be that knife for over thirty years."

The band then went into "Anarchy In The UK" which was a big highlight of the show for me. The stage then went dark and two pentagrams went up on the two giant screens and the intro for "In The Beginning" started. I got really excited, and then they went into "Shout At The Devil." Nikki's bass had the flamethrower again and that was really cool, when the song kicked in, the huge pentagram they have at the back of the stage lit up with fire, and he did the flamethrower at the end of the song again, that was honestly one of the best moments of the show.

I was suprised when they went into "Louder Than Hell" as it was a cool new addition to the show. Tommy Lee did his drum solo next, which I was really looking forward to, now like I have said before I am not a fan of dubstep, but the roller coaster made up for some of the shit music he drummed along to... I do admit there was more rock influence in it at least. Tommy drummed along to Sabbath, Zeppelin, and Beastie Boys. I think there was a snippet of "Hooligan's Holiday" but I do not remember. He went upside down and there were huge explosions, that was amazing. Mick's guitar solo was next and the stage went dark, all you saw was Mick playing this distorted bluesy solo, the whole place started shouting "MICK MICK MICK!" They went into "Live Wire" with lots of energy and I couldn't help but sing along. The very first song they did as a band, and it still holds up thirty four years later. "Saints Of Los Angeles" seemed to lack energy, but I did love how the whole mood of the show changed for it, everything went blue, and it was a cool approach to play it. They played "TNT" over the loud speakers and went right into "Dr. Feelgood." I love that song because it has such a dirty groove to it.

The finale was hands down the best part of the show and the best I have seen live ever. They went into "Kickstart My Heart," (a song I want played at my funeral) and after the part where Vince says "Years go by, I say we kicked some ass!" he and Nikki got onto two giant arms that carried them around the arena, and Mick went onto this middle platform that rose up and there were giant bombs going off at the end stretch of the song, and went the last note was played confetti dropped and about five of those bombs went off in a row, the lights went on and you could see and smell all the smoke.

"Home Sweet home'' was the last song played on that second stage, and it was sad again seeing them play it. I love "Home Sweet Home" and it sounded great. All in all, the stage show was the best I have ever seen and was ten times better than last year, but I still think they sounded tighter back in 2011.

Leaving the arena you could still see the smoke and smell it. It was one of the most over the top stage show I have ever seen. If this show comes anywhere near you, in my opinion, you should go see it just for the stage show and cool songs.