Ya, they’ve still got it. Tuesday night I was lucky enough to go to the Hollywood Bowl to see MOTLEY FUCKING CRUE, Poison, and New York Dolls. I used to watch MTV’s Greatest Hits of the 80’s, but I never thought I’d actually go to their concert. Naturally, they have a very loyal fan base. The Hollywood bowl has a seating capacity of 17376, and every last seat was filled. Beer in hand, leather up and down, and all of them 50+ and rocking out harder than a Frat House on Homecoming Weekend. It reminded me of the reunion class parties at my school, Bard College, where the campus has never been so trashed with beer cans. At one party, the cake was decorated with pictures of different sex positions, a 58 year old woman was rolling 6 different strains of weed into joints, and the drunk group of alumni outside had their own smoking circle too. We have a lot to learn about partying from our elders, and this show was the ultimate proof.
David Johansen on vocals and harmonica, Sylvain Sylvain on guitar, bass and piano, Kenny Aaronson on bass guitar, Earl Slick on guitar, and Jason Sutter on drums. They were good, but definitely just an opening set. The Bowl wasn’t nearly full yet and the crowd was only kinda feeling it. As it turns out, everyone just needed a little Poison in their lives.
Poison came on, classic 80’s style with Bret Michaels rocking his red headband and cowboy hat. You got him on lead vocals and guitar, C.C. DeVille lead guitar and vocals, Bobby Dall on bass guitar, piano, backup vocals, and Rikki Rockett on drums and backup vocals.
Set included:
“Look What the Cat Dragged In”
“Ride the Wind” (with C.C. rocking his arrowhead shaped guitar)
“American Band” (Bret Michaels puts on his cowboy hat and starts dancing. He even
did a split in the air, jump thing. Classic rock star)
“Your Mama Don’t Dance”
Epic drum solo
“Every Rose Has It’s Thorn” (Of Course)
“Talk dirty to me”
When they played “Every Rose,” the entire stadium lit up, lighters everywhere…everywhere. It was amazing. I felt like I was in the 80’s, at their first tour concert. Happy 25th Anniversary, Poison!!! The Hollywood bowl has amazing speakers, that’s for sure. I could throw a sick party with their equipment. Because they don’t allow recording equipment or cameras, I resorted to using my IPhone. It is great for most things, but those of you who have used it to record shows (especially good shows), know the recording will always be segmented and sketchy. Basically, if it sucks on your iPhone, you know it sounded incredible live.
The most interesting thing at The Bowl was a text thing set up so you send Crüe messages that would appear on the screens. What, they’ve never heard of Twitter? Anyway, here were some of my favorites:
“This is like Rock of Love but live”
“I just lost THE GAME”
“Super crazy tacos”
“I’m at a Motley Crüe concert and I’m 13, talk about bad parenting”
“Where’s Axl Rose?”
“Show me some Titz”
“He can speak Russian in French. He’s the most interesting man in the world.”
“Wtf… Do I look as old as everyone else?
“Drunk hot bitches in Section P”
Let’s start with the stage for Motley Crüe. Left to right you have the staircase of sin, the wheel of Tommy lee, and a huge pile of ear splitting speakers. Lights bounced off of the walls inside the bowl. The stage was complete with two, hot, hair flipping Go Go Dancers- one with black hair, the other bleach blonde. They were quite impressive. There were even fireworks inside the bowl of the stage. Vince Neil on lead vocals, Mick Mars on guitar and backup vocals, Nikki Sixx on bass guitar and backup vocals, and Tommy Lee on drums and backup vocals.
Sets:
“Wild Side”
“Saints of Los Angeles” – The stage filled with LA Dodger blue smoke.
“Shout At the Devil” – It’s frickin awesome to scream out “shout,” while 6 huge flames the size of my body, shoot up in the air.
“Same O’l Situation” – Super hot lesbian music video, wouldn’t mind being forced to work Craft Services for something like that. I’m sorry, I couldn’t find the video to show you, just trust me, it’s hot.
“Primal Scream” – The visualizers in the back displayed bubbling blood and fingerprints. Epic guitar solos
“Home Sweet Home” – Tommy Lee walks around the pit to the piano, but check out my Soundcloud for the play by play.
“Forget You” – With Cee Lo Green. At first I thought it was a cover, but no!! It’s a secret guest appearance.
Epic Drum Solo Tommy Lee – WTF?! Tommy’s drums are on a moving track that allows him to play drums upside down?! That’s so sick. Plus he’s playing on like 10 cymbals and fireworks shoot through the ring. And he’s insanely hot.
“Roller Coaster of Love” – Tommy Lee brings a woman, Kelly, on stage and she’s strapped to the back side of his chair.
“Looks That Kill” – Go Go dancers behind silhouette screens dancing all sexy and what not. *This concert definitely appeals to both sexes.
“Dr. Feelgood” – Women started dancing like they were making love in the sweet summer LA air
The only thing missing was Guns n Roses, better seats, and real recording equipment. It can be surely said… They have loyal fans that have been attending their concerts for 30 years!!! Now I know why!
