Before I go further, let me say this: They Sucked.
But that’s not the point. I saw a midget, strippers, fire, smoke, explosions, choppers and a fan with an “I love cameltoes” t-shirt all within the first thirty-seconds of the show.
Vince Neil cannot sing. It’s a fact. I’d say he spoke 30% of the lyrics, sang 20%, and had the audience fill in the rest of the gaps. No worries. One doesn’t go to a Crue show with expectations of musical beauty. It was loud, exciting, and hard to decipher. And with strippers hanging from the ceiling. Perfection in my book.
My wife’s first and recurring observation was that “…there are more fucked up people here than I EVER saw at a Dead or Phish show!” Right-o. Nowhere else on earth will a 16 oz. Coors Light fetch $8.50 but at an outdoor Crue concert that’s filled with the kind of lowlifes who are happy to blow their week’s pay on beer and t-shirts. I bought the “Shout at the Devil” hoodie for $60. It was Friday night, after all.
We left before the show ended - a totally non-metal thing to do, but I was not going to be competing with those drunk bastards for a space to drive my car. No way.
As we loaded up they started to play “Without You” and I felt it appropriate to sit on the bumper of the car with my wife and sing the song to her.
when i lived in vegas, i had 2 chances to see the crue play the hard rock. passed on both … the first show was $80/ticket; and the second, $150. but man, i was tempted. ‘girls girls girls’ was the cassette tape soundtrack for seventh grade. i saw vince up close at the palms once. he looks like he’s had a hard hard life.
theatre of pain … maybe not. not anymore. more like theatre of the washed up. but if tickets were 20 bucks. i’d be there. too bad i left my mullet in the 80s.
I saw them in late Feb at the Palace…total agreement: Musically they sucked…guitars cutting out for half of songs, Vince screwing up lyrics, excessive feedback, BUT the stage show was brilliant…everything you wrote!
I saw them in late Feb at the Palace…total agreement: Musically they sucked…guitars cutting out for half of songs, Vince screwing up lyrics, excessive feedback, BUT the stage show was brilliant…everything you wrote!
Kind of a shame really - I mean look at Aerosmith or the Stones - been around a lot longer, partied pretty damn hard for a lot of years, and yet still put on a pretty musically solid show* even if recent songwriting isn’t quite on par with the early years.
admittedly it’s been a few years since I’ve seen either band, but they were damn good.