Mötley Crüe (Crüefest 2008)

By Skitch, Unassociated Press (red-HALO.com)

As I entered The Verizon Wireless Music Center, I found myself thinking about the last time I’d seen Mötley Crüe live; that show had also been at this venue, then known as Deer Creek. It was the Dr. Feelgood Tour way back in the summer of 1990 and I was 15 years old. 1990 doesn’t seem that long ago, until you figure that a child born the year of the Feelgood tour would now be 18 and possibly among the crowd at Crüe Fest 2008.

As the lights went out in the pavilion and the crowd rose to their feet, a low rumble of bass began to build from the stage, which was blocked from view by a large black curtain. Behind the curtain a red spot light produced the silhouette of a devil at stage right. “We were all born of sin” belted out a loud yet somewhat distorted voice. A second spot light appeared at stage left, this one white, producing the silhouette of an angel. The voice continued, “Accept the love of God or burn”, as Mick Mars began the intro to KICKSTART MY HEART

With a burst of iconic 80s pyrotechnics, the curtain dropped to reveal a stage that looked more like the set of a music video. The overhead lighting truss was lowered close to the stage with cables and hoses hanging down giving an industrial look to the scene. Behind the band was a large sign that read LOS ANGELES backwards. The sign was laid out in the same format as the famous Hollywood sign, but with slightly uneven lettering that stretched across the length of the stage.

It was like a time warp. All the sudden it was 1990 again, and I was 15 years old. The stage effects and lighting were classic 80s; lasers, fog, thunderous bursts and explosions, burning flames, the “blind the crowd” white lights and even short distance fireworks were flying across the stage throughout the show.

As The Crüe neared the end of KICKSTART MY HEART, I was very aware of the amount of bass that was flying around the pavilion. Between Nikki’s heavy bass guitar lines and Tommy’s 42” bass drum you could feel every note they played in your chest. If you’re ever wondering what size bass drum could possibly induce a heart attack, I’m guessing a 42” might do the job.

From WILD SIDE, The Crüe quickly went into SHOUT AT THE DEVIL. Up until this point, the large video screens to the left and right of the stage were displaying graphics and visual effects. Nothing spectacular, probably the kind of thing you’d see as a screen saver. The only difference from what they used and the Starfield screen saver was the color of the stars changed periodically. I personally felt it was a little lame. However, during SHOUT AT THE DEVIL, the screens began to flash images and video clips in between the other graphics and effects. During the chorus they were alternating between still images of George W. Bush and a video clip of him giving the finger. I was waiting to see an image of GW with devil horns, but that did not transpire.

After playing three tunes back to back, The Crüe stopped while Vince chatted up the crowd for a bit. He talked about Crüe Fest and thanked Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Trapt and Sixx AM. He also did a little pitch on the new album, Saints of Los Angeles, which of course leads to playing the title track of the album SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES. For a new tune from an old band, SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES is pretty good. It has that classic Mötley Crüe sound. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Primal Scream. The crowd cheered as Josh Todd of Buckcherry, Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach, Chris Brown of Trapt and James Michael of Sixx AM joined The Crüe on stage to sing the last chorus of SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES.

As the crowd cheered and the other singers left the stage , Mick began a simple GUITAR SOLO which built to a pretty standard, and good, Mick Mars solo. In the middle of his solo, Mick began to play a little Hendrix, which Tommy joined in on, and then he ended by playing the intro to LIVE WIRE as the rest of The Crüe rejoined him on stage.

SICK LOVE SONG from the new Saints of Los Angeles album followed LIVE WIRE. I was a little surprised by that title, but I wasn’t able to think about it too long because the next thing I knew it, Tommy had commandeered the stage. Tommy spent the next 5-10 minutes running around the stage with a camcorder. They displayed the feed on the big screens, which was mostly “Blair Witch” type footage of the crowd with an occasional shot of a girl raising her shirt.

After the next tune, Vince chatted up the crowd a little more, mentioning that the Wild Side video was filmed at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. The angel from the beginning of the show then appeared bringing out a guitar for him to play. He thanked her with a very seductive kiss, and proceeded to kick into DON’T GO AWAY MAD (JUST GO AWAY) and SAME OL’ SITUATION from the Dr. Feelgood album.

Following SAME OL’ SITUATION, Nikki Sixx had a few things to say to the crowd. He promoted Crüe Fest 2 and mentioned the possibility of adding a second stage next year. Nikki also told a story about all the members in the band getting Mötley Crüe tattoos right here in Indianapolis during the Girls, Girls, Girls Tour. He said they loved Indy and got the tattoos as a way to always remember playing here.

After a few more tunes, Vince asked the crowd to, “put your right hand up … make a fist … now go like this”. As we all “went like that”, the motorcycle effect played to start GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS. This song was quickly followed by DR. FEELGOOD.

As The Crüe played DR. FEELGOOD, the stage lighting and pyrotechnics kept building. By the end of the tune, flames were burning across the stage, lasers were laser-ing, other effect lights were doing their thing, explosions were going off one after the other, and what looked like a Fourth of July fireworks finale in pyrotechnics lit up the stage.

As The Crüe hammered on the last note of DR. FEELGOOD, Vince thanked everyone, said goodnight and with one final explosion, the stage went dark. All that could be seen were the dim red glow of every amp’s LED light across the stage.

Across the pavilion and up in the lawn lighters were held high as the crowd cheered for an encore.

In a surprisingly short amount of time, the stage lighting came back up and Vince, Nikki, Mick and Tommy returned to the stage. Once again Vince thanked the crowed and promised to be back next year for Crüe Fest 2. He then directed everyone’s attention to Tommy as he began to play the intro to HOME SWEET HOME on the keyboard.

That was it … 14 tunes, pyrotechnics, a big bass drum, a guitar solo and Tommy’s camera work… all in all, a good show.