Rock News
Gig Review: Motley Crue Live Sydney Entertainment Centre Post by: Chris E Leigh 24 September, 2011 - 12:01 PM
Motley Crue played the Sydney Entertainment Centre last night. It was rock and roll as high theatre. Think lots of pyro, flashing lights, sweeping spotlights, silver pants, sleaze rock classics, Mick Mars guitar solos and, oh, did we mention the drum rollercoaster? It was nothing but a good time.
First up, how can Motley Crue make their show look as badass as possible? Book someone who makes you look like the dangerous denizens of the dank rock and roll jungle.
Bret Michaels, bless him, proved he didn’t take himself too seriously when he starred in reality dating show Rock Of Love, but last night took it further, with six hat changes and more pirouettes, pointing and Poison hits than you could shake a maraca at.
The show kicked off, funnily enough, with "Welcome To The Jungle", played through the PA while Bret Michaels was backstage. Reminded you of being at a Gunners show, waiting impatiently for the cornrowed icon to show. But show Bret did, wearing a Bret Michaels T-shirt (almost everyone in the band was wearing a Bret Michaels T-shirt), whirling around the stage, jumping up and down and pointing. Dude loves to point.
With a "Sydney, are you ready to rock and roll?!" and the first burst of pyro, the show kicked off with Bret leaping in the air and belting out Poison favourites, "Talk Dirty To Me" and "Look What The Cat Dragged In" before Bret told the crowd how, despite battling a case of laryngitis, how excited he was to touch down – to rapturous applause.
Bret and his band are into a lot of physicality onstage. Turning around and around in dizzying circles, raising the roof, pointing at people in the audience. Ladies of three generations seemed to be picking up what he was putting down, and for some blokes, the soundtrack to their teenage sexual fumblings were met with very enthusiastic Axl-like head swings. For Poison fans, he ticked all the boxes and played what the people wanted to hear, and should be commended for that.
When Bret Michaels launched into their 1988 cover, "Mama Don’t Dance", his aesthetic suddenly clicked. There comes a point where you can no longer do the makeup/spandex thing without looking like a bad drag queen. So, he’s slipped into a ‘little bit country, little bit rock and roll’ look complete with a hilarious sequence of different bandannas and cowboy hats for each song.
It wouldn’t be a satisfying show without everyone’s favourite Poison song, "Unskinny Bop". But was it necessary to tack on a ridiculously indulgently long intro before launching into it? Really? Sure, it was good. But later on, was it necessary to ask the crowd to ‘wave their hands in the air like they just don’t care?’ Or use maracas?
With another hat change, they tore through a crowd-pleasing KISS cover, "Rock And Roll All Night" before it was time for the ballad, "Every Rose Has It’s Thorn". He wrapped it up by thanking Sydney for 25 years and then doing a weird rap before promising a Poison show in 2012.
A white curtain swept the stage into secrecy and after 30 minutes fireworks announced it was showtime. Motley Crue launched into "Wildside" and everything suddenly felt a million times cooler. And as they launched into new track "Saints Of Los Angeles" you realised they still got it.
Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx are running across the stage while Mick Mars is cutting a tall dark figure and plucking out the slinky subtlety that marries perfectly with Tommy Lee’s deft hits and Nikki’s deep leaning bass.
Like any great band, it’s not about one dude, it’s the chemistry between them that makes a sick grin spread across your face. As ringmaster, Vince has you enthralled for the whole show. He commands serious stage presence. Sure, his voice is a bit weathered, but he does ringmaster well. It is a circus, it’s not serious … but it’s a s**tload of fun.
Everyone’s larger than life, but Mick was just f**king brilliant. During his first guitar solo in the spotlight you are struck by what it means to write songs and play for thirty f**king years. The guy has that kind of talent that makes you stop for a second, and when he and Nikki lean together like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker you know that all is right with the world.
When is there a better time to use pyro to sync up with Tommy Lee’s drums than in "Shout At The Devil?" Tommy is great to watch, hits hard as a motherf**ker and when they’re playing songs that have that magic combination – heaviness and melody with a truly bitchin’ rhythm section, the whole room was on the same trip. No wonder why when Vince started asking questions, everyone did respond with a ‘F*** yeah!’.
Time for "Primal Scream", more crazy-ass solos and slide-down-the-stripper-pole sleaze. As Nikki and Vince share the mic you sense what it means to share this whole experience before Tommy Lee takes the floor.
'What the f**k is cracking?' Tommy asks as he lopes around the stage, calling the crowd beautiful and laughing that he didn’t know what day it was. All of a sudden we’re in an 80’s movie as he sits behind a big gold piano and plays "Home Sweet Home". We had to shake ourselves out of the time machine (duude) for another smoky spotlit Mick Mars solo.
The comedy value is suddenly upped with a "Don’t Go Away Mad" mash-up (with Cee-Loo Green's F**k You) and Nikki, Vince and Mick forming a guitar three-way. Then, all is dark, except for the twinkling rollercoaster lights.
It’s Tommy Lee’s time. You really have to see a drummer do a 360 solo on a rollercoaster before you die. With a blinding video wall background and a fan passenger, there’s nothing like the theatre of the Motley Crue circus.
They turned it back to rock with a dastardly Mick Mars solo before launching into the Crue favourites – "Looks That Kill" and "Dr. Feelgood", with sexy girls on the video screens and heavily justified pyro.
Nikki Sixx knows how to please the crowd when he takes a second to talk about his bandmates, and then makes Sydney boo for Brisbane and Melbourne.
'What you got old man?' Vince playfully asks Mick Mars before they launch into "10 Seconds To Love" and fist-pump before the motorcycle sound means it’s "Girls, Girls, Girls" time, then allegedly Tommy Lee’s most hated song to play live, "Smokin' In The Boys Room".
You know they couldn’t end the whole show with a cover so when they come back out in pyro boilersuits, you know you’re in for something special. "Kickstart My Heart" and a show-stopping display of fireworks (Tommy doesn’t need a boilersuit) conclude one hell of a gig.
'Always remember we’re Motley Crue,' Nikki says. Tommy adding 'F**k yes!' before a bow and fireworks say show’s over. How could we forget?
What did you think of the show?
