Review of:

“Motley Crue”

At:

The Hammersmith Apollo

On: Monday 11/06/07

By: Gaby

As most things go re: “Motley Crue” controversy usually surrounds them and tonight was probably no exception. More about that later!

Firstly it was good to have a chance to see the Crue in such a small venue. For such big stadium rockers this was indeed a rare treat and formed part of a mini tour they were conducting around Europe with the “Download Festival” at it’s epicentre.

For those of you who might have read my previous review of the boys on their last full tour at Wembley, this for me was a far better gig.

For a start the smaller surrounds gave a much more intimate feel and the sound was far superior than anything the old Wembley Arena tent could offer! (Even with; on occasion, a small feedback buzz that could clearly be heard between the numbers.)

As for the performance itself, well from the opening drum salvo something was amiss and that something was Tommy Lee who by all accounts had hurt his shoulder and was unable to play. But with an excellent young drummer on hand things still had a chance to work and work it did (on one level).

This was by any standard a bit of a nostalgic no frills hits show in which all the old favourites were played to great audience appreciation and delight.

Personally I quite liked this stripped down, bare and raw Motely Crue show. Apart from some fire and indoor fireworks the stage was pretty sparse with none of the usual Motley Crue OTT theatrics, props and dancing girls, and for true music lovers out there it was great. Just us, them and their music!

There were a few long pauses between numbers and at times it kind of felt a bit disjointed and not quite with it but somehow it did keep going and fit together in a sort of seamless package.

Even the “hurting” Tommy Lee made a few “prepared” journeys onto stage to lift the crowd’s spirit and make it feel like the whole band was there, even though he wasn’t performing. Though entertaining I did kind of feel like he was taking away their stand-in drummer’s glory. Though not as good as Tommy Lee he was still very good!

Vince Neil gave his usual accomplished charismatic stage performance with some really exceptional vocal performances as well as a couple of squeaky bits here and there which really did not take away the fact that he is still in my opinion one of the very best front men in the business.

Nikki Sixx gave a good solid performance on bass without any of his usual overblown theatrics.

Mick Mars on the otherhand is a living legend who sadly not being a well man gave it his all playing some absolutely brilliant guitar whilst painfully and very slowly moving round the stage.

Out of all the Crue, my heart really goes out to Mick. The shy retiring elder of the band who these days hardly looks up from under his traditional top hat looked pale, thin and in pain but in true rock and roll tradition gave it everything he had.

So now we come to controversial bit!

Though the gig was posted as finishing at 11pm, the band called quits at 10:15pm – an hour and a half after they started with not a single encore to be heard and rather than taking their final bows with a bang we were left with rather a whimper.

A much shocked and startled audience who stayed on their feet for some time after the last song slowly started to boo, which gradually started to get louder with people saying the likes of feeling somewhat cheated and I suppose to be fair we were.

But having given it some thought I think Vince Neil kind of summed things up in his first spoken words to the audience when he said “Well we have some bad news and some good news” The good news being that they were there (even Tommy Lee) and the bad news being Tommy would not be playing.

This was a show that I suppose very nearly wasn’t going to be. For any band it would be difficult to find a stand-in drummer with only a couple of days till a gig, for a band like Motley Crue it must have been very difficult indeed!

So I guess my take on it (not that I would even attempt to guess the band’s thinking on it) is that rather than disappoint their fans they would still go on with the show (however shortened it may be) rather than simply cancel the gig.

But with a back catalogue as big as theirs as well as some fairly new material to offer it was no wonder many in attendance felt somewhat disappointed.

So to sum up, I felt that this was a really good gig. Not brilliant but very good and 100% better than the show I saw previously at Wembley (see previous review).

But it does make me think how much longer the Crue can go on for? Though the band are not strangers to line-up changes, it is very hard these days to imagine Motley Crue as a band without the four original members and I sadly have a lot of doubt as to how much longer the ailing Mick Mars can continue without hanging up his top hat for good.

Neither is it good for a band to just churn out all their old material (however good it still is to hear) and have no newer material on offer.

It is often far better for a band to get out whilst at the top of their form than stagger along on the nostalgia train.

But if we have learnt anything about Motley Crue over the years it is that they are a band full of surprises and I somehow feel that they might still have one or two tricks left up their tattooed sleeves yet!