Motley Crue in Melbourne

TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash

New Metal Member
Apr 14, 2001
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Well I finished work at 4 and headed to the venue... Met up with Tonci baby and his Warwick Kapper wig outside, they opened the gates at about 5pm and everyone went in, we had to head up these stairs to swap our GA tickets for green wristbands then came back downstairs, everyone was lined up to get a good spot on the floor but when they finally opened the doors and we went down there, everyone saw it was easy to get a good spot anyway and headed back out to buy more drinks haha. We stayed out in the foyer during The Casanovas, not interested!

I didn't watch all of Motorhead because I didn't really like them but they weren't bad. Overrated I think. Nobody in the band really put on a show or moved that much, they were too loud for the venue and you couldn't hear the vocals properly, they were just nothing special really. I don't get the big fuss with them or see anything that makes them stand out from any other loud aggressive garage metal band.

The Motley Crue show opened with all guns blazing. Shout At The Devil was an amazing opener with a dramatic build up at the start, awesome staging effects, the whole arena chanting, great atmosphere and great song and heaps of fire machines, the stage looked unreal. Then they kicked into a bunch of other songs off the first 2 albums (plus Louder Than Hell off Theater Of Pain) which were great to hear, but to be honest the band's performance was a little weak. It took me until half way through the first verse of a couple of songs to pick what they were playing, Nikki & Mick's guitar & bass parts just sounded like a big mess and the vocals weren't that loud, so until I heard a familiar line or drum fill it was hard to pick some songs in that set (possibly also because every song off the first 2 albums has the same style beats & riffs all around the open A string haha).

Anyway it was all going pretty well anyway, lots of great songs, great stageshow, Vince was pretty damn good up there, and the crowd was going nuts, cool atmosphere... and suddenly 40 minutes into the show while things are just getting started, "We're gonna take a 10 minute break". Not cool.

But then it picked up again when they came back out with Girls Girls Girls, the highlight of the show so far. They nailed that one, it sounded great, the crowd was going wild, and some nice dancing girls & sleazy video footage didn't go astray either. This kicked straight into Wild Side which was good too, but like alot of the songs in the first set, sounded a little messy. The show went a little downhill for the next part... Don't Go Away Mad just isn't really a great live song, Primal Scream is an awesome song but Vince really struggles vocally with it live, then Glitter and Without You were totally unnecessary songs to have in the set. It all got better again though after that with Home Sweet Home which had a great crowd singalong and lots of lighters in the air, then probably the best song of the whole night Dr. Feelgood which was a THUMPIN version of it, sounded unreal! And again, the hot chicks dressed as nurses and their theatrics during it plus the fire machines at the end all added to it heaps! Same Ol' Situation was next and not bad.

Then came Tommy's infamous Tittie Cam. It wasn't as bad as everyone said, in Melbourne he didnt hassle any girls or tell them they sucked. One girl got up on someone's knees to get the attention of his camera and kept teasing it but wouldnt take it off so he was tryin to get her to flash for ages but she was certainly provoking it deliberately and enjoying teasing the crowd and eventually gave everyone a peek. But Tommy is so annoying and should not be allowed to have the mic. Even Nikki shouldn't. As far as I'm concerned, ONLY the lead singer should talk to the crowd on stage, it should be a rule with all bands. Just coz Tommy is the most famous, or Nikki is the guy who runs the band, doesn't mean they should be talking. Steve Harris is the main man in Iron Maiden but you don't see him take over the mic from Bruce do you? Gene Simmons is always the loud mouth off stage but apart from saying "OH YEAH?" in his bass solo when does he talk on stage?

Kickstart My Heart finished the main set with heaps of pyro and everything, and thankfully we DIDN'T get a Mick Mars solo - I was so relieved! Nikki smashed a guitar at the end, in time with pyrotechnics going off when it hit the ground. Could they possibly have ended the set any more like KISS? Haha. Then it was only about 3 minutes before they came back for the encore, Anarchy In The UK which I hate but the topless girls playing with fire during it was cool.

Overall, it was a great night and a fun show, but certainly had it's flaws. The stageshow was great, I thought Vince was great and EASILY moved the most on stage, worked up the crowd well (some of his talking is a bit annoying but he does the job), sung better than I expected, and easily looked the best which doesn't say much for the rest of the band! Mick worked hard and did a good job, moved more than I expected him too but he looked almost dead. Tommy is way too hyperactive and annoying, thinks he is a rapper, talks too much, kept saying "Who's your boy! Who loves ya! Gimme a YO motherfuckers! Hell yeah motherfuckers!" And Nikki is so overrated as a performer it just isn't funny. I don't understand why all these chicks bag Vince and reckon Nikki is still the bee's knees. Nikki didn't move around or perform even half as much as Vince did, he has put on just as much weight as Vince (he just covers it up alot more), and I have no idea what was going on with his strange makeup.

In summary, best songs were Girls Girls Girls, Dr Feelgood, Shout At The Devil, Wild Side and Ten Seconds To Love. The performers were great, the stageshow was great, Vince was good. The pacing of the show let it down. The break ruined the energy, the ballads were lumped together in a big clump which was a downer, the old songs were all played in one hit and then the later ones all together, and the Tittie Cam went for too long. Tommy was a cockhead, Nikki is overrated & Mick is a battler and did his best, and they weren't very tight at times either. They have a KISS size stageshow around them, but their professionalism & performance as a band doesn't come close to what KISS still have, and are older, and do it for longer without needing breaks in between.
 
Oh a few other things.... Where was Take Me To The Top, Piece of Your Action & Too Young To Fall In Love? They are 3 early songs I was sure they would had to have played! I hope they play them tonight at The Palais show.

Another thing I wanna add is that I think the "Maximum Rock" stageshow from the New Tattoo tour (Lewd Crued & Tattooed DVD) is probably a better show, and had Motley not cancelled in 2000 and we got to see that tour, it would have been better than this one even though it wasn't the original lineup. Here are my reasons:

1 - Better setlist, a few better song choices like Piece of Your Action etc and better structure too, they didnt clump one era together and another era together.
2 - Samantha rocked just as hard as Tommy on drums, looked better, had a cooler drum kit, and wasn't a PAIN IN THE ASS.
3 - Stageshow was probably better! Obviously a bit smaller and nowhere near as much fire & pyro but the stage setup was heaps cooler, set out like Sunset Strip instead of just a circus tent, and the dancing chicks had more costume changes and looked cooler.
4 - The band sounded tighter, partly because the dancing girls were also backing vocalists which made the songs sound bigger. These dancing girls this year just danced, didn't sing.
5 - The overall vibe was a little more straight forward Rock & Roll than this tour, probably thanks to Tommy & Nikki trying too hard to be cool now...
 
A spot-on review there Trentles...except maybe for Motorhead :) They rocked without all the gimmicks. There's something different about them live I think. Whereas Motley sounded worse live than their albums.
 
Trixxi Trash said:
2 - Samantha rocked just as hard as Tommy on drums, looked better, had a cooler drum kit, and wasn't a PAIN IN THE ASS.

The Aussie tour was booked with Randy.. :cry:
I still have my tickets.
 
Yeah, Randy was the only reason I was really interested in going. He ruled.

I liked the Brisbane show more than Trent liked the Melbourne show, obviously, but I'm never been a big big fan of Crue so I wasn't that picky about the songs. They played all my favourites (except for You're All I Need) so I was content. And I couldn't hear Vince very well - the music drowned him out - which made it even better.

And Motorhead ruled. If Maiden toured here with them as support (and a decent Australian band that people have heard of), they'd come close to selling out the venues, I think.
 
Yeah Vince's vocals were too low...

I think my review sounded more negative than I actually am about it, because there are more individual things about the show to pick on than there were positive things to mention, but overall the show was HEAPS of fun, the stageshow was amazing, the crowd was wild (Nikki said we competed with Detroit for loudness lol and that Sydney sucked haha), I had a great night and they gave the crowd a good fun, wild, decadent rock & roll show which is what they are there for! And I liked the setlist too, I just didnt like how it was set out with all the early songs in a clump and then all the later songs in a clump with an unnecessary break in between. As a band though they are just far more slack and unprofessional and nowhere near as tight or even energetic as performers like KISS & Alice Cooper who are both alot older, don't need breaks, play for longer, sing & play better and tighter, move around more and put on a more energetic show.
 
Was there a motorbike at Melbourne's show for Girls Girls Girls? There seemed to be a delay in Nikki coming on stage and you could hear it revving up but then he just walked out instead. You could see the stagehands standing aside as well, presumably to make way for the bike... but no bike. :)
 
Oh! I just thought of another song I want to see!

Knock 'em Dead Kid! Did they play that one?

Yargh, itching in my jocks for this one.
 
No Piece Of Your Action, Knock Em Dead Kid, Too Young To Fall In Love or Take Me To The Top. I would have thought all 4 of them would have been in the set over Too Fast For Love, On With The Show, Red Hot & Ten Seconds To Love...
 
It really annoys me when bands don't change their setlist. Maiden are the same, sticking with the same songs all tour, with the very occasional change. Take someone like Bruce Springsteen - he played more than 100 different songs on his current acoustic tour! They were:

Bruce Springsteen 2005 Tour Song List (April 25 Through August 13)

1. 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
2. A Good Man Is Hard To Find (Pittsburgh)
3. Across The Border
4. Adam Raised A Cain
5. Ain't Got You
6. All I'm Thinkin' About
7. All That Heaven Will Allow
8. All The Way Home
9. Back In Your Arms
10. Backstreets
11. Be True
12. Because the Night
13. Better Days
14. Black Cowboys
15. Blinded By The Light
16. Bobby Jean
17. Book Of Dreams
18. Brilliant Disguise
19. Cadillac Ranch
20. Cautious Man
21. Countin' On A Miracle
22. County Fair
23. Cynthia
24. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
25. Darlington County
26. Devils & Dust
27. Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?
28. Downbound Train
29. Dream Baby Dream
30. Dry Lightning
31. Empty Sky
32. Fade Away
33. For You
34. Frankie
35. Further On (Up The Road)
36. Galveston Bay
37. Growin' Up
38. Highway 29
39. Highway Patrolman
40. Homestead
41. Hungry Heart
42. I Wish I Were Blind
43. Iceman
44. If I Should Fall Behind
45. I'm On Fire
46. Incident On 57th Street
47. Into The Fire
48. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
49. Janey, Don't You Lose Heart
50. Jesus Was An Only Son
51. Johnny 99
52. Land Of Hope And Dreams
53. Leah
54. Leap Of Faith
55. Lift Me Up
56. Living Proof
57. Lonesome Day
58. Long Time Comin'
59. Lost In The Flood
60. Lucky Town
61. Maria's Bed
62. Mary's Place
63. Matamoros Banks
64. My Beautiful Reward
65. My Best Was Never Good Enough
66. My Father's House
67. My Hometown
68. Nebraska
69. Nothing Man
70. Oklahoma Hills
71. One Step Up
72. Open All Night
73. Paradise
74. Part Man, Part Monkey
75. Point Blank
76. Prove It All Night
77. Racing In The Street
78. Ramrod
79. Real World
80. Reason To Believe
81. Reno
82. Sad Eyes
83. Sherry Darling
84. Shut Out The Light
85. Silver Palomino
86. Sinaloa Cowboys
87. Soul Driver
88. Spare Parts
89. Spirit In The Night
90. State Trooper
91. Stolen Car
92. Straight Time
93. The Ghost Of Tom Joad
94. The Hitter
95. The Line
96. The Promise
97. The Promised Land
98. The Rising
99. The River
100. The Wish
101. This Hard Land
102. Tougher Than The Rest
103. Tunnel Of Love
104. Two Faces
105. Two For The Road
106. Two Hearts
107. Used Cars
108. Valentine's Day
109. Waitin' On A Sunny Day
110. Walk Like A Man
111. When You're Alone
112. Wild Billy's Circus Story
113. Wreck On The Highway
114. Youngstown
115. You're Missing
 
KISS' tour last year had about 6-7 songs different show to show. THAT was excellent and gave the fans surprises, not knowing what they would get night to night. Even the opening songs differed every night.

And that doesnt include the In Your Face shows which had about 12 different songs that werent in the normal ones!
 
The Boss played all that but no Streets of Philadelphia? That is CRRRRAZY!

I want him to come back :( I want to see I'm on Fire live. That would be amazing.

But back to the Crue - any chance of it changing up for Adelaide? They'd have to throw in some different stuff for their second Melb show, right?
 
Guys I wouldn't bet on any different songs. I went to the 2nd Melbourne show last night - IDENTICAL setlist (except they dropped 2 ballads and threw in a new song, yuck). Didn't play any longer or do anything different really. In fact, even most of the talking (especially by Tommy) was EXACTLY word for word from the night before, embarrassing!

Also, with better sound at The Palais and less people there to cover up certain things with crowd noise, I noticed alot of taped backing vocals and a 2nd guitar. Mick ain't the only guy playin' up there...
 
Yeah, I noticed a bit of sweetening of the backing vocals on a couple of songs, like Dr Feelgood and Kickstart My Heart. Interesting.