MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil performed with his solo band on May 27 at the Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada as part of Rock The Street, this year's biggest and loudest free concert weekend. Just in time to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of rock's biggest anthem "Girls, Girls, Girls", Neil was the first to take center stage and transform Downtown Las Vegas' 3rd Street with MÖTLEY CRÜE's biggest hits, with opener TODD KERNS & THE ANTI-STARS. As part of the Downtown Grand's commitment to free live music experiences (which also includes the stages at Freedom Beat, the Grand Casino and Citrus Grand Pool Deck), this first-ever Free Memorial Day Weekend concert event showcased 3rd Street as the resort's newest and largest music venue. Set between the two hotel towers, 3rd Street was transformed by stage, lights and sound and Freedom Beat was serving up the burgers while Hogs & Heifers, Triple George and Pizza Rock ensured that no picnics would be missed. Additionally, craft beers and cocktails were served street-side and the Grand Casino hosted a special Blackjack Tournament where ten lucky rock stars got the chance to play one hand against Neil for a chance to win their share of $5,000 in cash. MÖTLEY CRÜE called it quits in December 2015 following an eighteen-month tour that saw the group performing to packed houses all over the world. A tour film about CRÜE's final shows, "The End", came out last fall, and a film adaptation of the band's 2001 autobiography "The Dirt" is still said to be in the works. Speaking to "Trunk Nation", Eddie Trunk's show on SiriusXM channel Volume (106), Vince acknowledged that he is currently the only member of MÖTLEY CRÜE who is waving the flag for the band's music by performing CRÜE songs as a solo artist. "It's a cool thing, because I love MÖTLEY CRÜE, I love MÖTLEY CRÜE's music, and I love singing, and I love the fans' reactions when they hear the songs," he said. "Whether we're playing in front of a thousand people or twenty thousand people, I can only see the front row anyway. So I'm happy for me and for the fans to be able to still hear that music after MÖTLEY CRÜE is finished." Neil reiterated the fact that he doesn't mind performing in much smaller places with his solo band than he was accustomed to playing with MÖTLEY CRÜE. "I always look at it like the best of both worlds," he explained. "You know, we had the big, giant MÖTLEY stuff and everything, and then you've got… I like going out and playing… We do fifteen-hundred, two-thousand, three-thousand seaters and some festival stuff, and it's fun to go out there and just let the music do the talking, as the song goes. And I don't miss it. I like just going out there and just raw." Even though Neil's solo set consists exclusively of MÖTLEY CRÜE material, he says that he tries to keep things fresh by occasionally throwing in "deeper" album cuts that many fans wouldn't expect to hear in a live situation. "Like [the] songs 'Red Hot' and 'Piece Of Your Action', we didn't have [them] in the set for a long time, and then I was, like, 'Yeah, let's just go ahead and let's do this,'" he said. "Then we added 'Red Hot' and we stopped doing it for a while, and then we just added it again." He continued: "The old songs are… MÖTLEY didn't play all these old songs, and I enjoy singing these old songs, so it's fun for me and it's fun for the band and it's fun for the crowd." Neil's solo band includes Dana Strum and Jeff Blando from SLAUGHTER, along with drummer Zoltan Chaney.
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