Mötley Crue

The buzz could be felt on every corner of Shepherds Bush. The boys were back in town, and everyone was slightly nervous. Even the animals. With their first London appearance since the “Carnival Of Sins” Wembley arena show in 2005, fans were expecting a once in a lifetime show from a legendary Rock time bomb. The rumours of the power-house performance two days before at the Download festival on the Dimebag Darrell stage sent even more ripples of excitement through the crowd waiting patiently to get in. A sea of bleached permed hair, fishnet stockings and studded demin jackets gathered under the Hammersmith billboard which read “TONIGHT 8PM: MÖTLEY CRÜE” in big bad ass letters.
Stepping through the door that night is probably the closest thing to time travel and worm-holes that I will ever experience in my lifetime. It was like stepping back into 1987. PAPA ROACH were unfortunately coming to an end of a surprisingly good performance as we arrived. As the lights went up and ROACH left the stage, the toilets and any other area with a mirror were filled with women (and men!) checking their hair and make-up. In some cases you could only identify gender by an Adams Apple. Everybody was a Rock Star. Even the cleaning lady! REAL rock stars were even among the hundreds of pin-striped spandex-covered legs attached to stilleto heels or cowboy boots. SKIN (ex-Skunk Anansie), The TOWERS OF LONDON (a reality T.V. based Rock band) along with THE ANSWER, who are without doubt, Ireland’s hottest new rock band to hit the scene in decades, all decided to take the night off and Rock out with the CRUE icons.
When the lights finally dimmed, adrenaline soared as the noise, hum and crackling of amps was drowned out by the sound of a machine gun shooting over the heads of the crowd, followed by a huge explosion of pyrotechnical flames. As the smoke cleared to the driving, pumping riffs of “Dr. Feelgood” it soon became clear that something was not the same. And since when has Tommy Lee had Blonde hair? After the song, all became clear as Vince Neil started off by saying “We have some good news, and some bad news! Good news is that we’re here, the bad news is, one of us is sick!” On that queue Tommy Lee appeared from behind the drums and apologised for a bad shoulder infection and that he will be replaced for the evening by Evanescense drummer Will Hunt.
The show must go on! Without much delay they were rocking the Hammersmith foundations just like it was twenty years ago. Lifting the roof with classics like Shout at the Devil, Wildside, Looks That Kill, Live Wire and Same Ol’ Situation. Tommy Lee, however, was able to Rap, drink Jagermeister and play piano, so he played the intro to “Home Sweet Home” as Vince and the audience belted out the lyrics. With the heat in the hall over forty degrees, the crowd started to get a little restless after Don’t Go Away Mad, Just Go Away leading to Nikki Sixx threatening to personally kick the asses of the front-row security for being heavy handed with the audience. After Sixx calmed down Tommy introduced Primal Scream, followed by the revving of Harley Davidson Motorcycles being hammered out over the P.A. as they slammed into Girls, Girls, Girls. Vince Neil dedicated Anarchy In The U.K. to everybody in the audience before the pale faced Mick Mars took centre stage for a legendary solo. Despite his health constantly degrading because of his illness, he didn’t let this stop him. Although he seemed a little limited in his movement he still delivered a first class heavy-metal, screamin’ kick ass guitar solo. Just as you would expect at a show of this nature. The band returned and performed “Kick Start My Heart” but to the disappointment of the crowd they then said their goodbyes and left the stage 45 minutes earlier as planned.
Even with the minor complications and makeshift drummer, they still managed to play an electric 90 minutes. With the band regularly applauding Will Hunt for saving the day at the last minute, everybody agreed it was better than cancelling the show.
Altogether it was a truly remarkable evening. Living up to every petchouli greaseball hard rock expectation you could think of. And its good to know that the hard rock scene that glamourised the eighties and allowed so many men to wear make-up and kick your ass at the same time is still thriving, even today. Once again CRUE spared us all the blah-blah –blah and delivered the goods. Just like they promised. ROCK ON!

coco