Motley Crue stuck in past

By Gus Bode

Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee was not among those doubting whether Motley Crue could still put on a worthy rock show at the SIU Arena Saturday night after a five-year tour hiatus.

If anyone tells you the Crue is over, he told the cheering crowd, tell them, Vince is back and f*** you.’

As any die-hard Crue fan would know, Lee was referring to lead singer Vince Neil, who left the band in 1991 to pursue a solo career.

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Getting the crowd riled up in true Crue fashion, Neil addressed the hollering fans after the concert opening number, Find Myself, and described the show as the loudest, rudest, most f***ed-up place on Earth.

Then the motorcycle engine sound effects roared from the stage, and the audience was blasted back to the 80s with one of the band’s signature songs, Girls, Girls, Girls. From there the Crue raged through a string of vintage glam-rock classics such as Wild Side, Shout at the Devil and Dr. Feelgood.

Up to this point, the show was pure nostalgic bliss for any longtime Crue fan. The band ripped through the songs with relative ease, struck the proper rock star poses at the right times in songs and generally carried themselves on stage just as they had in previous tours.

But then the band felt a need to push its bad boy image a little further, as if bassist Nikki Sixx’s racial comments earlier in the tour were not enough. During the performance of Flush, one of the songs from the band’s latest album Generation Swine, the large video screen behind the stage flashed video images of castration, suicide and murdered rape victims.

The violent collage was an obvious rip-off from a similar Nine Inch Nails concert video collage. While the Crue’s images clearly tried to shock the audience, the images in the Nine Inch Nails concert video concentrated on interesting imagery and strayed from the need to deliberately shock.

Add this footage with the clips of the naked models rubbing each other, and it becomes clear the show may have been mildly inappropriate for the many children in attendance.

After the song and the grotesque images, the band carried on, and the crowd continued to throw their arms toward the stage every time fire burst from the stage or fireworks exploded.

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Lee’s magical drum solo trick, where he managed to make himself and his kit disappear behind a small curtain, was nowhere near as impressive as his rotating drum kit in the Dr. Feelgood tour, which shows the band may be slipping in the dazzling theatrics aspect of its concerts.

For the band’s encore, a large, white grand piano was brought out so Lee could perform his ode to his son, Brandon. During this sappy number, home video images of Lee, his son and his wife, Pamela Anderson Lee, graced the large screen and garnered almost as much applause as the band itself.

Valerie Holland, a senior in radiology from Effingham, said the pyrotechnics and rock star stage antics were purely acts of the past.

I don’t think they’re on the comeback like they say they are because I think fireworks and smashing guitars is a little outdated, she said.

Holland said she liked the music of Motley Crue when she was younger and that it was a flashback of sorts for her.

Susan Sipes, a senior in marketing also from Effingham, said the rock star images the band portrayed were borderline caricaturistic.

How many times can someone say [the f-word] in one night? They thought they were so cool, but it’s not working, she said. It’s a laugh. I never really listened to them before, but it was funny to see Tommy Lee in his tiny leather briefs.

Veteran rockers Cheap Trick opened the show and warmed up the crowd with hits like I Want You to Want Me and Surrender. Guitarist Rick Nielson carried the band, as usual, with his eccentric guitar playing on a five-neck guitar.

During the Crue’s encore, Sixx offered more justification for the racial slurs he directed at an African-American security guard at a Nov. 6 concert in Greensboro, N.C.

Did you see those protesters outside? he asked the crowd. About 50 protesters, led by members of the Black Affairs Council, carried signs protesting the concert in front of the Arena.

No matter what you hear, people are judged one by one, Sixx said. You can’t judge an entire race.

The show had potential to be a worthy nostalgic concert for glam-rock fans because the songs from the band’s earlier albums sounded good, and the fans were in endless admiration throughout the night.

The four members of the Crue even seemed like they were set on making the band a meaningful act of the 90s. But when a band spends the majority of the time concentrating on its image, it should stick to nostalgia.

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