My wife used to like Motley Crue so when I found cheap tickets to their farewell tour about 8 years ago we went along. What a clusterfuck it was. A bunch of fat old men trying to relive their glory years from 30 years earlier. Vince could barely catch a breath while he walked around the stage.
The truly funny bit was that the support act was Alice Cooper and his show was amazing as always.
Recently some colleagues mentioned wanting to see Motley Crue when they tour soon and I told them not to.
My wife was trying to convince me to go see the Beach Boys this year. I really didn't want to watch a bunch of old men wheezing on stage (and Brian Wilson wasn't even going to be there). But then I was saved because the same venue decided to host Ted Nugent and we said fuck no to giving them money.
I saw Motley at a stadium tour they did a couple years ago and Vince was awful. They could have pulled literally anyone from the audience to sing and it would have been better than Vince.
I seen that tour too. Alice was fucking awesome. So glad I got to see him. Was going to see him on the Frankenstein tour but it got canceled. They were playing with Judas Priest as well, which would have been fucking awesome. I never got to see Priest, but real happy I got to see Alice. Guy still puts up a great show.
For Motley Crue... Yeah Vince is fucking awful. Lol skipped every other word because he was out of breath and mumbled the rest. The YouTube videos just don't do justice to how bad he is live. I thought Mick Mars was pretty good though. He could still shred on the guitar, which is amazing with the pain he played through.
Saying this as a lifelong Crue fan, they’ve never been a good touring band. Even in their heyday it was, at best, a good time with a crowd of like minded people who were mostly stoned or drunk out of their minds. Vince has never been a good live vocalist, he’s just had enough good days to mange to put out a couple of live albums of cherry picked performances.
Cooper has a nodding acquaintance with old time showbiz - you can see elements of Vaudeville as well as some of the more radical musical theatre in his stuff, and he's had excellent work ethics the whole time. I always found it amazing that the metal magazines used to write about him golfing with Bob Hope and totally approving. Alice can do no wrong.