the crüe is good clean fun

crue-fest @ holmdel, NJ
23 aug 2008

when nikki sixx and mick mars got together to write tracks for the new motley crüe album, saints of los angeles, both agreed to abide by certain exacting standards. don't be trent, for instance.

"Mick just said, 'I want to hear a lot of guitars, and I want to hear snotty lyrics,'" Sixx says. "And I was like, 'Exactly where I'm coming from, dude.' I don't want loops and samples and beats. I don't want to be Nine Inch Nails. I don't want to be Jay-Z or Rage Against the Machine. I don't want to be Gwen Stefani. I don't want to be over-thought and over-processed."

HEY.

i forgive the dissage of my man because the crüe is fun. the shows are great people-watching, for one: there were the requisite dudes inked within an inch of their lives; clusters of lisping men (?) in cut-off tanks, tights and headbands who i think got lost on the way to a conor oberst show; and total babes wearing not much more than mesh and electrical-tape. AJ's assertion that he had the hottest chick in holmdel lost all credibility as soon as we climbed out of the car.

we missed the first 3 acts – trapt, sixx AM and papa roach -- because we were dicking around, but arrived in time to see buckcherry's “crazy bitch” set the mood for the headliner (you're crazy but i like the way you fuck me).

so mars had hip replacement surgery, sixx is sober now, tommy lee's starring in an environmental reality show, and vince neil.... well neil doesn't look so much like a lady anymore. whatever. they still rockout, know why? -because motley crüe hails from the days when bands actually had to sound good in the studio, before technology became a crutch -- and maybe this was what sixx was getting at -- before you could feed a bunch of crap into ProTools and emerge with Antichrist Superstar.

there were slight touches of the silliness of the Carnival of Sins tour in holmdel on saturday, but mostly it was straight up rock n'roll, a MC greatest hits collection plus the shamelessly-hooky title track off SOLA and "mutherfucker of the year," which is a great soundtrack for BTW efforts if you can keep the irish jigs at bay. "live wire" live is waaaay better than the studio version, and the "home sweet home" encore featured lee on piano and everyone else acoustic while footage from the old days -- the big hair, the eyeliner, the ridiculous leather pants-oh -- played on the side vid screens. 'twas a quality, if short, set.

setlist:
Kickstart My Heart
Wild Side
Shout at the Devil
Saints of Los Angeles (dl; studio version)
Live Wire (dl; live 2005)
Mutherfucker of the Year (dl; studio version)
Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
Same Ol' Situation
Primal Scream
Looks that Kill
Girls, Girls, Girls
Dr. Feelgood
Home Sweet Home (dl; live 1999)

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