Elise and I were exhausted from an all-nighter benefit for the Lone Star Classic Foundation on Thursday but with fists pumping, had another all nighter with Motley Crue and thousands of their other fans in San Antonio on Friday night.
The concert started out somewhat slow. It didn’t help that we were elbow-to-elbow in the nosebleed section of the SBC Center. Great for Motley Crue, bad for the fans. I like a concert where I can be somewhat comfortable and not feel like I’m in a sardine can.
Every arena concert that I’ve been to in San Antonio has been a let down. This one was pretty close to not being an acception. The accoustics were horrible and being on the upper deck probably didn’t help much either.
After a few beers and some serious enthusiasm from the crowd, the Crue got rowdy. There was a semi-amusing circus theme complete with custom choppers, ribbon-dangling strippers and fire breathing little people. Vince Neil still has an amazing voice (actually, I think it’s gotten much better with age), Tommy Lee was the life of the party, Mick Mars still wails on the guitar but also still looks like he’s fighting off death and I now officially have a man crush on Nikki Sixx – if you look up ‘cool’ in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Nikki. He was the ring leader on Friday night, pumping up the crowd and making the night a personal experience for everyone in attendance.
Tommy Lee had an awesome drum solo… there was an intermission where he walked from behind his kit and approached the audience. A few strippers actresses came out from behind the curtains and handed him a bottle of champagne (and secretly harnessed him to a pulley). Tommy ‘shared’ the bottle and suddenly rocketed fifty feet into the air and landed on a suspended drum kit where he started off an amazing digital drum solo. After a minute or so, the harness rocketed him across the stage (still fifty feet above the stage) to another drum kit where he continued his solo. He was then lowered back down the the stage and did an interesting little ditty with a digital video camera…
The concert was great aside from the accoustics and the price of tickets. It was one of those shows you have to see at least once in your lifetime if you grew up with Motley Crue.