Saturday night I went to the
Motley Crue and
Alice Cooper double bill at Rexall Place here in Edmonton. Motley Crue of course are on their Final Tour (or so they say) dubbed
All Bad Things Must Come To An End. This was the second time this tour has come through Edmonton, having been here in November of 2014. I didn't go last time, thank god, as it wasn't there last time playing Edmonton. But hopefully this time it was. What really made me want to attend this show was
Alice Cooper. And hell Motley Crue is always a good time. This was my seventh time see Motley Crue in concert and sixth time seeing
Alice Cooper.
The night didn't get off to the best start though. I got there early as ticket said show at 7pm, so I was seated and ready for the show only to have some fuckin' DJ come on stage and spin music for forty-five minutes, like really, I could have stayed home and had a few more cheap drinks. That was my cue to head out for a smoke and drink.
At 7:45
Alice Cooper and his band hit the stage in fine form. Opening with
Black Widow then
No More Mr. Nice Guy,
Under My Wheels,
I'm Eighteen and
Billion Dollar Babies, could you ask for a better opening five songs in a row, some classic Cooper that's for sure. Alice sounded great for 67 years old, the man can still belt it out. His back-up band was tight as well, drummer
Glen Sobel was wicked as was his female guitarist
Nita Strauss. Alice as per usual pulled out all his tricks, the guillotine, electric chair where he turned into a huge Frankenstein, costume changes, whips, swords everything you would expect from an
Alice Cooper show and all in the one hour long opening set. I could have done without hearing the song
Poison, but the crowd ate up that shitty song. What did surprise me that there was only one song done from his
Welcome To My Nightmare album. A great performance by Alice Cooper and in my opinion stole the show from headliners Motley Crue.
Alice Cooper setlist for Edmonton.
Alice Cooper at Rexall Place.
Next up was headliners
Motley Crue and what is supposed to be their Final Tour, that's what they said when they played here last November, so glad I didn't get sucked in to going to that show. But with again, supposedly only eleven shows last left on this tour, I figured I would go this time as it had been five years since I last saw them play live.
The show started with
Girls,Girls,Girls which sounded pretty good and was a good opening song, then
Wild Side and
Primal Scream, while it sounded good, you just got the feeling and could tell that the band were just going through the motions. The band just seemed disinterested, and
Vince Neil's vocals weren't very strong, not that they ever really were, but now even worse, with the two scantily dressed lady back-up singers doing the heavy lifting all the while they dance, shake and shimmy and strut their ass-ets. Vince does more shouting then actually singing, and when the back-up singers aren't on stage doing Vince's job, there are backing tracks taking care of his duties or the crowd themselves singing the words. Vince your getting lazy!!!
Mick Mars was his usual self just doing his job of playing guitar and staying out of the spotlight, other then his boring guitar solo.
Nikki Sixx was probably the worst for not looking interested in his performance whatsoever.
Tommy Lee was out of the spotlight for the most part other then his crazy roller coaster drum solo in which he played on a truss over the crowd and upside down, but playing drums along to canned music of hip-hop and dance music, terrible. Having said that, he really was the glue that kept the show on track.
Crue's show was full of explosions, which were really hard on the ears, lots of flames, confetti, Nikki's bass shooting flames and a mediocre light show. All and all not a great show by Motley Crue. It's a good thing this is their Final Tour as it seems the band is old and tired now, just not having the effect the used to have. I'll take the
Girls,Girls,Girls tour of 1987 and keep that show as what the Crue were to me. All Bad Things Must Come To An End as they dubbed this last tour, couldn't have said it better myself
Motley Crue. If this was your first time seeing them live I am sure you enjoyed it, if you have seen them multiple times, my bet is you feel the way I do (don't go away mad, just go away). Sayonara Motley it was fun over the years but it's now time to say good-bye. Alice Cooper absolutely stole this show from the headliners. Good times!!!
Motley Crue setlist for Edmonton.
Motley Crue at Rexall Place in Edmonton.
Poster.
T-shirt front.
T-shirt back.
