Cologne again, but this time Mötley Crüe, not The Eagles, you know how eclectic my musical tastes are!
Duff McKagan's Loaded opened and while their type of punkish power pop (chord-, rather than riff-oriented, tell me when did good riffs die out in rock music and rhythm guitar became a lead instrument for so many bands?
) is not exactly my taste (hadn't heard any of it, not bad, just unoriginal, their take on The Stooges' I wanna be your dog was a highlight), Duff has a surprisingly tuneful, strong and clear voice. He's a simplistic rhythm guitarist (his weapon of choice in this solo project), but I liked it better when he strapped the Fender P down low at the end of the set (with the bass player playing rhythm guitar on a bow to the past: snatches of Paradise City), it just looks more natural to me. He's an amiable frontman thoroughly enjoying what he's doing, crowd response was friendly, no doubt people remember where he comes from.
Back to Nikki and his men. I have never seen them before and their studio albums (I only have the Conrabi one, the two CD Anthology and their latest) did not set me on fire in the eighties. Like with Ratt and a host of other L.A. metallists, I wondered what the buzz was about. My son has recently discovered eighties L.A. hair metal as God's gift to music and absolutely wanted to go, so on the eve of his 15th birthday we went.
But live they are a different proposition. I've rarely seen a fourpiece (with the singer only playing rhythm guitar on two or three songs) with as full and massive a sound. Mars' lead guitar can only be described as commanding. With his new-found scrarecrow meets Alice Cooper look, he plays both a dense riffing guitar and fires off solos, which are an interesting mix of blues roots, slide work, metal clichées of the worst kind, whammy bar acrobatics and plain white noise. Entertaining to watch and hear though his solo alone on stage could have been shorter without detriment to the evening's musical nutrition value. I now know that he has a fine-working echo gadget and that his guitar stays in tune even after the fiercest whammy yanking, thank you.
Nikki played his new signature model TBird throughout. On one song, where he played a couple of rock'n'roll lines, you could even hear a TB sound, otherwise he is one giant thud together with Tommy Lee's bass drum sound. I had expected Sixx to dominate the stage a bit more, but Mars swallowed up all my attention. Bassist or not, Nikki just doesn't play anything interesting ever! Lee, otoh, never fails to entertain, be it his flailing arms drumming, his silly, but likeable stage raps, his pleasant piano playing or his method acting in, errrm, adult home videos. (Mötley's backdrop film clips are interspersed with porn and fetish scenes, but always blurry and artsy enough to not have the prosecutor coming. Don't know whether Tommy contributed home scenes though.)
Vince. (Or should that be Wince?
) He still sounds like Mickey Mouse o.d.'ed on helium/Geddy Lee kicked in the balls, but to his credit: his sqeals are as high (and largely in tune) as they used to be and he worked the audience hard. Better singers (formerly) are today in much worse shape than he is. And if the Crüe ever stop touring, he can always get a job doing credible voice-dubs for Speedy Gonzales in old WB cartoons. Practice that rrrrolling "r" on "Arriva, arriva!", Vince!
Good, honest concert.
Uwe
PS: Speaking of Crüe: I only found out today that Nigel Benjamin (the Mott singer who unenviably followed Hunter and whose work on "Drive On" and "Shouting and Pointing" is often - unjustly I think, the guy had both great range and an interesting Brit sneer - belittled like all of post-Hunter Mott's work) used to be with Nikki Sixx in London, the pre-outfit to Mötley Crüe?
I had no idea that he was washed up on the shores of the Pacific after Mott's punk revolution-induced demise.
George, didn't you see London once in concert? With Nigel Benjamin? How was he? He states in a web bio that he was even slated to be the singer with Mötley, but declined the offer given his differences with Nikki.
