11/6/2007 Mötley Crüe @ Hammersmith Odeon

Subject	Mötley Crüe @ Hammersmith Odeon
PostedDate	6/11/2007
	Carling Apollo? Never heard of it! I arrived at the venue just after nine - not really wanting to be bored by Papa Roach in support. I thought that as Velvet Revolver didn't go on til 9.30 at the same venue last week I'd be in plenty of time. Wrong. I glanced over at the overpriced merch stall (£25 for a T-shirt - but I got a nice one for £10 outside later) as I went in and noted that it didn't seem to be doing much business - then realised that it sounded rather like Vince Neil singing in the auditorium. It was.  As I grabbed a couple of pints of overpriced Carling piss to take in with me I noticed the stage times listed behind the bar (pity more venues don't do this) - it said Mötley Crüe  8.50 -11.00. I'd obviously missed at least a couple of songs (assuming they started on time) - not a good start to the evening. As I walked in with my beers the band launched into 'Live Wire'. Straight away I noticed how much better the sound quality was compared to the absolutely atrocious mix Velvet Revolver suffered at the same venue only a few days before. It still wasn't great, and the bass drum was way too loud as always seems to be the case at this sort of venue - but it was a vast improvement over last week's show and I could actually hear the guitar properly! To be honest, I don't think Mötley Crüe are in the same class as Velvet Revolver as musicians, but they have got a much bigger back catalogue to draw their set from. That said, I enjoyed this show so much more than the performance I saw from the ex-G'N'R guys last week because of the huge improvement in sound quality. The Crüe seemed on good form - maybe Velvet Revolver were too, but the sound was so bad that night it was impossible to tell - although visually they gave a better and more energetic performance than their slightly older L.A. peers did tonight. I noticed something odd straight away. Had Tommy Lee grown his hair longer? Hang on - that guy prancing about next to the drummer looks more like Tommy Lee? Surely Brandon hasn't grown up that quickly to be playing in his dad's band? It turned out that it was indeed Tommy Lee prancing about next to the drum kit rather than behind it! It transpired that although Tommy played with the band at Download only a few days previously, he had since injured his shoulder and was now unable to play - his place being taken tonight by Evanescence drummer Will Hunt. To his credit Tommy didn't fly home or just sit the show out at the side of the stage, he still managed to get involved and appeared on stage at various points in the show to MC and gee the crowd up a bit. I'm glad he did as at least we still got to see the full öriginal Mötley Crüe lineup on stage - although personally I thought he was in danger of outstaying his welcome with his MC'ing once or twice when I just wanted to hear the band get on with playing the songs the crowd had paid good money to hear. Although the tickets were £5 more than Velvet Revolver the previous week, I have to say it was more than worth the extra for the show we got - partly because the sound was so much better, but also because we were treated to by far the best indoor pyro show I have ever seen! All the fireworks, explosions, and massive flames shooting up into the air were fantastic - and it was worth every penny!  I've never been very keen on Vince Neil as a singer (apart from the other issues relating to a certain car crash) and he just doesn't seem a very nice person at all from all I have read, but I have to say he is pretty good at fronting a rock band and his performance tonight was excellent - and to my surprise he could still hit those high notes. The band put on an energetic show - well apart from Mick Mars obviously, but even he managed to walk about more than I expected. Nikki Sixx said he was well pleased to be playing in London at the same venue as many the musical heroes of his youth. The band played nearly all my favourite Mötley Crüe songs and I thoroughly enjoyed the show - although I started to get worried when the others left the stage and Mick Mars launched into a solo section - were we about to have to endure solos from each member of the band in turn?  Fortunately, we were spared this and after a couple of minutes or so of Hendrix riffs and other self indulgence Mick launched into the intro to 'Kickstart My Heart' and the stage exploded (fairly literally) into life as the rest of the band returned for what turned out to be the climax of the show. They couldn't really top that - and they didn't even try... It was only about ten past ten and the bar had already been shut for a while (why?) - people weren't ready to go home. Surely there would be an encore? Five minutes went by - then ten. Eventually music was piped through the PA and it became obvious there would be no encore. Some people started booing - an understandable reaction from people who had paid around £40 for a ticket to see a major band and got not much over an hour's music for their money. Bearing in mind that the band's last release was a 'best of' style compilation featuring 37 songs they weren't short of material.... To be fair though, with a stand-in drummer thrown in at very short notice - how many songs had he had time to rehearse with the band properly? Whatever, I still really enjoyed the show and met plenty of friends during and after the show - some of whom I went to the pub for a quick drink with afterwards, so I went home happy after an excellent night out.  Unlike the previous week's shoddy sounding Velvet Revolver show - I wouldn't hesitate to buy another ticket to see Mötley Crüe next time they come to town.