On Friday, I got to see one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while, then I got to witness one of the worst. The evening started at the Alice In Chains/Deftones/Mastodon blackdiamondskye tour at Madison Square Garden. It was a top notch show, from the musicianship of all three bands to the production. Coming down off the high of that, my friend suggested we head downtown to catch the end of Vince Neil’s set at Irving Plaza. While I’d never been a huge Motley Crue fan, I figured it would be good for a laugh, and I was headed downtown regardless. While we didn’t have to pay for tickets, I feel bad for anyone that did.
At $35, it was a relatively pricey ticket for an act that had no “name” openers (aka, it’s not like it was a package tour – Vince was the draw). And admittedly, the 1,800-capacity club is a lot smaller than the arenas the band had been touring for the last few years. But those Crue fans that that shelled out their hard-earned money were treated to a headlining set that consisted of nine songs sung by Neil. Nine!
The set list above actually shows one more song than his band did, as they cut “Kickstart My Heart” from the set. And the “Blando medley” consisted of Vince’s backup band (including Slaughter guitarist Jeff Blando) paying tribute to Dio with “Heaven and Hell,” and then covering Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” His backing band was actually very solid, and they had to be, because they were playing without Neil. That’s right – during the middle of his nine song set, Neil disappeared backstage for 10 minutes.
Look, I know it’s been a rough year for Vince. His solo album, Tattoos & Tequila, isn’t setting the world on fire, he was arrested on suspicion of DUI, and his autobiography was pretty unnecessary coming on the heels of The Dirt and books from his Crue-mates Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee. But lazily phoning it in for nine songs and charging your fans for the experience seems like a good way to keep those fans from coming back to see you play again. We were pleasantly surprised at how good a show the Crue put on only last month at the Ozzfest, but this was the exact opposite.
pic [via]
