Ya’ll. Like. Woah!
There was a kind of restless anticipation of a U.S. headline circuit opening in New York when we noticed a small run of ten American dates for Michael Monroe to grace us with his kinetic presence, charging up these very special gigs at Racket NYC with direct support from the Ravagers from Baltimore. Six hundred fifty movers, shakers, and noisemakers, and I had to be there. The crowd featured some like-minded, hard-rock fans. Some dressed in bright, excessive outfits with fluffy hairstyles worn by spicy mamasotas and other tubular archetypes were en vogue. If you have – ever – attended the eighties in nature concert and, to a more spirited degree, the M3 Rock Festival, you know that some attendees love to show off their outfits. Some people still embrace the sleaze of the Sunset Strip or a trashed UK hotel room.
Commencing one of the hottest rock shows of the year at 7:30 pm was the Ravagers – best described as looking and sounding like the attitude-driven cousins of Johnny Thunders and the Hellacopters. Most impressive is the fact that the Ravagers are proud to play rock! And I don’t mean the yarling alternative band type of rock. A perfect opener! The Ravagers did not disappoint! People became aware of the Ravagers while lining up to purchase their merch when their set ended. The Ravagers’ anthemic blend of rock ‘n’ roll got the crowd going and hot-wired a now sold-out Racket for the long-awaiting return of herra Monroe.
It’s about fucking time, ya’ll. A little after 8:30 pm, the house lights went down. The party began with a room full of Michel Monroe fans and newcomers (you never forget your first) screaming and shouting as the general of the Golden Glam Army, Michael Monroe, flew onto the stage like a NASA X-43 with the four dark-haired commanding corps. He vigorously dances, glides, and gyrates as Rich Jones, Todd Kerns standing in for Sami Yaffa, and Karl Rockfist accompany him. Steve Conte (one of the almighty secret weapons of this all-star lineup) entered stage left while Michael’s band filled the room with electricity. Everyone’s getting pumped, and then it’s over. The wait. Yes. THEE long wait. The nine-year wait for Michael’s return to his home away from home. If it weren’t for him, bands like Guns n’ Roses and Shiraz Lane would’ve sounded different, let alone the sound of the band his fans know and love starts the set, and there they are: When I was a kid, all I wanted to be was the meanest muthafuka on the meanest machine. YEEEEEEES. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! After racing off with Dead, Jail or Rock ‘n’ Roll, an extravagant opener, Michael Monroe and his lionized band took the jam-packed club on an eighty-minute deranged journey and brought the house down for his riveting first show of these rare U.S. appearances.
Aside from the lively gentlemen, babes, sinners, and saints all gussied up to expect the unexpected and discharging primal energy back and forth at crucial velocities on the floor with Michael throughout the performance; the lackadaisical attendees could have gotten involved as well. Ah well, c’est la vie. Everything was perfect for us to welcome home this Finnish transplant, and it remained that way all night. The presence of the force ghosts of Jimmy Webb (the figurehead of Trash & Vaudeville), Nicholas “Razzle” Dingly, the New York Dolls, and the Ramones were immense to join us in spirit as Michael’s band bounced around with jam after jam featuring many raw and punk-inspired bangers from his solo discography and his days singing for Hanoi Rocks. They played solo hits such as I Live Too Fast to Die Young, Man with No Eyes, Ballad of the Lower East Side, and Hanoi Rocks favorites like Motorvain’ and Boulevard of Broken Dreams. The supercharged cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Up Around the Bend closed out the main set.
Michael Monroe is one of the strongest voices of the eighties in rock today. He sings dead on to the records. His vocals remained otherworldly all night. The band played with passionate precision and blew everyone away as well – it must have felt great for Steve Conte to perform in his hometown of New York again! Next to Mother Feather’s Ann Coutnery, Michael is danger! High voltage personified from throwing out Japanese folding fans towards the crowd like he’s Kitana from Mortal Kombat to dancing on a bar during ’78 and even throwing down with a saxophone during Malibu Beach Nightmare, another kick-ass Hanoi Rocks song. Many finally became aware of how amazing he performs live. The guy is a hurricane of stars, bulbs, spotlights, and high-octane energy when on stage, doing splits and jumping off of bass drums. We all know opening night for a tour for any band could result in unbridled joy or debilitating pain. It was luckily the former, and it stands to reason that they would bring their A-game. Guess what? They did. That’s how the best of the best does it. The set encored with Michael saluting his unhinged days, fronting Hanoi Rocks via Taxi Driver, honoring his Demolition 23 project, and closing the set with Nothing’s Alright.
The performance was a pure elation-driven rock and roll attitude for us to witness. It was great to see one of the finest groups performing the kind of music that makes you want to dance or fuck or kick some ass in these modern times; the acoustics and lines of sight are perfect for a venue like Racket to see a show at in
the city. The sound carried well wherever you stood, with plenty of general admission space to see an act without anyone obstructing your view. Michael’s return to take over the Big Apple was everything we hoped for. Michael Monroe, you are the man. Hence, fingers crossed haaaarrrrd for Michael Monroe to get involved in touring the states more often. Maybe Hanoi Rocks making their long awaited return to America?
There are a lot of shows we have heard about at every level struggling to sell tickets. As excellent as April and May are looking for concerts, the high volume of shows and high prices for tickets or high prices contracted by artists wanting higher guarantees to cover the cost of travel or acquiring a visa, unless it’s a one-off performance like the Monsters of Rock events, I emphatically recommend for you to make no excuses – with a handful of dates remaining, for those who need their heavy music to be at its most relentless, we have Arch Enemy, Meshuggah, and Obituary to deliver without mercy, but if you’d like to lose your face or need a lesson in a high-energy rock performance, see Michael Monroe! He puts a LOT of work into his performances, and it shows. It is one of the finest gigs you will experience in 2025, with one thought that stick with you for a lifetime: “That was fucking amazing.”
