Motley Crue – St. Paul, Minnesota – August 5, 2015

Motley Crue is back to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota for their final tour. Again.

With them are Alice Cooper and a slew of excited and nostalgic Crue fans, eager for another show. This is my third time seeing their “final” show (twice last year in Des Moines and St. Paul) and is by far my favorite. The show has a better feel all around with a more positive energy from the bands, as well as the rest of the crowd.

Regardless of his age, Alice Cooper still puts on a hell of a show. Complete with monsters, beheadings, ongoing theatrics, and a set packed with hits, it’s easy to see why Motley Crue would want him on their tour.  One thing I have always liked about Alice Cooper is how controversial he was back in his early era.  The beheading has been in all of the shows I have seen and although it isn’t nearly as terrifying as it once was, he was once considered one of the more controversial characters of rock and roll.  His set includes such hits as “School’s Out”, “Poison”, “I’m Eighteen”, and many more.  “Feed My Frankenstein” features a ten foot monster staggering around the stage, a staple of his shows, while his beheading has always been a crowd pleaser.

Motley Crue opens their set with “Girls, Girls, Girls” and continue the set with a barrage of hits, dancing girls, fire, and the traditional Motley Crue setup.  Although there is not a whole lot that is different about this tour than the other final tour from 2014, it is still a great time.  A guy beside us had actually never seen them before, so I can only imagine how much fun he was having at the show.  We were on Mick Mars’ side of the stage, who I have always found to be good during shows, regardless of his lack of stage antics.  He’s a great guitar player.  Nikki dons skeletal facial makeup for the first few songs, only to wipe it off later, while running across the stage all night.  Although the show is full of greatest hits, there are a few new(er) songs (“Motherfucker of the Year” and “Saints of Los Angeles”), as well as a fantastic cover of Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the UK”, a song that consists of roadies dressed in orange suits spraying the front rows in water.

Vince Neil is Vince Neil.  Anyone who has seen him in the last few years knows what they are in for, so it’s not as if it’s a surprise when the audience sings the majority of his vocals.  He’s been doing that for a long time.  Still, it’s unfortunate that for their last tour, his voice couldn’t have been utilized a bit more.  Tommy Lee’s drum solo is amazing.  His solo’s are always fun and this took it to another level, lifting him to the top of the Xcel and running the drum kit across the ceiling while spinning him upside down.  It’s awesome because, let’s face it, unless you are a drummer or are listening to something absolutely mind blowing, drum solos are boring.  They are one of the times during shows when everyone either runs to get beer or go to the bathroom.  That’s never the case when Tommy Lee is drumming.

The show ends with the band taking the secondary stage to close out with “Home Sweet Home”.  This song had both good and bad points to it that night, as far as I was concerned.  The negative being Vince’s voice.  It was a major letdown, as the song the is one of the best known “Home Sweet Home” power ballads of all time.  Having the follow up to Tommy Lee’s infamous piano playing be Vince simply destroying the vocals was sad.  However, I found something about this song to be very positive and fitting for this tour.  We turned from the main stage to watch the secondary stage, but I turned to look behind us and saw that they were playing the video on the large screens.  It was then that I realized what a fitting metaphor this song was if this did indeed turn out to be their true final tour.  The lyrics, “I’m on my way, just set me free”, really seemed to sum up their entire life touring, and now the new lives they will be leading outside of Motley Crue.