Review: Alice Cooper/Mötley Crüe

Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle 2 Nov 2015

Reviewer: Peter Scallan

It’s been a long time since I saw either of these acts. It was 1989 and 1986 respectively at the Edinburgh Playhouse, although if I am honest I only went to see Mötley Crüe as Cheap Trick were the support. And continuing in that honest vein I was only really looking forward to seeing Alice Cooper tonight. History repeating itself!

I missed The One Hundred who opened proceedings so lets start with Alice Cooper. Over the years Alice Cooper has produced some masterful albums but also dished up some dross. However, Alice as a show is almost a guarantee of an excellent evening’s entertainment. With only an hour-long set I was intrigued to see how he played it, although he couldn’t go wrong if he drew on his stronger albums. The set opened with Black Widow from his golden era in the 70s and continued in that vein as he rolled out more classics from the early 70s in the shape of No More Mr Nice Guy, Under My Wheels, Eighteen and Billion Dollar Babies effortlessly with the aid of an excellent band including awesome female guitarist Nina Strauss. The 70s classics were quickly followed by Poison, the title track of the album that put Alice back in the limelight in 1989. We were then treated to Dirty Diamonds, co-written with long-time bass stalwart Chuck Garric. Not surprisingly there was bass/drum interplay section in which they guys had their respective slots. We then jumped back to the 70s for the excellent Go To Hell which really rocked for me before Feed My Frankenstein from the 90s album Hey Stoopid. During this song we werebvtreated to a huge rocking Frankenstein monster who commandeered the stage providing the comic book spectacle you would expect of Alice Cooper. This was followed by the Ballad of Dwight Fry and Alice’s nurse helping him into his straight jacket and then tormenting him throughout before exacting his revenge, all making for an entertaining spectacle. Next up was a medley of sorts with partial versions of Killer and I Love The Dead during which Alice gets beheaded. The last song needed no introduction from the opening chords and the crowd just lapped up School’s Out which was an obvious closer. What can I say that hasn’t already been said about the Alice Cooper live show – it is just pure rock’n’roll theatre and it was superb.

And so to the Crüe and their final tour. The set opened with Girls, Girls, Girls and even during the first song Vince Neal was ducking out of the high notes on the chorus, pointing his mic to the audience to sing. This was quickly followed by Wild Side and then onto Primal Scream which to me sounded awful in terms of sound quality and most definitely in terms of the vocals. Same Old Situation was next and sounded pretty good. There was a change of pace with Don’t Go Away Mad which was also ok. Smoking in the Boys room was opened with excerpts from the Glitter Bands Rock’n’Roll which was also ok. However, Looks That Kill for me was also awful vocally as Neal attempted and failed miserably at the high notes – but at least he tried – take note Don Dokken! I didn’t know the next song which I believe is from the Saints of Los Angeles album and called Motherfucker of the Year – really? Nikki Sixx then proceeded to narrate about his life and the fact that if you really want something you will get it with himself being the point in case. He used the word f@ck that much he could have become an honourary Glaswegian! This was followed by a rendition of the Sex Pistols Anarchy in the UK before falling back to classic Crüe in the shape of Shout At The Devil which highlighted further vocal shortcomings. Louder Than Hell did rock it up a little before the intro tape to the drum solo. I could be wrong but I think it was called O Fortuna but I am not really sure if I am honest! However, what followed was a quite spectacular drum piece with Tommy Lee on his roller coaster and blew the roof off the house. The sublime was quickly followed by the ridiculous with Mick Mars guitar solo which was quite possibly the singular worst guitar solo I have ever seen at this sort of level. Granted I know his health isn’t the best and I may be being unfair but what it boils down is if I turned up and performed my day job as bad as that I wouldn’t last long! Saints of Los Angeles followed with the penultimate song being Dr Feelgood and the set closing proper with the rocking Kickstart My Heart. The encore involved the band moving to a small stage at the end of the rollercoaster to play Home Sweet Home. I was positioned right next to this stage and Vince Neal looked like he was terrified further reinforced by the fact he seemed to miss his cue for the song only to be prompted visually by Tommy Lee on the piano. And again he struggled with this song, which accounted for the terrified look.

As I said above I am not a great fan of the Crüe but the drum spectacular was just that – spectacular! Add to this was that the show these guys put on was also spectacular and would give anybody a run for their money. And despite the fact that I don’t own a single Crüe album, I knew all bar three songs. That in itself just goes to show just how much of an impact this band have had on rock music – either that or I just hung out at the wrong places when I was younger! Not for me at all, but a quite spectacular show which was lapped up by the audience on the night. I just hope they don’t do a Status Quo and I have to suffer another night with the Crüe because of a certain hot blonde!