Words by Audra Tracy | Photo by Dana (distortion) Yavin
‘All bad things must come to an end’. Motley Crue’s tagline could be seen all over the PNC Bank Arts Center on August 30th, marking a stop on the final tour of the 80’s glam rock icons. Yes, after 33 years, Tommy Lee (drums), Nikki Sixx (bass), Vince Neil (vocals) and Mick Mars (guitar) are calling it quits. And so armed with a stage full of pyro and pentagrams, the foursome threw one hell of a going away party for New Jersey’s faithful.
Even if you don’t follow the band, you’ve got to appreciate that Motley Crue represents a lost era of rock n roll excess that we, as music fans, may never experience again. If you read even a page of their salacious memoir, The Dirt, you would agree – there is no fucking way these four dudes should be alive in 2014.
And yet, they’re still selling out shows. They’re still making women squeal. And they’re still playing the hits, like on this night in Holmdel, where the Crue had fans screaming along to songs about strippers (‘Girls Girls Girls’), heroin overdoses (‘Kickstart My Heart’), and let’s not forget, Satan (‘Shout At The Devil’). Yes, they’re still the best bad influence a kid could ever dream up.
It didn’t matter that a weathered Vince Neil was winded after one song, or that Mick Mars’ frail frame seemed like it could topple over at any moment. That’s not what this final tour is about. It’s about raising our bottles (and liters) to a band of misfits who beat the odds and somehow survived three unapologetic decades of legendary misadventures.
They may be closing the curtain, but the reckless spirit of Motley Crue will live on forever. Because, as Nikki Sixx so cordially warned the Garden State on Saturday night, ‘Our music is going to haunt you until the fucking day you die.’
www.motley.com
TheWaster.com | NJ
9.1.14
