No, this isn’t a blog about the Meatloaf song or Meatloaf himself. First, I apologize for the delay in posting. Life gets in the way sometimes of getting things done.
When I saw the New York Dolls/Poison/Motley Crue show announced for the Bridgestone arena, I almost pulled the trigger and bought tickets, but having just seen Buffett and knowing I was purchasing Journey tickets, I thought I would ease back on the concert expenditures. Then, out of the blue, I got an offer for two tickets in a suite. Sweet! So, I asked the 15 year-old if he wanted to go and he was all for it. This was especially rewarding because Crue and Poison were on the list of bands that I haven’t seen, but wanted to before I got too old. . I had seen each of the two main lead singers (Bret Michaels & Vince Neil) on a solo tour, but never with their respective bands.
I must disclose that I went in being a huge Bret Michaels fan – yes, I have seen every episode of Rock of Love on VH1. The main reason I am a fan of Bret is because he is a huge supporter of kids with diabetes. He has had Type I diabetes (just like my Kyle) since he was 6 years old. He talks about it, donates money, time, and visits with T1 kids.
Well, the New York Dolls are evidently an older punk band from New York – duh. It was typical punk rock – angry, noisy, etc. The singer quickly discovered that the only way he could get a crowd reaction was to walk to the edge of the stage and scream either “Nashville” or “F*#k!”. It was a preview of things to come.
Next came Poison. Their set consisted basically of a list of their hits by a group of guys who were having fun playing rock & roll. The only song that I wished they had played was “Something to Believe In”. They even mentioned that Rikki Rocket was celebrating his son’s birthday here in Nashville. Long way from the previous Poison reputation. Here is the set list:
· Look What the Cat Dragged In
· Ride the Wind
· We're An American Band (old Grand Funk Railroad song – Poison actually recorded a cover of it)
· Your Momma Don't Dance
· Guitar solo
· Fallen Angel
· Unskinny Bop
· Drum solo
· Every Rose Has Its Thorn
· Talk Dirty to Me
· Ain’t Looking for Nothing But A Good Time
After what seemed like a relatively short set change, there was a large explosion and here comes Motley Crue. It was large and loud – just like we all expected. Unless you knew the songs, it was difficult to make out the lyrics – but then again, it is rock & roll – do lyrics really matter? Granted, I have dropped more than my share of cuss words, including the big F-bomb, damn those guys have the trash mouth. It is one thing to hear once, but every over word being an F-bomb wears thin when you are sitting by your 15 year old. My friend Mike Arnold (http://www.concertblast.com/) had warned me about Crue’s language and he was right. Picking up where skinny dude with the Dolls left off, members of Crue took their turns yelling out the “F-bomb” and “Nashville” and even going the distance and combining the two phrases.
As Crue ran through their set, they had one of the pre-requisites for hardcore rockers – girls. There were bikini-clad, bought boobie, blondes on stage with one role – eye candy. In keeping up with their “bad boy” image, a pentagram was constantly showing on the side video screens.
Typically, Tommy Lee, Crue’s drummer, has always had an outlandish kit. In the past, his kit has risen, extended out over the crowd, and even flipped over like a somersault. Tonight, he would not disappoint – his kit was on a roller coaster track of a large circle on edge. Imagine that you are looking at this letter O with his kit at the bottom (6:00 on a clock). During his drum solo, the kit would make the loop around the O and even stop at the top with Tommy hanging upside down. During the solo, he had the roadies snag a lady from the audience who sat beside him and for the ride around the O.
One of the funniest things of the night was during the song “Girls, Girls, Girls”, pictures of girls were being flashed in rapid succession on the screen behind Tommy’s kit. There were old tin-type pictures of girls and the modern ladies and models. The best part – for a split second – they flashed a picture of Justin Bieber up. There were a few that caught it and loved it.
Another highlight was who I was in the suite with - it turned out that a good friend of mine from work (Jennifer Holt) was there with her husband who works with my friend that got us tickets. Then, I realized that the sister of one of the guests was a girl I went to UT with – Beth Swartz. We hadn’t seen each other in years. It was good to catch up.
Here is Crue’s set:
· Wild Side
· Saints of LA
· Live Wire
· Shout at the Devil
· Same Ole Situation
· Primal Scream
· Home Sweet Home
· That's Alright
· Drum solo
· Guitar solo
· Looks that Kill
· Dr Feel Good
· Too Young
· Ten Seconds (?)
· Girls Girls Girls
· Smoking in the Boys Room
· Kickstart My Heart
In closing, it was a great show where I loved seeing two of the three bands. There were two more bands checked off Zach’s “Never Seen Those Guys Before” list.
Zach, A "not too old to rock" Tennessee Squire
