Entertainment

September 1, 2008

Review: Appreciative 15,000 embrace Cruefest’s Montage invasion

Inaugural tour of hard-edged music highlighted by songs from reunited Motley Crue.

Brad Patton For The Times Leader

The Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain was overrun by tattoos, smoke machines and plenty of hard-edged music as the inaugural Cruefest made its next-to-last stop on Saturday.

All four original members of Motley Crue, touring in support of their first album together in 11 years, headlined the six-hour show. Also appearing were Trapt, Papa Roach, Buckcherry and Crue bassist Nikki Sixx’s side project SIXX: A.M.

Trapt, a hard rock/alternative rock band out of Los Gatos, Calif., opened the show. It was followed by SIXX: A.M., the side project that got together to record the soundtrack to Sixx’s autobiography, “The Heroin Diaries.” The group, consisting of Sixx on bass and backing vocals, vocalist James Michael, guitarist DJ Ashba and drummer Joshua Stevens, closed their portion of the show with a sing-along version of their hit “Life Is Beautiful.”

Papa Roach, a metal/hard rock band from Vacaville, Calif., then played a nine-song, fifty-minute set. Vocalist Jacoby Shaddix led the group through some of its most popular tunes and some new songs from its “Metamorphosis” album, to be released in February 2009.

Buckcherry, another hard rock/metal band from Los Angeles whose name was inspired by Chuck Berry and whose music was modeled after AC/DC, stormed through eight numbers. Highlights of its set included the first single from its new album “Black Butterfly,” “Too Drunk” and a 10-minute version of its hit “Crazy B**ch,” which contained elements of Billy Squier’s “The Stroke” and Prince’s “Sexy M.F.”

Nearly four and a half hours into the show, the crowd of more than 15,000 got what it came for as the reunited Motley Crue took the stage to a blinding array of lights and a deafening display of pyrotechnics. Lead vocalist Vince Neil, guitarist Mick Mars, bassist Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee looked and sounded like the band of old as they played most of their big hits and a handful of tunes from their recent album “Saints of Los Angeles,” which peaked at No. 4 following its June release.

The stage was impressive, with huge letters spelling out “Los Angeles” modeled after the Hollywood sign, loads of lights, flames, fireworks, video monitors and an impressive sound system that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Unfortunately, there were also some blinding strobe lights about five feet above the musicians’ heads pointed directly at the audience, making it impossible to look at the stage without pain. Perhaps many of the concertgoers knew this, as more than a few donned sunglasses even though the band’s performance began at about 9:20 p.m.

Highlights of the early part of Motley Crue’s set included the title track of the new album, which featured all of the lead singers from the tour’s five bands, the title track to its 1984 offering “Shout at the Devil” and a Mars guitar solo that segued into Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).”

Lead singer Neil strummed an acoustic guitar on “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away),” the group’s Top 20 hit from 1990. Then came a crowd-pleasing romp through “Same Ol’ Situation” and an ear-splitting version of “Primal Scream.”

A sort-of drum solo by Lee led into the distinctive riff of “Looks That Kill,” which featured a ripping solo by guitarist Mars. The main set ended with “Girls, Girls, Girls” and an explosive version of the Crue’s biggest hit ever, “Dr. Feelgood,” which reached No. 6 in 1989.

The Crue then closed out the show with “Home Sweet Home,” as the crowd left singing and smiling.

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