Aerosmith + Motley Crue @ Hollywood Bowl 2006-11-07 "review"

 

 

Last night, Aerosmith and Motley Crue’s Route Of All Evil tour hit the Hollywood Bowl for the first of 3 shows in the Southern California area. I really wanted to see this show ever since the rumors hit about a year ago. Since I did so well on concert ticket prices the past few weeks, I was able to do this one in style with an excellent lower level seat.

 

From what I gathered on my Who experience, the Garden Box is the best place to be. Unfortunately the best I was able to get over the weekend was a pair in Sec D. Tried in vain until the last minute to trade up to aGarden Box but there wasn’t much better available so at 7:15 I dumped the extra and went in.

 

Aerosmith is no longer a poor man’s anything. They now rival many top tier acts with what they are asking for tickets and attendance suffered with an entire level of the Bowl nearly empty. Either tour less or charge less. I admit it was the opportunity to get two almost headline sets out of this that had me plonking down the big bucks.

 

Motley Crue had a great stage show but this time the music just didn’t match up. I had a great time at the Forum on the reunion tour. Perhaps it’s because fun and musical appreciation at a Motley Crue show is directly proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed or more likely the novelty is starting to wear off.

 

But I am a sucker for good stage gimmicks like lots of pyro and chicks hanging from the ceiling in cages. “Louder Than Hell” and “Primal Scream” still sound great regardless of how bad Vince’s singing is. The stage was different than on the Carnival Of Sins tour but the setlist was just a shortened version of the same show. The mix was odd with Tommy’s drums up loud and everything else buried underneath it.

 

It was still somewhat entertaining if just a little too long for this particular occassion. Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil said how great it was to be touring with their heroes Aerosmith and also complained about the lack of response from the crowd who mostly was there to see Aerosmith anyway.

 

I was somewhat disappointed that “Too Fast For Love,” the title track off the one and only classic album was no longer in the set but the breaks between the songs were painful. Did they really drop it so Tommy Lee could hurl more profane whiggerisms at the crowd?

 

Ran into Craig who is on a few Stones boards who just happened to have seats in the row behind me. Made a quick run to look where another board member was but the seats were empty.

 

After a 45 minute wait, the lights went off and they hit the stage with a smoking “Toys In The Attic.” It was definitely a different Aerosmith than the one I suffered through for most of the 90’s. Sure, they briefly touched upon the era with “Eat The Rich” and “Cryin’” but gone were the endless parade of cheesy pop singles and ballads laden with canned horns and harmonies that sound like a dying cat. This was Aerosmith as bluesy and jammy as I have ever seen them.

 

The chick next to me screaming in my ear was getting annoying so I moved into the center aisle, having perfected the art of wandering during the 2 previous Who shows. It was a little tighter tonight, security not allowing anyone to just stand against the bushes. A security guard took me to the nearest usher and she apparently didn’t know how to read tickets because she directed me into the Terrace boxes where I quickly found an empty seat just off center.

 

I could now see and hear everything perfectly. It was loud and clear with the guitars far up front. “Baby Please Don’t Go” was performed as an extended jam with a lot of harp from Steven and Joe and Brad trading licks. Joe took over lead vocals on the cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Stop Messin’ Around.” It was followed by a way too short teaser of “Hangman Jury” which really deserves to be played in it’s entirety but was soon forgotten as it segued into a beautiful “Seasons Of Wither,” Steven and Joe sitting at the end of the catwalk as faux snow fell on the crowd.

 

“Dream On” was the only other slow song that night before they cranked up the rock and kept it at a peak level for the rest of the night. “Devil’s Got A New Disguise,” the sole new song, sounds great live. Tyler veered off to side stage which was filled with celebrities and started singing in Tommy Lee’s face. He was rocking out and playing air drums all night obviously having the time of his life getting to see that show every night.

 

“Love In An Elevator” was added for the first time in a few months and Steven forgot the scream at the beginning and add-libbed the first few verses. The flub unpolished the song for sure which was a lot rougher than usual all the way through.

 

“Sweet Emotion” had an extended bass intro as usual, this time by Tom’s stand in David Hull. I wish they would retire this song until he comes back. It was definitely lacking something at least until Joe Perry’s guitar solo in the middle, right under blue laser lights.

 

“Draw The Line” was the show highlight just as it has been at every show they played it for the last several years. The song and main set ended with Joe throwing his guitar down at the end of the catwalk and beating on it with shirt.

 

“Walk This Way” wrapped things up. Sometimes it seems played out but I have never seen a bad version of this song. Bolted as soon as the song was over, watched the band introductions on the big screen next to the exit and ran out when I was sure it was over. Just in time to see Brad get into a black SUV and a security guard halt pedestrian traffic so the convoy could make its getaway, with a police and fire escort.

 

As a postscript I decided to walk a few extra blocks to the Avalon but the Dolls were already on so I headed home. Later on found out that was where Joe Perry and Slash were headed.

 

Did 7 shows in 8 days, was planning on pushing it farther but I think I picked up something on one of the city disease incubators I have been riding on all week.