Jun
17
2011

Poison & The Crue @ Ashley Furniture Homestore Pavillion

Best Concert...Ever!

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosFriday, June 17, 2011 - 11:30:22 pm
(Posted Under: Music Music, Live Shows)
Saying that today was anything but hectic would be as a gross overstatement. And as such, it was impossible to give any thought to the fact that tonight I was going to be seeing my two favorite bands growing up.

We barely got to eat before heading out to Ashely Furniture Homestore Pavilion. Try saw that three times fast. The corporate renaming of that venue continues to be the biggest joke in Phoenix, and seems completely pointless, since everyone still calls it Desert Sky Pavilion despite it actually being Cricket Wireless Pavilion before this most recent ridiculous corporate naming.

It was certainly impressive how west in the valley that place is. The drive itself made that hard not notice, and we couldn't help to laugh as we started to pass corn fields! Due to how busy we'd been, plus the long drive, New York Dolls were already playing. After getting in and finding our seat, they only had two or so songs left in their set. Which was kind of unfortunate, we would have liked to have gotten to see them.

When it came to our seats, we were both quite impressed. Once tickets were released, we sprung a bit (well, a lot, but within reason) more for good seats. Y'know, for Poison and Motley Crue on the same bill it seemed like it was worth it. It definitely was. Admitadly we weren't as close as for the show that Katie brought me the VIP tickets for 2 years ago, but these seats were nowhere near that cost, and we're awesome, aided by the fact that Desert Sky (I'm just going to call it that) is a really great outdoor venue. The view of the stage was great, and much better than we had for The Cure show where we virtually paid the same amount for the tickets.

Poison

Photobox ImageI have to admit I was pretty impressed once Poison's stage setup started to become revealed. The fact that the stage had Open Up And Say...Ahh backdrops was pretty damn cool to me. And once the band came out, complete with C.C with 80's (or at least early 90's) length hair, it was pretty damn cool. Y'know, as weird as that sounds, for a guy who never got to see them back in the day, I appreciate stuff like that.

Photobox ImageGreat set. Overall I certainly enjoyed the show more than the first time I saw them. Which has everything to do with the fact that they were somewhat stunted opening for Def Leppard in the past. Primarily on that tour they weren't able to have pyro. And y'know, as amazing as that show was, and it was, as was finally seeing Poison live, a Poison show just isn't the same with pyro. On this tour with The Crue things were different, there was plenty of pyro which further just made this such a great show to see.

Photobox ImageThe show itself was as fun as hell. And it being in Bret's home town undeniably added to the energy of the show. Funnily enough, on the drive to the show I'd suggested that it'd be cool if Bret played the State Fair again this year, to which Katie said she'd already looked at the lineups and that he wasn't. At the end of their set, Bret announced that he and his band actually was. Sweet!

Their setlist:


Look What The Cat Dragged In
Ride The Wind
We're An American Band
Guitar Solo
Fallen Angel
Unskinny Bop
Drum Solo
Every Rose Has It's Thorn
Talk Dirty To Me
Nothin' But A Good Time


After the set we went off to get a drink, a smoke and hit the merch area.. While waiting at the merch table we ran into Lance which was cool.

Motley Crue

Photobox ImageObviously, for me, the highlight was Poison. But holy shit, The Crue absolutely blew me away all the same. We were still in line at the merch table when we heard a massive explosion and Live Wire start up. Katie had said a few times leading up to this that I could go back and she'd get the t-shirts and met me back there, but I had no probably sticking the line out with her. Until about halfway through Live Wire, where she said it again, and I couldn't help myself but need to go back to the seat. Not having seen The Crue live before, it only took half a song before feeling that I needed to see what was happening.

Photobox ImageOn getting back to my seat, the stage had completely opened up, with no shortage of pyrotechnics going off. Despite the excitement of seeing Poison, it was near impossible not to get caught up in the same degree of excitement with Motley Crue on stage in front of me. Although there were many bands of the genre I was into at the time, Motley were easy second favorites, so I guess my excitement wasn't that surprising. Which also goes to the fact, that first Poison show I saw was a once in a lifetime experience (backstage tours etc.), and while I was into Def Leppard and it's cool that I got to see them, this was absolutely a dream lineup for me.

Photobox ImageJust like with Poison, seeing The Crue absolutely made up for not seeing them back in the day. Which is really saying something. This tour is Poison's 25th anniversary, and Motley Crue's 30th, but nothing about it was nostalgic. I've got to say that on both accounts, in my mind, it was a good as seeing the bands in their hey days, both sounded great and put on a hell of a stage show and theatrical performance.

Photobox ImageSong wise it was a great show. The only song I was less familiar with was Saints of Los Angeles. Otherwise it was the best of the best from Motley Crue through to Decade Of Decadence, which was perfect for me. It's one of those things that it's hard to pick out highlights, it was the best of the best. I can say I was very happy that they did Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away), as it would probably be my favorite Crue song and while not their most recognized. Interestingly, they did that with as a medely with Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You" in the middle. That was pretty cool, and by all accounts completely unexpected. Smokin' In The Boys Room was also started and ended with Gary Glitters Rock N' Roll (Part Two). As far as set list highlights go, Primal Scream was another one for me, as I wouldn't have taken for granted with the breadth of their catalog that they would have pulled that one out. I was pleased that they did.

Their set list was as follows:


Wild Side
Saints of Los Angeles
Live Wire
Shout At The Devil
Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)
Primal Scream
Home Sweet Home
Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
Looks That Kill
Dr. Feelgood
Too Young To Fall In Love
Ten Seconds to Love
Girls, Girls, Girls
Smokin' In The Boys Room
Kickstart My Heart


Notable theatrical highlights of the show beyond the huge explosions and pyro included:
  • Tommy running from the piano to the drums and back to the piano on Home Sweet Home
  • Nicky having a moment with the crowd, getting everyone to "sit down like your in church", proceeding to wax poetic on their 30 year career. We particularly enjoyed the Nicky's comment that "Mick Mars just won't die!". We'd Googled it not that long ago and discovered has 10 years on most of the others and is currently 60. So that part of Nicky's sermon, as it were, really spoke to us.
  • Tommy's roller coaster drum solo. He laid down some techno beats and I must say I appreciated the fact that he does something different than the usual hair band drum solo. And that the rest of the band allow him to do so. The fact that he then preyed on a victim from the audience ("this is my favorite part of the show") and took her on the drum roller coaster was fun. I think that really spoke to Katie too.

Photobox ImageTowards the end of the show I noticed buckets being brought out, and was convinced that Nikki was going to get set alight during Kickstart My Heart. I was further convinced when I noticed the dancers to the side of the stand with flame throwers in hand. And I swear I thought I saw someone spit gasoline on him. Though, I was wrong, as the buckets were fake blood which was poured over those in the front row at the end of Kickstart My Heart. I guess that goes to how worked up I was by the show, I was all ready to see Nikki go up in flames! [smile]

Surprisingly Kickstart was the final song, and there was no encore. I only say surprisingly because of how worked up everybody was. But they'd put on one hell of a show, playing for a good hour an a half, and certainly touched all the bases with their hits over the past 30 years, so in that was it wasn't that surprising. It was certainly obvious throughout the show, and absolutely at the end that they're all actually quite gracious to be able to pack arenas 30 years later.

And I'm glad that 30 years later I get to see them (and Poison) and get the full experience. Neither band's performance was approached like a nostelgic affair, nor were in anyway half assed. Although I wasn't able to see the bands live back when I was 10, I don't at all feel like I missed out, with both bands putting on a hell of a show, both musically and theoretically.

So we had ridiculous amounts of fun. Actually, walking through to car park I believe the term thrown around was "stoopid fun!". We actually both said we wished they were playing a second date in Phoenix, to do it again! For sure it's the best concert I've ever seen, and I really think that unless both bands tour again, will be the best one I'll ever see.

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