Mötley Crüe and friends came roaring back into Northeast Ohio Monday night after an absence of several years. As kit is with many legacy bands, the evening was a mixed bag. A tale often told, some of these older acts need to realize that they’re tarnishing the legacy they’ve created. Earlier this summer, Paul Simon played Blossom and it was a notably-cringeworthy experience.
The big question turned out to be, how does Vince Neil sound after all this time? The answer, of course, is that depends to whom you ask. There have been several memes about Neil’s health and, to be fair, comparing him or Axl Rose to their heyday personas isn’t fair, nor a helpful comparison. They’re definitely older and, let’s just say, their younger days were filled with late nights, copious amounts of substances both over- and under the counter. That lifestyle will catch up with you at some point if old age doesn’t do it first.
Frontman Neil performed as one might expect: he stood at the mic stand, grasping it as if it were a lightsaber. He didn’t offer much in terms of crowd engagement; Nikki Sixx was the outfit’s spokesperson for the night, offering the obligatory thank-yous to the crowd for coming out and injecting the occasional shoutout to the North Coast. New member John 5 fit well into this seasoned ensemble, rounding out a band that fits together very comfortably.
They played all the hits, on their Return of the Carnival of Sins stop here at Blossom they gave the fans exactly what they wanted. Fans wanted to hear the tunes that take them back to their glory days, and Neil and company provided that brief respite from their now mostly-post-middle-aged life.
Openers Extreme and Tesla both played forty-five minute sets, making for a longish evening of glam rock and ’80s-infused nostalgia.
