Crüe Fest
I looked forward to Crüe Fest since I bought the tickets back in April, and I was not disappointed. It was a BLAST.
My friend Jenny had tickets to Crüe Fest too, so we met up with her and her boyfriend, Ray, beforehand and rode to the show together. They had VIP tickets which gave them access to a VIP area with a bar (and nicer bathrooms!), so we were planning on catching up with them in between sets in one of the common areas, but one of the ladies at the main gate walked us all over to the VIP entrance and asked the people there to give Mike and me VIP wristbands too. We thanked her profusely and rejoiced over the unexpected access to the nicer bathrooms (okay, that may have just been me). We waited in line for a bit to get some concert shirts, then split up to go to our respective seats. Mike and I were happy to see that ours were in the center part of the venue, giving us a great view of the stage.
The first band, Trapt, started playing shortly after we sat down. I enjoyed their show, although the lead singer seemed a little uncomfortable - possibly because half the seats were empty at that point. The next band to go on was Sixx AM, one of Nikki Sixx's side projects. I was so excited to finally see Nikki Sixx live I actually had goosebumps. He kept a pretty low-profile on stage, letting the other guys have more time in the spotlight, so to speak, and I have to tell you, the singer, James Michael, fills out a wife-beater pretty nicely. I was sorry when their set ended for more reasons than one.
Next up was Papa Roach. I'm not much of a fan of theirs, so I took that opportunity to run to the bathroom. Apparently it had started pouring while Trapt was playing so I got drenched on my way too and from the VIP bathrooms, which, by the way, had no line whatsoever, nor were they the icky germ-fest I usually associate with concert-venue bathrooms. I stopped to talk to Jenny and Ray for a few minutes until the downpour got the best of us and we migrated back to our seats again. Mike proclaimed me a drowned rat when I got back, and after wringing the water out of my hair, I bundled up in three of the shirts we'd picked up before sitting down and settled back to wait out the rest of Papa Roach's set. Soon after that I noticed a commotion off to our left, but I couldn't figure out what was going on until Mike pointed out the lead singer making his way down the aisle near us. That was cool enough, but then he topped it by walking on top of the backs of the seats right in front of us. Seriously, he was mere inches away from my face. He walked over to the soundboard area right next to us and finished the song from there, then made his way back to the stage. As I said, I'm not big on their music, but I was pretty impressed with that. What a way to get the crowd pumped up! They played one more song, then cleared off the stage to make way for Buckcherry.
Buckcherry put on a fantastic show. They had great stage presence, and their energy was contagious. It was impossible not to get into the music, and when they started playing "Crazy Bitch" the crowd got into it even more. Josh Todd's lead-in to the song was hilarious, especially when he called out all the chicks who like to think they're "crazy bitches" but really aren't. Energy-wise and musically, they set the stage perfectly for Mötley Crüe.
While the stage was being prepped for Mötley Crüe's show, we met up with Jenny and Ray again and used that time to get some food while we waited. After some fries, cheese pizza, beer (for Mike), and the flattest cup of Dr. Pepper in the universe (seriously, that stuff had no traces of carbonation in it whatsoever. Even Mike said it was horrible, and he's much less picky about flat soda than I am), we went back to our seats and waited for Mötley Crüe to take the stage.
I was looking forward to seeing them play live, but their show went way beyond what I was hoping it would be. They opened with "Kickstart My Heart" and went uphill from there. The singers from all the previous bands joined them onstage for "Saints Of Los Angeles," the crowd response to "Shout At The Devil" was amazing, and I had a blast watching both Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil on stage. Their stage presence is awesome to see live. Several times Nikki took a drink of water, spit some on the audience, then tossed his water bottle into the crowd, and I'll admit, I was a little jealous of the people in the mosh pit for being that close to him. I'm too old to appreciate a damn mosh pit though, no matter how much water I'd have spit on me by Nikki Sixx. I was meh about Vince before this, but seeing him live totally changed my feelings. While I don't have quite the crush on him as I do on Nikki, Vince's stage presence certainly bumped him up to crush status in my book. Watching Mick Mars play was very moving given his medical condition, and I was even more impressed when he bowed to the audience. Poor guy. I'm so glad we got to see him play. As for Tommy Lee, well, I still don't care much for him.
We had to wait a little bit for the gates out to the parking lot to be opened up, but Jenny had a VIP parking pass too, so once we got to her car it didn't take us long to get out of the parking lot and on the road home. It seemed like we were back at her place in no time, and, in spite of the rain, Mike and I got home before 1am.
Mötley Crüe was the highlight of the concert for me, of course, but I really liked seeing Buckcherry and Sixx AM play too. I've got my fingers crossed that there's another Crüe Fest next year, 'cause I'd love to see them again.
My friend Jenny had tickets to Crüe Fest too, so we met up with her and her boyfriend, Ray, beforehand and rode to the show together. They had VIP tickets which gave them access to a VIP area with a bar (and nicer bathrooms!), so we were planning on catching up with them in between sets in one of the common areas, but one of the ladies at the main gate walked us all over to the VIP entrance and asked the people there to give Mike and me VIP wristbands too. We thanked her profusely and rejoiced over the unexpected access to the nicer bathrooms (okay, that may have just been me). We waited in line for a bit to get some concert shirts, then split up to go to our respective seats. Mike and I were happy to see that ours were in the center part of the venue, giving us a great view of the stage.
The first band, Trapt, started playing shortly after we sat down. I enjoyed their show, although the lead singer seemed a little uncomfortable - possibly because half the seats were empty at that point. The next band to go on was Sixx AM, one of Nikki Sixx's side projects. I was so excited to finally see Nikki Sixx live I actually had goosebumps. He kept a pretty low-profile on stage, letting the other guys have more time in the spotlight, so to speak, and I have to tell you, the singer, James Michael, fills out a wife-beater pretty nicely. I was sorry when their set ended for more reasons than one.
Next up was Papa Roach. I'm not much of a fan of theirs, so I took that opportunity to run to the bathroom. Apparently it had started pouring while Trapt was playing so I got drenched on my way too and from the VIP bathrooms, which, by the way, had no line whatsoever, nor were they the icky germ-fest I usually associate with concert-venue bathrooms. I stopped to talk to Jenny and Ray for a few minutes until the downpour got the best of us and we migrated back to our seats again. Mike proclaimed me a drowned rat when I got back, and after wringing the water out of my hair, I bundled up in three of the shirts we'd picked up before sitting down and settled back to wait out the rest of Papa Roach's set. Soon after that I noticed a commotion off to our left, but I couldn't figure out what was going on until Mike pointed out the lead singer making his way down the aisle near us. That was cool enough, but then he topped it by walking on top of the backs of the seats right in front of us. Seriously, he was mere inches away from my face. He walked over to the soundboard area right next to us and finished the song from there, then made his way back to the stage. As I said, I'm not big on their music, but I was pretty impressed with that. What a way to get the crowd pumped up! They played one more song, then cleared off the stage to make way for Buckcherry.
Buckcherry put on a fantastic show. They had great stage presence, and their energy was contagious. It was impossible not to get into the music, and when they started playing "Crazy Bitch" the crowd got into it even more. Josh Todd's lead-in to the song was hilarious, especially when he called out all the chicks who like to think they're "crazy bitches" but really aren't. Energy-wise and musically, they set the stage perfectly for Mötley Crüe.
While the stage was being prepped for Mötley Crüe's show, we met up with Jenny and Ray again and used that time to get some food while we waited. After some fries, cheese pizza, beer (for Mike), and the flattest cup of Dr. Pepper in the universe (seriously, that stuff had no traces of carbonation in it whatsoever. Even Mike said it was horrible, and he's much less picky about flat soda than I am), we went back to our seats and waited for Mötley Crüe to take the stage.
I was looking forward to seeing them play live, but their show went way beyond what I was hoping it would be. They opened with "Kickstart My Heart" and went uphill from there. The singers from all the previous bands joined them onstage for "Saints Of Los Angeles," the crowd response to "Shout At The Devil" was amazing, and I had a blast watching both Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil on stage. Their stage presence is awesome to see live. Several times Nikki took a drink of water, spit some on the audience, then tossed his water bottle into the crowd, and I'll admit, I was a little jealous of the people in the mosh pit for being that close to him. I'm too old to appreciate a damn mosh pit though, no matter how much water I'd have spit on me by Nikki Sixx. I was meh about Vince before this, but seeing him live totally changed my feelings. While I don't have quite the crush on him as I do on Nikki, Vince's stage presence certainly bumped him up to crush status in my book. Watching Mick Mars play was very moving given his medical condition, and I was even more impressed when he bowed to the audience. Poor guy. I'm so glad we got to see him play. As for Tommy Lee, well, I still don't care much for him.
We had to wait a little bit for the gates out to the parking lot to be opened up, but Jenny had a VIP parking pass too, so once we got to her car it didn't take us long to get out of the parking lot and on the road home. It seemed like we were back at her place in no time, and, in spite of the rain, Mike and I got home before 1am.
Mötley Crüe was the highlight of the concert for me, of course, but I really liked seeing Buckcherry and Sixx AM play too. I've got my fingers crossed that there's another Crüe Fest next year, 'cause I'd love to see them again.