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| Def Leppard's Joe Elliot @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
What may have been the biggest stadium show this year descended into Oracle Park yesterday with an aural onslaught of (mostly) post-hair metal bands of yesteryear. If you're a frequent reader of this site, you'll understand when I say that this was yet another rescheduled show that was originally meant to tour back in 2020, but delayed like all the other shows this past year due to the pandemic. However, for the near capacity crowd in the audience of Giants Park, the wait was well worth it!
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| Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx & Vince Neil @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
When I say this was the biggest stadium tour, I mean it. The show wasn't simply one headliner and an opener -- this production, and I do mean production, had FIVE bands on the bill and started at 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon?!? When was the last time you've seen a show like that?
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| Derek Day of Classless Act @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
The afternoon kicked off with Classless Act, a 5-piece from Los Angeles who basked in the sunshine and figurative spotlight as the early audience arrivals shuffled through the stadium to find their seats. I was only vaguely familiar with these guys before their performance and I have to say that the energy they emitted from the stage was palpable. Their sound loosely reminded me of a little bit Led Zeppelin with twinges of David Lee Roth if you can image the two of those merged together. They certainly had fun with their 5-song half-hour set.
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| Joan Jett & the Blackhearts @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Next up was the god-mother of punk, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, who hit the stage at 4:35pm for their 50-minute set. Jett was joined by the only other original Blackheart and founding member, Kenny Laguna, on the keyboards and percussion, along with 3 other members who worked their way through Jett's classics -- including Cherry Bomb from Joan's first band, the Runaways. No offense to the other bands that shared the stage throughout the night, but Joan's nearly 50-year career in music lent true legitimacy to what was shaping up to be an overall stunning rock show. Kenny commented how when he and Joan first formed the band, "none of the labels wanted to sign a band fronted by a girl, so we made our own records and sold them out of the back of our car until we had a hit. Our label is still around and run by a friend here in the Bay Area."
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| Poison @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Following the Blackhearts was probably my personal favorite of the night, Poison. Bay Area local, Guy Fieri had the honor of introducing the band as they came on the stage, and more-so than Joan or Classless Act to that point, the band seemed to truly appreciate having the chance to perform once again in a massive stadium environment as they did back at the height of their careers. The show was even more poignant with the fact that drummer, Rikki Rocket, was battling cancer. If he's fighting as hard as he was playing throughout their set, I'm optimistic he'll beat it and be able to continue to tour and make music for years to come. The band originally hails from one of the first towns I called home as a kid, Mechanicsburg, PA, so I've got a soft spot for the guys and honestly, it was the first time I've even caught their live show -- and it didn't disappoint. Brett was smiling ear-to-ear throughout the set, taking in every moment and reliving the glory of their hey-day from the late '80's. It truly feels like music is cyclical, and Brett even mentioned how he's working with Guy Fieri on a summer tour for next year, so let's see what they can put together and here's hoping they can return to the Bay in '23! Besides "Unskinny Bop", their highlight was probably the sing-a-long ballad, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."
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| C.C. DeVille & Bret Michaels of Poison @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Next up after Poison's hour-long set was the spectacle a good number of folks in the audience were waiting for... Mötley Crüe. And believe me, it was a spectacle! By far, the Crüe had the most audacious stage set-up of the 5 bands of the day. It's the first I've seen of microphone stands that were suspended down from above as you can see in the photo below. Not only were all the members of the Crüe on stage and in true form -- including the reclusive Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, and of course, Vince Neil -- but the band were joined by three women called the 'Nasty Habits' who danced and sang back-up vocals throughout the night. Part of me wondered if they were there to distract from Vince who, true to various reports over the past 6-9 months, has seen better days. I give Vince a lot of credit though, I think he's lost some weight and his voice (mostly) stayed in key -- albeit for some fairly obvious misses, such as in "Home Sweet Home".
At one point in the set, Vince introduced Nikki as "a great guy who I've known for 41 years... An alcohol and drug infused 41 years." At which point, Nikki took the mic and began his banter with the crowd at the front of the stage... Saying to one women, "you want this towel? I'm pretty sure it's nearly identical to the towel I threw your mom 41 years ago." And he continued by saying, "you can't cancel Mötley Crüe, so fuck that shit!"
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| Tommy Lee and his Taylor Hawkins kick drum @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
After a medley of karaoke covers, Tommy Lee descended from his drum riser and took the mic at front-center stage. He started by saying how much he thanked everyone for their support over all these years, "and now, what kind of trouble can we get into tonight?" He spoke about how a few weeks ago, he got wasted and started taking naked selfies, but that he was just having fun. He said, "I showed mine, so now it's your turn to show yours!" And then to one guy in the center section who the cameraman found and projected onto the huge vertical monitors that ran the height of the stage on both the left and right sides... "Come on man, pull it out and it'll be like 60 feet long on these monitors!" The guy ultimately did pull it out, and there were some boobs that were freed as well, but from where I was standing, there was a father with his 10 year old son in front of me. They were both facing away from the stage and the monitors, so that his son wouldn't see any of the scenes that Tommy was encouraging from the stage. Ultimately, it was the most risqué part of the night, but also a fleeting moment before Tommy took his place in front of the piano to accompany Vince with "Home Sweet Home". The ballad is actually a great song, and it helped that the crowd sang along, but Vince missed some easy notes so it could have been better.
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| Nikki Sixx, his suspended mic, and a Nasty Habit (background) @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Talking about crowd pleasers, "Kickstart My Heart" was another crowd favorite, but the Nasty Habits were definitely helping out on vocals during this one, with Vince taking a break from the high sections of the song. I don't mean to drag Vince down, but I remember the old Vince at the peak of the 80's where he worked the stage and the crowd. Today's Vince was noticeably taking it easy on the energy levels of his exertion around the stage, and almost seemed to be medicated. I kept thinking that this was almost a real-life re-enactment of Pink Floyd's The Wall... Was Vince just medically pumped up to perform? Was he Pink?
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| Mick Mars of Motley Crue @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
As expected, Tommy Lee, was a master craftsman behind his drum kit, and Mick did a great job on guitar as well while staying mostly in the shadows. And Nikki laid down a solid bass line throughout the night and was probably the most talkative. The lights, pyro, smoke, giant inflatable cyborg women, and video monitors surely put The Crüe on top of the pure spectacle chart for the night, and it was great to see them perform live on the bill with the other acts, so I can't ding them too much for the show they put on across their 90-minute set!
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| Phil Collen of Def Leppard @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Lastly, at 9:30pm, the headliners Def Leppard took to the stage. The British 4-piece had a relatively conservative stage set-up, especially considering they immediately followed The Crüe's over-the-top performance. But what their stage set-up lacked, the band's musical performance made up for any slack that I saw. Unlike the other bands of the day, this wasn't a greatest hits walk down memory lane. The band recently released a new album that was recorded remotely during the pandemic, so their set was sprinkled with a few new tracks from that album. Clearly, they still played their hits, but unlike the others on the bill who nearly exclusively played their hits, Def Leppard were not resting on their laurels but trying to introduce new material to the audience.
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| Def Leppard's Joe Elliot @ Oracle Park (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Like Poison, Def Leppard's lead singer Joe Elliot was incredibly appreciative of the lasting support their fans have offered throughout the years, and commented how he was amazed they were finally able to pull this tour off after 2 years of delays due to the pandemic. This show was their second to last show on the tour, so I got the sense there were mixed emotions that it was all coming to an end, and yet Joe and the band were doing their best to soak it all in. Joe asked at one point if the lights could be raised, just so he could look out at the nearly full stadium. For me, growing up with Hysteria, those songs obviously resonated the most with me, but their whole set was solid and the band sounded great even with the additional years that have passed. I last caught Def Leppard's show at Shoreline back in 2016, and although Joe's hair might be a bit grayer at this point, his vocals were still spot on. Fingers crossed they'll be back again soon, maybe with another new album under their belt!
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