Crüe play for faithful fans Crüe play for faithful fans Lita Beck azcentral.com Oct. 9, 2005 05:42 PM Mötley Crüe threw a party at Glendale Arena Thursday night - if your idea of a party comes completes with fire-breathing exotic dancers, a fight, goofy animation, circus freaks and rock music. Large swathes of the arena were empty, with a couple sections in the back mostly vacant. Going head-to-head with another major concert that night probably didn't help boost ticket sales, and the band had just hit the Valley back in March. But these were the Crüe faithful, the ones who know all the words to early standards such as "Too Fast For Love" and "Livewire." advertisement "I love 'em," one fan could be heard saying to the people around him. "I love 'em all." That sentiment could be felt throughout the arena, which didn't sound like it was only about three-quarters full. The crowd wasn't just full of fans, it was full of devotees. And while that didn't make up for the noticeably small crowd, it added a kind of energy to the show. When frontman Vince Neil enticed the crowd into singing along with "Home Sweet Home," everyone was completely in synch, belting out the lyrics and swaying along. It was the kind of moment you'd expect at, well, at a boy-band concert or something. Moments such as that added to the feel of the nearly three-hour show. This wasn't a rock concert, where a band gets up on stage, performs some songs and maybe addresses the crowd once in a while. When Tommy Lee starts giving the people up front a swallow of Jagermeister and busts out a video camera to capture women flashing their breasts, the event turns into more of a carnival-like party. The first sign that this wouldn't be an ordinary concert came with the disposal of an opening act. Then there was the claymation-style animated short that started the show. In it, the band attempted to save the planet from a world-ending asteroid, all the while poking fun at things such as Lee's fondness for sex and Neil's drug and alcohol rehab. The second came with a 10-minute break, which included more Disaster! The Movie, about 40 minutes into the show. There was also the segment near the end of the show when bassist Nikki Sixx turned on the lights at the arena, had everyone sit down and then get up and jump. And there was the part where Lee swung around from the arena's ceiling between drum kits strung up above the crowd to beat out a high-energy, frenzied drum solo backed by techno music. That's not to say the Crüe didn't put on a rock show - a remarkable guitar solo led into a raucous rendition of "Kickstart My Heart" and the band furiously started off the night with "Shout at the Devil." An altercation during that song, complete with a guy running up on stage, seemed to throw the band off its rhythm, but Mötley Crüe regained its balance within a couple of songs. By "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)," the band had hit a stride. Neil, who was injured a leg muscle last month, was in fine form, although he notably didn't leap about the stage much. However, his voiced seemed to give out a bit during a couple of songs. The band's set included only one song from its albums after 1999's Dr. Feelgood. And while "Sick Love Song," which is off the Crüe's current best-of compilation, is a decent song, it lacks the raw punch of the classic hits. A great deal of Mötley Crüe's mystique is built on its party-band, decadent legend. This show played on that, forgoing a minimal set in favor of a circus tent backdrop frequently highlighted with fire, lights and pyrotechnics, not to mention the exotic dancers dangling from the ceiling and the midget who occasionally MCed the show. But it just wouldn't be the Crüe without the spectacle, and the band delivered it in spades. The band closed out with its version of "Anarchy In The U.K.," delivered with circus freaks, a fire-breathing dancer and smoke. Fifteen years after the band's heyday, Mötley Crüe still lives up to the legend.