All bad things must come to and end..
18:17
On Tuesday I went to see Mötley Crüe on their Final Tour, it was one hell of a night!
The usual pre-gig routine happened which involved getting home from college, getting ready, and stressing over if you'll forget something. Followed by getting food, and setting off to the venue. In my case, I had to make my way down to Manchester.
I arrived in Manchester pretty much bang on 7pm, when the doors opened. Usually this would have panicked me as I'm one of those that likes to get there a bit early (not so much 7 hours early but I have done that on a few occasions), but luckily there wasn't much queues given it was an arena with many different entrances. And plus, I had come from Leeds so I have to be realistic really.
As soon as we got in we looked at merch, and I had to decide over a Motley Crue top or an Alice Cooper top (who was supporting). After the struggle of deciding, especially under pressure due to the mass queues, I settled on an Alice Cooper t-shirt, mostly because I already had a Motley Crue one. I then ran to the toilet 'just in case' and put our stuff away in the cloakroom. I say cloakroom, but really, as it was an arena they just had some random bordered off area for them. It was free though!
Then the stress of getting a good spot began. As we had standing tickets (of course) and as it was already past 7pm I didn't have too much hope of getting an amazing spot. Especially as we ended up going down the wrong stairs at first. But we finally got down onto the floor and surprisingly the crowd wasn't that full at that time. I mean, it was busy, but plenty of space to move in between and get a good spot. I ended up much closer to the front than expected, especially for an arena! I would have been happy anywhere to be honest though, atmosphere at arenas are amazing no matter where abouts you are.
After a few awkward encounters, and the over excitement, it was time for the legend that is Alice Cooper to take the stage. It was a surreal moment when he came on, the atmosphere was amazing and you can tell everyone else was as amazed as each other. He was very theatrical, more so than I was expecting. He even did some magic type tricks.. involving him disappearing and being 'beheaded', which I couldn't get my head around. But I guess that's the point! It was definitely more than a band just performing, it was a full on show in itself. He had some cool effects too such as bubble machines, balloons that went into the crowd, and of course pyro. He played around 13 songs in total, obviously including classics such as Poison, Feed My Frankenstein and he closed on Schools Out. Overall he was amazing, and you wouldn't have thought it was a support act, could have definitely headlined on his own tour.
Then the usual crowd moving happened between sets. Even though it got much busier, I ended up getting even closer so I guess that's a plus. Then at long last it was time for Motley Crue to play for me and for everyone in Manchester arena for the last time ever. We knew when they were about to come on because of the song that was playing just before they entered the stage (So Long, Farewell). Then the lights went off and they hit the stage for the final time. It was an amazing opening, they kicked things off instantly with Girls, Girls, Girls and everyone went crazy. They played a 18 song set, with plenty of classics. Mick Mars had an amazing solo, and Tommy Lee had an insane drum solo on a rollercoaster. Meaning he was drumming whilst his platform made it's way across the rollercoaster, whilst his platform was also spinning upside down. At one point he was above the crowd upside down drumming, talk about defying gravity. He even drummed the entire way back too, it was incredible. Of course the guys also had their fair share of pyro and confetti.
Nikki Sixx gave an inspiring speech just before they played Anarchy in the U.K which was an amazing moment. This was also when a whole cup of beer fell on my head. So that was the one downside of the night as I practically drowned (not quite, but you know what I mean), and my fringe was no longer on point. I recorded a few videos which I'll include in this post (but i'll stop myself from posting too much because I get carried away). They played Dr. Feelgood and Kickstart My Heart just before their encore, and as it was meant to be the 'ending' it was an awesome way to end. Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil went on some cherrypickers into the crowd, and there was tons and tons of confetti and fireworks. They came back on a few minutes later, but they went on to the acoustic stage in the middle of the floor. As we were so close to the front we ended up basically running to the acoustic stage to get a good spot for Home Sweet Home. I got a bit emotional at this point to be honest as it kicked in that it'll be the last ever time I get to see them play, and even more so their last song. There was an amazing atmosphere and I definitely won't ever forget it! They couldn't have ended it better. Nikki kept giving out as many picks as possible but unfortunately I didn't get one, and wasn't really feeling up to fighting some grown men for one to be honest. But I did grab myself some confetti as a souvenir, of course, no matter how sad I looked trying to get some.
I left the venue already sad that it was over, the gig was almost too good. But that's a good thing, because it was the last time I'll ever see them. It was one hell of a way to do their Final Tour, but I guess that's what you'd expect from a band that's being going 34 years. I feel so lucky to have witnessed that night and it'll always be one of my favourite gigs, and I think we all know I've been to way too many so that's saying something.
I spent the journey home back to Leeds listening to them, watching my videos and looking at my photos, a little bit soon eh? Oh well, I guess it's time to let the post-concert depression kick in.
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