Notorious 80’s rock band Motley Crue held a press conference at The Avalon in Hollywood on April 15th to announce their plans for Crue Fest. Dubbed "The Loudest Show on Earth," Crue Fest will of course feature Motley Crue as the headlining act, as well as fellow rockers, Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Nikki Sixx‘s other project, Sixx: A.M. and alternative rock band Trapt.
Rock ‘n Roll
Before The Crue treated fans and the press to a two-song set, original band mates Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx fielded a few questions. True to form, the band let it be known that this tour is going to be all about rock ‘n roll and all that it entails.
Nikki Sixx declared, "We are so excited not only to headline our own annual summer festival, but also to be able to share the stage with the next generation of great rock bands. There’s not a lot Motley Crue hasn’t done, so to say this summer’s festival is going to be about rock ‘n roll excess is an understatement."
Drummer, Tommy Lee echoed this sentiment by explaining, "This is something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Hopefully this transpires into something like an Ozzfest that carries over for years and years. I can tell you one thing for sure, we are going to have more fun than humans are allowed to f@#king have!"
Hitting the Road
Produced by Live Nation, Crue Fest will kick off on July 1st and stop in over 40 major North American cities by the end of August. Not only will Motley Crue play the classic rock tunes they are famous for, but they will also introduce new tracks from their upcoming album, "Saints of Los Angeles." The new album, which drops June 17th, is sort of a lyrical telling of the band’s history.
As frontman Vince Neil shared, "It represents us. It’s Motley Crue. It’s growing up in Los Angeles – sights, sounds and smells of Los Angeles and it’s the first record in about ten years that we put out together as a real studio album and it’s really worth the wait. The songs are amazing, the stories are amazing. The songs are kinda based on the stories in [the band’s autobiography] The Dirt and you can actually read the lyrics and go ‘Oh, I know where they screwed that up,’ so it’s a great album. It’s all rock ‘n roll and I can’t wait to get out and tour."
Live at The Avalon
After the brief press conference ended, Motley Crue took to the stage to play "Kick Start My Heart" and their new single entitled, "Saints of Los Angeles." While the latter starts off recalling The Crue of old, sounding a lot like, "Too Young to Fall in Love," it quickly jump kicks into the present with a little help from Josh Todd of Buckcherry, Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach, James Michael from Sixx: A.M. and Chris Brown from Trapt who provide background vocals on the track and who eventually joined the former hair band on stage.
Saints of Los Angeles
The packed house at The Avalon were also treated to the video of "Saints of Los Angeles," which further proved that Motley has moved away from their 80’s past. Not as flashy and slick as their popular videos from yesteryear, "Saints" is a stylized black and white video set against the intimate feel of The Whiskey A Go Go instead of featuring them playing to a packed stadium crowd. Of course, The Crue still has sexy, scantily clad women in their video, because lets face it, they haven’t changed that much!
The single and video for "Saints of Los Angeles" were released the same day as the press conference, with the downloads already being made available for purchase on iTunes. The single is also available as a download for the Rock Band video game, which is an industry first.
Still Going Strong
They’ve been rocking hard since the early 80’s and Motley Crue proved they can still deliver a top-notch performance, as evidenced by all the banging heads and horns being thrown up in the crowd. But even though they put on a high energy, hard rocking set, when asked by a member of the press how the band feels being around the next generation of rock royalty, Mick Mars quietly replied, "I feel really old."
Tickets and Tour
Tickets for Crue Fest will go on sale this Friday or Saturday, depending on the market and can be purchased at www.livenation.com. If you can’t wait that long, go to www.therockvine.com for immediate purchase.
For more information on Motley Crue and Crue Fest go to www.motley.com or www.myspace.com/motleycrue.
Photos by Lori Wilson
