Alice Cooper performs at the Vector Arena. Photo / Chris Loufte
Alice Cooper performs at the Vector Arena. Photo / Chris Loufte
It can't be easy following Alice Cooper onto the stage - especially when an executioner has just pashed his freshly severed head.
That's not all that made the shock rocker a tough act to follow during Saturday night's opening stint for Motley Crue: during a rowdy Feed My Frankenstein, the 67-year-old veteran escaped from a straitjacket, strangled a nasty nurse, then transformed into a giant monster that hulked around the stage.
Alice Cooper performing at the Vector Arena. Photo / Chris Loufte
It was pure gothic theatre, with Cooper delivering songs like Poison and Welcome to My Nightmare alongside shopping trolleys full of dolls parts and band mates straight out of a horror film.
When he closed with School's Out, as he stabbed giant balloons with a hand knife while bubbles blew over his head, it was a reminder that Cooper did all of this before Marilyn Manson and Slipknot - and he's still doing it better. Long may he reign.
Motley Crue's bare boned stage show didn't come close to matching Cooper's - New Zealand weren't treated to the full Crue package, with overseas shows getting plenty of pyro and a drum solo that sees Tommy Lee flailing his sticks while flying over the crowd.
That was a shame: this, the Crue's first New Zealand show, is also their last, with their legally binding "cessation of touring agreement" meaning they'll quit all band activity after this tour is done at the end of the year.
Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil performing at the Vector Arena. Photo / Chris Loufte
That means there was a certain spectacle missing from their otherwise perfectly perfunctory display of '80s Hollywood hard rock that celebrates the simple things in life - mostly women.
Yes, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars and Lee waited all of one song before they brought their "hot girls" onto the stage, two stripper types who grinded their way through the thrilling sludge of Wild Side and continued to make regular appearances throughout the show.
There are few bands that could get away with this rampant display of sexism, but the Crue come from a time when this type of behaviour wasn't just acceptable, it was the norm, and their show was a debauched celebration of a 35-year career that has been full of excess.
It was an exhaustive setlist too, with a few surprises - covers of Anarchy in the UK and Smokin' in the Boys' Room, for example - delivered alongside their stadium sludge rock hits, including Dr Feelgood, Girls, Girls, Girls and Primal Scream.
But there were some nice touches between the obviously polished show, like the smiles on the faces of Neil, Sixx and Mars as they jammed side-by-side during rare slow song Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away), Mars' frenetic guitar playing and bonkers solo, and Sixx's surprise stage dive - complete with bass guitar - during Kickstart My Heart as glitter and streamers blew over the crowd.
Using a small stage in the middle of Vector Arena for an encore of Home Sweet Home - the Crue's sickly sweet and simplistic power ballad from 1985 - was a surprisingly short, and slightly cheesy, way to say goodbye.
Motley Crue frontman, Vince Neil, performs at the Vector Arena. Photo / Chris Loufte
But as the foursome walked off to Frank Sinatra's My Way, with a skip in their step and plenty of high fives from their devoted fans, you have to admit it was a nice way for the Crue to say goodbye.
Let's just hope they don't give Alice Cooper any ideas about retiring early.
Motley Crue & Alice Cooper Where: Vector Arena, Auckland When: Saturday, May 9
