The Illustrated Motley Crue Gigs: 1981-2

Click on the red highlighted dates to watch & hear footage related to the Motley gig. Gig list
comes from Paul Miles’ Chronological Crue Gigography.

1981-04-24......Starwood, Los Angeles, CA (2 shows)
1981-04-25......Starwood, Los Angeles, CA (2 shows)
1981-05-12......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-05-15......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-05-25......Starwood, Los Angeles, CA
1981-05-29......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-05-30......Gahr Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA
1981-06-06......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA,
"Anywhere, USA" Northern California Tour:
1981-06-16......Lyman Gilmore School Auditorium,
Nevada City, CA
1981-06-18......Nevada Theatre, Nevada City, CA
1981-06-19......The Tommyknacker, Grass Valley, CA
1981-06-20......The Tommyknacker, Grass Valley, CA 

1981-06-25......Cabo's, Chico, CA
1981-07-09......Starwood, Los Angeles, CA
1981-07-24......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-08-01......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-06......The Barn, Alpine Village, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-15......Excelsior Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-23......Excelsior Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-28......American Bandstand, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-29......Centerxx, Los Angeles, CA
1981-09-03......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
1981-09-04......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
1981-09-09......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-09-11......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-09-12......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-10-02......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1981-10-03......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
1981-10-13......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-10-30......Solari Ballroom, Los Angeles, CA
1981-11-12......Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
1981-11-19......?, San Francisco, CA
1981-11-20......?, Sacramento, CA
1981-12-11......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-12-12......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-12-18......Radio City, Anaheim, CA
1981-12-25......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1981-12-26......Oxnard Auditorium, Oxnard, CA
1981-12-31......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA

1982-01-15......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-01-16......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-01-19......Perkin's Palace, Pasadena, CA
1982-02-12......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-02-13......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-02-14......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-03-13......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1982-04-01......The Rock, San Francisco, CA
1982-04-08......Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
1982-04-19......Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA
1982-05-07......Civic Auditorium, Glendale, CA
 

Crüesing Through Canada Tour:
1982-06-04......The Wayside, Lloydminster, AB, Canada
1982-06-05......Centennial Auditorium, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
1982-06-07......Scandals, Edmonton, AB, Canada
1982-06-08......Scandals, Edmonton, AB, Canada
1982-06-09......Scandals, Edmonton, AB, Canada
1982-06-10......Riviera Rock Room, Edmonton, AB, Canada
1982-06-11......Riviera Rock Room, Edmonton, AB, Canada

1982-07-22......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1982-07-23......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1982-08-??......Magic Mountain, Valencia, CA
1982-08-13......Showcase Theatre, Corona, CA

1982-08-30......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1982-09-09......The Keystone, Palo Alto, CA
1982-09-10......The Keystone, Berkeley, CA
1982-09-11......The Stone, San Francisco, CA
1982-09-24......Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
1982-09-25......Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

1982-10-29......Santa Rosa Veterans Building, Santa Rosa, CA
1982-10-30......Perkin's Palace, Pasadena, CA
1982-10-31......Concord Pavilion, San Francisco, CA
1982-11-17......Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
1982-11-19......Perkin's Palace, Pasadena, CA (8pm)
1982-11-19......Perkin's Palace, Pasadena, CA (11pm)
1982-12-31......Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA

Tommy Lee Part 5: The Dr. Feelgood Drum Solo

As far as awesome concert spectacles go Tommy Lee was not likely to top the spinning drum set stunt from the Crue’s 1987 tour. He sure came close though with the Dr. Feelgood drum solo of 1989-1990: on a track, suspended over the heads of the audience, Tommy & attached drum set would make their way around the arena while he played along with snatches of some of his favorite Rock songs.

The solo culminated with Tommy taking a long bungee jump off his drum set, dangling just above the audience. One night, a miscommunication with his roadie almost resulted in Mr. Lee cracking his noggin’ open like a cocoanut.

(from Chronological Crue)

‘7/4/90
At the end of his flying drum solo in New Haven, Connecticut, Tommy descends as usual on his bungee rope but has a feeling his roadie will not pull the brake on it in time. He panics and lets go of the rope to reach his foot strap, turning him upside down. When the rope’s brake is pulled on his twenty-foot plummet, Tommy’s head cracks into the head of a person in the audience, before he hits the ground head-first and blacks out. He gets taken to hospital for observation of his concussion, which not only signals the end of this show, but forces the cancellation of another show.’

Just as the 1987 drum solo was featured in the video for ‘Wild Side,’ Motley made sure those of us who didn’t see them on their massive Dr. Feelgood tour at least got a peek of Tommy’s latest trick.

The Best of Motley Crue Vol. 2–December 1991-Part 1

 

This baby came out just before we heard of the Vince split in 1992. The folks at Superstar Special gave us this Motley tribute as well as ‘Other Action Metal’ with Anthrax, G n’ R & L.A. Guns getting in on said action (only the Crue segment is featured here).

Pin-up mania with shots from the Dr. Feelgood era.

We don’t learn much about the tribute from editor Mike Greenblatt’s note but I know one of the main sources for this edition was Metal Edge Magazine. I already had several of the pin-ups & articles from when they were originally published.

The following trip through the Crue years found its way into several Motley tribute magazines.

 

Fun to see the Crue with a bunch of famous & not-so-famous ‘80s figures. The bad boys of Rock knew how to make friends.

With the success of Dr. Feelgood you saw the boys rub shoulders with more famous & iconic celebrities like Sylvester Stallone, Arsenio Hall & Willie Nelson.

Above is a solid block of Sixx. Nikki quotations through the 1980s & then pics of the man from the Feelgood & Shout At The Devil eras from before Nikki learned to eat his food with a fork. 

[Part II can be seen HERE]

Crue Carnival Memorabilia

 

The summer would bring the carnival into our sleepy town & the metal heads would go to the game booths to throw darts, spin wheels, shoot water & pellet guns & sink basketballs just to get our hands on some cheap Rock memorabilia. Pins, posters, mirrors, hats, flags, jewelry, anything with our favorite band’s image or logo would do.

Never mind that this stuff was made cheaply (see above, nice pentagram!), it was some of the only music merchandise available to us poor kids.

The mirrors were always a prized possession. Although most of them were just a plain graphic on some old recycled/cut-up door mirror or something, there were usually ones of slightly higher quality that would cost more to win or buy. Memory tells me that this is where the below Too Fast For Love mirror came from.