Hairball’s Stadium Tour Recap and Review, Milwaukee Tour Stop
I somehow managed to fall ass first into possibly the coolest thing I've ever been to this weekend when I got the chance to attend Stadium Tour. You should know, that I'm 24, and I've listened to classic rock nearly exclusively for my whole life, but I've never been to a classic rock concert. I couldn't have asked for a better first.
If you don't know, Stadium Tour is a tour of basically a third of all of our music libraries; Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett are all on the billing.
We arrived and found our badass seats, and caught Classless Act, the group of young kids who I swear were pulled straight from a time machine to the heydays of hair metal. They played as the stadium filled in with fans waiting to hear their favorite bands.
The band had the look, the sound, and the energy you would've expected from the rest of the billed acts had you gone to see them in 1987. The group opened with their high-energy song, This is For You.
Joan Jett
Joan came out with the Blackhearts, and immediately took control of the entire audience.
Much of the audience was still working on sitting, and I imagine for many, they came in just in time to get the ball rolling with I Love Rock and Roll, and 40,000+ people screaming the lyrics to that is a great start to the night.
While commanding the audience, playing through her hits like Bad Reputation, Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah), I Hate Myself For Loving You, and even throwing back to her time with The Runaways with Cherry Bomb, she proved that she's still, and will always be the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll."
Poison
Poison's always had a soft spot for me because it's a shared love of my mom and me, plus I was pretty little when Bret Michaels was on Celebrity Apprentice in its heyday, so you bet I've had my fair share of Troparocka Diet Snapple.
These guys were just straight-up genuine, and you could tell they were enjoying every second of their show. Bret gave his mom a shoutout, who apparently lives in the area and was at the show.
C.C. DeVille was an absolute highlight for this set. I always knew the guy could play, but he showed off his skills during his guitar solo, and even did an homage to the late great Eddie Van Halen.
Def Leppard
Okay, these guys blew me away. You hear the original vocals of these songs, and you see the gray hair on the stage, and figure there's no way this is going to sound very good. Then, Joe Elliot starts singing and blows any notion you thought you had away.
He sounds just as good now, as I imagine he did if you went and saw him in the '80s. The band as a whole sounds just like the album. You hear the stories of Mutt Lange making them run through the songs over and over and over in the studio, and now, it all makes sense why. It was flawless.
Motley Crue
Motley came with more stage effects than any other band of the night. Lights, lasers, smoke, dancing women, moving stage pieces, fire, swinging microphones, the list goes on and on.
Vince looked and sounded healthier than he has in the last year I've been watching him prepare for this tour. He looks like he's lost some weight, and his vocals just outright sounded better than I recently saw.
Mick Mars, bless him, can still shred like it's nobody's business. He doesn't move too far, he doesn't jump, but he'll melt your face off with a sick intro or solo.
Nikki Sixx still looks, moves, and acts like a rock star.
Then, there's Tommy Lee. He commands control of the band with his powerful drumming, which is boosted in the mix to make your eyes blur with every kick drum. He's rock solid, now that his ribs have healed, or whatever his ailment was.
Lee also is his same, raunchy self that we all remember. He addresses the crowd before he sits down at the piano to play Home Sweet Home, and well, of the two-minute video, only about 30 seconds aren't bleeped.
He asks if this is Milwaukee because he could've been fooled.
"I haven't seen ONE f*cking pair of t**ties yet. Not ONE!"
He then goads the crowd until some women start to flash him.
Overall, this was a monumental concert that surely will be in the minds of many for a very, very long time.
If you have the chance to see this tour, do not miss it.