MÖTLEY CRÜE TO TOUR WITH WHATEVER IS PASSING FOR KISS THESE DAYS
Mötley Crüe will spend their summer on a co-headlining tour with Kiss, which, I have little doubt, will be one of the highest-grossing tours of the year — it’s a perfect bill. And while I saw Mötley Crüe last summer and can happily vouch that, despite my issues with the way they conduct themselves, the members of that band can still put on a kick-ass show… I have no idea about Kiss.
I haven’t seen that band in years, because, frankly, the combination of Gene Simmons being one of history’s greatest schmucks and the fact Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer wear Ace Frehley and Peter Criss’ make-up is just too much for. It’s not that Frehley and Criss aren’t in the group anymore that bothers me so much — although I don’t think anyone would argue at this point that it would be cooler if they were still in the group. I was willing to go along with the band having other members during the whole Vinnie Vincent/Eric Carr/Bruce Kulick/Eric Singer Round One era. It’s just that either Thayer and Singer need their own “characters” for the whole make-up thing, or the band needs to drop the make-up (again) altogether. Having Thayer and Singer dress like Frehley and Criss is even more insulting than what Dj Slashba is doing in Guns N’ Roses, ’cause at least Slashba doesn’t look exactly like Slash — he’s just aping Slash’s style in a really lame way. Simmons and Paul Stanley clearly think so little of their fans that they’re basically willing to perform with a cover band, and it is, frankly, ridiculous.
ANYWAY, here are the dates if you want ’em, courtesy of Metal Insider. An opener hasn’t been announced but I’d wager it will either end up being someone kinda cool from the same-ish generation of bands, like Sebastian Bach, or someone totally awful who wishes they were from the same-ish generation of bands, like Hinder.
July 20 – Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA
July 21 – Farm Bureau Live – Virginia Beach, VA
July 22 – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion – Raleigh, NC
July 24 – Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood – Atlanta, GA
July 25 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre – Charlotte, NC
July 27 – Cruzan Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL
July 28 – 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheater – Tampa, FL
July 31 – Oak Mountain Amphitheatre – Pelham, A\L
August 3 – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion – Woodlands, TX
August 4 – Gexa Energy Paviliion – Dallas, TX
August 7 – Hard Rock Casino Presents: The Pavilion – Albuquerque, NM
August 8 – Comfort Dental Amphitheater – Englewood, CO
August 10 – Ashley Furniture Home Store Pavilion – Phoenix, AZ
August 11 – Mandalay Bay Arena – Las Vegas, NV
August 12 – Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre – Chula Vista, CA
August 14 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Irvine, CA
August 16 – Sleep Train Pavilion – Concord, MA
August 18 – White River Amphitheatre – Auburn, WA
August 19 – Sleep Country Amphitheater – Ridgefield, CT
August 24 – Rock Jam – Grand Junction, CO
August 26 – BOK Center – Tulsa, OK
August 27 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre – Maryland Heights, MO
August 29 – Minnesota State Fair – Minneapolis, MN
August 31 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
September 1 – Klipsch Music Center – Noblesville, IN
September 2 – First Niagara Pavilion – Burgettstown, PA
September 4 – Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
September 5 – DTE Energy Music Theatre – Clarkston, MI
September 7 – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre – Tinley Park, IL
September 8 – Alpine Valley Music Theater – East Troy, MI
September 11 – Allegan County Fair – Allegan, MI
September 12 – Blossom Music Center – Cuyahoga Falls, OH
September 13 – Molson Amphitheatre – Toronto, ON
September 15 – Darien Lake PAC – Darien Lake, NY
September 16 – Comcast Center – Mansfield, MA
September 18 – Toyota Pavilion – Scranton, PA
September 19 – Susquehanna Bank Center – Camden, NJ
September 21 – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
September 22 – Nikon at Jones Beach – Wantagh, NY
September 23 – Comcast Theater – Hartford, CT
-AR
