Patrick McDonald
HIGH-octane firepower, heavy metal machinery and outrageous manoeuvres are what V8 Supercar racing, KISS and Motley Crue are all about.
The two US rock bands provided the perfect pyrotechnic climax and soundtrack of fist-pumping, high-revving anthems to cap off the Clipsal 500 Adelaide weekend of motor sport.
With titles like Crue’s high-speed Kickstart My Heart and KISS’s classic car-crash opening song Detroit Rock City, they could hardly go wrong.
The concert delivered all the spectacle the 40,000 race fans who packed the parklands hoped for – and more, with KISS actually setting fire to the lighting rig, causing a momentary interruption.
For sheer stage antics, the Crue took the cake, with Tommy Lee’s drum kit mounted on a circular rollercoaster track and rotating above the stage, Nikki Sixx’s bass doubling as a flame-thrower, and a trio of leather-clad dancing girls bouncing from bungy cords.
There was so much going on at once, the crowd hardly knew where to look.
The Crue are still the world’s oldest juvenile delinquents, with a stage vocabulary that puts Tourette’s syndrome to shame.
Frontman Vince Neil was in fine voice and worked the crowd relentlessly, while guitarist Mick Mars – looking much healthier than on his last visit here – turned out some thundering solos.
Hits like Shout at the Devil, Same Ol’ Situation, Dr Feelgood and Girls, Girls, Girls accelerated the audience’s pulse rates and left it fully primed for the main act.
KISS descended onto the stage from the lighting rig, with Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Tommy Thayer striking the band’s traditional choreographed guitar formation, then delivering the message to Shout It Out Loud.
Sadly, “Starchild” Stanley’s voice has been shredded since he was last in town five years ago, failed to hit the high notes and kept breaking. Perhaps it wouldn’t sound so hoarse if he didn’t insist on screaming out long introductions and saved his efforts for the songs.
But what he lacked in the vocal department, he made up for with energy and showmanship, flying out over the crowd on a wire to deliver a ballistic rendition of Love Gun from the lighting tower.
There was new material, too, from the Monster album. Hell or Hallelujah updated the band’s classic 1970s feel, while “Spaceman” Thayer’s song Outta This World turned into an impressive guitar-and-drums battle with “Catman” Eric Singer, complete with rocket-shooting guitar and a bazooka.
Simmons still does all his “Demon” stunts: Breathing fire in Firehouse, spitting blood during his bass solo, and flying to the rafters to sing God of Thunder – which has been slowed back down like the studio recording, rather than the familiar fast live version.
Black Diamond provided the usual false ending, before KISS returned with a trio of singalong encores.
Lick It Up included a jam on The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again, I Was Made For Lovin’ You had everyone declaring they “can’t get enough”, and the ultimate show-closer Rock and Roll All Nite ended the night in a guitar-smashing spectacle with the band raised out over the crowd on cherry-pickers in a shower of white confetti and fireworks.