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MOTLEY CRUE, THE TEA PARTY In Ottawa, Canada By Andrew Depedro, Ottawa Corespondent Saturday, August 17, 2024 @ 11:18 AM
As the 2024 edition of the Ottawa Bluesfest has long since wound down for the season, few attendees could have ever perceived that the long-running festival, regardless of the number of actual blues performers it's attracted over the years, could have made it to 30 years. And yet, it has continued to attract some of the top names in the music industry over time. Few festivals in this day and age can credit about how they've garnered a larger profile from having FRANK MARINO & MAHOGANY RUSH as headliners compared to having Kanye West billed at the same slot - and the Ottawa Bluesfest has hosted both artists in 1998 and 2015 respectively. And with FRANK MARINO essentially retired from touring and Kanye suddenly branching out into Varg Vikernes territory, it's unlikely that either of them will ever take the RBC Main Stage again. With that said, this year was an ample opportunity for the festival to reach out and attract some unlikely names who were first-time attendees and were within the reasonably-sized festival budget; the aforementioned Ye, as an example, had been the most expensive performer to ever play the festival back then even before the rampant public douchebaggery he's been known for ever since. And with the bulk of headline potential either cancelling shows because of health issues (NEIL YOUNG) or literally dying out (TRAGICALLY HIP and RUSH), or simply garnering too much overexposure (OUR LADY PEACE, BLUE RODEO), compromises must be made.
https://teaparty.com/
For their official Bluesfest debut, many would have assumed that headliners MOTLEY CRUE would be armed with enough firepower to take over a small country especially after NICKELBACK's previous performance a week earlier which had featured about as much pyro as their setlist had ballads; think AIR SUPPLY using RAMMSTEIN's stage setup and that summed up Chad Kroeger and company's show that night, unnecessarily using more improvised fireworks and M-80's than they needed, even earning the band a citation for exceeding noise violations - which, amazingly, was the opposite of the legendary Sunset Strip band's first visit to Lebreton Flats.
Thanks again to Mark Monahan and the Ottawa Bluesfest for allowing for the show to happen and for having me be a part of the organization for half of your 30 years.
https://www.motley.com/
Setlist:
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Fortunately, co-headliners can also be just as adept in bringing in the record numbers just as well as the headliners can. A case in point would be the TEA PARTY, who, by all accounts, weren't immediately seen as the openers for the main act, but seeing as their schedules aligned perfectly, they brewed up to the task. Many KNAC-FM faithful might not remember the Windsor, Ontario-based psychedelic/alternative trio all that well since their mainstream success took off in the early 90's. Frontman/guitarist Jeff Martin had a distinguishably low-sounding baritone voice which drew comparisons ranging from Jim Morrison to Glenn Danzig - followed by lots of scorn from hardcore DOORS and MISFITS fans ever since. Still, their nearly 35-year long career yielded nine studio albums along with the dubious distinction of being the most recognizable Canadian band in Australia, having toured Down Under 12 times throughout their career and prompting Jeff Martin to buy property there long before its globally-known housing crisis took form. They're also one of the last trios in rock after KING'S X and ZEBRA in maintaining the same band lineup for over three decades. Opening with "The River" from 1993's Splendor Solis, Martin, backed by his longtime posse of bassist/multi-instrumentalist Stuart Chatwood and drummer Jeff Burrows, deliver some fine groove-laden psychedelia and straight-up hard rock for the masses. They even delivered some near medleys within their own hits, showcasing their fine array of influences as show with a cover of U2's "With Or Without You" tucked in between their ethereal performance of "Heaven Coming Down" and a neat inclusion of the ROLLING STONES' "Paint It Black" sandwiched between "Sister Awake" - both of which received as much rapturous applause as their performance of their other best-known hits including "Save Me" and "Temptation". With their upcoming 13th Australian tour on the horizon to also commemorate the 25th anniversary of their best-selling album TRIPtych, the TEA PARTY already have a tempest of support from their Canadian base as their Bluesfest performance had demonstrated.
Visual effects were literally center stage for the CRUE's debut that night, starting with a chaotically over-the-top video of a newscaster delivering a rambling speech about global chaos before Nikki Sixx's rumbling bass intro started off the opening number "Primal Scream". With Tommy Lee's madcap tubthumping talents, newcomer John 5's technical riff delivery and frontman Vince Neil's occasional touch-and-go vocals, the quartet, flanked by two giant video screens on both sides of the stage, the CRUE had sounded the most proficient at this performance than at almost any other given moment throughout the past 25 years I've seen them in concert. Vince still often overcompensates for his often-strained vocals when he tries to hit the high octave range on "Too Fast For Love", "Wild Side", "Shout At The Devil", "Live Wire" and the rarely-played "On With The Show" but their performances are otherwise musically and vocally flawless. Even the new track "Dogs Of War" showed some teeth when played live. No overdubs or backing tracks could be heard in their performance unless one counted the nearby River Stage set by British EDM DJ/Vanderpump Rules reality TV star James Kennedy taking place nearby. The CRUE, on the other hand, sounded every bit as raw and raunchy as they did in their early Hollywood years. Certainly, the two dancing models and occasional backing singers totally helped with the vocal augmentation (or at least distracting the crowd whenever there was a risk of Vince's vocals falling flat on another attempted falsetto). Moreso, and perhaps having seen so many TikTok videos and memes all over social media showing his past performances, Vince, it seems, appeared to have taken a new approach to his craft. He was fairly trimmed down by about 30-40 pounds and was even trying to sing in a lower register during the covers medley; "Anarchy In The UK" sounded more energetic than ever considering that their cover was recorded a good three decades ago, "Helter Skelter" was even more vibrant for a cover recorded about four decades ago, and even their first-time attempt at "Blitzkrieg Bop" saw Vince sing flawlessly in a lower range. Meanwhile, despite the highly-publicized departure of original guitarist Mick Mars following his worsening ankylosing spondylitis condition which has made touring impossible for him to do, his replacement John 5 brought his own form of guitar wizardry to the stage. His style was more progressive and precise, avoiding any attempts to replicate his predecessor though his presence was notably missed. And somewhere in between the music, drummer Tommy Lee - who was in fact
making his own second appearance at the Ottawa Bluesfest since his DJing set at the then Electronica stage in 2012 which was coincidentally the same stage that James Kennedy's EDM set was taking place at - couldn't resist a call to much of the female audience to reveal some cleavage for the camera, and much of the female audience answered. He'd even recommended in jest in changing the festival name to Cruesfest, to much rapturous applause and may have relegated the band to blacklist status at the festival alongside Kanye West, but it was a bold way to make an impact on the festival's history. Closing out their performance with "Girls, Girls, Girls" in between parts of their ode to Dr. Feelgood's upcoming 35th anniversary, MOTLEY CRUE brought the power to the music and then some without being any louder than hell than necessary.