Even though MÖTLEY CRÜE was one of the bands I grew up listening to, I’d only got the chance to see them once before this final tour. And it had been precisely in Milan, in 2009. That was also the only time in a concert where I truly feared for my life – the commotion was such that if I had fallen down, I’d have been trampled to death – so even if the standing tickets weren’t already sold out, I’d have bought seated tickets anyway. Not that I stayed seated anyway – I stood up as soon as “So Long, Farewell” echoed (yes, that song from “The Sound Of Music” movie). The people behind me did the same, so don’t worry, I didn’t block anyone’s view.

The first song performed was “Girls Girls Girls” and a couple of them – one blonde, one brunette – danced from one side of the stage to the other. But they weren’t an “adornment” just for that song; they weren’t even just dancers, but backup singers as well and would return several times throughout the show. Of course it would take a lot more than that to cover up Vince Neil‘s faulty voice, but hey, it wouldn’t be MÖTLEY CRÜE if Vince didn’t go out of tune and/or breath here and there. 

“Smokin’ In The Boys Room” (its intro revamped with Gary Glitter‘s “Rock’N’Roll pt. 2”) is more MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s than its original performers’ (BROWNSVILLE STATION) and a mandatory song in every CRÜE show. But the SEX PISTOLS‘ cover of “Anarchy In The U.K.” – which they recorded for the “Decade Of Decadence 1981-1991” gratest hits album -, now that was a nice surprise.

Can’t remember exactly when Nikki Sixx took the mic to address the audience (even though he wrote “Mutherfucker Of The Year” about himself, it wasn’t then – that I’m sure of). He said that it had been really hard to choose the places to play this final tour (“so many places, so little time”) but that Milan had been an obvious choice. What thrilled the crowd though was when he said that his father was Italian and so he felt like we were all brothers. He then asked us to light up our cellphones and I believe that only those without such app didn’t do so.

There were fireworks exploding all the time, but in “Shout Of The Devil” Nikki‘s bass became a flamethrower. And the suspended pentagram that was his mic also caught fire.

But the most spectacular thing – with Carl Orff‘s “O Fortuna” as a most appropriate intro – was, with no doubt, the rollercoaster track that Tommy Lee‘s drumkit rode on during his solo. Rode and span, as the drumkit would roll over itself during the course. Tommy admitted that doing that had been a dream since he was a kid.

After the drum solo, came the guitar one. The only thing I have to say is that ankylosing spondylitis may have frozen Mick Mars‘ lower spine, but his fingers move pretty swiftly.

The band bowed goodbye after “Kickstart My Heart” and returned for the encore on a different stage – a kind of boxing ring was standing in the middle of the crowd and that’s where they said goodbye for real with “Home Sweet Home”, while the videoscreens played footage of several of their videoclips. When it was all over, Frank Sinatra‘s “My Way” played softly on the venue’s speakers.

A few years back, way before this final tour was announced, I saw Nikki on VH1 saying he didn’t want the CRÜE to drag themselves like so many other bands did; that he would like them to go while they were still on top. Well Mr. Sixx, as far as my opinion is concerned, MÖTLEY CRÜE did go down in a blaze of glory.

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