The show started at 7 with the New York Dolls. It was a real shame that since most people were still out in the parking lot partying and getting ready for Poison and the Crue, that more people weren't in the venue to see this band. The original Dolls, singer David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, were backed by a three-piece band that put on one hell of a rock and roll show. Their forty-five minute set ended with my favorite "Personality Crisis." I'll have to ask Bobby from Tranzfusion if they can cover this one; I'm sure they'd rock it.
  After a very short set change, Poison stormed the stage, celebrating their 25th anniversary (and to think I'm seeing this band as an opening act - Yikes!) With the crowd now flocking to their seats, the band opens with "Look What The Cat Dragged In." In only a one-hour set they crammed in as many hits as they could from their 25-year career, even throwing in covers of "We're An American Band" (with a salute to our servicemen and women) and "Your Mama Don't Dance" before ending their set with "Talk Dirty To Me," to which the crowd screamed every word while flames shot up from the pyro machines at the back of the stage. For their finale they played "Nothing But A Good Time."
  When the headlining Motley Crue took the stage, they took the audience by surprise when suddenly the stage erupted with a huge bang and the curtain fell and Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, supporting their 30th anniversary, opened up with "Wild Side." The band even brought two strippers who pranced around the stage, grinding and sliding down some poles, and even singing a few songs with them. Their one-hour, forty-five-minute set covered all the hits the fans wanted to hear. While Neil ran all around the stage, Mars would mostly stay in the back, except for a few solos front-stage. Sixx was busy using a new microphone concept: instead of the mic being planted onstage, his was suspended from the rafters. Next up was "Saint's of Los Angeles," "Live Wire," "Shout at the Devil," "Same ol' Situation (S.O.S.),” "Primal Scream" and "Home Sweet Home" with Tommy Lee playing the piano and running back and forth to his drum kit. Then “Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away).”
  Meanwhile, Tommy Lee has always had the killer drum rigs, so on this tour he has outdone himself again calling it the Holy-Roller Drum Kit. It was attached to a giant circular structure on the stage. When strapped into this thing, Tommy and the kit started rolling up one side and then the other while playing the drums; and then it stopped at the top and he was playing upside down. Then he did three complete laps around the circle before he stopped at the bottom and asked the crowd, “Does anyone want to take a ride? I have an empty seat!” He invited a stranger from the crowd to strap in and join him. The two gleefully circled the rails a few times as Tommy pounded his drum kit to the sounds of the Ohio Players’ "Roller Coaster." It certainly was the highlight of the night. I'll have to ask Bobby on drums from Tranzfusion about this act. Next was Mars’ guitar solo that did not last very long and went into "Looks That Kill," "Dr. Feelgood," "Too Young to Fall in Love," "Too Fast for Love," "Girl's, Girl's, Girl's," and their famous cover of the Brownsville Station's "Smokin' In The Boy's Room," before ending their show with "Kickstart My Heart." I'm not sure why this was the last song and no encore, but it defintely was a loud show and one that took us back to the 1980's. This Motley Crue and Poison Anniversary Tour is actually a very good bill that should do extremely well this summer. And the New York Dolls are the perfect appetizer to whet the crowd's thirst for the main course of rock. Please check the www.coconuttimes.com website for more photos of Poison and the New York Dolls.
– Gary Crouthamel, Concert Photojournalist