LIVE REVIEW: Dögs of War (Mötley Crüe) at The Underworld, Camden, London

Around a week before this show, Mötley Crüe issued a poster advertising an up-and-coming show for the band Dögs of War at The Underworld in Camden, London. With this gig occurring one day before Mötley Crüe’s joint headline concert with Def Leppard, rumours circulated that Dögs of War were Mötley Crüe.

Mötley Crüe fans then rushed to buy tickets. The gig sold out instantaneously. Acting upon a rumour is not always suitable; in this case, it was. Four hundred and fifty lucky people saw a legendary rock band who filled 90,000 capacity venues in a small intimate setting that did not involve queuing for hours in advance and being beholden to a screen to recognise the band members.

As soon as the audience entered the doors of The Underworld, the excited and impressively dressed crowd began non-stop chanting “Crüe”, “Crüe”, “Crüe”. Except for guitarist Mick Mars, who has now retired from touring with Mötley Crüe, the three other original band members vocalist Vince Neil, bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, all graced the stage with John 5 taking on Mars’ duties.

Both band and crowd energy were intense. Neither side did not need to warm up the other. The vocals were slightly quiescent when Mötley Crüe opened with “Wild Side” after Neil subtly tapped the microphone; the sound engineers instantly remedied this problem. The energy continued to elevate as the band played “Shout at the Devil”.

Classics “Too Fast For Love”, “Live Wire”, and “Looks That Kill” followed before the lights went out. John 5 broke into an impressive solo guitar performance before being re-joined by the other three members to perform a medley of covers, including “Helter Skelter”, “Anarchy In The UK”, and “Blitzkrieg Pop”. The remainder of the sixty-minute set included “Dr Feelgood” and “Girls, Girls, Girls”, which played out with “Kickstart My Heart”.

Whilst there were no flamethrower guitars or fireworks, the band and crowd upheld the tradition of attempting to raise the devil. Throughout several songs, a female wearing an extremely short black mini-skirt with a black bra-top with the venue name written upon it danced seductively during several tracks, including “Wild Side”, “Looks That Kill”, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, and “Dr Feelgood”. The crowd respected the dancer’s boundaries. The only person touched was John 5 when he moved into the crowd and turned around to receive a couple of gentle taps on his heinie during “Dr Feelgood”. Apart from Sixx expectorating bottled water onto the stage, nothing was shocking or outrageous to report.

This show was never about creating newsworthy controversy; it was about giving fans what they wanted, as deftly concluded by Neil, “You guys like the old shit”. That is what fans got, and they loved every moment.