Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Poison, Def Leppard, & Motley Crue at B.C. Place Stadium, Sept. 2

By Keir Nicoll

Arriving at B.C. Place Stadium, some opening metal band was finishing at just after 4pm – when the 'metal/hard-rock festival' was slated to being. I saw maybe parts of two of their songs, a they were ripping it up onstage. It was a pretty good introduction to the festival. Some nameless band. I was having  a great time and in my cups already. There was a very interesting cross-section of people. Lots of people wearing black and leather. Some being rowdy. Actually, a lot of nice and really beautiful people. Lots of people rocking rocker aesthetic. A culture I know about but haven't always seen or been into all that much. Maybe it always seemed out of my reach. Anyways.

First up came Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, with panache and deadly rocker looks. “Cherry Bomb,” second song  along got everyone surging along with a great chorus and a searing, ripping solo. With Jett sharply enunciating words and leaning into her vocals. As she slowly moved to the edge of the stage, singing, “Do You Wanna Touch Me?” she had a pink heart on her black guitar. A member of the band – it was hard to see who – was talking about hits, popularity and fake friends and how it influenced their songwriting. There were many guitar licks and wailing solo sections on the huge massive stage that stood as tall as the upper levels of the stadium As Jett held her hands over he head she introduced the band as Dougie Needles, Hal B. Selzer and Michael McDermott and then they played “Everyday People.” Some mouthmusic in there and Joan Jett takes a solo on this one with lots of note-bending! Then, her cover of “Crimson and cover!!” with a rippin' solo as she whispers and croons into the mike. One of the best love songs ever. She played “I hate Myself For Loving You,” suitably aggressively and raucous. She also rocked with swagger. Of course, “I Love Rock n' Roll,” came on, as it just had to be played. Heavy hits with wicked riffs. “Bad Reputation” rocked and kicked-ass! Fast with syncopated beats, as she pointed her finger out to the audience!

After this ennervatinly excellent opening set, Poison came on with an orange flying-V and top hat on guitarist C.C. Deville and lead-singer Bret Michaels wearing a bandana and running around onstage like Axl Rose. Their bassist Bobby Dall and Deville played back-to-back. The band members were all wearing Poison t-shirts which seemed kind of weird. There were green flames of virtuosity. Then they played “Talk Dirty To Me,” with a dancing nude figure projected centre-stage. Pretty rockin', with lead played harmonica, rootsy and footstompin'. Goodly riffs kinda bluesy “You're Mama don't drink you're daddy don't rock n' roll,” Michaels said. Lots of drawn-out soloing with double-stops by Deville. They then played “Skinny Bop”” with a drum solo in fast pulsing beats. Of course, they had to play “Every Rose Has It's Thorn,” with epic soloing and strumming and singing and the lights going on and off and everyone singing along. After the final notes, Michaels let the fans touch his guitar. Pretty sweet. Pretty rare. 

As I was seated in the top row of the back of the stadium, they counted-down with a clock on the huge, giant screens, until Def Leppard came on. They had a cool spacey intro with slow descending guitar notes by Phil Collen. “Take what you want if you like what you see,” intoned lead-singer Joe Elliott, silver-haired and in a good outfit. Some intricate beats. They're all lookin' good, with 30 foot tall images of the lead-singer. They played from Pyromania, singing “Is Anybody Out There?” with epic-spacey, warped opticals at this point. Skeletal light show with lights a-blazing and super-shrieking-shredding guitars. They even had a “Wall Of Death” sign with motorcycles on the wall projected onscreen as Elliott sang about hypocrites. A bassy introduction by Rick Savage of “Love Bites,” finally: the definition of riding love with lies and forever guitars ringing out and shrieking. Light galore and reverbed-out guitar with lightning bolts onscreen with the Elliott and Collen hailing the crowd. Really nice guitar, plucking, with “Hysteria, and epic solo sound and “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” loud and rowdy and anthemic – they got it with that one!

Finally Motley Crue came on. They had good backup singers with everyone looking a little larger than life. It said “The Future Is Ours” on top of the stage in lights. The sound was thundering as usual, with tattooed hands playing the instruments projected on the 30-foot high screens. “Shout At The Devil,” came on second, as they played with raucous abandon. They had lyrics and pentagrams onscreen – the ones that got them reputed as satanists, as they were just looking for something geometrical. Cool video-editing with FX. Then a sexy girl hands Vince Neil a guitar and then dances offstage as he shreds a solo. They still seem to have it going on in spades. Blistering guitars by Mick Mars and hammering drums by Tommy Lee on “Live Wire.” Really cool shaken and distorted video images here, including for “Smokin' In The Boys Room.” It was DOPE. They did a rousing version of “Helter Skelter”, with girls dancing on the top of towers. Also, a cover of “Anarchy in the UK” with a nice drum outro. Tommy Lee talked about whores on Richard's Street (the old days). And then the titties came out, onscreen. For “Home Sweet Home,” the stadium was cell-phone light ridden, with Neil's indomitable falsetto. With chunking beats of scorching guitar wails, “Dr. Feelgood” had the big bass sound of Nikki Sixx of the eary days. Lots of lazer lights and a great rendition. The “Nasty Habbits Women” lifted off with their solos, church windows with dancer silhouettes onscreen. There were two giant statues of mech-women onstage. As they played “Girls, Girls, Girls,” it was as randy as ever, with girls wearing bionic suits taking up a lot of the stage and an electronic beating heart onscreen. And the, at the end, Tommy Lee kicks his drumsticks into the crowd. And at the end, it said onscreen again, “The Future Is Ours.”