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The Return Of The Carnival Of Sins Indeed: Motley Crue/Tesla/Extreme Concert Review
- Date of Concert: Tuesday, August 25th, 2026
- Location of Concert: Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, OH
I have been a Motley Crue fan since I was 16 (44 as I type this).
I love almost every song they have made and own all the albums.
After KISS and The Rolling Stones, they are probably my favorite band ever.
After seeing them for the 8th time in 2015 on their “Final Tour” (review here), I thought maybe I was never going to see them again.
Well, fast forward a few years and Motley were back recording new music for their movie biopic The Dirt (based on their book of the same name).
Then, a stadium tour was announced featuring Motley, Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett & The Black Hearts., which unfortunately, got postponed for three years straight due to the pandemic.
I bought my ticket in 2019 because I was not going to miss this show.
2020 and 2021 came and it didn’t happen, and even though it finally happened in 2022, I kid you not I finally got the dreaded COVID-19 the day of the show so I had to stay home. It ultimately wasn’t the end of the word (I got all my vaccines.) but that first day was not great. Anyway, I was not able to attend. Even though I had seen all of these bands before, I still hated missing it and I’m sure I would have had a great time. But alas.
Anyway, at this point, Motley were back touring (almost all farewell tours end up not being farewell, which is fine) basically every year and released some more music a few years ago (review here) and when this tour, The Return Of The Carnival Of Sins (referencing their 2005 Carnival Of Sins tour, which I saw, review here), I did not intend to miss it. And having Tesla and Extreme on the bill was a great bonus too.
I consider the venue the show was at, Riverbend Music Center just outside downtown Cincinnati, OH, to be like a home away from home. I have seen many shows there, including 7 other Motley shows and I always love it.
And I loved this show too.
I even wore the Motley shirt I bought at the 05 show too. I’m not as skinny as I was, but it still fits and is in good condition.
Extreme started the show shortly before 6:30 PM and like when I saw them before in 2024 (review here) they rocked.
The band includes 3/4 the original lineup (singer Gary Cherone, guitarist/vocalist Nuno Bettencourt, bassist Pat Badger) and their drummer since the 2000s Kevin Figueredo.
Along with a bunch of their songs, Extreme closed their set with a medley of Ozzy Osbourne (1948-2025) songs. Nuno played at Ozzy’s farewell concert and was one of the highlights of the day with his brilliant playing. Great tribute to the late great Ozzy Osbourne.
What can I say? Extreme rock. More Than Words is one of their biggest songs (a ballad) but there is a lot more to them than that. They are a very rocking/funky sounding band. If you don’t know more of their music, seek it out.
And yes Gary sang for Van Halen. Many don’t like that period, but I think Gary sang great in the band, as he does in Extreme. And he’s a very animated frontman too.
Again, Extreme rocks.
Now to Tesla. This was the 3rd time I had seen them. They are always solid and probably one of the better bands to see live because again, they are always solid.
3/5 the original lineup (singer Jeff Keith, guitarist Frank Hannon, bassist Brian Wheat) along with longtime guitarist Dave Rude (since the 2000s) and drummer Steve Brown (brother of Dokken drummer “Wild” Mick Brown), Tesla always deliver the goods. That’s really all I can say. Go see Tesla!!
Now to the main event.
Like I said in the beginning of this post, I have been a Motley Crue fan since I was 16 and I always will be.
Many knock them these days, but I’m a fan thru and thru.
I don’t like how the handling of their guitarist Mick Mars being let go a few years ago went, but at the end of the day, I love all of these guys.
Minus Mick, the band is still 3/4 the original lineup (singer Vince Neil, bassist Nikki Sixx, and drummer Tommy Lee) and now their guitarist is the PHENOMENAL John 5 (John Lowery).
I’m not kidding: John 5 can play any style on the guitar. He has played guitar for Rob Halford, David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson, Paul Stanley, Steve Perry, Dolly Parton, just to name a few, as well as his own music. Within Motley, John plays Mick’s parts note for note, but also brings some of his flavoring to the table also.
I wish Mick was still there of course and I hope all is well with him (he released a very heavy solo album a few years back), but if they had to have another guitarist, John is perfect for them.
Vince seems to get the most trash talking on the internet. Fat jokes and his singing are constantly ripped apart.
Frankly, the fat jokes need to stop because Vince is skinnier than me now and he’s been up and down the scale since the late 90s. It happens people!!! Plus, Vince had several strokes a few years ago, so it’s a miracle he can do anything at this point. But I think he looks good.
And I must say, of all the times I have seen Motley, him skipping words in concert has never bothered me. It’s weird, but it’s never bothered me. He’s always sang enough that he got away with it.
But I also must say since Motley started back up a few years ago, his singing has been better and judging by what I saw this night, this is the best Vince has sung in concert since at least the early 90s and definitely the best he’s sung when I’ve seen him in person. He sings almost every word now and doesn’t skip much. So props to Vince!!! You rock man.
The whole band kicked butt as always. Tommy still plays drums with so much force and attitude. Nikki has always been solid and as I said, John can play anything.
It was such a fun show. It was cool when they did Home Sweet Home, they told the story of how the song was written, and Vince dedicated it to Dolly Parton, who sadly passed away this day. Vince said “This one’s for you Dolly”. Dolly actually recorded parts of the song with Motley a few years ago and Nikki and John worked with her on her last album Rockstar, which is a really good album. Rest In Peace Dolly!!
I don’t think they’ll ever stop having backing tracks, but for the most part, the show is really live and that’s great to see.
In regard to the tour title, I don’t think it’s quite as extravagant as the 2005 tour, but that’s OK. It’s still definitely designed to look like a carnival, and the visuals and stage design are cool. They even have a carnival tent as their stage curtain and before the show starts, snippets of their songs are playing, along with carnival music.
If you have not seen this tour and have not seen Motley for a while like me, this is a MUST SEE show.
Since I intend to slow down, I don’t know if I’ll ever see any of these bands again, but either way, it was another fun show for the books.
Thank you Motley, Tesla, and Extreme for rocking my world.
And keep on rocking everyone.
Motley Crue Set List:
- Red Hot
- Louder Than Hell
- Wild Side
- Shout At The Devil ’97
- Too Fast For Love
- Looks That Kill
- Too Young To Fall In Love
- Take Me To The Top
- Primal Scream
- Afraid
- Home Sweet Home
- Guitar Solo
- Smokin’ In The Boys Room
- Live Wire
- Girls, Girls, Girls
- Dr. Feelgood
- Kickstart My Heart
Tesla Set List:
- Modern Cowboy
- Hang Tough
- The Way It Is
- Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)
- Mama’s Fool
- Call It What You Want
- Love Song
- Little Suzi (Ph.D. cover)
- Signs (Five Man Electrical Band cover)
Extreme Set List:
- Decadence Dance
- #REBEL
- BANSHEE
- We Will Rock You snippet (Queen cover)/Play With Me
- Hole Hearted
- Midnight Express
- More Than Words
- Flight Of The Wounded Bumblebee
- Get The Funk Out
- RISE
- Ozzy Osbourne Medley-I Don’t Know/Bark At The Moon/Crazy Train
Photo Gallery (click on thumbnail to view larger image)
Video Gallery (click on thumbnail to play video)
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I Saw Keanu Reeves’ Band Dogstar In Concert And They Are Really Good!!
- Date of Concert: Saturday, August 22nd, 2026
- Location of Concert: Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit, MI
- Opener: The Backfires
I try not to see two shows in back to back nights, but I did in this case.
The day after I saw My Chemical Romance and Iggy Pop in concert (review here), I saw the band Dogstar too.
The band formed in the early 1990s and were active until the early 2000s, then only did a few things here and there until COVID time when they got back together and starting making music again, and have toured quite extensively in the past few years.
Dogstar includes Bret Domrose on vocals and guitar, Robert Mailhouse on drums, and Keanu Reeves (yes the actor from the Bill & Ted movies, Speed, Point Break, Johnny Mnemonic, The Matrix and John Wick franchises, The Replacements, Constantine, just to name a few) on bass.
It’s awesome that Keanu plays music too, but the music has to be good, regardless of who is in a band, and this band delivers.
Dogstar is a really good band and I cannot recommend checking them out enough.
Opening act The Backfires were really good and recommend checking them out too.
What can I say? Another great show for the books.
Next up is Motley Crue/Tesla/Extreme on Tuesday, August 25th.
Rock on everyone.
Dogstar Set List:
- Siren
- Lust
- How The Story Ends
- Everything Turns Around
- Joy
- Wing
- This Sphere
- Can’t Hardly Wait (The Replacements song)
- Glimmer
- Math
- The Whisper
- Shards Of Rain
- Exalted
- Runway
- What Is
- Marmalade
- All In Now
- Encore-Punch The Sky
- Shallow Easy
- Breach
Photo Gallery (click on thumbnail to view larger image)
Video Gallery (click on thumbnail to play video)
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I FINALLY Saw Iggy Pop!! And My Chemical Romance Rocked Too!!
- Date of Concert: Friday, August 21st, 2026
- Location of Concert: Comerica Park in Detroit, MI
I’ll be honest: I went to this show to mainly see the legendary Iggy Pop (real name James Newell Osterberg Jr.).
I think My Chemical Romance is a good band, but if Iggy was not on this bill, I would not have been there.
Having said that, MCR were very good.
But first, let me get to the reason why I was here.
I’ve been an Iggy fan since I was a kid, but I just never saw him.
So when I found out he was opening for MCR in Detroit (He was born in Muskegon, MI. Detroit is a huge place for him.), I had to go.
It was not cheap (I can’t afford these expensive tickets much longer.) but it was worth it.
Iggy is 79-years old as of this writing and still makes great music (been doing it since the late 1960s), but does not do a lot of shows these days, so this was a must see.
Anyway, Iggy and his great band, known on the road apparently as Iggy & Los Tropicanos (Ale Campos on guitar, Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on guitar, Brad Truax of Interpol on bass, Urian Hackney of The Armed on drums, Joan Wasser of Joan As A Police Woman on keyboards, Corey King on trombone, Leron Thomas on trumpet/horns, and Charles Moothart on guitar and additional instruments) did a solid and tight 46 minute set, including songs from his time as the singer of The Stooges and his lengthy solo career.
The sound was really good at the venue (Comerica Park where the Detroit Tigers play), and even though I was wayyyyy up in the stands, I could hear quite well and the video screens were nice.
The view of the stage wasn’t the greatest where I was, but it was OK because I just wanted to be there.
And I’m glad I was. I wish I could have seen Iggy do a headline show, but I had to take what I could get.
It’s all good. Iggy and his band rocked, and according to the Detroit Free Press, this was the biggest show Iggy has ever played in Detroit. Wow!!
And to quote Iggy at this show “It’s good to be back, same as it ever was”.
He still rocks and sings great. He went out to the crowd during one of the songs and had some of them take the microphone a little bit for the chorus.
Thank you Iggy sooooo much for all your great music and keep on rocking as only you can do!!
Now to the headliner. Like I said, I went to this show mainly to see Iggy, and I honestly contemplated leaving during MCR’s set, but even though it rained some during the show (rain literally makes me sick), I’m glad I stayed because they really gave it their all.
Before the show, they had these cryptic messages on their screens. It turns out these are rules that the band made up. I don’t know all the details about this, but the band apparently have made up their own language, and these rules I’m guessing are part of a story or are they messages about a new album or something else? Maybe if a bigger fan sees this post they can help explain it to me better. Sorry I just know the music and I saw their documentary called My Chemical Romance: Life On The Murder Scene Video Diary.
Also, fans were handed a postcard before the show too. I don’t know anything about it either, except one of the actors during the show had the same postcard and burned it. I’m assuming all of this stuff is part of a story. Maybe The Black Parade story, which is their third album they played in it’s entirety.
Again, they played all of that album, then took about a 15 minute break and came out to a b-stage and played a bunch of other songs from throughout their career and some cool cover tunes.
The band still consists of singer Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way (Gerard’s brother), along with some other musicians to fill out the sound, specifically for their album The Black Parade, and some actors that perform throughout the show (like I said, it’s a concept album).
Aside from stopping for a bit, they have mostly been together since the early 2000s, and really have a rabid audience. The fans were literally shaking the rafters during their show.
I’m not going to say I love MCR, but I do think they are very good and I’m glad I got to see them. Not only doing one set, but two sets. Again, they really give it their all and the fans really love them. That’s what it’s all about.
In short, another great show. I’m not wild about going to stadium shows (They’re fine, but I’d rather go to somewhat smaller places these days.), but I’ll still go for certain people. And I’m glad I went to this.
Hopefully the rain won’t make me sick. It wasn’t much, but rain and me don’t get along at all. Just saying.
Thank you MCR and Iggy for this great show and thanks for all the music and please make more!!
Iggy Pop Set List:
- T.V. Eye (The Stooges song)
- Raw Power (The Stooges song)
- I Got A Right (The Stooges song)
- Gimme Danger (The Stooges song)
- The Passenger
- Lust For Life
- I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges song)
- Search And Destroy (The Stooges song)
- I’m Alright (Bo Diddley song)
- 1969 (The Stooges song)
My Chemical Romance Set List:
- The Black Parade Album-The End.
- Dead!
- This Is How I Disappear
- The Sharpest Lives (w/The Eye intro, and preceded with a snippet of Superstar by The Carpenters)
- Welcome To The Black Parade
- I Don’t Love You
- House Of Wolves (w/white noise intro)
- Cancer
- Mama (w/Dagger outro)
- Sleep (w/The Big Sky intro)
- Teenagers
- Disenchanted
- Famous Last Words (w/extended reprise outro of Welcome To The Black Parade)
- The End. (2026 reprise)
Between sets, Clarice Jensen played Metastable and Romance
- B-Stage Set-Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough For The Two Of Us
- Bury Me In Black
- Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
- Jack The Ripper (Morrissey cover song)
- Vampires Will Never Hurt You
- Vampire Money
- I’m Not Okay (I Promise)
- Helena
- S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W (Gerard dedicated this song to Lauren Valencia)
- Zero Percent (According to setlist.fm, this was the first time this song closed the show)
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Video Gallery (click on thumbnail to play video)
