Motley Crue plagued by awful sound at Summerfest — but new guitarist John 5 saves the day

Mötley Crüe played for one of the largest concert crowds in Milwaukee in 2022 at a swiftly sold-out American Family Field.

Two years later, circumstances have changed.

The American Family Insurance Amphitheater was hardly empty for their Summerfest headlining set Friday, but a couple of entire bleacher sections — and even pockets of seats in the lower bowl — were.

The truth is, that show two years back did so well because the band was coming out of (a seven-year) retirement, and they were sharing the bill with three acts — Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett — that ultimately outshined them.

But the fans who did come back for more Crüe were rewarded with one very big improvement — and one major setback.

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I can’t tell you how many shows I’ve seen in the amphitheater since its $51.3 million remodel, much less when it was the Marcus Amphitheater. But from where I was, dead center in the lower bowl of the amphitheater, this was consistently the worst sound I’ve ever heard in the venue.

A blaring, hideous low end all but obscured the whole band — not for one song, or three, but for the first seven. The most-thrilled fans surrounding me didn’t seem to mind, but it’s atrocious that they spent as much as they did to get sound that inexcusably muddy. It eventually cleared up, with a few subsequent rough spots — but by that point, we were 40 minutes into an 85-minute show.

One silver lining: At least Vince Neil's vocals were drowned out. And even when the sound issues were fixed, his voice, wisely, remained quite low in the mix.

Neil's voice remains the band's weakest link, and perhaps recognizing that, his low point from the Milwaukee stop of that 2022 tour — an unmerciful "Saints of Los Angeles" — was cut from Friday's setlist, replaced by a more vocally amenable "On With the Show."

Ultimately, fans were subjected to only a couple of fingernails-on-a-chalkboard-like moments, including a ghastly snippet of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter." Thankfully, it was part of a medley, with other songs, like bratty renditions of the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" and Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right," more suitable for Neil's lack of strength.

Alas, there again was no escape during the stripped-down start of "Home Sweet Home" — with Neil's vocals essentially voiding any prettiness drummer Tommy Lee was attempting on piano — before he got back behind the kit and swiftly overpowered them.

With bassist Nikki Sixx essentially coasting as he did two years ago, Lee remains the most valuable original player in Crüe. But there's been one major roster change: Original guitarist Mick Mars is out, replaced by John 5, who made his name playing for Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and others.

The split with Mars has been messy, but Mars also has had some significant health issues that he's said have caused him a great deal of pain while performing. It's fair to assume many fans would want the original lineup intact, but John 5 is a superb replacement. He dazzled with a five-minute solo (that served as a needed sound mix reset), and brought some fiery flair to standards like "Primal Scream" and "Wild Side" (two showcases that, unfortunately, were party of Friday's muddy mix portion of the set).

And his guitar work at the end of "Girls, Girls, Girls" was far more entertaining than anything else from the song's performance Friday, culminating with a performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" with his teeth.

It's doubtful the addition of John 5 to the band will bring renewed vigor to the band — a new song made since Mars left, "Dogs of War," was met with indifference Friday night. But until Crüe inevitably goes on yet another farewell tour to counter dwindling ticket sales, they're very lucky to have him.

Seether, Buckcherry opened for Motley Crue

• Seether was a peculiar choice for a 55-minute opening set Friday. The hard-rockers from South Africa share more sensibilities with Nirvana — which famously made bombastic ‘80s rock bands out of favor in the early ‘90s — than with the group they were opening for. Not surprisingly, there was plenty of passive listening going on in the amphitheater, and frontman Shaun Morgan didn’t bother trying to charm anyone with banter. But his angsty voice was so gripping during acoustic number “Broken” — Seether’s hit collaboration with Amy Lee — and the band was so visceral for the one-two closing punch of “Fake It” and “Remedy,” that the Mötley Crüe crowd enjoyed the dour appetizer en route to the hedonistic main course.

• Say this about Buckcherry frontman, and lone original member, Josh Todd: It takes a special kind of talent to be a man in your mid-50s proudly singing boneheaded lyrics to a song like “Somebody (Expletive) Me Up” that was first released in your mid-40s and sounds like the first song written by an expletive-loving 8-year-old (with four minutes to spare). That was hardly the extent of his juvenile delusion — I wish I could un-see what he did to his handheld mic Friday at the end of their biggest hit “Crazy (Expletive)” (but perhaps not their most misogynistic). A bug on the stage bravely tried to put a stop to all this, and Todd did have to cough his way through “Gluttony” after he swallowed the flying insect. But despite this noble sacrifice, the show, sadly, went on.

Motley Crue's Summerfest 2024 setlist

1. "Primal Scream"

2. "Too Fast for Love"

3. "Wild Side"

4. "Shout at the Devil"

5. "Live Wire"

6. "On With the Show"

7. "Dogs of War"

8. "Looks That Kill"

9. "Rock and Roll, Part 2"/"Smokin' in the Boys Room"/"Helter Skelter"/"Anarchy in the U.K."/"Blitzkrieg Bop"/"Fight for Your Right"

10. "Home Sweet Home"

11. "Dr. Feelgood"

12. "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)"

13. "Girls, Girls, Girls"

14. "Kickstart My Heart"

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Motley Crue plagued by awful sound at Summerfest in Milwaukee