1987.11.06 - Cajun Dome, Lafayette, USA

Motley Crue concert going on

By DONNA FONTENOT
Staff Writer

Cajundome officials found a Motley Crue concert in Mobile to be “way better” than expected and anticipate “no major problems” when the rock group appears here Friday, the Dome Commission’s chairman said Wednesday.

Bill Rucks III, speaking for a six-man contingent that previewed the act, said while it “may not be suitable to all people” a local assistant district attorney agreed it is “so far from” violation of obscenity laws as to not warrant serious concern.

The trip followed complaints by several Lafayette citizens and groups that Motley Crue is not up to area legal and moral standards.

Some 5,000 tickets have been sold for Friday’s concert, despite objections.

Rucks said he and others who traveled to Mobile based their conclusions on interviews, as well as observations of the concert.

“We talked to some kids, to the auditorium’s manager, the first aid people, security people and others who told us there were no crowd control problems, no first aid problems, no narcotics or drinking problems, which we didn’t see either,” he said.

Rucks added that performers used “tough language,” but claimed there was no promotion of drugs or Satanic views in the lyrics he heard.

“Granted, it’s not your average household language exchanged between the band and their fans,” he noted. “But it’s the same language we can catch on cable TV or in PG-and R-rated movies.
“The music is pretty loud and I couldn’t understand all the words... but it was way better than I expected given the fanfare (here),” Rucks commented.

Some 5,000 concert-goers in Mobile were mostly young adults who he called “typical, good kids for the most part.”

“Very few appeared to be wearing their leftover Halloween costumes,” he quipped.

Rucks said he spoke to about a dozen people at the concert, as did each of the other local officials in attendance. USL vice president and Cajundome commissioner James Caillier spoke to students especially, and all Cajundome officials agreed on their findings, he claimed.

The biggest chance to speak with fans and staffers came prior to the concert when lines formed outside and ticket-holders mingled on the floor of the arena, Rucks noted. The Mobile Municipal Auditorium did not provide reserved seating.

Rucks said local officials watched Motley Crue’s lead-in act, “Guns and Roses,” and then two hours of the heavy metal group’s performance.

They came away impressed by the elaborate lighting and sound system, the performers’ “hard work” and the accuracy of reports from Cajundome staffers who predicted no concert problems, he added.

“Our comment remains exactly the same. We want to bring a good mix of events to the Dome. Not all are suitable to all people. But parents have the responsibility to become familiar with each performance and exercise their discretion regarding the events their
children, or they, attend,” Rucks said.

He also claimed “the word is out” among Motley Crue performers and civic center leaders elsewhere about the Lafayette controversy.

Motley Crue concert history at last

By ARDEN ALLEN DUFILHO
Entertainment Editor

It was a 14-year-old’s fantasy and a parent’s nightmare.

Motley Crue crue-zed into the Cajundome Friday performing before a crowd that filled nearly two-thirds of the facility. The average age was in the 13- to 14-year-old range.

Even before the opening act, Guns and Roses, took the stage, the decibel level was deafening. When Guns and Roses did go on stage, sound levels became excruciating. There is little to say about the music. Each song was indistinguishable from the one before. This was the heaviest of heavy metal.

Profanity was the order of the evening. Unprintable four letter words spewed forth with unpleasant regularity. The band even offered up a little of their own philosophy while commenting from the stage about the controversy that preceded their appearance here.

“The apathy of the young,” said the lead singer, “is the strength of the old.” A telling point about the overall tender years of the audience members is that the singer followed that comment by asking if the audience knew what the word apathy meant.

After nearly an hour intermission to set up Motley Crue’s elaborate set, the stars of the evening appeared. And, pardon the obvious pun, they were Crue-d.

Musically, Motley Crue is light years ahead of Guns and Roses. Crue band members can and occasionally did play their musical instruments with a high degree of skill as was demonstrated by the solos that interspersed the set as well as the performance of the song “Home Sweet Home,” something of a ballad for Motley Crue.

But as before, this band also felt the need to resort to unbridled profanity and highly suggestive body language to accompany their non-too-subtle sexually oriented songs. They even turned the spotlights on local evangelist Jacob Aranza, one of the religious leaders in the forefront of the move to stop the concert, and asked the young crowd to tell Aranza how much they appreciated his efforts — in a profoundly profane manner, with hand gestures to match.

The concert’s theatrics, lighting and pyrotechnics were state-of-the-art and dazzling. The set looked like nothing so much as the spaceship from “Close Encounters...”

And Lafayette was not spared the group’s cheeky salute as the drummer dropped his pants and mooned the audience.

The insult to the injury here is that neither band is especially good. Mediocrity rises to the top again. There is good rock ’n’ roll. There is even good heavy metal. The Motley Crue/Guns and Roses concert was neither. It was just a chance for the younger citizens of Lafayette to rebel.