1987.11.27 - Lee Civic Center, Fort Myers, USA

Gaggles of giggling girls go gaga over Motley Crue

By PETER WEST
News-Press Staff Writer

Girls. Girls. Girls.

Girls with teased, bleached hair. Girls wearing tight, black Spandex pants and revealing tops. Girls wearing garish makeup and dangling cigarettes out of their crimson mouths. Girls accompanied by boyfriends who could pass as members of a football team’s offensive line.

Girls swarmed Saturday night’s Motley Crue concert at the Lee Civic Center. They far outnumbered boys, and they were running wild.

“This is the fourth Motley Crue concert I’ve been to,” said Michelle Carraway, 16, a Riverdale High School student. “I’ve been playing drums for seven years, and I love Tommy Lee’s music.”

Lee is the Los Angeles-based band’s drummer, she said.

“They play good music," said Karen Woosley, 16, also of Riverdale High School, giggling, “They’re gorgeous. They know how to rock’n’roll and party.”

Motley Crue, whose hit single is "Girls, Girls, Girls,” is nearing the end of a six-month world tour that included 21 American cities. Tonight’s concert in Hollywood will be the tour’s last.

More than 6,000 attended Saturday night’s concert, arena officials said.

Lee sheriff’s deputies on hand to keep order said the crowd was relatively behaved and orderly. They reported no drug or alcohol-related illnesses.

‘It’s been a good concert," sheriff's Lt. John Firmes said. "The problems you usually get at a festival are related to people having too much emotion. They hyperventilate and pass out."

Well, maybe.

A drunk spectator locked inside a prisoner transport van viciously cursed Firmes and two other deputies, spitting out obscenities. They ignored him.

"He just had too much alcohol," Firmes said. "We knew he’d be trouble. He was."

A lone Bayshore Fire Department truck waited outside the center, near the band’s buses. Just in case.

Lee County officials have said that some of the Civic Center’s emergency equipment, principally extra exits and stairways, would be inadequate during a fire and mass evacuation. Civic center officials disagree, however, and said Saturday night’s audience was at no risk.

"We have more than adequate (safety measures,)" assistant director Pat Loffman said. "The fire marshals wouldn’t let us open if we didn’t. And we wouldn’t want to open."

For a $16.50 ticket, the spectator also could look forward to the band Guns n’ Roses.

"Both bands are good," said 17-year-old Jeremy Butzler of Cape Coral. "But I think Guns n’ Roses is a better one. Motley Crue attracts mostly girls. Their last album had the band wearing pink tights."