When one of the biggest rock bands in the world announces a surprise ‘secret’ gig, you know that social media is going to light up. With the four hundred and fifty tickets selling out within seconds of going on sale, Mötley Crüe, under the pseudonym of Dögs of War, became the hottest thing in London on a balmy Friday night in the capital.
Dögs of War
The Underworld, Camden – 30 June 2023
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Photography: Sam Shapiro
The chance to see the stadium-filling juggernaut up close and personal was an irresistible one, and it follows their history of club gigs before huge shows, famously having played the Marquee the night before heading to Donington some years ago.
Translating their very visual show into a club setting is a challenge, but one that Crüe embrace, the band’s roots in these sort of places are ones they’ve never forgotten. Whilst they certainly fill the huge stages, it’s arguably with shows like this that they’re at their best, their down and dirty rock ‘n’ roll a visceral thing ideal for a compact audience in a sweat-filled room.
With temperatures reaching boiling point and enough electricity in the room to supply the whole of Camden for a month, the place erupted as the four-piece hit the stage.
Tearing into the opening riff of Wild Side, John 5 smiled as all total mayhem ensued, Tommy Lee laying into his kit with a vengeance as Nikki Sixx threw shapes at the front of the stage and Vince Neil slapped hands with the front row.
Things became even more animated, with the whole place screaming the chorus to a sea of raised fists for Shout At The Devil and bouncing up and down for a furious Too Fast For Love.
Whilst the band were playing with their usual intensity, they exuded a real joy at being there, and the connection between performer and audience was a thing to warm the hardest of hearts. When Sixx took the microphone saying, “We’ve made a lot of money for a lot of people over the years…but what’s always been most important is that it’s you and us,” you know it’s not just empty rhetoric but something bonded in blood.
A short but dazzling solo by John 5, featuring a cheeky snatch of Eruption leads into a rambunctious medley of Rock ‘n’ Roll Part 2, Smokin’ In The Boys Room, Helter Skelter, Anarchy In The UK and Blitzkrieg Bop before they unleashed their diamond hard take on the Beastie Boys (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!), itself seemingly an anthem as of old for the quartet.
With the only concession to a ‘show’ being the two female singers onstage for several numbers, this was Crüe in the raw and the renewed hunger they display free of any of the weariness that caused them to self-destruct in 2015. This is a band reborn.
Racing to the finish with intense versions of Dr Feelgood, Girls, Girls, Girls, Primal Scream and an absolutely wild Kickstart My Heart, the hour-long set was all killer, no filler.
Crüe have seemingly somehow turned back the clock to the attitude of their nascent early days when they were fighting for every victory, and it’s a thing of true, adrenaline-soaked beauty.
Tapping into the mainline of everything that makes rock music so vital, this was an evening of pure excitement and celebration. Crüe are the real deal.
