Bericht: Michael Monroe
About half a year ago, Trash&Riot spared no efforts and travelled all the way to West Hollywood to witness how Michael Monroe jumps around in the "Viper Room".
This time, we didn't have to travel that far away as "Tavastia" is located in the comparatively not so far away Finland. Whether as frontman of Hanoi Rocks or solo: Michael Monroe usually plays several gigs a day and so he did on that day.
Trash&Riot has visited the second one of the two gigs in Helsinki's most famous rock club whose entrance is emblazoned with a new logo, by the way...
It is an exception rather then a rule in Finland that people are queueing before doors open. But if this exception takes place then, of course, for the ultimate Finnish rock legend Michael Monroe. Inside, you had to wait another hour until the doors from the lobby to the hall were opened. The one or other fan thought to know how to use this specific hour but in fact they just got drunk with too much Lonkero. Too bad for them because for a fantastic concert evening there was no need to get drunk.
Already the intro was just great. It started with the blues classic "I'm A Man" by Bo Diddley, turned into wild drummings which were accompanied by strobe lights and has been finalised by an instrumental composition taken from the "Kill Bill" soundtrack. As soon as the band had captured the stage, they captured also the audience in the almost sold out "Tavastia" with the brand new track "Trick Of The Wrist". And so both, the band and the audience, started to rock right away.
In front of the stage, there was a kind of an extra catwalk constructed which was Michael's favourite playground tonight. But nevertheless he couldn't resist climbing around the stair railing while performimg "I Wanna Be Loved". The fans surely didn't mind as the stairs are located in the middle of the audience. Usually, Michael is climbing around the stage's framework but there wasn't any in "Tavastia" tonight and so he did something else and hurled himself into the adventure called "stage diving".
To shake hands with the fans was not enough... But for some fans even the stage diving was not enough physical contact. And so it came that Michael's trousers were unbuttoned when he was back on stage. To button them up again and sing at the same time was obviously not that easy for him and caused some additional exhilaration, in front of the stage as well as on itself. Only for guitar player Ginger this night was not that funny probably as he had broken his foot during the gig before already. That might explain why he rocked in a restrained way. And maybe that was the reason why Michael nestled to him during the brilliant performance for "Love Song"? "Just for you, here's a love song"...
There is still a lot of love existing for Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle who died 26 years ago - in December 1984 - in a car crash, caused by Mötley Crüe's singer Vince Neil: Michael got a self-made banner in honour of Razzle from the audience which he first held up and then affixed it reverentially to Karl Rockfist's drumset.
All in all there was maybe a bit more to see than usual tonight. And that means something as the gigs of Michael Monroe are always pretty wild: Sometimes he plays the saxophone, then the harmonica, most of the time he jumps around, sometimes he crawls lascivious on the stage... Sometimes he wears a black leather vest, then a sequined one, then a black-red vest made of PVC... In this context, Wikipedia is talking about "fashionable outfits".
For us, it's just "the one and only Michael Monroe" whose concerts are always worth to be visited, whether in Hollywood or in Helsinki...
Trick Of The Wrist | Nothing's Alright | Motorvatin' | Hammersmith Palais | Life Gets You | While You Were | Not Fakin' It | Another Night In The Sun | I Wanna Be Loved | Back To Mystery City | Love Song | Machine Gun Etiquette | Dysfunctional | You're Next | Malibu Beach Nightmare | Dead, Jail Or Rock'n'Roll
Ain't Nothing To Do | Taxi Driver | Feel Alright
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