Mötley Crüe on stage at the Underworld [Sam Shapiro] and our reviewer David Douglas MBE

YOU never know who is going to turn up on stage in Camden Town’s famous collection of music venues – and shrewd fans have become used to looking out for unusual band listings which could be code for a surprise performance. And so while the sign outside the Underworld club read “Dögs of War” would be playing on Friday evening, it was clear from the queue outside there was something unusual going on. And so it turned out with stadium fillers Mötley Crüe choosing the enduring NW1 basement club for a very intimate gig for fans, including those who had worked out the riddle and begun queuing all day. The band are perhaps best known to those not educated in the metal scene for including Pamela Anderson’s ex-husband Tommy Lee. The New Journal staff spared our eardrums and instead thought the best thing to do would be to send David Douglas MBE – the agent for the Conservative Party Hampstead and Kilburn Association. You may not instantly connect the image of the Hampstead Tories in your mind with ear-splitting guitars and tattoos in curious places, but it turns out Mr Douglas loves life in the moshpit when he is not shuffling papers in the party’s offices in Heath Hurst Road. So here we present his review of Mötley Crüe’s secret gig in Camden Town.

No barrier, just sweat

By David Douglas MBE

FRIDAY night is always a bit wild in Camden Town. Few places more so than round the World’s End pub by the tube station. Last Friday it had an added buzz of anticipation.

To most an unknown band called the Dögs of War were billed as “sold out” at the Underworld club. Capacity 450, it’s the starting place for new bands, not mega bands. Those of us in the queue hoped it was different.

The umlaut suggested something special was about to happen. Heavy metal superstars Mötley Crüe were rumoured to play. While in town to play to 90,000 at Wembley Stadium the following day they were probably about to play a Camden basement.

This is a band that learnt its trade in similar places in LA. They went on to conquer the world with trashy high-octane songs about fast living. Too Fast For love, Shout at the Devil and Girls Girls Girls became anthems of misspent youth.

Would they come on such a tiny stage? All the band had had issues with weight, vocals and tabloid newspaper headlines.

Mötley Crüe at the Underworld [Sam Shapiro]

Plus a new guitarist.

Inside the joint was electric with anticipation. Was it really about to happen? 8pm sharp a support band then 8.55 a backing singer (there are two, the nasty habits, strode across the tiny stage and then it was all very real). Wild Side burst from a very real Mötley Crüe and for the next 65 minutes Vince Neil, Nikky Six, Tommy Lee and John 5 were very close. No crash barrier, just them, sweating on to us.

For a 58-year-old fan boy, this is not an unbiased review. I’m not a journalist but a lucky local the CNJ asked if I was interested and free to cover. I was not sitting taking notes but squashed, sweating and bouncing up and down like a teenager. All of us gobsmacked at witnessing the impossible.

It was happening and it was like it was 1986.

It’s a tribute to the vibrant Camden Town rock scene Crüe were here. They had not played anything like this in decades.

By the time they came off the news of this concert had gone round the world and those of us present were the objects of extreme jealousy.

They may be playing to 90,000 the day after but tonight only we mattered. In the final song, Kick start my heart, I thought it might be needed, personally. I missed the final bow, scrabbling for guitar pics on the floor. When I resumed my dignity they were gone.

Collecting my mate, and forgetting my press pack we left astounded by what we had just seen. Mötley Crüe in a Camden basement bar.

I finished by adding to odd sights of Camden. Waiting for a bus I was stripped to the waist wringing sweat from my T-shirt.

No one batted an eye. Parched, I swigged a tin of Tyskie and went home very very happy.