Half-assed Michael Monroe Live Review: NYC April 2, 2025

[Aerosmith87]

Didn't see anyone post anything, so I will.

Overall One Sentence: MM & band played an energetic, well done, and enthusiastic set to a mix of older rockers and "young punks".

Venue
Venue was Racket, which is the site of the former Highline Ballroom. Pretty small venue - saw some online info said it holds 600ish people. The show was shoulder to shoulder, so assuming it was very well sold, maybe sold out. Missed the openers by design, so can't comment on them. Show started around 8:30pm with some theatrical sounding song that I recognized, but can't place (maybe past MM shows, this is my third time seeing him since he's returned with this band). I'd go back to this place.

The Band
Band was really good - I'm a huge Steve Conte fan from his time in the NY Dolls pt 2. Really good performer who does it all - cool rocker guy, good playing, backing vox, maybe most importantly strong song writer. Missed Sami Yaffa for his playing/cool factor, who has a TV gig in Finland from what I heard, but the dude filling in (think it was Todd Kerns from Slash's band). Kerns did a good job, was into the gig, so probably the next best thing. Michael Monroe, energetic as expected... vocals were good. Climbed around the venue scaling what I assume was a bar extending along the side, but people blocked my view. More or less, you got what you came to see from him. Other guys are serviceable+.

Setlist
Overall good setlist.. sprawling his career/Hanoi/Demolition 23. The one and only complaint from me, maybe for the entire night beside the fool filming the entire show with his phone, is they didn't play Tragedy. I highlighted the songs that hit best for me.

Dead, Jail or Rock 'n' Roll
I Live Too Fast to Die Young
Murder the Summer of Love
Last Train to Tokyo
Young Drunks & Old Alcoholics
Man With No Eyes
Old King's Road
'78
Ballad of the Lower East Side
Don't You Ever Leave Me (Hanoi Rocks song)
One Man Gang
Horns and Halos
Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Hanoi Rocks song)
Motorvatin' (Hanoi Rocks song)
Hammersmith Palais (Demolition 23. song)
Malibu Beach Nightmare(Hanoi Rocks song)
Up Around the Bend (Hanoi Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)

Encore:
Taxi Driver (Hanoi Rocks song)
Nothin's Alright (Demolition 23. song)

[LAglamrocker]

That review was like ..you were reading some law book
Glad Odin and Fasterpussy Cat play my stop ..at an actual fun place

Not very excited about headliner so much

[Nightcrawler]

Yes, the bass player was Todd Kerns.

Yes, Tragedy was sorely missed.

Hell of a show.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

Great setlist! Add "Tragedy" and this would make for a perfect Best Of compilation! Good mix of everything from throughout his career.

Michael's a legend. Still looks and sounds great. I'm still surprised he never really made it big but he's had a hell of a career just doing his own thing.

[ParaDime77]

Caught clips of the opening songs and everyone is kicking ass. The energy and showmanship make MM like no other. I would pay too dollar for this show.

[Aerosmith87]

Caught clips of the opening songs and everyone is kicking ass. The energy and showmanship make MM like no other. I would pay too dollar for this show.

Only gotta shell out $35 (+$20 in fees lol) for this fucker!

[Nate S Axel]

What did you eat before and after the show? Did you meet up with friends? If so, who?

All reviews must follow the HeavyMetalZombie666 format or they'll be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation.
https://forums.metalsludge.tv/forums/vi ... 4#p7009274

[Aerosmith87]

What did you eat before and after the show? Did you meet up with friends? If so, who?

All reviews must follow the HeavyMetalZombie666 format or they'll be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation.
https://forums.metalsludge.tv/forums/vi ... 4#p7009274

Alright, fine.

I actually did meet up with a friend before the show. I typically work from the office 3 of the 5 standard word day, however, this day was not one of them. I cut out slightly early and took a train into NYC, which SHOULD only take 20 minutes or so. 6:10 I leave the subway station. I go the wrong way for about half a block. There's a 50% chance of me getting it right, but I never do. This time was one of those times. My friend from high school is coming from deeper in Jersey, so I have about 30-45 mins to kill. I went to our meet up place and it looked packed with a happy hour crowd. So I walk a couple blocks north and get a beer at a not-great sports bar. Watch a couple inning of the New York Mets. I think Pete Alonso did well. My friend calls me at around 6:45pm and tells me he doesn't care to see the opening band (forget who), which is a relief because I was going to veto that anyway. I've seen too many shit opening bands. We both ate a cheeseburger and had two beers. One lager and one IPA each. Around 8pm we head over to the venue. Security was fine, let me in easy and there was no line. We had tickets at will call. Mind you - I used to collected every single ticket stub, but the modern times fucked that one up. This time bucked the trend and we got material tickets. Big fat ones. The tix were big. I think I had my ticket on my person around 8:09pm. I took a piss at about 8:12pm and we headed in. Old heads and young punk cosplay posers filled the room. I got a tallboy ($14, Brooklyn IPA standard for these times). The bartender told me something about knowing someone from the band and I said "that's cool". Then all the stuff that I said in my original post happened. Afterwards, I took the subway to 42nd street and took the bus home. The reason for this? The bus leaves every 10-20, whereas the train leaves every 30-60 minutes after 11pm. They both deposit me right at home. Alright I'm getting bored and hope this text looks like the aforementioned block of text that HMZ666 might have written, but it probably won't and no one including myself will care to read or write it. Have a goodnight - go see Michael Monroe.

[Aerosmith87]

^^^^NOT EVEN CLOSE!

[GoodJudge]

Excellent review and sounds like a killer show except I'd have missed Sam's presence more than omitting Tragedy. I haven't seen the last couple of tours here; couldn't make one one date and the other was an expensive ticket for a support slot where I wasnr fussed about the headliner. Hopefully he'll come around again. I've seen Michael in various guises - solo, D23, Hanoi #2 and the Blond+Blue Johnmy Thunders tribute - and he never fails to deliver.

[Whatever Happened To…]

Great setlist, he's got a lot to choose from and that's a really nice spread of tracks from throughout his career. A track or two from his solo debut wouldn't go amiss, though - She's No Angel or Million Miles Away (not the Hanoi one) would be cool additions.