Live Review: John Corabi, Electric Mary, Sisters Doll, Ablaze

There's a sign above the front desk advertising $135 meet and greet upgrades for John Corabi as we enter The Prince and we reckon that's a little steep for a selfie.


First up on stage are Melbourne hard rockers Ablaze. They perform a song called Long Way Home (containing lyrics about a “long and winding road”) after the band's lead singer Danny Slaviero spruiks their merch. Slaviero's vocals call to mind Mike Patton. Ablaze are having a blast up there and Slaviero is a brave mofo for leading a “woah-oh-oh-OH-oh-oh” call and response this early on in the night, but it surprisingly doesn’t fall flat. He even places one foot on a foldback wedge, lunging forward and thrusting his pelvis into a front-row blonde’s face - brazen. The band’s closer sounds like Motley Crue’s Kickstart My Heart and it's immediately apparent a Crue thread will run right through the guts of our evening. 


As Sisters Doll set up, we admire their glam-rock get-up. This is a band comprising three Mileto brothers: bassist Austin incorporates some crazy guitar-ography, frontman Brennan wields an axe with what appears to be Marilyn Monroe stencil detail, and drummer Bryce incorporates stick tricks  - what’s not to like? Sisters Doll already perform like a stadium band and we just love their enthusiasm. "Johnny’s got a lover/I’m gonna steal her from ya” - how’s that for a chorus!? Brennan leads a, “Shout!” call and response - a cheeky nod to Motley Crue? - and the band’s latest single Black Mirror speaks of our current screen-time-obsessed culture.


Electric Mary make everyone in the venue shut the fuck up from the get-go. They may not be showy, but this band certainly let their music do the talking! A punter hollers in appreciation, “I love this song!” during the Gasoline & Guns intro. Lead singer Rusty Brown emits a yowl with the potential to summon Satan himself inside the venue. The bands that perform before Electric Mary now wither in their wake. Brown introduces Brett Wood as “an unconventional human being” and when the guitarist unleashes into a face-melting solo, he’s totally in the zone. Electric Mary’s riffs wrap around each other as tightly as wrestling pythons as Paul "Spyda" Marrett's drumming punches us in the collective solar plexus. Emerging bands could learn a lot from watching Electric Mary live. 

From the moment John Corabi and co launch into Power To The Music, the opener from Motley Crue’s 1994 self-titled album, we feel the song’s throbbing pulse and appreciate this band’s instinctive playing. We’re close enough to see guitar strings vibrating and Corabi’s voice is mighty. Hooligan’s Holiday - what a ripper of a tune! "It's been 25 years too long since we played this shit!" Corabi enthuses. Some of Corabi's jokes are wack (especially the one about 'fucking' Kate Beckinsale) and are aptly punctuated by his son Ian doing the kaboom-tish drum emphasis thing. The storytelling/song ratio is definitely disproportionate throughout, which results in the majority of punters chatting over his banter.

It sure is hard not to fantasise about seeing the OG Crue members up there with Corabi, playing their own parts, even though the musicianship on display tonight is excellent. Bassist Topher Nolan, who Corabi affectionately calls "Spider Monkey", plays as if he wrote these bass lines and guitarist Jeremy Asbrock deserves an award for translating the various guitar tunings of Welcome To The Numb into separate parts to make the song manageable by multiple guitarists live (Phil Shouse also excels up there on guitar). The resulting beast of a track thrills the crowd with its layered, circular riffs.

Corabi tells us the Motley Crue guys were excited by the fact that he could play guitar back when he was first invited to jam with them in Vince Neil's absence before cranking out the Hammered riff, which is all kooky, carnivalesque brilliance. A story about Nikki Sixx's OTT weed stage, during which he allegedly had two double fridges in his garage containing all different varietals, precedes Smoke The Sky, with riffs as dense as a compression session in a Volkswagen Beetle. Crowd singalongs are joyous since many in attendance never expected they'd score an opportunity to experience these songs live.

The band leave the stage, but return for an encore shortly afterwards. Corabi introduces a song he says they’ve never played live before and any fans who attempt to sing along score a high-five from him for their efforts. Corabi concludes, “Thank you for inviting us to your party," expressing gratitude for being able to tour our shores belatedly off the back of 'Motley '94'.