Wednesday, Nov. 26, 1997 | 10:09 a.m.
A rumble, yes. But no explosion.
For a while though, it seemed like the Aladdin Theater for the Performing Arts might crumble from the intense, subsonic rumble that Motley Crue and fans produced for two solid hours. The rumble had to be halted once to rescue guitarist Mick Mars from a crazed fan, yet the show went on.
But in the end, the venue remained intact, and will continue standing after its adjoining hotel-casino is imploded in February.
"What a great hall. You really forget you're in a casino when you're inside," said Danny Zelisko, head of Evening Star productions.
His organization has been booking shows at the Aladdin since April Fool's Day 1983, when he began an ongoing relationship with the venue with a double bill of KISS and ... Motley Crue.
"When I told them that they would play the last show before the hotel closed, they said, 'We have to do this,'" Zelisko said. "It's great that they've come back like this. It's a party in there."
The Aladdin Theater is pretty much the only venue of its kind in Las Vegas. While fairly large at 7,000 seats, the Aladdin Theater offers an intimacy that one wouldn't expect for such a large venue. The theater's widely celebrated acoustics and dynamic sight lines have drawn everyone from Pearl Jam to the Bolshoi Ballet to perform.
It's that reputation that bought the theater the promise of an extensive remodeling job, while the hotel-casino that spawned it will be imploded and rebuilt.
The majority of Motley Crue's standing-room-only crowd seemed pretty much oblivious to the venue's life or death possibilities, preferring to focus their attentions on the newly resurgent hard-rock outfit.
Women climbed onstage and flashed before a video camera held by drummer Tommy Lee. Halfway through the band's 1991 hit "Primal Scream," the stage was mobbed by fans and an unidentified male assaulted guitarist Mick Mars, knocking him down and slamming his head against the stage.
The show was temporarily halted, while security personnel restrained Mars and the offending fan was taken backstage. This morning, Metro Police had no record of an arrest.
"We'll take care of this (expletive), and we'll be back," promised Lee.
It's hard to imagine what the Aladdin Theater's backstage area has seen over the years. According to Radar, a lighting technician and member of the Aladdin's backstage crew for the past six years, some things are better off unsaid.
"Don't do this, man," he laughed. "Hard work, no life."
At least part of the reason Radar became a "roadie" can be traced back to the Aladdin Theater, and a fateful night 16 years ago.
"I saw my first concert here when I was 15 years old," he smiled. "Rush, back in 1981. I was still in high school at the time."
Radar stays on the road for the most part, but has always returned to the Aladdin.
"(The Aladdin's) pretty much been my home for the past six years. I walked out earlier to look at the marquee when they shut it off. That's when it really sunk in; it was over." He gestured in the direction of the stage. "Six years."
"I still can't believe they're killing this hotel," said Lisa Shaw, an Albuquerque, N.M., resident who specifically came to Las Vegas to attend the last two shows at the Aladdin -- last night's Crue show and the Jane's Addiction gig that took place Monday. "I've seen maybe 15, 20 shows here. I've never had a bad time in this theater.
"And after the Jane's Addiction show (Monday night), I won 50 bucks," she smiled. "I don't know any other theater where you can come outside after the show and maybe win back the price of your tickets."
The Crue returned several minutes after the tackling episode and played several more songs, ending the show with a thunderous version of "Kickstart My Heart." The band took their bows, said their goodbyes and left, leaving the crowd to file out of the venue for possibly the last time. The hotel was already closed.
"Tear down the Aladdin," someone cried out in the theater lobby. A few signs were ripped down, but for the most part the crowd filed out amiably, respectful of the theater that had granted so many fond memories and good times.
And amazingly enough, considering the explosive rhythms Motley Crue had pitched, the Aladdin's tower was still standing -- awaiting an entirely different kind of wrecking "crue."
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