Mötley Crüe: The End — Live in Los Angeles (4K UHD Review)

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

In 2015, bad boy hairband Mötley Crüe, who once ruled the airwaves and MTV in the 1980s, announced they would be ending their live touring with one final date. This 4K disc captures that supposed last show. Hint: it wasn’t the last but was the last with the original lineup. Mars has since departed. Lawsuits have followed.

As far as Crüe shows go, their days of families needing to lock of their daughters when the bad boys rolled into town were obviously over. Mick Mars, whose playing was still in top form, was obviously in decline, looking more like the crypt keeper than a dangerous rocker. Tommy Lee’s drumming was thumping and bumping, suspended drum cage and all, and Nikki Sixx was, well, Nikki Sixx. But Vince Neil…Neil was the weak spot on the whole affair. Too many pounds overweight, sweaty and out of breath from the beginning of the night, the once charismatic and energetic frontman did not even have his voice anymore. The obviously vocally tunes lead vocals were one thing, but the high notes disappeared into grating screeches and half-intelligible words. The performance of “Shout at the Devil,” one of the band’s signature numbers from their second album of the same name, sounded awful, since the entire vocal is in this upper register.

Not to labor the fact much, there were still great moments, most coming from the top hits, which included “Looks that Kill,” “Girls, Girls, Girls,” crowd pleaser “Louder than Hell,” and their very first single, “Live Wire.” They close it out with, what else, “Home Sweet Home.” The direction from Christian Lambm infuses a kinetic energy into the visuals that makes up for the obvious aging and health issues with the bandmembers.

Purchase Mötley Crüe — The End Live in Los Angeles 4K Ultra HD on Amazon.com

The Video

Mötley Crüe – The End is a 1.85:1 HEVC 2160p SDR encodement that looks fantastic on my LG G3 OLED display, no HDR necessary. Could HDR have elevated the image, but you really will not miss it given the fantastically crisp, sharp, and clean image, the staggering contrast that shows flames, flashing stage lights, and the band’s outfits standout exceptionally against the inky black backgrounds.

The Audio

You can listen to a big and bombastic lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix or a more confined sounding LPCM 2.0 stereo mix of Mötley Crüe – The End Live in Los Angeles. The 5.1 mix has an overabundance of reverberation and crowd noise mixed into the surrounds and big, musical low end to get a real sense of the thump of Tommy Lee’s double-kicks. Mick Mars’ guitar fills the soundstage, while Vince Neil’s obviously tuned vocals tend to get a bit lost.

The Supplements

The over thirty-minutes of interviews with the bandmembers is the best inclusion here.

Bonus Features:

• Interviews (1080p; 00:35:53)
• Nikki’s Flamethrower Bass (1080p; 00:03:54)
• Tommy’s Drum Rig (1080p; 00:05:32)

The Final Assessment

The Mötleys have seen better days, but this performance is not completely without merit. The musicianship is still top notch and the hits still hit hard. The performance is only dragged down by front man Vince Neil being in poor form. The audio and visuals are both top notch as well.

Mötley Crüe: The End — Live in Los Angeles is out on 4K Ultra HD from Mercury Studios

Purchase Mötley Crüe — The End Live in Los Angeles 4K Ultra HD on Amazon.com

• Rating Certificate: 15
• Studio/Label: Mercury Studios
• Performer: Mötley Crüe
• Run Time: 153 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: SDR
• Primary Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Secondary Audio: LPCM 2.0 Stereo