John Corabi @ Enigma Bar, Adelaide 10/6/2022
The Mayor of Rock ‘n Roll John Corabi certainly needs no introduction as his resume highlights a distinguished career as the voice of bands such as The Scream, Union, The Dead Daisies, ESP and mostly notably Motley Crue during their brief period from life with Vince Neil in 1994. Quite staggering that we were treated to two hours hearing about the life and times of John Corabi through his music in a small intimate venue such as Enigma Bar. Probably the bigger question to ask was where were you Adelaide? As Corabi suggested to the loyal die hard fans to say when asked about what they did on the weekend – “I went and saw some live fucking music bitch!”
This show stands out from a lot of others because his stories, his jokes and observations were just as entertaining as the music making for an awesome night out. Make no mistake if you’re going to heckle Corabi expect to get it back as he matches anyone with his razor sharp wit and smarts. With a slightly late start just shy of 10.15pm Corabi takes to the stage to explain “the deal” of how the show works and saying to be as “professional as possible” he needed to tune his guitar.
Starting with a joke slash story about a fall out with a friend because he smelt his girlfriend’s underwear got the laughs and fans hooked right from the get go. Corabi opened with Union classic Love (I Don’t Need It Anymore). What I really liked about this show was how everything connected together and that the songs connected with a moment in time or experience that was unfolding right before him. In an interview I asked the question whether there was anything in your musical career on reflection that you would change? Corabi straight out answered No! Experiencing this show that really does make sense now as Corabi shared his stories and experiences over his career. The story behind If I Never Get To Say Goodbye was powerful describing how felt about his previous relationship with his girlfriend at the time and that the universe is a crazy place and she is no longer here, suggesting that whenever you leave home to say to the people near and dear that you love them.
Corabi spoke of mixing it with members of Kiss knocking off things on bucket list, Kiss fanboy geeks, soundcheck issues between Ace Frehley and Peter Criss at Creatures Fest, a fan telling Corabi he was singing it wrong which served as a lead in to Kiss classic Hard Luck Woman. Hmm, maybe all this should be in a book! Well, funny that because Corabi’s book Horseshoes and Hand Grenades almost seems a compulsory purchase after experiencing this show. The stories continued with Father, Mother, Son where Corabi spoke of working with the legendary Eddie Kramer on The Scream’s first album Let It Scream.
It was funny hearing Corabi speaking about himself having LSD – Lead Singer’s Disease – and that he likes the sound of his own voice and the time he mixed it with Aerosmith. Simply put you had to of been there to hear this story particularly about the meaning behind Coney Island Whitefish and the lyric that caught his attention in Pandora’s Box ‘Now I ain’t what, You’d call a city slicker, Or claim to fame, To be a slitty licker’ which brought the house down. Seasons Of Wither was that Aerosmith fanboy moment Corabi had and played this brilliantly.
There was some reflection on his time with The Dead Daisies playing Something I Said and a ‘swamp’ version of Burn It Down from their Revolución album. At this point Corabi said that he was looking forward to hanging out with fans after the show but wouldn’t sign two items, dicks and cheques! Also, he funnily spoke about the common questions he gets asked which were mostly focused on his time in Motley Crue and Tommy Lee’s anatomy. Misunderstood and Loveshine were big moments in his set. As the show headed in to the early hours of Saturday morning there plenty of great tunes to come with Robin’s Song, Hooligan’s Holiday and finishing on The Car’s Drive which morphed in Man In The Moon which brought this great experience to a close. There’s no doubt John Corabi is a legend, thank you for a great night!
Live Review By Rob Lyon