The tiny town of Newkirk, Oklahoma brought in two iconic performs to the First Council Casino for what would prove to be a night of hard rocking music, done up ‘80’s style.

The show was booked on a Thursday, and in the Bible belt that can mean that kids need to be fed and gotten ready for bed, as the adults have to be to work by eight the next morning. In other words, the show was not nearly sold out. Those who did come out, however, were loud and ready to rock.

The evening began with Vince Neil and his solo band taking the stage. To make matters worse for the sparse crowd, Vince was late to the ball and held things up, making the evening start later than scheduled. Vince, one of rock’s most controversial figures, was ready to rock out on his Motley Crue standards, but due to being late, was forced to drop, not only Crue classics but also cover songs that he has been performing on other tour stops from his remake album, Tattoos & Tequila, opting only to play the one original song, the title track, from the new effort.

Two things were odd about Vince’s show. For starters, his vocals were mixed down so low that hearing him sing was actually difficult. The second oddity was that Vince, despite being late, left the stage for over ten minutes so his band could jam out on “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin and “Heaven and Hell” by Black Sabbath. He actually took songs out of the set he has been playing and let the band jam for a sixth of his set without him on stage. One is not sure if this was due to eating some bad tacos on the bus, or if he is just that lazy. Either way, it was a huge disappointment to his fans in attendance. When lead guitarist Jeff “Blando” Bland led the group through the Sabbath and Zep cover his vocals were easily heard, making one wonder if the lower volume was less a soundman issue and more of a lead singer issue. Speaking of the sound, whoever was in charge of the board had to have been taking part in some wacky weed, as microphones were often turned off when they needed to be on and the front of house speakers were mixed awful throughout the entire set.

Not everything was bad about Vince Neil’s performance. Vince, when you could hear him, actually sounded good on early Crue classics including “Live Wire” and “Piece of Your Action.” “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” was a highlight, as was the trio of songs to close the show, “Kickstart My Heart,” “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Wide Side.”

Vince’s band is damn good. Slaughter’s Dana Strum plays bass guitar, along with his band mate in Slaughter, Jeff Bland. The highlight of the entire night belonged to Neil’s drummer, Zoltan Chaney. Never before has this writer seen a drummer hit the cymbals with his drum stool. Zoltan (what a fucking awesome name) played drums with his feet, stood up and played, sat down and played, jumped off an amp and played and, if he were endowed like Tommy Lee, then I sure he would have played a drum solo with his dick. All eyes were on the outrageous drumming machine from the opening note to the last.

After a lengthy break, Cinderella took the stage. The band was unfairly lumped into the Hair Band genre, due more for their amazing poofy hair than for their music. Cinderella was always a very blues based hard rock band. On this night they played nearly all of their classics and despite coming on later than scheduled, they played the full set they have been playing in 2011.

The shows started out with the song “One Around the Ride” which was met warmly by the bands biggest fans. When “Shake Me” cranked up next, then the novice Cinderella fans got into the act, singing along with the band.

Vocalist Tom Keifer sounded good, his vocal problems behind him on this night. Unlike Neil, you could hear Tom when he sang in his lower register and when he sang in his “I just got my dick caught in the blender” wail that he is famous for. The rest of the set was incredible as the band trotted out “Somebody Save Me,” “Nightsongs,” “Coming Home,” “Second Wind,” “Don’t Know What You’ve Got” and “Gypsy Road.” For the encore, Cinderella’s surprised the crowd with the bluesy “Long Cold Winter” before blasting out the sing-along classic “Shelter Me.”

While the band was not on fire, they did appear to be going through the motions, they performed well. They sounded good, that is when the soundman had all the knobs diddled in correctly.

It was an evening full of fun tunes, some surprise songs, some crazy ass drumming and a solid outing by one of the ‘80’s best bands.