MIKE SHALER | Go Venue Magazine
November 2oth, 2025, was a date I made note of earlier this year as John 5 and Richie Kotzen announced a tour that included a stop at The Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan.
Opening the show was Band Inc., a female fronted hard rock group of Giuliana Lucia Amaral on vocals and bass guitar, Victor Adriel on guitar, JT Shea on guitar and Chris Campo on drums. Strong vocals and energetic hard driven rock n roll from this group absolutely got the crowd into the swing of things for the night.
With a new album, Ghost, just released in October. Michigan’s own John 5 took the stage to loud cheers as the lights went dark, and the glowing green lava guitar drew everyone’s attention as John riffed away while swirling the lava inside the guitar. With Alejandro Mercado on drums, John played a variety of tunes on various string instruments from regular guitars to mandoline to banjo as John displayed his musical prowess to play numerous genres with excellence.
Wearing almost as many masks as guitars played, John kept the visuals interesting throughout the set. It was nice to see John bring some of the creepy Halloween feel back to his show with Jack-o-lanterns and scary masks; one mask reminded me of Grandpa from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Many people know John 5 and his illustrious career so far, having been in bands Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie and now Motley Crue. John played Manson‘s “Sweet Dreams” and followed that up with Queen‘s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”.
John paused to say he wanted to have us all sing happy birthday to his brother-in-law, Shit-neck, who he shared a quick story of how he got that nickname as a kid and he’s still called that in his 50’s. Later, John had his sister Mary step on stage to record some video of the audience singing Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home” and have it sent to Tommy Lee. Crew member Richard Ramirez joined on bass guitar as John then dove deep into a medley of Motley Crue songs to cap off his set and said he hopes to see us next summer when Motley Crue is on tour.
As great as John 5 is on guitar, Richie Kotzen is no slouch on the axe either and has the vocal chops to pair with it. With Dylan Wilson on bass guitar and Matt Lesser on drums, Richie and the guys brought the rock, the rhythm and blues, the funk and the good times as they whipped out a concoction of infectious grooves that had the fans dancing along. Richie has had a lot of success over the years from being in Poison, Mr. Big, The Winery Dogs, and a long running solo career. With songs like “Fooled Again”, “Doin’ What The Devil Says To Do”, “Rust” and “Remember”. There were plenty of great songs to keep the audience enchanted.
I was hoping John 5 would come back out to jam with Richie, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. This tour wraps up soon on November 25th in Denver, Colorado, so if there’s a show near you, get out there, you’re assured to have a good time.
Richie Kotzen
John 5
Band Inc.
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