Charlie Sheen’s “Violent Torpedo of Truth” Tour Debut a Disaster in Detroit; Chicago Said to Be Better

The violent truth for CHARLIE SHEEN?  The opening night of his tour was more like a bomb than a torpedo. The reviews for the first show of the embattled actor's My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat Is Not an Option tour, held at the 5,000-seat Fox Theatre in Detroit on Saturday night, have been overwhelmingly negative.

The trouble began when a stand-up comic KIRK FOX took the stage at 8:00 p.m. ET, rather than Sheen, and delivered a performance so poor that the crowd literally drowned him out with booing, despite Sheen himself appearing briefly on stage to ask the audience to give him a chance.  Then at 9:00, the main event began, with Sheen introduced with a montage of clips, including scenes from Apocalypse Now, a film that starred his father MARTIN SHEEN. The former Two and a Half Men star then walked onto the stage alongside his two girlfriends to a rousing ovation.

Unfortunately, that was the evening's high point.  The crowd started to get restless after Sheen began delivering one of his now-patented rants, declaring that he was "delivered by cyber cloud, with the stomp and glisten of heaven's produce section." He targeted so-called "trolls" in what was a likely reference to his former Two and a Half Men bosses such as CHUCK LORRE.  For reasons not made clear, he also called SARAH PALIN a "whore."  The boos began in earnest about fifteen minutes into the act, at which point Sheen replied, "I already got your money, dude!"

Sheen further incited the crowd when he said Detroit "seems like a good place to get crack."  The boos at that point were so loud they drowned out Sheen.  The audience walk-outs also had begun in earnest, while those remaining chanted "refund" and "loser."

Sheen changed the show's format somewhat when his tour rolled into the Chicago Theatre in the Windy City Sunday night. According to TMZ.com, there was a Q&A session in which he responded to an interviewer's questions. Sheen criticized his estranged wife BROOKE MUELLER, called his one-time Two and a Half Men co-star JON CRYER a "rock star," and told stories of his partying experiences, including confirming that he's paid for sex in the past because, he explained, he's rich.  Also of note: Sheen read a poem slamming Detroit, presumably his way of venting following the poor reception he received there the previous night.   Though TMZ says Sheen's Chicago concert was a vast improvement from his Detroit performance, it remains to be seen if all of his tour dates will remain on his itinerary. (ABC)

If this is "winning" I don't' want to see losing.