Anyone who has taken in the stage show in Las Vegas knows how whipped up the audiences get, even though Barker is nowhere around. They will respond the same way to Drew, I guarantee it, even though Drew won't have the benefit of Randy West's sex appeal to help him out.
Everyone reading this must take in TPIR Live (and Las Vegas for that matter) at least once in their lives. If you've been to Las Vegas while the stage show was running and didn't take it in, what's wrong with you?