Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil, in their prime, rocking in 1984. |
Sadly, though, this is a band that has major egg on its collective face after signing a "legally-binding" contract stipulating they would never tour again after Dec. 31, 2015. At the time, band leader and founder Nikki Sixx said "There is no amount of money that would ever make me do it again because I have such pride in how we're ending it. If anybody ever would call any other band members and say, 'Hey it's been 10 years, let's just do 10 shows. A million a pop.' It could never happen unless all four band members agreed. And if we did agree, the way we've set it up - we'd have so much egg on our face. We have so much pride that that alone would stop it."
Well, that's a lot of egg.
Firstly Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, vocalist Vince Neil, and former guitarist Mick Mars couldn't even wait 10 years - they made it only four years. Also the latest reports have the band apparently demanding more than $3 million per future show. Now, after announcing a stadium tour with Poison and Def Leppard, you could say each band would get $1 million per show if that total gets split evenly.
In their press release announcing their "comeback" (they weren't really gone that long), the band says they have legions of new fans thanks to the Netflix biopic based off their story The Dirt.
It's all about the Fans ... er Money
While it's great for new fans to get a chance to see the Crue in concert, recent allegations by Mars suggest the band does not even play live, using pre-recorded tracks. Fans can clearly see this in several videos where Neil holds the mic out to the crowd, but you can clearly hear his voice through the PA system, even though he isn't singing. So yeah, it's about the money.There's no love lost between Lee and Neil as documented in Lee's biography Tommyland and if it wasn't about the money, the aging Crue would at least put a new album out so they had something to tour behind, or a reason to go out on tour and break their contract.
Yes, it's all about money which they'll make hand over fist because there aren't a lot of big bands touring right now that can sell out stadiums. There certainly aren't a lot of new bands that can do so, anyways.
Motley Crue joins a long list of band that reunited after "ending" their touring careers including KISS, The Who, and Black Sabbath.
A lot of rock bands talk about integrity and such, but clearly Motley Crue has none. Never mind the allegations by former guitarist Mick Mars, who said publicly the band doesn't totally play live and uses backing tracks when onstage. Naturally, the band denied Mars' allegations.