Kory Grow of Rolling Stone reports:
Mötley Crüe promise they will never, ever, ever get back together after they break up next year. Today, the band members went so far as to sign a “cessation of touring agreement” at a press conference in Los Angeles. That legal filing will go into effect at the end of 2015.
“All bad things must come to an end,” reads the tag line on the poster for Mötley Crüe’s upcoming tour. The group also confirmed details surrounding “The Final Tour” and announced their kick off on July 2nd in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In celebration of their announcements, the band will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight and CBS This Morning tomorrow.
“We always had a vision of going out with a big fucking bang and not playing county fairs and clubs with one or two original band members,” drummer Tommy Lee said in a statement. “Our job here is done.”
The cessation of touring agreement that the band signed forbids the group from touring after The Final Tour. At the end of the two-year touring cycle, Lee, vocalist Vince Neil, guitarist Mick Mars and bassist Nikki Sixx will all go their separate ways; there will be no reunions. “Other bands have split up over rancor or the inability of people to get along, but this is a mutual [agreement] among all four original members and peaceful decision to move on to other endeavors and to confirm it with a binding agreement,” the band’s attorney, Doug Mark of Mark Music and Media Law, said.
“[There has been] more drama than General Hospital,” Mars said about the band’s history. “It keeps ’em watchin’, and they keep comin’ back.”
“I’ll miss playing with the guys but I won’t quit playing rock and roll,” Neil added. “I feel there are a lot of great opportunities and exciting projects after Mötley.”
The band said it would play its greatest hits on the road along with a few surprises. “As far as letting on to what we’re doing, that would be like finding out what you’re getting for Christmas before you open the presents,” bassist Nikki Sixx said. “We think in an age of too much information, we’d like to keep some surprises close to our chest until we launch the Final Tour.”
One secret they’re letting out of the bag early, however, is opening artist Alice Cooper, who had some kind words to say about Crüe. “Motley has always gone on stage with one attitude and that’s to blow the audience away,” Cooper said. “We’re going to go out there and tear it up, and I can’t wait to see Mötley on stage. Mötley Crüe and Alice Cooper. A match made in. . . Armageddon?”
The Final Tour will coincide with two special Crüe-related releases. The first is the 2015 Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt, which will be directed by Bad Grandpa‘s Jeff Tremaine. The film is based on the group’s revealing, collaborative biography of the same name and will focus on their exploits. “I relate to the story on so many levels; my whole professional career has been about boys behaving badly, so I have a real connection to the material,” Tremaine said. “It’s awesome to be working with the band at such an exciting time in Mötley Crüe’s history.”
The other Mötley-related release is a country-music tribute to the glam metallers. A Country Music Tribute to Mötley Crüe will come out this summer and will include a not-yet-disclosed cover song by Florida Georgia Line. The label releasing the tribute, Big Machine, has not yet confirmed the other artists on the compilation.
Tickets to the Final Tour will be available to the general public on Friday, January 31st. Pre-sales will begin earlier in the week. Here are the dates that the band has announced so far:
7/2 Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
7/4 Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
7/5 Noblesville, IN – Klipsch Music Center
7/6 Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
7/8 Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Center
7/9 Maryland Heights, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
7/11 Des Moines, IA – Wells Fargo Arena
7/12 Wichita, KS – INTRUST Bank Arena
7/13 Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
7/15 Cedar Park, TX – Cedar Park Center
7/16 Dallas, TX – Gexa Energy Pavilion
7/18 Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
7/19 Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavilion
7/21 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
7/22 Irvine, CA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
7/23 Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/25 Reno, NV – Reno Events Center
7/26 Ridgefield, WA – Sleep County Amphitheatre
7/27 Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
7/29 Wheatland, CA – Sleep Train Amphitheatre
7/30 Chula Vista, CA – Sleep Train Amphitheatre
8/1 Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre
8/2 Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
8/3 Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center
8/5 Sturgis, SD – Sturgis Buffalo Chip
8/6 Sioux City, IA – Tyson Events Center
8/8 Tinley Park, IL – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
8/9 Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
8/10 Toronto, ON – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
8/12 Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center
8/13 Burgettstown, PA – First Niagara Pavilion
8/15 Pelham, AL – Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
8/16 Alpharetta, GA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park
8/17 Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
8/19 Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
8/20 Virginia Beach, VA – Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach
8/22 Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live
8/23 Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Bank Center
8/24 Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
8/26 Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
8/27 Allentown, PA – Great Allentown Fair
8/29 Wantagh, NY – Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
8/30 Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
8/31 Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
10/10 Oklahoma City, OK – Chesapeake Arena
10/11 The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia W. Mitchell Pavilion
10/12 Bossier City, LA – CenturyLink Center
10/14 Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center
10/15 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
10/17 Hollywood, FL – Seminole Hard Rock Live
10/19 Jacksonville, FL – Veterans Memorial Arena
10/21 Greenville, SC – Bon Secours Wellness Arena
10/22 Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
10/25 Atlantic City, NJ – Borgata Event Center
10/26/14 Montville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
10/29 Syracuse, NY – The OnCenter Complex
11/5 Biloxi, MS – Mississippi Coast Coliseum
11/6 Southaven, MS – Landers Center
11/9 Moline, IL – iWireless Center
11/11 Green Bay, WI – Resch Center
11/12 Madison, WI – Alliant Energy Center
11/13 Omaha, NE – CenturyLink Center
11/15 St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
11/16 Fargo, ND – FargoDome
11/18 Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place
11/19 Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
11/21 Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
source: rollingstone.com
74 Responses
At the NAMM show in Anaheim I asked a number of well known industry know-it-alls….it is going to be Thayer & Singer in make-up in the 4 song set….Ace & Peter not onstage. Kiss used the Crue to fill up venues, they came cheap, especially Vince, he’d be the hot dog vendor too. How bout a Quiet Riot/Warrant/Skid Row farewell tour?
Eddie-with respect…so tired of you bringing up Kiss “having” to co-headline. Almost EVERYONE tours in packages now except for a few and no one except Paul MccCartney sells out. Nearly everyone on TMS plays to half empty shows. I live for concerts and go to them all. Even the Masters of Metal tour in Chicago wasnt full. I could go on and on. Do I need to bring up your good friends like Styx and the Midwest express?
Almost everyone? Not quite. AC/DC can still headline arenas on their own, and so can Metallica, Van Halen, Aerosmith – all have done so in recent years, and clearly Motley can too. On the Kiss/Crue tour, it was pretty obvious which band was using which to improve ticket sales. Sorry, I loved Kiss when they presented themselves as a real band with individuals (all line-ups, 1973-2000), but now they’re just a tribute act with impersonators. It’s like seeing AC/DC with someone else in the schoolboy outfit besides Angus. Sorry, that’s how I feel.
And now, let the hollow childish sniping begin…
Motley is not a quite a full on arena headline still in most markets in the US. The other bands you mentioned are. Big difference between going out in the outdoor amphitheaters and headlining arenas. And Motley is taking a legendary artist out as an opening act in Alice Cooper. The Kiss/Motley tour was a total 50/50 co-headline deal. No bands ever co-headline unless they need each other to sell. Motley/Alice is not a co-headline but Alice will get a good set and billing and was at the press conference. Heard from many Alice fans upset he was opening. Similar to when Cheap Trick opened for Poison. But billing only comes down to one thing; who sells more tickets, not history and longevity.
Fair enough, Eddie – maybe Motley and Kiss did need each other equally. It just seemed to me that Motley has had more success as a headliner than Kiss has in recent years (at least here in the U.S.). As for Alice opening, as much as I love Motley, I’m a much bigger Alice fan – but I’m realistic about his billing for the reasons you said. Frankly, I’m always just happy to see him exposed to new audiences, regardless of where or when he plays.
Sure it was a Co Headline deal(not really), one band made their normal guarantee(KISS) and the other did what LN told them to do. LN has owned MC for years and are the main reason for this so called retirement.Dwindling ticket sales now propped up by the Farewell card.If they want to tour in a few years, they will. If not all members want to tour, the ones that don’t will get paid to sign off on the deal.
As for the guy bringing up AC DC, sure a few like ACDC and Metallica sell out on their own, But PLEASE, Aerosmith has had to take out any and everyone for the last 4 tours because of dwindling attendance. It happens when a band tours every single year, no slag. VH’s numbers are down since the Reunion tour with 30 dates canceled last time. The Crue’s numbers have been going down each year(could be because of the desire to tour every year.) Leppard’s number’s are down, they’ll either take this summer off or be Special Guests on the KISS tour. Rush ? It’s their 40th, yet they are off. They would have you think they are just taking time off,could be. It’s just funny that they played last year to less than 3/4 houses and now they take a year off. Yeah right, LN had no gig for them this year. It happens in the concert business. Acts that tour every 3-5 years(longer for AC DC) have no problem selling when they are on tour. Acts that tour every year need to package it up to continue.
It also has to do with $150 dollar tickets to shows nowadays. I used to go see almost every band I liked when they came around, but I can’t afford it anymore. Not just me, but my friends balk at a lot of shows now when you consider the cost of the ticket, parking, some food and a couple of beers, everybody’s in for a couple hundred bucks. When that happens, I’ve got to pick only the one or two that I really want to see – and that’s if I can find someone else willing to do the same.
Another tour, and no new music. Nothing new in 6 years!
Surprised we didn’t get another greatest hits album with a 1 new song.
If I wanted to see the same songs, I can pop in the Carnival of Sins Tour from a couple of years back.
Touring is where the earning potential is, we all know that; but they need a reason to tour and that was to introduce us to the new music and the favorites we all love.
Looks like they are in for the almighty dollar….again.
Nikki is clearly not engaged with what Crue fans really want to hear…NEW MUSIC.
Nikki has no faith in the rest of the band to ‘Create’ anything worth recording.
Oh wait we are getting the NEW country tribute album. ?????
Actually, from what I’ve heard, Nikki was the only one who really DID want to do a new album. Tommy is the main one who didn’t want to do anything new. He’s said more than once in the press that he thinks making new albums is a waste of time because they don’t sell anymore. I honestly think Nikki is the only one who really cares about the integrity of the band’s legacy.
It’s hilarious that these guys supposedly signed a cessation agreement. That’s nothing more than a PR scam to sell more tickets.
It would be cool if they include John Corabi for a few select shows. But I doubt that would ever happen. I’m still stuck in ’94 I guess.