Mike Ayers of The Wall Street Journal reports:
Motley Crue, best known for ’80s hits like Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood, will play their final show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on December 31st, 2015. The show will cap their last and final tour, which started in 2014 with a much publicized signing of a binding legal document that promised they’d never reunite after 2015. Alice Cooper will support most of the 2015 final tour dates.
“We’ve been talking about where we’re at for a few years,” Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx tells Speakeasy. “[We asked] when is the time to take our heavy-weight belt off? When’s the time to not stay too long as a rock band?”
Sixx says the band hit a few speed-bumps during the 2014 tour and have course-corrected for their remaining shows. Throughout last summer, they found themselves switching between arenas and outdoor amphitheaters, the latter of which couldn’t sustain their elaborate pyrotechnic set-up and drummer Tommy Lee‘s “Drum Roller-coaster.” The plan for this year is to be only in arenas, which can give fans the proper show.
Though these might be the last times fans can see the band live, Sixx says that there could be some releases in the future. “We’d probably look at that five or six years down the line. Time’s an interesting thing. We’re going to be recording [these concerts]. There’s a possibility for a live DVD of the show. We’re talking about a documentary. There’s a lot of Motley Crue coming.”
Along with announcing their final tour, the band released a new single today called All Bad Things (listen below). They played it a handful of times during 2014 and it’s going to be included on an upcoming release that promises to be the “ultimate collector’s album.” This week, they’re also giving away their 2009 “Greatest Hits” album for free via Google Play.
Sixx says the final shows will be bittersweet and he’s looking forward to the next chapter – but knows that some Crue fans might be having a hard time letting go. “Somebody held up a sign that said ‘Enjoy your retirement.’ And I thought f–ck, i’m not going to start golfing!” It’s going to open our schedules up. We’re going to walk away with our pride. And we’re going to feel honor. But it’s going to give [us] an opportunity to do other stuff too.
“Motley Crue was the mothership,” he adds. “It’s so much of your life, you can’t remember life without it.”
Here are the final Motley Crue tour dates:
July 22: Eugene, OR Matthew Knight Arena
July 24: Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
July 26: Billings, MT Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark
July 28: Boise, ID Taco Bell Arena
July 29: Salt Lake City, UT EnergySolutions Arena
July 31: Denver, CO Pepsi Center
August 3: Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
August 5: St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
August 7: Milwaukee, WI BMO Harris Bradley Center
August 8: Chicago, IL Allstate Arena
August 9: Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
August 11: Hershey, PA Giant Center
August 12: Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
August 14: Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
August 15: Worcester, MA DCU Center
August 16: Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
August 18: Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
August 19: Cincinnati, OH U.S. Bank Arena
August 20: Indianapolis, IN Bankers Life Fieldhouse
August 22: Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
August 23: Ottawa, ON Canadian Tire Centre
August 24: Montreal, QC Bell Centre
August 26: Baltimore, MD Royal Farms Arena
August 28: Raleigh, NC PNC Arena
August 29: Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena
August 30: Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
September 2: Miami, FL American Airlines Arena
September 4: New Orleans, LA Smoothie King Center
September 5: Houston, TX Toyota Center
September 6: San Antonio, TX Alamodome
September 8: Monterrey, Mex. Arena Monterrey
September 10: Mexico City, Mex. Arena Ciudad de Mexico
TBA: Las Vegas, NV
December 31: Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
source: blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy
14 Responses
I’m still not crazy about the new song, but I’m still crazy about the Crue, no matter how old I’m getting! Seen them twice last year, and on August 12th, Brooklyn, I’m there! 🙂
And this time, I won’t forget my earplugs. 😉
Hey Doug R, that new AC/DC is pretty cool, they can keep belting out those killer blues licks ’til the Sun goes down, age isn’t a factor with their music, and their music doesn’t necessarily demand that youthful performance. Blues, you can be elderly and perform that stuff.
That’s why I have to commend the Crue for stopping at this point. They are doing it right before their age starts to show on stage. As we’ve seen, the drop off can be pretty pronounced.
I am very fond of the Crue’s first record. It’s creepy without even really trying to be. I like how the songs run into each other: notice how it is sequenced, there is only a very brief, like half a second, between the songs, some of the songs are really good, Public Enemy #1 stands out for me.
Their second record, they pull out this blatant Satanism, whereas before, it was a subtext, which made it creepier. Notice in the gatefold, Vince’s corpsepaint, and I love this, Nikki giving the “I Love You” sign, to himself! (Also gotta love Tommy Lee’s little homage to Peter Criss with his makeup).
The songs on Shout..more self conscious, dumb on purpose, but then “Helter Skelter” was a good move, and “Too Young” and “Knock ‘Em Dead” are really good songs. But not crazy about the image trappings, and some of the music is too flat brained. In other words, they portrayed two of the worst traits ascribed to metal: that it is a bad influence, and musically stupid, and they aren’t being ironic. Still, it is a major league record that I listen to, it is entertaining.
Hey Shannon, how are you buddy? Long time, no post huh? Yes, nobody does it like AC/DC! You can always count on them to “Rock The House”. I always loved the fact that unlike other bands, AC/DC never “experimented”, and changed their style, what you get is always what you see, and what you hear, AC/DC IS AC/DC, period! I agree about Motley, yes some of their early songs are hard to listen to, especially today! But overall that’s always been what the Crue is about, you have to take the bad with the good, “All In The Name Of”….Rock & Roll! 😉
The only Motley album that was truly bad was Theater of Pain, besides one or two songs.
Replying to myself, I forgot about Generation Swine. That was horrible.
“In other words, they portrayed two of the worst traits ascribed to metal: that it is a bad influence, and musically stupid, and they aren’t being ironic.”
I’ve read all this 3 times and I still can’t understand what you’re saying. Besides Dr. Feelgood, and the Corabi disc, their 1st two albums are by far their best, and Shout, to me, is much better than Too Fast for Love.
There was no blatant satanism, it was an act, a look.
Doug R, my life has gotten very busy. But I still spin the records. AC/DC are masters at that stuff.
Michael B, Too Fast For Love has this film noir aspectual shape that puts it somewhere in the realm of art. It’s a very creepy record in an ironic way. I like all the songs on it, a few, a lot.
Shout, they are consciously being creepy and their look and act was blatant Satanism. They refer to their audience as children of the beast. The first three songs on side one pander to the audience. Same with Red Hot. But then the rest are very good. (And they were into the occult, it wasn’t just an act).
Maybe if you got a good turntable and listened to the vinyl, you would assess Too Fast and Shout differently. I used to perceive Shout as being better, but the records changed my mind completely. PS.. Generation Swine, that one I rate highly.
I’ll wait for their first reunion tour.
I don’t want to reveal Mick Mars age, but he once gave Lute lessons to a young Abe Lincoln.
The new song is terrible and just like all the bands that claim this is the farewell tour, Motley is full of it…they played at the Hard Rock in south florida a few months ago, with very high ticket prices and billed it as the last time to see the Crüe and sure enough I see now that they are coming back September 2nd for another show…thought they sucked when I saw them with Kiss last year and the time before that so I won’t be attending. I have loved this band since 81 but Vince has been mailing it in for years, Tommy’s drum solo is programmed and to the point where I could teach my 2 year old how to play it, and Nikki cheats all over the place, holding notes without playing riffs like he used to. The only one who I have any respect for is Mick…he’ll,of a guitar player and can anyone imagine what that guy goes thru just to do a show??
Mick said on TMS that he’d like the Crue’s last show to be on top of the Whiskey where they got their start. That would have been cool. I’ve never been a big Motley Crue fan, I like the first two albums and that’s about it, but I do respect how they’re ending the Crue, at least the touring part of it. That is, unless they lied or change their minds and they announce a new tour in 5 years.