Motley Crue rocked crowds night after night on the Stadium Tour with Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. However, their involvement wasn’t always a done deal.
Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee took part in a new interview with ET where Sixx said he had to convince Lee to do the tour. A large part of Lee’s apprehension stemmed from the Crue’s “Cessation of Touring” agreement they signed before their “Final Tour” in 2014-15. (The band would go on to literally blow up the agreement in November 2019.)
“Tommy does other stuff, and I do other stuff, and I remember getting the phone call from management, and I was like. ‘No,’” Sixx said. “And they go, ‘You haven’t even heard what I have to say.’”
When they were told the proposed tour would be in stadiums, not arenas, minds quickly changed. Sixx then told management he’d call Lee and have a chat.
“How can you say no to stadiums?” Lee said. He added, “Every night is bananas.”
The tour took longer than expected to happen thanks to the pandemic, but it seems to be well worth the wait. Early reports in August from Pollstar showed each night of the Stadium Tour was making an average of just under $5 million. At the time, the only tours out-performing the Stadium Tour were the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran.
The Stadium Tour wrapped on September 9 in Las Vegas. Complete gross totals haven’t been revealed yet, but don’t be surprised when the Stadium Tour ranks as one of the biggest tours of 2022.
