Five years after an ugly divorce, the original lineup of 1980s hair-metal legends Mötley Crüe are reuniting for a world tour.
The first date of the Red, White & Crüe Tour… Better Live Than Dead is February 17 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and will be followed by dates in South America and Europe.
Singer Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee, bassist Nikki Sixx and guitarist Mick Mars, arriving together in a hearse, announced the reunion Monday night in Los Angeles, marking their first tour together since Lee left the group in 1999. A 37-song retrospective, Red, White & Crüe, will hit stores on February 1, featuring the new single “If I Die Tomorrow,” as well as the newly recorded “Sick Love Song” and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man,” alongside such Crüe classics as “Dr. Feelgood” and “Girls, Girls, Girls.”
The video for the ballad “If I Die Tomorrow” – a song Sixx wrote with Simple Plan – rehashes some of the notoriously hard-partying group’s more tawdry moments: Neil killing Hanoi Rocks’ drummer, Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley, in a car crash; Lee going to jail for spousal abuse; Sixx’s nearly fatal drug addiction; and Mars’ recent health problems.
“For as much as it’s like, ‘Wow! This is like the ultimate roller-coaster ride in life,’ it was kinda nice to get off that for a little while. But I’m jonesin’ for the thrill now,” Sixx said at the Hollywood news conference, according to Reuters.
In addition to the tour, a movie based on the band’s memoir, The Dirt, will begin filming in 2005 and both Lee and Neil will be the subjects of reality shows. Lee’s show for MTV has him enrolling at the University of Nebraska and Neil’s VH1 program features him getting a career makeover. The group’s first live gig will come Friday on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show, followed by a December 14 appearance at Spike TV’s Video Game Awards.
Following the first spate of dates, the band will return to the U.S. in August and September for a string of amphitheater shows and finish the year touring Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Mötley Crüe tour dates, according to the band’s official Web site:
- 2/17 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Office Depot Center
- 2/18 – Tampa, FL – St. Pete Times Forum
- 2/20 – Greenville, SC – Bi-Lo Center
- 2/22 – Cleveland, OH – Gund Arena
- 2/23 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Center
- 2/25 – Detroit, MI – The Palace
- 2/27 – Ottawa, ON – Corel Centre
- 2/28 – Hartford, CT – Hartford Civic Center
- 3/3 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
- 3/4 – Philadelphia, PA – Wachovia Spectrum
- 3/5 – Boston, MA – Fleet Center
- 3/6 – Washington, DC – MCI Center
- 3/8 – Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Center
- 3/10 – Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena
- 3/12 – Milwaukee, WI – US Cellular Arena
- 3/14 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
- 3/15 – Kansas City, MO – Kemper Arena
- 3/17 – Dallas, TX – Nokia Live
- 3/19- Phoenix, AZ – Cricket Pavilion
- 3/20 – Las Vegas, NV – The Joint
- 3/22 – San Diego, CA – Coors Amphitheatre
- 3/23 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum – tentative
- 3/25 – Reno, NV – Reno Events Center
- 3/26 – Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena
