By Gerrick D. Kennedy
Los Angeles Times via McClatchy-Tribune
LOS ANGELES _ “All bad things must come to an end.” That’s how Motley Crue broke the news it was calling it quits.
The influential, and infamous, L.A. rock band turned Beacher’s Madhouse in Hollywood into a circus Tuesday morning as more than 100 media outlets packed the hot spot to hear the band’s announcement of a 72-date farewell tour.
After more than three decades together, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Mick Mars unveiled plans for a last hurrah. They even sat behind tombstone markers for an additional morbid flourish.
The Final Tour, as it’s aptly titled, kicks off July 2 in Grand Rapids, Mich., and will head overseas next year. Alice Cooper will join the Live Nation-produced trek.
Unlike countless other rock bands and pop stars who have announced farewell tours to only return to the road for one reason or another _ or set up shop in Las Vegas _ Motley Crue’s members insisted that when this run of shows ends, that’s it.
The band even had its attorney on hand to present a formal agreement that, effective at the end of 2015, bars any of the band members from using the Motley Crue trademark _ which they all signed.
Lee smiled and pounded the table with his fist after signing his name on the document, and Mars shouted “R.I.P.” into a microphone.
The plans had been in the works for a few years. Sixx said, “We started talking about how we want to go out. We don’t want to hobble off into the sunset.
Tommy said it best when he said, ‘A farewell tour is when a band does (one) and then gets back together and does another (one) and breaks up and gets back together until there’s no milk left in the … and it’s a rip-off to the fans.’ “
“We don’t want to be one of those bands that maybe have one guy left in it, or somebody’s brother. We wanted to go out with the four founding members … and go out on top,” Neil added.
“It’s because we are on top, we are holding it together, we are playing better and sounding better. We want to leave a legacy and have some dignity,” Sixx continued. “We feel there’s a lot of bands out there that don’t have dignity. We started this band, and we want to call it a day and be proud.”
As for any chances of them collectively changing their minds to come together again, Sixx vowed that band members were “going to stick to our word.”
As for any chances for new music before going on the road, Sixx said fans will “just have to see.”
Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday through Ticketmaster, and the band announced that it had priced seats as low as $15 to $25 to keep shows affordable.
