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Mötley Crüe bassist and co-founder Nikki Sixx says he and his three bandmates were certain that their career as a live band was over after their 'Final Tour' wrapped up in late-2015.
In a recent radio interview, Sixx suggested that Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and himself were somewhat eager to put the band behind them so they could get on with other projects. The fact that the 'Final Tour' was mostly cordial on a personal level made the experience that much more enjoyable.
The eventual reunion came together slowly and naturally, as Sixx tells it, with very little pressure from the outside. He confirms that the band biopic, The Dirt, served as a catalyst to get the four co-founders collaborating again. But it wasn't until well after the film came out that the band began discussing a tour.
"We never intended on getting back together," Sixx said. "It was the the movie... We always knew we were gonna do the movie. And then getting in a studio and making music was like 'That was fun.' I was like, 'Yeah, we'll do some songs for the movie.' And we got the movie. 'It's been great.' High five."
Before they knew it, Sixx and Lee were having dinner together and the proverbial ball "just started rolling and rolling."
The band knew that having a film on Netflix would rekindle some interest in their body of work, but Sixx says they may not have understood how many people all over the world would be introduced to the band through the film.
Prior to the 'Final Tour' the band members signed a 'cessation of touring' contract — a publicity stunt that served to bar any version of Mötley Crüe from touring again without consent of all four co-founders.
Of the initial reunion conversation, Sixx indicates that he was reticent about the idea, but felt the band members "owed it to ourselves to have that conversation."
As Sixx has previously stated, a bonafide offer came in and the opportunity to headline in stadiums was too attractive to pass up.
"We've done arenas, we've done festivals. We just felt like it isn't gonna get any bigger than how we ended it. And then came the, 'No, no. [Promoters] wanna do stadiums. And we were like, 'Ah, well, that's a little different conversation.'"
Def Leppard was quick to commit to the tour as a co-headliner, and with that the band booked 'The Stadium Tour.'
The twice-postponed run is now planned for 2022, with rehearsals slated to begin in May.