The tour that wasn’t.
The Crue had no press in Australia at the time. It’s like they didn’t even exist. Acts like Limp Bizkit, Matchbox 20, Blink 182 and Pearl Jam ruled. The only 80s act that could still draw big crowds was Bon Jovi and “Its My Life” was a massive comeback song and it proved to be a stayer on the charts.
So it was a bizarre feeling when I saw this advertisement on September 7, 2000 for Motley Crue shows in two months time.
Small time windows like this; from when tickets go on sale, to when the shows are meant to be on, just don’t happen in Australia. There is at least, as a minimum 6 months to a year notice.
And Australia wasn’t getting a lot of live acts at this point in time, especially hard rock acts who weren’t selling a lot because our AUD dollar was low compared to the USD, so to bring the acts out and pay them their US fee, meant the prices here would be extraordinarily high.
Plus it was a risk for the promoter, because an acts draw was always based on record sales. And hard rock acts just weren’t selling like they used to.
Anyway who was I to argue.
The mighty Crue we’re coming to town.
Yeah it’s not the Crue that I knew growing up as Tommy Lee was missing and his replacement Randy Castillo was undergoing cancer treatment, so Samantha Maloney was behind the kit.
But it was still the Crue.
The bad boys (now mid 30s men) we’re coming to town and playing the same arenas like it was 1989.
But “New Tattoo” didn’t set any charts alight when it came out in Australia. It was no “Dr Feelgood”, so this tour would need to rely more on the hardcore audience to buy tickets for nostalgic purposes rather than any new fans because of the “Generation Swine” and “New Tattoo” albums.
So I purchased tickets for myself, my wife and a few friends, as the gig on November 23 fell on my birthday. I thought man, it they make it and they don’t kill each other before hand, as the airport incident between Tommy and Vince was still fresh in my mind, then it would be a great birthday present.
Then on October 27, almost a month after tickets went on sale, the Crue cancelled their Australian tour which for a band as big as Crue was, it was only going to be their second ever tour of Australia. There first one being the “Dr Feelgood” tour.
The press release said it was because of “personal circumstances beyond the bands control” but Sixx filled in the blanks later when he said it was due to low ticket sales.
No shit.
But I didn’t think they would cancel because of low tickets. Like come on, it was still the Crue. Surely they still had enough fans to sell out. I guess in 2000 they didn’t care enough.
Redemption came in December, 2005 when they came to town and sold out a bigger arena than they had scheduled to play in 2000.
5 years. Things change a lot.
It goes to show what a game changer Napster, file sharing and “The Dirt” book were for Motley Crue.
Having their music easily available around the world because of file sharing, increased their fan base exponentially, which led to ticket sales and “The Dirt” book sealed the deal.
It gave them a golden run of another 12 plus years and if COVID-19 doesn’t kill it, they have their comeback tour planned on the backs of “The Dirt” movie. Funny how “The Dirt” was pivotal in two comebacks.
destroyerofharmony 
I’m really surprised the Crue tour for this year is still a go or a faros I know its a go.
Always a drag when you psyched for some shows and they pull the plug. That happened to me once when RATT cancelled which was surprising as it was back in 89! Wheels were already coming off of some acts back then.
I don’t think it will go ahead. Surely it can’t.
Ratt still pains me how they never went on to have that victory lap in the 2000s like the Crue, Def Leppard, Europe, Whitesnake and so on.
RATT is a funny bunch. They should have had their shit together but too much ego man demolished any kind of anything. I thought that Collage toss together album was quite good but yeah no victory lap just Blotzer thinking for a year he was RATT. lol
Blotzer thought he was Ratt. I remember seeing an interview I think on The Metal Show where he talked about being an important member in the writing process but never got any credit. What’s Dekes famous saying..,,, Old Dude Drama.. O.D.D
I might form a band called ODD..
Ha. Old Dude Drama Overdrive. lol
So much out there. Kinda quiet out there now but I’m sure someone’s twig will snap at some point! lol
I have only seen Crue once it was way back in 1987 with a little known band named Guns N Roses opening for them. It was the worst concert I have been to, yet one of the most memorable.
Lol
Memorable but the worst concert. Is there a story there?
There is. I’ll give you the quick & dirty.. Axl jumped off stage after 3 songs got into a fight and arrested (end of their set). Crue waited 1-1/2 hours before they came on and played a short set…I don’t remember an encore.
Quick and dirty review like the quick and short concert.
Cool post. I didn’t know they had cancelled that Australian tour but New Tattoo wasn’t a big seller here in Canada either. I personally did not like it. My comment at the time (and I stand by it) is that New Tattoo is proof that Tommy Lee had more to do with the Motley sound than Vince Neil.
But I give credit to Samantha, I have the live DVD they did from the New Tattoo tour and she’s a highlight of it. NT is my least favourite Crue album, probably. The songs are all paint-by-numbers, and I don’t blame Randy Castillo for the dry sound. But it was a steady decline in my eyes.
The songs are so and so.
Some of em are leftovers from the Decade of Decadence sessions like Punched In The Teeth. I think the site Chronological Crue had that comment. Some of em had some good riffs but lyrically there was no message that was connecting.
100% agreement on Tommy Lee and the Crue sound.
I’ve got that live DVD as well and Samantha just brings so much energy to it. So I totally agree with ya on that.
Haha oh man, you have to read this.
https://mikeladano.com/2013/12/08/punched-in-the-teeth-by-love/
It’s too bad they never got to tour was Castillo though. I was a huge fun of his drumming on No Rest for the Wicked especially.
Nice post. MEAT had the scoop. So where is the Ladano demo version. Will it be shared? I wrote a song called Kicked In The Teeth (I know it’s such an original title). Lol.
Also the Four Horseman version rocks. Never heard that song before. It’s one of those riffs that is pretty derivative. I put do some more investigation for a post of similar songs which have that riff.
BIGGEST DISSAPOINTMENT REGARDING cancelled australian tour ….CRUE picked legendary outlaws ROSE TATTOO to support !!!
I agree 100 percent.