One of the more odious trends in rock (and one committed time and time and time again by bands like The Cure and Kiss) is the inevitable “farewell” tour, in which a band or artist states they want to retire before getting too old so they can “go out on top” and give the best show possible, followed by the even more inevitable reunion tour 5-10 years later in order to make a ton of money by reuniting at Coachella and then launching a two-year worldwide tour. The latest band to steal from this playbook? ’80s hair-metal act Mötley Crüe.
Frontman Vince Neil recently announced the news to Billboard (via Rolling Stone) that the band would launch a farewell tour in early 2014 to say goodbye to fans… before admitting they’ll come back a few years after that:
“We’ll do one more time around the world and kinda call it quits…It’s just that time. We’re going out on top. We don’t want to be some band that people are like, ‘Oh, they’re playing a club now,’ that kind of band. We still sell out arenas, have stadium stuff and things like that, so let’s go out when it’s a big deal.”
He added that the band will likely return after a period of retirement, but he totally promises it won’t be like every single other band that does that, adding “it’s not gonna be like a Kiss farewell to the farewell to the farewell to the farewell tour. It won’t be like that. We’re not going to say farewell and then try to get people to come back again in a little while.”
Which means it will be exactly like a Kiss farewell tour.
What do you think of the Mötley Crüe news?