MÖTLEY CRÜE – Pyrotechnics And The Crüecifly: Behind-The-Scenes On The Final Tour; Video

In this episode of Anatomy Of A Show, Live Nation TV meets up with Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, and the Mötley Crüe crew on the last leg of The Final Tour to talk about the evolution of their legendary performances.

“We learn about the original vision, pyrotechnics, and all the engineering that goes into Tommy Lee’s drum roller coaster: The Mother Fucking Crüecifly.”

“I remember walking down the stairs onto the stage and hardly knowing Tommy and Vince and Mick,” Sixx says, reflecting on Mötley Crüe’s first-ever gig, in West Hollywood on April 24th, 1981. “But at the same time feeling like I’d known them my whole life. Breaking into that first song, I remember just feeling at home.”

Sixx spoke by phone with LAWeekly from backstage at an arena in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Mötley Crüe is nearing the end of The Final Tour, a farewell trek bound by a “cessation of touring agreement,” and culminating in a three-show hometown stand at the Staples Center leading up to the band’s December 31st finale.

The same four dudes that will be in Mötley Crüe when the band plays Staples are the same four that played the group’s 1981 Starwood debut: Sixx, frontman Vince Neil, guitarist Mick Mars and drummer Tommy Lee. Of course a lot has happened to those four people in the 34 years since. Stardom, propelled by catchy yet heavy hits like “Looks That Kill”, “Home Sweet Home”. “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Dr. Feelgood.” Infamy, propelled by epic heroin, coke, booze and groupie consumption, as chronicled in the group’s 2001 page-turner memoir, The Dirt.

Read more at LAWeekly.

Visit Motley.com for an official listing of the band’s few remaining shows before they call it quits.