Posted on: November 11, 2022, 03:00h.
Last updated on: November 11, 2022, 04:23h.
Mötley Crüe will play its third Las Vegas residency sometime in 2024, as previously revealed by singer Vince Neil to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. However, the residency will not include Mick Mars. The founding guitarist for the ’80s hair metal band is retiring from the road because of his painful struggle with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), a degenerative spinal disease.
A statement released by a representative of Mars to Variety indicated that Mars would continue as a member of the band. However, Neil revealed to the R-J in September that the Crüe was now “strictly a touring band” with no new music on the horizon. So Mars’ future participation in the group appears only to extend to its business and financial matters.
There is no word yet on who will replace Mars as the band’s touring guitarist. However, they have only until May 22, 2023 to find someone. That’s when the second and final leg of its Stadium Tour resumes in the UK. The tour will take them around Europe – as well as to Mexico and South America – for a good chunk of next year. Tickets are currently for sale on ticketmaster.com.
Internet rumors are currently circling former Marilyn Manson/Rob Zombie guitarist John 5, who recently stopped touring with Zombie.
The Crüe’s 2024 Vegas residency will be the ’80s hair-metal band’s third stint of semi-permanence in Sin City. That’s following 2012 and 2013 residencies at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (now Virgin Hotels Las Vegas).
Not Tiring of Retiring
The Crüe has claimed to be retiring on several occasions. In fact when they announced their “Final Tour” in January 2014, each member signed, in full view of reporters, a “Cessation of Touring Agreement” – a supposedly legally binding document that promised that the group would never tour again.
However, the buzz from the band’s 2019 Netflix biopic The Dirt obviously caused some reconsideration of that legal situation. Postponed for two years, the Stadium Tour – a coheadlining jaunt with Def Leppard that also featured Poison and Joan Jett – earned a massive $173 million before wrapping its initial leg on Sept. 9, 2022 at Allegiant Stadium.
It can safely be assumed that Mars’ retirement is not a similar case of crying wolf. Having struggled with AS since his late teens, but soldiering through for decades, Mars (whose real name is Robert Deal) says he’s in too much pain to deal with the rigors of touring at age 71.
