Nikki Sixx Understands Why David Lee Roth Passed on ‘The Stadium Tour’

Nikki Sixx shed light on why David Lee Roth didn't want to join Mötley Crüe's “Stadium Tour,” which will now play next spring. The 30-date stadium run will also feature Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. Nikki Sixx has just published his third memoir, The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx.

Sixx, surmised why the Van Halen frontman decide to pass on the run, telling Forbes, “Yeah, well, he probably influenced everybody. (That band) is a monster. But, y'know, understandably. We all get to make our choices and stuff. I just thought with the body of work that he has with a lot of people, it could be really exciting. I understand his position, too.”

Nikki Sixx spoke about shifting into the role of an elder statesman rocker, explaining, “As you get older, you have to work harder. And I wanted to be transparent about that. I don't want to be like, 'Hey, look at me, I got 400 injections of Botox and I'm 22 years old!' They're like, 'Wait a minute, no you're not! You're 62, and the 22-year-olds are trying to eat your lunch.' That's what you've got to worry about. It's the young wolf that I'm worried about.”

He added, “I'll stay toe-to-toe with the big boys, but the young wolves are coming for us, and they've learned from us, just like I learned from all the great bands. They get to look at the Metallicas, the Mötley​s and U2s and GN'Rs . Name it, whatever it is, and they're like, 'Okay, this is what's worked, this is what doesn't work, and we're gonna start our own band.' And I wanted people to understand the hard work that we have to go into. Especially if you're a young band, you could read that first chapter (of The First 21) and go, 'Okay, this is how it's done. And if we want to have a career that's 10, 20, 30 years old, this is a good little roadmap.'”

Nikki Sixx admitted to us that he's astonished at his productivity since getting sober: “It's insane. It's insane. And y'know what? If you manage it well, you can achieve so much on the planet, more than what I used to be able to achieve, which was, 'Let me write ten songs, record an album and go on tour.' That's it. That's all I did. That's like, ridiculous. If all I had to do was make a Motley Crue album and tour, I'd feel like I was gonna slit my wrists, I'd be so bored now.”

The 30-date “Stadium Tour” kicks off on June 16th, 2022 at Atlanta's SunTrust Park and marks Motley Crüe's first live dates since its 2014 / 2015 farewell tour.