Tommy Lee says Crüe Year's Eve at Acrisure Arena will be 'one to remember'

Brian Blueskye, Palm Springs Desert Sun

Updated December 19, 2023 at 11:32 AM·5 min read

Why should locals celebrate New Year’s Eve at Acrisure Arena with ‘80s heavy metal band M?tley Crüe? During a recent interview, drummer Tommy Lee said “’Why not?’ would be my question.”

“I think about all the New Year’s Eve kind of things that are happening, and none of them sound exciting to me,” Lee said. “It’s definitely going to be more fun than a cruise ship show, that’s for sure.”

Doors for the concert will open at 8:30 p.m. and the show will start at 10 p.m. Dec. 31. M?tley Crüe will perform through midnight to celebrate the New Year on stage with fans.

Mötley Crüe wll perform at Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, Calif., on December 31, 2023. — M?tley Crüe wll perform at Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, Calif., on December 31, 2023.

M?tley Crüe featuring vocalist Vince Neil, bassist Nikki Sixx, former guitarist Mick Mars and Lee is renowned for its entertaining, unhinged and theatrical brand of metal music. The live shows make good use of pyrotechnics, scantily clad backup singers and Lee's drum riser going upside down or moving around on a roller coaster track.

M?tley Crüe is also the epitome of the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and the tales surrounding the band or told by each of the members seem unbelievable until verified by the other musicians or outsiders who were there.

But Lee wasn’t up for discussing any of the band’s crazy stories, not-safe-for-work video tapes, ex-wives or Mars’ recent departure and lawsuit against the band. All of it is already out there, featured in Lee’s 2004 autobiography “Tommyland,” Nikki Sixx’s 2007 published collection “The Heroin Diaries” and the band’s 2001 memoir “The Dirt,” which was turned into a 2019 film for Netflix.

Instead, he wanted to focus on the concert, which will also feature new guitarist John 5 and said, “it’s going to be f--king insane.”

Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe performs at State Farm Stadium during The Stadium Tour featuring Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. — Tommy Lee of M?tley Crüe performs at State Farm Stadium during The Stadium Tour featuring Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022.

“If I were to tell you details, I’d have to kill you. But it’s going to be one to remember, let’s just put it that way. The people, the place, the day — it’s going to leave a dent,” Lee said. “It’s literally just an evening with the Crüe, man. Your own private New Year’s Eve show.”

‘A cool place to ring in the new year’

M?tley Crüe performed its most recent concert in November at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, and this will also be the band’s first performance in the Coachella Valley since 2009 at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. But Lee said he’s a fan of the Palm Springs area and recently visited to play golf with friends.

“The offer came through asking us to and we were like, ‘Sounds f--king awesome, let’s do this!’ It’s not something we set out to do, but what a cool place to ring in the new year, right?” Lee said. “I just love it out there, man. It’s so chill. You can literally drive two hours from where I live in Los Angeles and go to just unplug there. It’s such a great place for that.”

M?tley Crüe’s catalog is filled with several earsplitting and vigorous rock songs for moments to ring in the new year such as “Wild Side,” “Live Wire” and “Primal Scream.” There’s also the ballad “Home Sweet Home.” But Lee hinted at which number the band will select to play at midnight.

“I assume we’re going to crack that door open with ‘Kickstart My Heart’ If that isn’t a yearly anthem, I don’t know what is. That sets the pace,” Lee said.

New music is on the way

Like many bands, things haven’t always been united in Motley Crüe. Neil was fired in 1992 and replaced with vocalist John Corabi through 1997, when Neil reunited with the band. Lee left in 1999 and came back in 2004.

With the original lineup intact, a rejuvenated M?tley Crüe released the 2008 album “Saints of Los Angeles,” launched the annual Crüe Fest tour and celebrated its 30^th anniversary in 2011 before announcing “The Final Tour” in 2015. Even though the musicians retired from touring as a group, they said they'd continue recording new music and released four songs for “The Dirt” soundtrack in 2019.

That same year, M?tley Crüe surprised fans by announcing its return to touring in the U.S. during the summer of 2020 for “The Stadium Tour” with Poison, Def Leppard and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the concerts until 2022. In 2023, Motley Crüe continued the momentum, returning with Def Leppard on “The World Tour” in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia.

February 25, 2023 : US musician Vince Neil, lead vocalist of Motley Crue, performs during the World Tour, a co-headlining concert tour by rock bands British Def Leppard and US Motley Crue, at Simon Bolivar Park in Bogota, Colombia.

“It was cool on many different levels. It’s the first time we had done a stadium tour. For us, that was just insane playing all those stadiums all around the world, not just in the U.S.,” Lee said. “We’ve been buds with the guys in Def Leppard for a while, so to do it with your friends, that’s priceless. Anytime you do anything, if you can share that experience with someone you love or a friend, it makes for all the better.”

M?tley Crüe will appear in 2024 at festivals such as Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, Summerfest in Milwaukee and the Ottawa Bluesfest, but according to Lee, there’s new music coming to coincide with those performances.

“Wait until you hear it, it’s insane,” Lee said. “It’s not a full album, but that might be down the road a bit. We’re always writing and doing stuff, so that’s always a possibility down the road. But we just went to the studio not too long ago and recorded three insane tracks and one of them is called ‘Dogs of War.’ We’re just finishing up the video for it. For those jonesing for some new Crüe, people are going to bug out. John 5 is playing on it, the guitar work is incredible and it sounds sick.”