David Lee Roth Turned Down Mötley Crüe Support Slot Because “I Don’t Open for Bands That I Influenced”
When Mötley Crüe’s reunion/co-headlining tour with Def Leppard finally reaches stadiums sometime circa 2027 after being delayed six times due to COVID, its variants, and people refusing to get vaccinated or wear masks or wash their hands or wipe their asses or not spit directly in the mouths of strangers, the trek will have multiple support acts, including Poison, Joan Jett, and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (or whatever that last guy’s name is).
According to Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, though, the tour also could have included support from David Lee Roth… ‘cept Roth passed. Why? The L.A. Times says that Sixx says that Roth said “I don’t open for bands that I influenced.”
I feel like I’m supposed to feel like Roth is a dick for having such a big ego. But I don’t actually feel that way.
Roth is correct — he 125% influenced every glam band that came after Van Halen, and guys like Vince Neil and Bret Michaels (and to a lesser extent probably even Joe Elliott) would have spilled blood to be his Mini-Me. It might feel weird for him to now open for one of those bands, the same way it feels weird for an elderly parent to rely on their offspring for caretaking. I actually kinda respect him for not just taking a paycheck.
The counter-argument would be that Roth, who was famously not recognized by a room full of young men listening to his music in 2019, could have used the visibility, and he would have been pretty much guaranteed to come off looking great every night because this would’ve his competition.
Then again, I don’t think anyone under the age of 45 is going to this tour anyway, so maybe it wouldn’t have helped DLR get recognized by a group of millennials.
Interestingly, Diamond Dave is also not opening Kiss’ current tour, as he was previously scheduled to do. This may or may not be because Gene Simmons sees him as a bloated corpse now.
Dates for the Mötley Crüe/Def Leppard/Poison/But Not David Lee Roth tour as they currently stand are…
6/16 – Atlanta, GA @ Suntrust Park [Tickets]
6/18 – Miami, FL @ Hard Rock Stadium [Tickets]
6/19 – Orlando, FL @ Camping World Stadium [Tickets]
6/22 – Washington, DC @ Nationals Park [Tickets]
6/24 – Queens, NY @ Citi Field [Tickets]
6/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park [Tickets]
6/28 – Charlotte, NC @ Bank Of America Stadium [Tickets]
6/30 – Nashville, TN @ Nissan Stadium [Tickets]
7/2 – Jacksonville, FL @ TIAA Bank Field [Tickets]
7/5 – St. Louis, MO @ Busch Stadium [Tickets]
7/8 – Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field [Tickets]
7/10 – Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park [Tickets]
7/12 – Hershey, PA @ Hershey Park Stadium [Tickets]
7/14 – Cleveland, OH @ First Energy Stadium [Tickets]
7/15 – Cincinnati, OH @ Great American Ballpark [Tickets]
7/17 – Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Field [Tickets]
7/19 – Kansas City, MO @ Kauffman Stadium [Tickets]
7/21 – Denver, CO @ Coors Field [Tickets]
8/5 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park [Tickets]
8/6 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Parl [Tickets]
8/10 – Buffalo, NY @ New Era Field [Tickets]
8/12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PNC Park [Tickets]
8/14 – Minneapolis, MN @ U.S. Bank Stadium [Tickets]
8/19 – Houston, TX @ Minute Maid Park [Tickets]
8/21 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome [Tickets]
8/22 – Arlington, TX @ Globe Life Park [Tickets]
8/27 – Inglewood, CA @ Sofi Stadium [Tickets]
8/28 – San Diego, CA @ Petco Park [Tickets]
8/31 – Seattle, WA @ T-Mobile Park [Tickets]
9/7 – San Francisco, CA @ Oracle Park [Tickets]
