Motley Crue took a walk down memory lane this week with their “Hollywood Takeover,” a series of club shows on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip where they got their start more than 40 years ago.
The stunt took the hard-living rockers to the Troubadour on Oct. 7, the Roxy on Oct. 9 and the Whisky a Go Go on Oct. 11. You can see photos from their Roxy performance below.
From the beginning, Motley Crue knew how to make an entrance and captivate an audience with over-the-top stunts, including lighting bassist Nikki Sixx on fire. They continued this trend for their first Hollywood Takeover show when a garbage truck deposited them on the street outside the Troubadour before a crowd of several hundred fans.
“It was all about music, and putting on the biggest show ever,” Sixx told Classic Rock in 2020. “From the get-go we’ve always been about fashion and melody and songs and energy onstage. There’s really early videos of us playing the Starwood Club in ’81 and we’re giving 150%, and that was right in the middle of new wave, everyone was shaking their heads and doing little handclaps. We didn’t say ‘we’re gonna be different,’ we just were.”
READ MORE: Motley Crue Plays First of Three L.A. Club Shows: Video, Set List
Motley Crue’s New Music and Vegas 2025 Plans
Motley Crue just released a three-song EP titled Cancelled and will perform on Sunday at Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California, for their last currently scheduled show of the year. They’ll pick back up in late March for their third Las Vegas residency, consisting of 11 shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM.
“Motley Crue and Las Vegas have always been the perfect combination of extravagance and decadence,” the band said in a shared statement. “We’ve always loved the idea of the Vegas residency, because we’ve always loved the idea of staying in one location to build a unique show for the fans. We’re excited to get into rehearsals and work up a lot of songs that have been requested by the fans for years.”
Motley Crue at the Roxy, 2024
Motley Crue revisit their old Sunset Strip stomping grounds
Gallery Credit: Sam Shapiro