MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s Tommy Lee sat behind the drums for the first three songs of the band’s concert last night (Saturday, June 18) at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida despite sustaining four broken ribs a couple of weeks ago. As was the case at the opening show of “The Stadium Tour” two nights earlier in Atlanta, Georgia, the drummer defied doctor’s orders to take part in the CRÜE‘s long-awaited return to the stage with DEF LEPPARD, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS.
Lee played “Wild Side”, “Shout At The Devil” and “Too Fast For Love” with his bandmates and then left from behind his kit to address the crowd.
“You guys, you’re not gonna fucking believe this shit,” he said (see video below). “Some of you may know; some of you may not know. For those who don’t know, about — I don’t know — 12, 13 days ago, I broke not one, not two, not three, but four fucking ribs right here [places left hand on his right side]. And I’m fucking, like, ‘Are you fucking kidding me, dude? Fuck!’ We’ve been waiting way too long for this shit, man. My fucking heart is broken — along with the ribs. So the doctor goes, ‘Listen, bro. By the way, no fucking playing.’ I’m, like, ‘Dude, there’s no fucking way. We have a tour in a fucking few days. What the fuck am I gonna do?’ So I’m gonna fucking pop in and out as much as I can. It hurts like a fucking bitch. And my boy Tommy up here, he’s gonna fucking help me out here. And I’ll be back out. I’ll see you guys in a minute. But at the fucking time, at this moment, the show must fucking go on, goddamnit.”
Lee was replaced for the remainder of the set by Tommy Clufetos, who plays drums in Ozzy Osbourne‘s live band and who sat behind the kit for BLACK SABBATH on the legendary heavy metal act’s final tour. Lee briefly returned later in the night to play piano on “Home Sweet Home”.
The setlist for the Miami Gardens concert was as follows:
01. Wild Side
02. Shout At The Devil
03. Too Fast For Love
04. Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) (Tommy Lee replaced on drums by Tommy Clufetos)
05. Saints Of Los Angeles
06. Live Wire
07. Looks That Kill
08. The Dirt (Est. 1981) (Machine Gun Kelly on tape)
09. Medley: Rock And Roll, Part 2 / Smokin’ In The Boys Room / White Punks On Dope / Helter Skelter / Anarchy In The U.K.
10. Home Sweet Home (Tommy Lee temporarily returns to play piano)
11. Dr. Feelgood
12. Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)
13. Girls, Girls, Girls
14. Primal Scream
15. Kickstart My Heart
On Friday, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx praised Tommy for “beasting” through the first five songs of the band’s set in Atlanta, writing on Twitter: “The fact that Tommy was told by the doctor to not play with 4 broken ribs & he beasted half our show is a miracle. We are a band and are proud of his strength. He is doing the whole tour and day by day adding more songs. What a fucking animal. Anybody out there ever break ur ribs?”
CRÜE‘s long-delayed North American trek with DEF LEPPARD, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022. “The Stadium Tour” will conclude on September 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The next show on the trek is scheduled to take place tonight (Sunday, June 19) at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Clufetos is Sixx‘s bandmate in a project called L.A. RATS. The quartet, which also features Rob Zombie and John 5 (ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON),came together last year expressly to record a cover of “I’ve Been Everywhere” for the soundtrack to the movie “The Ice Road”.
“The Stadium Tour” marks the CRÜE‘s first live dates since wrapping its 2014/2015 farewell tour. CRÜE toured with POISON back in 2011 and DEF LEPPARD teamed up with POISON for a string of road dates in 2017, but this jaunt marks the first time all four acts have hit the road together for an extended tour.
CRÜE fans who shelled out for the band’s 2014/2015 “farewell” tour were led to believe that the group would never return after playing its final show on December 2015…
Read More: TOMMY LEE Plays First Three Songs Of MÖTLEY CRÜE’s Concert In Miami, Returns For
