Although fans waited long for the Stadium Tour to happen, many said that it was worth the wait. In the end, the tour brought both Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard tremendous success. Speaking to Classic Rock, Joe Elliott revealed his thoughts on co-headlining the tour with the Crüe and recalled the unfamiliar statement Nikki Sixx made during a chat.
The Stadium Tour was delayed twice, but it finally took place in the summer of 2022, with Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts as special guests. Both Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe had high expectations from this tour as it was Crüe’s first major tour in seven years and Leppard’s first in three years. It later turned out that they weren’t wrong.
Fans were highly eager to see their favorite artists on stage, so the tour received significant attention. According to Tommy Lee’s Instagram post, the average ticket number for each show was around 37,000. Now, the tour holds the record for the most profitable tour of both bands’ careers, selling 1.3 million tickets in total and grossing $173.5 million.
Throughout the dates, Joe Elliott and Nikki Sixx had a chance to spend lots of time together. During his recent chat, Joe Elliott revealed whether they rocked and rolled like in the 1980s. According to the singer, they knew their responsibilities regarding the pandemic but still hung out a lot. Then, he revealed the interesting thing Sixx told him.
Looking back on The Stadium Tour, Joe Elliott said the following:
“You know, we act like children on stage, but we’re actually quite responsible people when we need to be. The one guy I hung out with a lot was Nikki Sixx. One night in Denver, we went for sushi and talked about everything but music. It was funny; we didn’t realize Tommy Lee was in the same restaurant until we could hear him! He’s quite loud, you see.
I asked Nikki what he would do when we had a break in the tour, and he said: ‘I’m going fishing.’ Now there’s a phrase I never thought I’d hear from the mouth of Nikki Sixx! But he was the only one I spent much time with. We know the guys from Poison really well, but I never saw Bobby Dall throughout the whole tour. And the few times I saw Joan, we always went in different directions between the dressing rooms and the stage on these golf carts, so we’d high-five as we passed.”
So, it seems like the only person Joe Elliott spent a lot of time with was Nikki Sixx, with whom he talked about everything, not just music. Apparently, Sixx told the singer he would go fishing as soon as they had a break in the Stadium Tour, and Elliott didn’t expect to hear this from the bassist. Although it remains unknown whether Nikki found a break during his busy schedule, Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe are eager toextend the tour for this year.
