Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx addressed the band’s ongoing tour and pushed back against a fan’s comment about performing without former guitarist Mick Mars, according to a post shared on X.
Sixx first gave fans an update on the tour’s remaining schedule and his plans once it wraps up.
“3 shows left,” Sixx wrote. “Nothing on the books but a festival in Oslo next summer sometime. Been a great tour but I’m ready to go home to my family.”
The post drew a response from a longtime fan who questioned whether the band still felt the same without Mars, who stepped back from touring due to health issues.
“I’ve been a Crüe Head since the mid 80s, but without Mick Mars, it seems like they are not the same,” the fan commented.
Sixx replied directly to the fan, defending the band’s decision to continue touring.
“Should we have quit because he can’t tour health wise?” Sixx responded.
The exchange comes as the band closes out one of its biggest live outings in years, a run that has kept fans, both longtime and new, engaged with the band’s post-Mars lineup.
Mötley Crüe has spent the summer and fall on The Return of the Carnival of Sins tour, a 33-city trek across North America marking the band’s first full tour in three years. The run kicked off in mid-July and stretches into late September, closing out with a string of West Coast dates before the band takes a break.
Tesla and Extreme have joined the tour as special guests, turning nearly every stop into a three-band night of classic hard rock. The pairing has helped draw large crowds and given the tour added weight as a showcase of the genre’s staying power decades after these bands first broke through.
The tour also carries extra significance this year, tying into the band’s 45th anniversary. That milestone has come with additional releases and announcements meant to celebrate the band’s legacy alongside its current touring lineup.
Only a handful of shows remain, and no firm plans exist beyond a festival appearance in Oslo next summer. Sixx’s exchange with the fan underscores a broader conversation within the fanbase about how the band should be judged now that Mars is no longer on the road with them. For Sixx, the answer appears simple: the show goes on, health permitting or not.
