L.A. Guns frontman Phil Lewis thinks Deep Purple and Mötley Crüe’s recent live shows after their farewell tours are not what fans hoped for, he told TotalRock. Lewis spoke about bands that announced they would retire and then decided to continue touring instead.
Lewis explained that he has heard Deep Purple perform live recently and was not impressed. He said that performing at a high level is a young man’s game, and he has great respect for the band’s singer Ian Gillan as a vocalist.
“But I’ve recently heard some stuff that [Deep Purple is] doing live. And it’s disappointing. I think that it’s very much a young man’s game, and I absolutely worship [Deep Purple’s] Ian Gillan as a vocalist. And [Led Zeppelin’s] Robert Plant, to a degree. Not to a degree — absolutely,” Lewis said.
He pointed to Robert Plant as a better example of how to handle touring at an older age. “Robert Plant got the right idea. He toned it down, and he’s not trying to do the screaming ‘Whole Lotta Love’ bit, all the sort of fake orgasm stuff. And that’s most unbecoming for a gentleman at that stage in his life. And I really feel that Ian could take a lesson from that, honestly. I saw him struggling, ’cause [Deep Purple] opened the set [on their recent tour] with ‘Highway Star’, and that’s a motherf*cker to sing that song, those high parts. It’s legendary.”
Lewis added that it pains him to watch Gillan struggle with the demanding vocals. “And it breaks my heart a little bit to see him struggling through that, to do that. And I’m not suggesting they should bust out mandolins and banjos and turn it into a folk song or anything. But at some point, you gotta say… And [that’s] very much the case with Mötley Crüe. They retired and they came out of retirement, and I’m not necessarily sure that that was a good thing.”
Lewis stressed that he was not attacking the bands but simply sharing his honest view as a fan. “I know I’ve got kind of a reputation for slagging off bands. I don’t slag ’em off. All I’m doing is saying it how I see it. And I’m never gonna tour with Mötley Crüe or Deep Purple, so I don’t care what they think about it. I’m just [saying it] from a punter’s perspective more than anything. I don’t see them as peers. They’re so, so way above me in the stratosphere. But just as a fan, I’m a bit disappointed to see that, to be honest.”
Lewis made these comments while discussing bands that announced farewell tours before deciding to keep performing. The L.A. Guns frontman said he believes Deep Purple and Mötley Crüe should have stayed retired.
Deep Purple’s farewell tour, called “The Long Goodbye”, began in 2017 and was originally set to end in 2019. Ian Gillan later admitted the band named the tour “The Long Goodbye” to sell more tickets and never intended to retire. Demand from promoters and agents kept the tour going beyond the original plan, and the band remains booked through the end of 2026.
Mötley Crüe took a different path to their comeback. In January 2014, they announced their Final Tour and retirement after more than three decades together, signing a binding agreement. The Final Tour ran from July 2, 2014, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, until December 31, 2015, with a sold-out New Year’s Eve show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. However, the band found a way around the agreement, and the Netflix biopic The Dirt brought new fans who prompted their decision to return. When Mötley Crüe reunited and toured in 2022, their Stadium Tour earned 173.5 million dollars from 1.3 million ticket sales, becoming the most successful tour of any of their careers.
Gillan has dealt with health challenges while continuing to tour. He reassured fans he was not retiring following reports about his deteriorating eyesight, explaining he is adapting to reduced vision caused by retinopathy while keeping tour plans in place for 2026. Gillan hinted that retirement may not be far off despite his commitment to perform, acknowledging his vision has declined to a point where stepping down from performing could become necessary.
