Mötley Crüe‘s Nikki Sixx has revealed why the band didn’t play Black Sabbath’s ‘Back to the Beginning‘ farewell gig.
The historic gig took place at Villa Park in the band’s hometown last Saturday (July 5), serving as the final farewell for the heavy metal icons, with founding members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward playing alongside each other for the first time since 2005.
Those performing alongside Sabbath on the mammoth line-up included Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice In Chains, Gojira, Anthrax, Guns N’ Roses, KoRn, Tool, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, and many more, with one unnamed band being booted off the bill ahead of the event.
Earlier in the week, Sixx had congratulated Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne for the success of the show, acknowledging the debt the stadium rockers owed to them both after being invited to support Ozzy on tour in 1984.
“Ozzy and Sharon gave us our first real big tour in 1984 on the Shout at the Devil tour,” the bassist wrote on Instagram. “They gave us the opportunity to play in front of Ozzy and actually in my opinion, broke the band. Congratulations on an amazing career and what a bad-ass send off.”
Given their history with Ozzy, many were confused by their absence, prompting one fan on X/Twitter to ask Sixx whether they had been invited to play the farewell gig, to which he replied: “We have been having health issues within the band…”
While he didn’t specify which member he was referring to, Mötley Crüe postponed a Las Vegas residency earlier this year to allow singer Vince Neil time to recover from an unspecified medical procedure, and later axed a gig at Boardwalk Rock festival for the same reason.
The postponed gigs followed Neil’s private jet being involved in a fatal crash. The singer was not on the plane at the time of the crash, but his girlfriend Rain Andreani and her friend suffered injuries, though not thought to be life-threatening.
They were both taken to hospital with the plane’s co-pilot, who was also injured. The pilot of the aircraft died in the crash.
After sharing news about the group’s absence from the show, Sixx later shared a lengthy post about his own health, telling fans he was “extremely serious” about maintaining it and routinely has blood work done.
“I work HARD and i’m not interested in dying from work and BS STRESS,” he said. “I work up my blood twice a year and WE’RE focused on always evolving health my goal. Just got back today’s newest results and considering some misadventures in the past this 66 year old pirate ship looks ready to go back to sea.
“I have a wonderful wife, 5 golden children and a beautiful granddaughter. Do you think any part of my past indulgences Is worth destroying the beautiful life I built? Never. This is it. Either get your shit tighter or die a slow death crawl. We all die, some just give up sooner….I’m planning on cracking 100. That will piss off the critics. Enjoy your weekend.”
