In a new chat with Jon Smith from 103.5 The Arrow, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx laid out what’s coming with the band’s next big run: “The Return Of Carnival Of Sins.” The tour marks 20 years since the original “Carnival Of Sins” era (2005–2006) and lines up with the band’s 45th anniversary. The Live Nation-backed trek hits 33 cities, launches July 17, 2026, in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, at the Pavilion at Star Lake, and brings Extreme and Tesla along as support.
Sixx framed it as a return to one of the band’s biggest production swings, only now, the toys are better.
“Two of our biggest tours were the ‘Dr. Feelgood’ tour and the ‘Carnival Of Sins’ tour 20 years ago. And back then, [we had] probably 20 semi-trucks full of gear — hard goods, as they call ’em — [with] all kinds of stuff. And now, with the advancement of technology, we can just take the fans on a crazy journey. And I just think it’s gonna be the next level. ‘Cause the first one was a lot of people’s favorite tour, so we have a lot to live up to,” he said (via Blabbermouth).
Smith brought up the band’s reputation for escalation, “always upping the level of entertainment when it comes to the shows,”, and Sixx said that pressure is exactly where Mötley Crüe lives.
“It’s always our goal. It really is. It’s what we love doing. There’s a lot of stuff that we leaned into so heavy. Like all the way back in the beginning, the ‘Live Wire’ video where the band lit me on fire, and we’ve just constantly been kind of pushing.”
“And then on the pyro thing and actually working with companies and developing kind of — not our own technology, but a lot of times when you mix different fuels together, they create different colors. So we would put one pyro head into a steel wall, and another one would hit, and it would change… I mean, this stuff was super exciting for us,” he added.
“And then we kind of outgrew the pyro, because you can watch a baseball game, and they have pyro now. So it’s, like, how do we take advantage of new technology? We don’t want you to show up and go, ‘Yeah. It looks just like the last four bands that I saw.’ And so there’s always a lot of pressure on us to do that. And that’s, I think, what really drives us.”
So where does a new Mötley Crüe stage show even start? Sixx said it comes down to a theme first, and the visuals build from there, right down to something as basic as color.
“First and foremost, it’s a theme. And a theme, if you talk Dr. Feelgood, well, when we designed the album cover, it was in the very last moment where we changed it to green. It was a white hospital linoleum wall with the medical symbol on it, and we switched that to green. Well, once that shifted to green, it all of a sudden gave us a complete color palette for what we would actually do with the show. So those are the type of things,” Sixx explained.
“So, obviously, something as colorful as a carnival, our brains are going crazy,” he revealed. “And to see what’s out there, what’s available, and especially with video, you can take people on a journey that you just can’t do with a backdrop and some fire. So it’s exciting.”
And yes, this is still a hits-heavy band talking to a hits-heavy audience. Sixx made it clear he gets why people buy the ticket, while also hinting at deeper cuts that can reshape the whole production.
“Obviously, we know the fans wanna hear the hits. And I hate it when a band goes out and doesn’t play their hits. I remember [David] Bowie doing that, and he was one of my favorite artists. I was, like, I don’t wanna go hear a bunch of C and D tracks off of records that I love. I wanna hear those songs, like ‘Rebel Rebel’, and at that point he was, like, ‘I’m so tired of playing the same songs.’
“We’re not tired of playing those hits, but we are excited about getting into a setlist and diving into some songs that we maybe never played or haven’t played in a long time and shaking it up. And those types of things, if you’re playing a song like ‘On With The Show’ from the first album, that’s gonna dictate a lot of what production looks like. So, for us, it’s this moving creative ball of energy. It’s super exciting,” Sixx continued.
When Smith talked about loving bands that back strong records with real performance, Sixx agreed, and pointed to the old-school mindset that shaped him: bigger-than-life shows, shock, and spectacle, done with intent.
“Me too,” Sixx said. “I just don’t get when people don’t. I grew up in the ’70s when rock stars were superheroes, and the shows were over the top, and everything was about shock and awe. And so, 45 years in this band, or coming up on it, it’d be kind of hard to revert back to something that was never about Mötley Crüe.”
“Yeah, we still have those super-raw, early punk influences. We did our Vegas residency — we opened the Vegas residency in a very small area, and we played two songs off the first record, and it was like a club gig. It was smaller than the Whisky A-Go-Go stage. And then it opened into the third song, and the whole place was, like, ‘Oh my God. I didn’t even know all this was here.'”
“So that’s the kind of fun stuff… I’m not saying we’re doing that, but that’s the kind of fun stuff, the mode we’re in right now. It’s, like, what can we do? How can we keep our original roots? And how can we take the audience…? You can just go on your computer or on any of your digital devices and have your mind blown,” he explained. “So my intention is not to go out and do a show that can’t compete with that. We gotta have people going, like, ‘That was an amazing show. I love the songs. I love the show. I’m really glad I came out.’”
He closed by acknowledging the practical side: fans have other shows to budget for, schedules to juggle, and time to plan. That reality is part of why tickets are going up early while the stage build is already underway.
“It’s not easy for fans. The shows aren’t for almost eight months. And we know, from a lot of our fans, they’re saying, ‘I just wish I had a little more time to prepare to go to that.’ And there are a lot of great bands out there that are going on tour. So, people, our fans have a chance to see if they can come and bring their friends or whatever it is. So we’re going on sale early and designing the show at the same time. So that’s where we’re at right now.”
