Mötley Crüe to take up residency at The Joint

And so perhaps it was only a matter of time that the band would become the first hard rock act to launch an extended Vegas residency, which they’ve dubbed "Freaks."

Starting Feb. 3, the Crüe will light up The Joint at the Hard Rock for four shows a week, running through Feb. 19.

Tickets start at $45, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at The Joint box office and Ticketmaster outlets.

The band is tailoring a new production for the venue, aiming to create an immersive experience that encompasses the entire room, not just the stage that the group inevitably will combust with face-melting amounts of pyrotechnics.

"It’s not a traditional concert," Crüe singer Vince Neil said in a recent teleconference with journalists, where he promised a show with "over the top craziness" in terms of production values.

"There’s going to be stuff around the whole venue that’s going to come up behind you, the side of you, above you and below you," Neil noted. "This is a whole different thing."

According to Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, the band intends to use the venue in novel ways.

"When you think of The Joint, you see the stage and there’s the chairs, and we’re really going to change the appearance of that and perform from different areas," he said, his voice a cannonball of enthusiasm. "We really want the audience to be in the show, not watching the show."

Details were scarce as to what said show is actually going to entail, but expect a varied set list, some wild-eyed acrobatics from Lee’s high-flying drum kit and, if the drummer has his way, perhaps a naked female dancer or two — or 20.

"It is Vegas, right?" Lee asked. "That’s why we signed up for this. We can get away with a lot."

Lee said that the idea for doing a Vegas residency had been pondered by the band in the past and that the decision to move forward was inspired in part by other productions on the Strip.

"We’ve gone to a lot of the big Vegas shows, and we’ve all talked about it many times, going, ‘Could you imagine if we could only get our hands on this kind of opportunity? What we could with it?’ " he said. "This has been something that we’ve talked about for a long time."

Mötley Crüe has plenty of ties to Vegas, with the band having played the market for years, closing the previous incarnations of both the Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts and The Joint, with Neil having lived here on and off since 1995.

Lee has also performed as a DJ at Vegas clubs.

"Every time I come there, I always leave with a smile on my face and a little bit less money," he chuckled.

But the band’s upcoming stint at The Joint marks their most ambitious local venture yet.

Neil said that the timing of the residency worked in the band’s favor, with the group taking a brief break from touring during the early part of 2012, and that if the run of shows is a success, the Crüe could return for more dates in the future.

"I think it’d be nice for it to be as long as possible," he said. "It’s easy on everybody, and the production part of it is just going to be so much more fun than the stuff that we have to haul around and build and tear down every single night (on tour). There’s much cooler stuff that we can do. I’d hate for it to go by quick."

In the meantime, the band members are continuing to conceptualize the show, driven by the same impulse that has long guided the Crüe’s career: taking things too far.

"We get people that tell us we’re nuts all the time," Lee said.

"That’s the whole point for us to even do this," he added later in the interview. "To put together something that’s just an insane experience."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.