Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx has praised Vince Neil’s return to the stage after suffering a stroke and explained how the band supported his recovery.
Ahead of Mötley Crüe’s upcoming The Return of Carnival of Sins tour, Nikki Sixx has opened up not just about the logistics of the 2026 run, but about Vince Neil’s recent return to performing after suffering a stroke last Christmas.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk (transcribed by Blabbermouth), Sixx reflected on the band’s return to the stage in Vegas, where Neil stepped back onstage for the first time since his health scare.
Mötley Crüe’s residency was originally planned for spring but had to be postponed once Neil revealed the stroke. Sixx admitted there was real uncertainty inside the band during that period. “I’m proud of him, the fact that he had the courage to get up there,” he said. “And when the whole thing went down and he had the stroke and we had to cancel the first residency, there was doubt. We didn’t know, like, is he going to recover from this? And I know he had fear. But you put the time in, and there’s a lot of stuff that you can do.”
Sixx didn’t soften the reality of how serious the situation was. “Your health is everything,” he said. “I don’t care how big your band is. I don’t care how big of a star you are. I don’t care how wealthy you tell people you are. If you don’t have your health, you’ve really got nothing.”
He explained that Mötley Crüe stayed close to Neil throughout his recovery, especially when it appeared the stroke could threaten his ability to ever perform again. “We’ve worked all these years, 40 years together, and been touring the world, and now it’s something that could literally make it so he could never get on stage again,” he said. “So the fact that he did get on stage… And I’m appreciative that he went out and talked about [his health scare in interviews recently], because there’s a lot of people that when stuff goes wrong in their life – and I could just speak about myself with addiction – people either write them off or they can’t survive it.”
Sixx said the band put significant time into rehearsals to help Neil rebuild his strength. “We were there the whole time along, talking to him and him focusing on doctors and health and stuff. And we spent a lot of time in rehearsal to give him that opportunity to really get that muscle in shape, the vocal cords. And I was so happy. It just sounded so good. And it felt good.”
The interview also touched on the structure of next year’s tour, which marks the 20th anniversary of the 2005–2006 Carnival of Sins run and the 45th anniversary of Mötley Crüe as a band.
Vince Neil revealed in September that he had suffered four strokes, with a “big one” on Christmas night last year. He had to learn to walk again, and despite his doctor saying he likely wouldn’t be able to perform again, he said at the time that he “worked [his] butt off to get back in shape to go onstage.”
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