The Australian leg of Mötley Crüe‘s Final Tour launched in Melbourne overnight, and the world’s most notorious rock n’ roll band have kicked things off with a literal bang, with their stage show featuring pyrotechnics galore and a Tommy Lee drum solo from atop his jaw-dropping ‘Crüecifly’ coaster.
The spectacular machine reportedly takes up to four hours to construct before each show, and to mark its maiden (and, if the tour title is to be believed, final) voyage Down Under, the Animal put it to good use.
Fan-shot footage (below) shows Lee strapping himself in to the contraption, which flipped upside down and shot confetti as it snaked along its track above the crowd at Rod Laver Arena, and busting out some mean paradiddles to something of an odd choice of song – the Nick Thayer remix of Fall Out Boy’s “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)”.
Speaking with Music Radar not so long ago, Lee explained how the idea of mounting his drum kit on a giant roller coaster came about. “Every tour we do, everybody’s always wondering, ‘What’s Tommy Lee going to do next? What new, wild and crazy thing is he going to come up with?’ And what’s funny is, the thrill-seeker and the amusement park fan in me took over this time,” he said.
“Whenever I go on a roller coaster, I always say the same thing: ‘Man, I have got to find a way to take the cars off this ride and put my drums on the track!’ That’s basically where it all started. One day, I drew a design for the whole thing on a cocktail napkin.”
And when it comes to getting used to drumming upside down, the human tripod reckons he doesn’t even know if he is yet. “Everything to do with this is absolutely wrong. Playing upside down is insane,” he said.
“It’s two or three times more difficult than what’s normal. Your feet want to come off the pedals, your arms want to drop down — all of your body is fighting gravity. The only time it’s comfortable is when you’re in the down position; the rest of the time, everything’s fucking out of control. The drum roller coaster is wild!”
Lee retired his iconic 360 drum kit coaster back in 2013, to make way for the mind-boggling weapon that is The Crüecifly. He’ll be taking it for a spin at Crüe’s remaining Australian tour dates in the coming weeks.
Watch the masterful feat below.
