February 15th will see Mötley Crüe bring the tour they have named after their latest disc to the Metro Centre. They’ll be joined by The Last Vegas, Hinder and Theory of a Dead Man. With the tour boasting dates in venues as legendary and massive as Madison Square Garden, Rockford audiences are lucky indeed to have this show in the Metro Centre.

Mötley Crüe wasn’t the first name chosen for the band. When they were in the process of putting the group together, the original name they planned to use was “Christmas.” Guitarist Mick Mars suggested Mötley Crüe, though and it stuck. The year was 1981 and they released an EP independently and with the same moniker as the band. It was picked up by Elektra Records two years later and given the title Too Fast For Love. Shout at the Devil, their first full album, was also released in 1983 and while the band didn’t reach superstar status with that release they were getting played on MTV and building up quite a following.

It was Theatre of Pain, released in 1985 that would be the group’s ticket to superstardom. The disc sold over two million copies, propelled at least in part by the singles “Home Sweet Home” and “Smokin’ In the Boy’s Room.”  The latter was a cover of Brownsville Station’s big hit and the Crüe did a great job of updating it and making it their own.

While their music was getting them a lot of attention, they proved that they could deliver in live performance putting together extravagant stage shows and entertaining arena audiences. They continued their trend of ever bigger album sales with Girls, Girls, Girls (another that passed the two million in sales mark) and Dr. Feelgood (selling over four million copies).

In the years following personnel changes, scrapes with the law and personal (and often very public) dramas haunted the band. They at times struggled with finding musical direction. It is perhaps because of (or in spite) of these things that Saints of Los Angeles is such an important and vital release. It finds the band whole again (it’s the first Mötley Crüe album to feature all four original members in a decade). It also finds the band producing their most powerful music in at least as long. It’s a great disc and that bodes very well for this tour presenting the return of the type of Mötley Crüe show that blew audiences away in their heyday.

With the core lineup of Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil, and Nikki Sixx back, it’s obvious these guys are once again in the game – and in the game to win. This is Mötley Crüe at it’s finest and with the lineup of bands that are joining them on this venture, you just can’t go wrong. It’s a powerhouse lineup and will make for an incredible show. If you miss it, be warned, you’ll most likely regret it for a long time. Why take the risk? Get to the show.