Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil suffered a stroke last year and had to learn to walk again. In a new interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Mötley frontman revealed that his stroke recovery was the reason why the band had to postpone its Vegas residency, which now starts Friday night.
“I had a stroke. My whole left side went out,” he told the outlet, explaining that the health scare happened while he was sleeping on Christmas night last year. “I had to learn to walk again, and that was tough. The doctors said they didn’t think I’d be able to go back on stage again. I go, ‘No, no, I’m gonna do it. Watch and see.’”
Back in March, Neil had shared that the band — which he comprises with Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, and new guitarist John 5 — would push back the residency from March/April to September over a vocal procedure. “My health is my top priority so I can bring you the awesome shows you deserve, and I can’t wait to return to the stage,” Neil said in a statement at the time. However, the health issue was much more serious.
To the Vegas paper, Neil explained that he did physical therapy for months in Nashville, and had to work himself out of a wheelchair since the stroke affected most of his mobility.
“I went from people carrying me to the bathroom, because I couldn’t walk myself, finally to a wheelchair,” Neil told the outlet. “I graduated to a walker, and then I had a cane. Now I don’t need anything. But it’s like a full-time job getting back to where you feel good again.”
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While his voice wasn’t affected, “It takes a while to get your brain to start moving your legs, for them to do what your brain wants to do. You try to walk but it doesn’t come out right,” he explained, adding that he’s around 95 percent back to “where I was before.”
Mötley Crüe: The Las Vegas Residency will kick off at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas on Friday night, with the band expected to perform on Sept. 13, 17, 19, 24, 26, and 27, before two October shows on Oct. 1 and 3.
