Nikki Sixx calls out Kiss - accuses them of stealing Motley Crue's stage production

Nikki Sixx (Image credit: Laura Cavanaugh/FilmMagic - Getty)

Nikki Sixx has called out Kiss on social media, accusing them of ripping off Motley Crue’s stage production.

Kiss played The Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday night, and, prior to the show, Sixx posted a still from Crue’s final tour from 2014/15 on Instagram, with the caption: “If ya wanna see an exact reenactment of this just go to the Los Angeles Forum tonight.”

Sixx later posted a composite image showing him being carried above the crowd on a crane and one of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons doing something similar.

Sixx said: “Wow. Our body wasn’t even cold before they took this exact grande finale from our tour. Might not matter to Kiss fans but it does to Crue fans.

“I dug their music when I was a little kid and it was cool to co-headline together a few years, but this disappoints me. Anyway. Onwards and upwards.”

It’s not the first time Sixx has had a pop at Kiss. A spat between them began in 2016 after Simmons referred to Prince’s death as self-inflicted and “pathetic”. Sixx responded by urging the Kiss bassist to “call it a day” and said he had no respect for him any more.

Sixx later softened his stance, telling Loudwire Nights: “Gene’s a very opinionated man, so am I. I’ll be honest with you, I think we just kinda look like a bunch of old women fighting at this point.”

Motley Crue’s long-awaited biopic The Dirt will premiere on Netflix on March 22 (opens in new tab), with the Crue getting back together to record four songs for the film – one of which will feature rapper Machine Gun Kelly (opens in new tab).

If ya wanna see an exact reenactment of this just go to the #LosAngeles Forum tonight. Nikki Sixx (opens in new tab)

A photo posted by @nikkisixxpixx on Feb 16, 2019 at 6:06pm PST

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.