Motley Crue singer Vince Neil has finally confirmed what had long been an open secret in the music industry — he had a stroke last December that forced the band off the road.
Neil gave an interview to the Las Vegas Review Journal about it before the Crue started their Las Vegas residency Friday night at Dolby Live at Park MGM. He said, “My whole left side went out. 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.’”
Neil did physical therapy for months in Nashville as part of his recovery. “I went from people carrying me to the bathroom, because I couldn’t walk myself, finally to a wheelchair. 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.”
Neil added that he’s around 95% back to “where I was before.”
Neil and the Crue played the exact same 14 song, 90-minute set both Friday and Saturday nights, which featured a lengthy guitar solo by John 5 and a covers medley that included “Smokin’ in the Boys Room,” “Helter Skelter,” “Anarchy in the U.K.,” “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “Fight for Your Right.” The Crue continue their Vegas run on Wednesday.
