JOHN 5 On MÖTLEY CRÜE's 'The Return Of Carnival Of Sins' Tour: 'It Was Incredible. Everybody Had So Much Fun.'

During an appearance on the October 5 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist John 5 spoke about the band's recently completed "The Return Of Carnival Of Sins" tour, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of the band's groundbreaking 2005-2006 "Carnival Of Sins" run and MÖTLEY CRÜE's 45th anniversary. The 33-city Live Nation-produced trek featured support acts EXTREME and TESLA. Asked how the tour went from his point of view, John 5 said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was incredible. I'm telling you, everybody had so much fun. We all had a blast with TESLA and EXTREME. Literally everybody had so much fun. It was like heavy metal summer camp. And the last day was, like, 'Oh, okay.' And because everybody had so much fun."

John 5 continued: "I'll tell you one really cool rock and roll — it's so rock, this story. So at the end of the tour, we were on the West Coast, and so when you're on the West Coast, the drives are pretty long. So Nikki [Sixx, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist] had a plane, so he was going back and forth 'cause he was going to see his family, and Vince [Neil, MÖTLEY CRÜE singer] sometimes had a plane, but so on the West Coast he had a plane. And so our tour manager was, like, 'Well, it might be smarter if you and Tommy [Lee, MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer] fly.' And we're, like, 'Okay.' So at one point, at the airport, these private airports, it was me and Tommy, Nikki and Vince all in different planes, and we're all going to the same destination. And we were laughing about it, 'cause we all get along great and we have so much fun, and it was just so funny to see each guy taking off. 'Cause one guy's going to see his family or the other guy's going to a different place or something like that. But it was so rock… It was really, really fun."

Asked if there were "any highlight moments" from the MÖTLEY CRÜE tour, John 5 said: "Great question. So we recorded all of the shows, and I would listen, listen, listen, 'cause I try to get everything so perfect. It's just, like, this weird OCD thing with me. But, yeah, most of the shows were incredible. But funny things that happened, like at the last show, EXTREME was doing 'More Than Words', and the crowd was loving it, with the lighters out. And Gary [Cherone, EXTREME singer] and Nuno [Bettencourt, EXTREME guitarist] are at the front of the stage on the stool, and me and Tommy just walk out like we're having a conversation, not even acknowledging what's going on, and we're just talking and talking, and we walk across the stage. And it was so funny. It was just hilarious. And the place went nuts… It was so funny. It was the last show, the last show of the tour and stuff, and it just was so great, 'cause we were all just having so much fun together."

As for whether anything has changed about the way he approaches playing the MÖTLEY CRÜE material since he joined the band in late 2022, John 5 said: "Since the first show in Atlantic City, and I've been in the band now for four years, which is crazy, but I just play the songs just how they were written and recorded. And I think everything, for me, is the same because I just always wanted to do what I thought was true to the song and true to the fans of playing these songs exactly how they were written and recorded. So I just try to do that with every song we do. And we added 'Take Me To The Top', we added 'Red Hot', we added 'Too Young To Fall In Love', 'Afraid', all these songs, and it's just so fun to do these different songs that we all grew up with."

MÖTLEY CRÜE played its first full headlining concert in nine months on July 4 as the headliner of second edition of the Rockin' Thunder festival, which returned to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada's Princess Auto Stadium. The band's setlist contained several rarities, including the first performance of "Take Me To The Top" — a song from MÖTLEY CRÜE's 1981 debut album, "Too Fast For Love" — since 1984, as well as rare airings of "Red Hot" (first time since 2013),"Louder Than Hell" (first time since 2015) and "Too Young To Fall In Love" (first time since 2015).

MÖTLEY CRÜE's latest Las Vegas residency launched on September 12, 2025 and at Dolby Live at Park MGM and ran through October 3, 2025. The shows had initially been set for spring 2025 but were rescheduled after frontman Vince Neil revealed he had suffered a stroke around Christmas 2024.

In September 2025, Vince revealed that he had actually had a series of strokes before he suffered the "big one" in his sleep 2024 Christmas night, rendering him unable to get out of bed when he woke up the next day.

When MÖTLEY CRÜE originally postponed the Las Vegas residency, the band said it was because Neil needed a "medical procedure," but offered no further details.

John 5 joined MÖTLEY CRÜE as the replacement for the band's co-founding guitarist Mick Mars.

When Mars announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE in October 2022 as a result of worsening health issues, he maintained that he would remain a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the road. Only six months later, however, he filed a lawsuit against MÖTLEY CRÜE in Los Angeles County's Superior Court, claiming that, after his announcement, the rest of CRÜE tried to remove him as a significant stakeholder in the group's corporation and business holdings via a shareholders' meeting.

Mars suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS),a chronic and inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. After years of performing through the pain, he informed the other members of MÖTLEY CRÜE in the summer of 2022 that he could no longer tour with them but would still be open to recording new music or performing at residencies that did not require much travel.