It appears that, at a gig earlier this month, Mötley Crüe was caught using a backing track for Tommy Lee’s drum parts.
The drum track was exposed when Lee failed to meet the count and join in on the band’s pre-recorded music in time. Luckily, it looks like it managed to sync within seconds.
Lee’s mishap was captured in fan filmed footage from the band’s recent concert in Kansas City on July 19, at the start of the 1983 song Looks that kill. The performance was as part of their North American stadium tour alongside Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.
In the video, the sound of the cymbal can be heard playing, just as Lee walks over to the instrument and takes a seat. In other words, the drums are playing, but no one is sitting behind the kit. Whoops ! The footage has sparked debate among Crüe fans in the comments, with some claiming the majority of his drumming is mimed, while others claim he just uses a few triggers to help keep time with all the pyro shenanigans. and on stage in progress.
Of course, using a backing track isn’t illegal, even so rare these days it seems. And, to be fair, Lee is still recovering from breaking his ribs and has been doing his best throughout the band’s current US tour to perform for the full duration of each night. So, maybe he just got a little help?
Despite his injury, Lee joined Mötley Crüe for the opening songs of their set each night when their tour began earlier this month on June 16 in Atlanta, but was unable to fully play each set until June 28. .
This isn’t the first time a legendary rock band has been caught in the act of helping out. Earlier this year at a Kiss show in Belgium as part of their End of the world tour of the road, drummer Eric Singer missed his performance during the 1976 classic DetroitRock City, which caused the night’s schedules to become out of sync and the backing tracks to be misaligned. As a result, guitarist Paul Stanley’s pre-recorded backing vocal tracks were exposed and the pyro cues were apparently let off too soon. Annoying.
Check out video of Lee’s own misadventure below: