Motley Crue planning winter arena tour

By Mitchell Peters

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Motley Crue will follow up this summer's Crue Fest amphitheater tour with a North American arena trek, beginning February 2, 2009, at Cox Arena in San Diego.

The 25-city-plus Saints of Los Angeles 2009 jaunt will wrap March 18 at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine. Among the support acts will be Hinder and Theory of a Deadman. Ticket prices will between $25 and $75, with public on-sales beginning November 21 in various markets.

Motley Crue manager Allen Kovac said the trek picks up where Crue Fest left off.

"These are markets we didn't play," Kovac told Billboard. "Rock has always been a middle-of-the-country sport, and you have to go to where your fans are."

The inaugural 40-plus-city North American Crue Fest -- which also featured rock acts Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Trapt and Sixx:A.M. -- grossed $16.6 million and drew more than 613,000 concertgoers, according to Billboard Boxscore. The trek followed the June release of "Saints of Los Angeles," the first Motley Crue album in more than a decade recorded by the band's original members. The set has sold 236,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

After March, Motley Crue will break from touring until the summer, when it will visit European cities in June. From there, the band will return stateside from July through September for the second edition of Crue Fest, Kovac said.

Reuters/Billboard