John 5 Recalls ‘Weird’ Moment at Motley Crue Debut

John 5 recalled how his emotions got the better of him as he completed his first show with Motley Crue, with his Kiss heroes Ace Frehley and Peter Criss in attendance.

The moment took place in Atlantic City in February 2023, after weeks of rehearsals with his new colleagues. As he told Guitar World in a recent interview, his time with the band started with an event he's still unsure about.

“" remember first day going to rehearsal," 5 said. "I still don't know if they were messing with me...but I was early because I was so excited. And I get there and they're like, 'Dude, you're late!' And I'm like, 'What are you talking about? It was like this time.' They were like, 'No dude, it started at this time!'"

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He added: "I don't know if they were serious or not. Because I'm never late — except for this interview."

Nevertheless, he soon made up for any negativity for a good reason: "I feel like I've been playing these songs as long as they have, because when the records came out I learned them all."

He continued: "They said, 'Okay, what do you want to do?' I said, ‘' guess start at the top.' And so we just ran the whole set, and they were like, 'Oh my God!'

"Any gig I get into, I will study everything. I usually watch the [most recent] show a band does, so I know what their endings are, I know what their transitions are. And so that's what I did... and they were pretty impressed with that."

Kiss Stars Drove Two Hours to Watch John 5's Motley Debut

Flash forward to the show in Atlantic City, and 5 knew who he wanted to be there. "My first and favorite band is Kiss; I've been very close with those guys for probably 30-something years," he said.

"And Ace and Peter came to the first Motley show. I invited them, and they drove, you know, two hours each. And I remember they were right over there watching, and I was playing the show, and it's exciting!"

Then came the surprise: "I got off the stage and everyone was like, 'That was awesome' – and I burst into tears for some reason. Like, uncontrollably. I was like, 'What’s going on?'

"It was just so much emotion. It was so weird. I had my heroes there, and I'm playing with Motley Crue, and all my friends there. It was very odd; it was so weird."