American guitarist John 5 performed at Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne on Saturday 26 October 2024. Born John Lowery in 1970, he began using his stage name in 1998 when he left David Lee Roth’s solo band and joined Marilyn Manson. It was Manson who immediately gave him the name John 5, since he was the fifth member of his band and John 5 is the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John of the New Testament in the Christian Bible. After splitting with Manson in 2004, he became the guitarist for Rob Zombie the following year, until he joined Motley Crue in 2022.
John 5 is also a solo artist, who has released ten studio albums between Vertigo in 2004 and Sinner in 2021. He has also compiled a long list of impressive writing and recording credits with other artists such as Avril Lavigne, Rob Halford, k.d. lang, Garbage, Meat Loaf, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ricky Martin, Halestorm, Alice Cooper, Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton. Joining John 5 was drummer Alex Riccardo, while his guitar tech, David Vela, joined on bass for a Motley Crue medley to close his set.
