U2 is giving fans yet another chance to see them live in Las Vegas.
The Irish rockers just announced the final four dates for their Vegas residency, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere, at The Venetian.
The dates are scheduled for February 23 and 24, and March 1 and 2, with a fan club ticket presale open from now until Tuesday, December 5, at 10 p.m. PT. The general onsale kicks off Friday, December 8, at 11 a.m. PT.
U2 launched U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere back in September, becoming the first artists to play the state of the art venue. Their next show is happening Wednesday, December 6. A complete list of dates can be found at U2.com.
R.E.M. fans have been anxiously awaiting a solo album from the band’s frontman, Michael Stipe, and it sounds like it may be on its way…eventually.
In a new interview with The New York Times, conducted over the course of a year, Stipe gives an update on the project, which appears to still be a work-in-progress.
The article mentions several songs that Stipe had been working on, with names like “I’m the Charge" and “Time Keeps Changing,” as well as a duet with Courtney Love for an upcoming project.
It also describes a recording session at Electric Lady Studios in New York, where he met Taylor Swift and chatted with her producer Jack Antonoff and The 1975's Matty Healy.
As for what's taking the record so long, the article notes that Stipe's life simply got in the way. He also dealt with what he describes as “terrible writer’s block” but said he “completely flourished as a writer after that.”
And while Stipe hasn’t narrowed down when fans may hear the music, he did at least offer some sort of update on the project.
“We can say for the piece that I finished the songs, and by God, I will finish them before the piece comes out,” he says, referring to the article. “How about that? Let’s leave the piece closing with: I finished the songs.”
Special releases by The Doors, U2 and more were among the bestsellers on Record Store Day Black Friday this year.
The Doors’ Live From Bakersfield, August 21, 1970, which captures a 1970 concert around the time of Jim Morrison's indecent exposure trial, landed at #4 on the list of bestsellers, followed by U2’s remastered Under a Blood Red Sky at #6.
Two Grateful Dead related albums also sold well. The March 2, 1969, Dead concert at San Francisco's Fillmore West, which was released as a five-LP package, landed at #8, while Pure Jerry: Marin Auditorium, San Rafael, CA - February 28, 1986, a recording of a performance by Jerry Garcia and John Kahn, landed at #12.
Also making the top 25 is Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark Demos, at #15, and The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album, at #16.
Meanwhile, artists seeing the best sales on Record Store Black Friday include The Doors, who had the second-best overall sales, Grateful Dead at #6 and U2 at #8.
Overall, it seemed to be a great Black Friday at independent record stores this year, with weekend year-over-year increases up as much as 40%.
Roy Orbison performed what would be his final concert at the Front Row Theater in Highland Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
The concert featured performances of such Orbison classics as “Crying,” “In Dreams,” “Only the Lonely,” “Oh, Pretty Woman” and more.
After the show, Orbison returned home to Hendersonville, Tennessee, where he died from a heart attack on December 6. He was 52.
Orbison’s many accolades include being a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Musicians Hall of Fame. He won five Grammy Awards and was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
December 5 marks 50 years of Paul McCartney & Wings’ classic album Band on the Run, and McCartney is celebrating the occasion with a new 50th anniversary expanded edition of the album.
In addition to the release of a half-speed remastered single LP vinyl, the milestone celebration will be marked with a special two-LP vinyl set compromising the half-speed remastered original album and an additional LP, Underdubbed Mixes Edition, featuring the album’s nine songs without any orchestral overdubs.
The set also comes with two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters and a two-CD version of the release, featuring the original album and Underdubbed.
“This is Band on the Run in a way you’ve never heard before,” McCartney shares. “When you are making a song and putting on additional parts, like an extra guitar, that’s an overdub. Well, this version of the album is the opposite, underdubbed.”
Underdubbed will also be released digitally, while Band on the Run will get its first digital release in Dolby Atmos, newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.
Band on the Run was the third album released by Paul McCartney & Wings and McCartney's fifth post-Beatles release. It featured such classic songs as the title track, “Jet” and “Bluebird.” The album went to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K., and has been certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.
The Kinks are in the midst of a two-year celebration of their 60th anniversary, which includes two box sets: The Journey — Part 1, which came out in March, and the recently releasedThe Journey — Part 2.
The sets feature Kinks hits, as well as deep cuts and more, and The Kinks’ Dave Davies tells ABC Audio he’s “quite pleased with the way it turned out.”
“I think there’s a lot of really important music on it,” he says. “It gives a chance for people who aren’t that familiar with the non-hits" to discover the tunes. He notes, “They all work nicely on a compilation like this.”
Dave says he was happy to see the song “Lincoln County” make it on Part 2, along with “God’s Children,” written by his brother Ray Davies. “I’ve always loved it, the lyric, and the melody, the whole concept,” he shares.
The sets also feature live tracks and B-sides; Dave suggests there’s even more unreleased music to be heard, even if the songs aren't perfect.
“I don’t know if they’ll ever see the light of day but over the years I’ve become less critical,” he says. “Songs have foibles and weird s*** and I think it’s all important aspects of recording. We’ve been doing it for so long it’s kinda nice to hear the nuances.”
As for whether fans will be hearing new music from The Kinks anytime soon, Dave seems hopeful it’ll happen.
“I don’t know but me and Ray played on tracks that’ve been sitting around, that we didn’t quite finish and are too good to just shelve,” he says, “so it’s very possible.”
KISS said goodbye to the road Saturday, December 2, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but they're not going away for good and have already revealed what’s next for the group.
After playing the final song, "Rock and Roll All Nite," the band introduced the crowd, and the public watching at home via pay-per-view, to their KISS avatars, with holograms of Demon, the Starchild, Catman, and Spaceman performing “God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II.”
“The end of the road is the beginning of another road,” Paul Stanley told the crowd, according to Rolling Stone. “We’re not going anywhere. You’ll see us in all different things all the time. We’ll see you in your dreams.”
According to Fast Company, the KISS avatars come courtesy of San Francisco-based Industrial Light & Magic, with the band sharing some behind-the-scenes video of the making their holograms, captioning the clip, “A NEW ERA BEGINS.”
“The future is so exciting,” Gene Simmons says in the clip, with Stanley adding, “We can live on eternally.”
Bruce Springsteen has paid tribute to the late Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who passed away November 30 at the age of 65.
“Over here on E Street, we are heartbroken over the death of Shane MacGowan,” reads Springsteen's Instagram post. “Shane was one of my all-time favorite writers. The passion and deep intensity of his music and lyrics is unmatched by all but the very best in the rock and roll canon.”
Springsteen then recalled visiting Shane and his wife, Victoria, when he was playing shows in Dublin last May.
“He was very ill, but still beautifully present in his heart and spirit,” Springsteen writes. “His music is timeless and eternal. I don’t know about the rest of us, but they’ll be singing Shane’s songs 100 years from now.”
The Beatles are back at #1: The band’s new single, “Now and Then,” tops the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart for the very first time.
The Adult Alternative Airplay chart launched in 1996, and The Beatles have landed on it one other time — when 1996’s “Free as a Bird” peaked at #11. They now hold the record for the longest time between their first appearance on the AAA chart and their first #1.
In other Beatles news ... Sir Patrick Stewart recounted a sweet story of meeting Paul McCartney during an appearance on Live with Kelly & Mark.
He was in Bristol working in an acting company with McCartney’s then-girlfriend Jane Asher and during lunch one day they were playing a game where they shared what they’d buy if they had 1 million pounds; Stewart chose an Aston Martin. Two weeks later, McCartney showed up at Stewart’s dressing room.
“The door opened and there was Paul McCartney and he said, 'Jane tells me that you like Aston Martins. Here, drive this,'” Stewart recalled, noting he was in his underwear at the time. “He threw me a bunch of keys.” Stewart said they went out on a joyride in the middle of the night and drove about 18 miles together to Bath, England.
“All I could think was if I crash this car it’s the only thing I’ll be remembered for,” Stewart said. “This is the man who killed Paul McCartney.”
Stewart also recalled bumping into McCartney, who was with Ringo Starr, in a restaurant years later. McCartney introduced Stewart to Ringo, noting they were all “Sirs.”
Stewart said McCartney put his arms around both him and Ringo, declaring, “We are Knights of the Round Table."
These days, thanks to technology like holograms, bands don’t necessarily have to disappear when they decide to stop touring or making music. But that’s not something The Who’s Pete Townshend is interested in.
Townshend and Roger Daltrey are the only two surviving members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band and they still tour together. When they eventually decide to put an end to touring, Townshend says fans shouldn’t expect to see a Who avatar show like Voyage, the show made famous by ABBA.
“Apparently Mick [Jagger] has said, ‘Yeah, The Rolling Stones will definitely do an ABBA,’” he tells the Financial Times, referring to recent comments Jagger made to WSJ magazine. Townshend then made a face and ruled it out for The Who, noting, “Oh f***, no, no, no.”
While The Who don't currently have dates on the books, they did play several shows in the U.K. last summer. Their last gig was August 28 in Sandringham, England.
Jeff Kravitz/MTV VMAs 2021/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS
David Lee Roth is reinterpreting another Van Halen classic.
The rocker just shared his reimagined solo version of “Jump,” off Van Halen's sixth studio album, 1984. The new take was recorded live at Henson Studios in Los Angeles.
This is the eighth Van Halen song that has been given the solo treatment by Roth. He previously released ”Atomic Punk,” "Unchained," "You Really Got Me," "Dance The Night Away," "Panama," "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Everybody Wants Some!!"
He’s also shared two previously unreleased tracks, "Manda Bala” and “Wash and Fold.”
Released as a single in December 1983, "Jump" went on to be a huge hit for Van Halen, becoming the band's only #1 tune on the Billboard Hot 100.
Doja Cat's "Paint the Town Red" became her second number one a few months ago, no doubt in part due to the catchy sample of Dionne Warwick's 1964 classic "Walk On By" that goes through the entire track. But while appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Friday, Dionne admitted her first reaction to finding out about the sample was, well, confusion.
"It's amazing, I didn't know it had been recorded by her," the legendary singer told Kelly. "My granddaughter called me and said, 'Grammy, do you know you're on a record with Doja Cat?' And I said, 'Doja who?'"
"She said, 'She's a rapper,' and she's explaining all this to me," Dionne continued. "And I said, 'OK, what song are we talking about?' And she said, '"Walk On By," you're completely through the entire song.' Well, apparently it's a major hit for her."
It certainly is: When "Paint the Town Red" topped the Billboard Hot 100 in September, it became the first rap song to hit #1 on that chart in more than a year.
"I hope 'Walk On By' is as good for her as it has been for me," said Dionne. "They’re great songs, and finally [young people] are being exposed to some good music.”
Dionne seemed somewhat put out that Doja didn't get her permission to sample the song, but since she didn't write it — Hal David and Burt Bacharach did — she likely didn't have a say in the matter anyway.
Bruce Springsteen just released another edition of his Live Series, and while we know Bruce is a great guitar player, the latest playlist focuses on his piano prowess.
The Live Series: Songs On Keys, available on most streaming services, is a playlist of solo piano performances by The Boss, recorded around the world between 1975 and 2016.
The playlist is made up of 15 performances, including “For You,” live at CW Post College in Greenvale, New York, on December 12, 1975; “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,” live at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on January 16, 1990; “Drive All Night,” live at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, on January 22, 2005; and “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street,” live at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 5, 2016.
Springsteen is currently recovering from peptic ulcer disease, which forced the postponement of the remainder of his 2023 tour. He is due back out on the road with the E Street Band in 2024, with dates kicking off March 19 in Phoenix, Arizona. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.
Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett has shared the first single from his upcoming solo album, The Circus And The Nightwhale. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has released the album’s opening track, “People of the Smoke.”
“’People of the Smoke’ spins us all back in time to 1950, when bustling post-war London was stifled with smog from trains, chimneys, industry and smokers,” Hackett shares. “I was born into that world! This song kicks off an album following my life’s journey both literally and metaphorically.”
The Circus and the Nightwhale is Hackett’s first album of new material since 2021's instrumental album Under A Mediterranean Sky. It will be released February 16 and is available for preorder now.
Peter Frampton has announced a new set of 2024 tour dates.
The rocker just revealed new 2024 dates for his Never Say Never Tour, telling fans, “I don’t want to give up my passion and will play as long as I physically can.”
The new trek kicks off March 3 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and includes a night at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre on April 13, before wrapping April 14 in San Diego, California. A complete list of dates can be found at frampton.com.
A ticket presale kicks off Monday, December 4, at 10 a.m. local time, with the general onsale happening Friday, December 8, at 10 a.m. local time.
The new dates are likely a welcome surprise for Frampton fans who thought they may never see him on tour again. In 2019, he launched what he said would be his final tour ever, after being diagnosed with a degenerative muscular disease that would eventually stop him from playing guitar. But, he changed his mind and launched the Never Say Never Tour in June.
