Only days away from launching his spring All Starr Band tour -- Ringo Starr has just rolled out the dates and cities for the band's fall run. As it stands now, Ringo and the band will kick off their 19-date…
Taylor Swift refused to cancel her Sunday (May 7th) night concert in Nashville despite heavy rains and a four-hour lighting delay. An attendee told Page Six that the crowd how to remain under covered areas of the outdoor stadium while…
Beyonce is on track to have the highest grossing tour of all time with her upcoming Renaissance tour. According to Forbes, the singer could earn nearly $2.1 billion from her "Renaissance" World Tour — which is $500 million more than…
Wolfgang Van Halen's Mammoth WVH has just released the lyric video for "Like A Pastime" from its upcoming second album, Mammoth 2, which drops on August 4th. Blabbermouth quoted Van Halen describing "Like A Pastime" by explaining, "It centers around…
A man claiming to be the secret illegitimate son of Jay Z is accusing the music icon of abusing the legal system for more than a decade in order to avoid taking a paternity test. According to The Daily Mail,…
The life and times of late-Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones is the subject of a new documentary. Arena: The Stones And Brian Jones will air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on May 15th. Director Nick Broomfield recalled to The…
Paul McCartney has uploaded a new 10-song Spotify playlist on his official PaulMcCartney.com site. Every month McCartney's team posts a new Sticking Out Of My Back Pocket tracklist sporting a specific theme -- with May tipping its hat to fans…
REPORT: BRITNEY SPEARS' BOOK PUT ON HOLD: Britney Spears' "brutally honest" memoir has reportedly been put on hold over concerns from some A-listers mentioned in the book. According to the US Sun, "Strongly worded legal letters have been sent to…
Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil has signed on as a guest judge for the music competition series Banded: The Musician Competition. Blabbermouth posted the series, hosted by Brandon Jenner, will air on all of AXS TV's digital channels beginning this…
Happy Birthday to Billy Joel, who turns 74 today (May 9th)!!! In addition to his ongoing monthly Madison Square Garden residency, Billy Joel has been doing incredible business out on the road with a string of select joint stadium dates…
Def Leppard has just released their new version of "Hysteria" with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as a teaser for their upcoming Drastic Symphonies set, which will be released on May 19th. The new track features new elements added to the classic 1987 track -- including frontman Joe Elliott duetting at points with his younger self.
Blabbermouth transcribed some of Joe Elliott's chat about the new album with BBC Radio 2's The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show, where he explained, "We first discussed this -- it was put on our plate by some grownups about four years ago. And, obviously, because we were touring, we were sidetracked. And then with the Covid, we did the new record (2022's Diamond Star Halos). . . It's only nine months ago now (that it came out). We were actually under the radar. We were in Abbey Road (studios) recording this record without telling anybody. So we had it ready to go the following year, which is now."
Def Leppard, who are now dabbling in the orchestral, has always walked the fine line between pop and metal. Guitarist Phil Collen told us the band took great pride in its massive pop crossover success with the 1987 Hysteria album: "Hysteria was. . . We had seven singles off that album, and where we really got a lot of fans is when it went into the Top 40 realm. So yeah, the pop thing, we're not embarrassed about that or ashamed. That's what we do. We're the hybrid. We always try to be."
In early 1988, "Hysteria" was the fourth single released from the band's 1987 album of the same name and became Def Leppard's first U.S. Top 10 hit, peaking at Number 10.
Billy Corgan revealed that he enlisted the help of the FBI to keep the latest Smashing Pumpkins album from being leaked online, according to Stereogum. Released last week was the final release of the group's conceptual trilogy -- Atum: Act Three. The new works are directly linked thematically to the Pumpkins' 1995 double LP, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.
While appearing on Audacy's Klein Ally Show, Billy Corgan explained the back-story to the leak: "They were all probably the most catchy, single-y type songs. So it's like, not only is it six months too early, you're pretty much giving away the album before you even have a chance to set your feet into the ground. Somehow, some hacker was offering the files for money, and we were able to trace it and pay off and keep it from leaking. The FBI got involved. . . I don't know how they got what they got."
Corgan added he paid the ransom for the tracks out of his own pocked, adding, "It was a mercenary person who had hacked somebody -- I don't want to say who -- and they had other stuff from other artists. It wasn't like some Pumpkins fan who was hellbent on breaking it on Reddit. Somehow, they gave some information that allowed the FBI to track them."
A while back, Billy Corgan explained to FMQB how intense the recording process often is for him: "We were fiddling with stuff to literally the last second. I mean, I would take a lot of the blame. I'm more detail-oriented probably than anybody I've worked with. People commonly call it perfectionism, but I feel a little bit like a painter, because as the person who sort of generates the original idea and writes the song, I have to sort of put it all together. So it's like, if some element is not supporting another element that I'm intrinsically involved in, then there's some part of me getting disappointed."
Smashing Pumpkins next perform on May 25th in Napa, California at JaM Cellars Ballroom.
Taylor Swift announced Friday (May 5th) that Speak Now will be the next album to be re-recorded.
The superstar told fans attending the Nashville stop on her Eras Tour that she will release Speak Now (Taylor's Version), on July 7th. The original album was released in 2010 and featured songs like "Mean," "Ours," "Sparks Fly," and "The Story of Us."
Swift wrote on Instagram, "I always looked at this album as my album, and the lump in my throat expands to a quivering voice as I say this. Thanks to you, dear reader, it finally will be.
"I consider this music to be, along with your faith in me, the best thing that's ever been mine."
While in Nashville, Matt Healy, who is rumored to be dating Swift, appeared on stage with opening act, Phoebe Bridgers. According to E! News, the "Lavender Haze" singer's reported beau was also in the audience for her Friday night set.
Video of Katy Perry struggling to find her seat at King Charles' coronation Saturday (March 6th) went viral this weekend.
The American Idol judge took to Twitter later that day to show she had a sense of humor about the clip , writing, "don't worry guys i found my seat."
The "Firework" singer also joined stars like Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli, Take That, Nicole Scherzinger and the official Coronation Choir for the King's concert on Sunday (May 7th).
Reports say that Usher and Chris Brown got into an altercation on Friday night (May 5th)in Las Vegas. According to TMZ, Usher threw a birthday party for Chris Brown at the Skate Rock City roller rink in Las Vegas. Sources say that Chris Brown got upset when he saw Teyana Taylor at the party and wanted her to leave. Sources say that Chris is upset with Teyana because she was involved in his canceled American Music Awards' Michael Jackson tribute.
Apparently, Teyana pulled out at the last minute due to other obligations and Chris feels like this was the reason the performance was cancelled. When Chris saw Teyana, he approached her and told her to leave. Teyana told Chris that his behavior was out of line and told him that he was "on one." At this point, the argument escalated and it caused Usher to step in to defend Teyana. Chris and his crew decided to leave. Usher decided to follow Chris and his crew out to the parking lot.
Sources say that "CB Chris Brown and his crew beat Usher's ass" on Chris' tour bus. The original report said that Usher had blood and/or broken nose, but that he also had bruised/injured ribs.
USHER POSTS FOOTAGE AFTER ALLEGED INCIDENT
Meanwhile, Usher and Chris both performed at the Lovers And Friends Festival the next day and Usher posted footage of himself live from the festival without a scratch, lump or bruise on his face.
Neither Usher, Chris, nor Teyana have publicly acknowledged the altercation.
Roger Daltrey maintains that his and Who co-founder Pete Townshend's relationship is centered around the band and nothing more. In a new chat with Record Collector, Daltrey revealed, "Me and Pete don't socialize at all. It's a working relationship. We're two different people, very much so. And may it remain that way."
Despite the lack of connection apart from the group, the two bandmates -- who met in middle school -- have recently scored their first U.S. chart-topper with their latest concert collection, The Who Live With Orchestra At Wembley Stadium, which hit Number One on the Billboard Classical Album Chart.
Daltrey knew that upon hearing the raw tapes that the London concert needed to see an official release: "I listened back to the live recording and thought we should put this out there. Pete's guitar tech, Alan Rogan, had just died the previous day, so it was a very traumatic time again for us. And the whole day just had an atmosphere about it. Mostly what I remember is that the audience were fantastic. We hadn't played Wembley since 1979 and we were absolutely gobsmacked to have sold it out. It was the only show we played with the orchestra in the UK, and they were great."
He went on to say, "I think the live recording is a memory of a particular pre-pandemic time in 2019, because we were due to bring that tour to the UK in 2020, but it was cancelled. I'm proud of that show. And you have to listen to it on vinyl, of course. Digital just won't do it for you!"
Pete Townshend told us that his relationship with Roger Daltrey has finally bloomed into the partnership that eluded them during the Who's most turbulent periods: "I think Roger has grown in a whole number of different ways and one of the ways that he's grown is, in a sense, in learning to conduct a power struggle within a band. Because it's just he and I. It's not four people, he's not in a corner fighting to express himself -- it's just him and me now. So, if he and I sit down to talk, if we sit to discuss music or projects, or albums, or songs that we might do, it's much more equal than it ever has been in the past. And I think for the both of us that means a complete reappraisal of the way that we work together."
The Who kicks off its European tour on June 14th in Barcelona, Spain.
Miley Cyrus' "Flowers" has become the fastest song to ever reach a billion streams on Spotify.
Spotify announced Friday (May 4th) that the single, which was released January 12th, had already reached the impressive milestone.
Cyrus thanked fans, writing on Instagram, "Thanks a billion. I love you."
Ed Sheeran told CBS Sunday Morning that getting sued "comes with the territory" of being a big pop star.
The singer addressed his recent victory in the "Thinking Out Loud" copyright lawsuit, saying, "There's like four chords that get used in pop songs. And if you just think mathematically the likelihood of this song having the same chords as this song—there's multiple, multiple songs—it's all the same four chords … you are going to get this with every single pop song from now on. Unless it just stops, which I don't think it does because it's a big money business to take things to court. But you can only get caught out if you've done something wrong, and I have not done something wrong. I used four chords that are very common cords to use."
Gayle dropped her latest single, "don't call me pretty" Friday (May 5th).
The "abcdefu" singer said of the new track, "'don't call me pretty' is an attempt to capture the moments of frustration when i've felt objectified in my friendships, over the internet, and generally in life."
The song made its debut live, on stage, while she was opening for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.
Out now is a new concert EP from Squeeze, titled Best Of Squeeze Live. Included on the new six-track set recorded live in San Francisco's Fillmore are such classics as "Tempted," "Up The Junction," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Another Nail In My Heart," "Some Fantastic Place," and "Cool For Cats."
Although band leaders Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook had been hesitant in the past over using the Squeeze moniker without a majority of its classic members, Glenn Tilbrook told us that, basically anything he and Chris Difford write and record together can only be labeled "Squeeze": "Rather foolishly, from my point of view, anyway, I was very into the idea that a band is a certain set of people, and then if that set would be blown around, it's not that band anymore. Now, I see it differently, although there are similarities, because, I think this version of Squeeze that we have now is a proper band. It's not me and Chris and anonymous people; it's people who have character and personality, and play, brilliantly -- very differently to the old Squeeze. But, I think that's. . . that's a blessing. You don't wanna go on doing what you've already done. You wanna break out somewhere else and do something that's interesting to everyone."
As it stands now, Squeeze has only two U.S. show on the books. The band will play on September 14th in Washington, D.C. at The Wolf Trap and on October 5th in Saratoga, California's Mountain Winery.
It was 53 years ago today (May 8th, 1970) that the Beatles released what was technically their final album, Let It Be. Although the band's last album, Abbey Road had been released the previous fall, the Let It Be project -- which began 16-months before its release -- was issued nearly a month after Paul McCartney announced that the "Fab Four" had indeed split. The album served as the soundtrack to the film of the same name, which premiered in New York City on May 13th, 1970. The movie, which was shot in January 1969, was originally intended to be a TV special called Get Back featuring the group rehearsing for their first live show in over two years. The early rehearsals captured the group -- along with John Lennon's soon-to-be wife Yoko Ono -- clearly bored, with only Paul McCartney showing any real enthusiasm for the new material. The first part of the film shows the strain of the early morning sessions held in a cavernous soundstage at London's Twickenham film studios.
The Beatles' late-producer George Martin recalled that the Let It Be project held great promise in the beginning: "They were going through a very, very revolutionary period at that time. And they were trying to think of something new. They did actually come up with a very good idea, which I thought was well worth working on; The wanted to write an album completely and rehearse it and then perform it in front of a large audience -- and for that to be a live album of new material. And we started rehearsing down at Twickenham film studios, and I went along with them."
George Harrison, who was the least invested member of the band in regard to returning to the stage, recalled the band's initial plan: "I think the original idea was to rehearse some new songs, and then we were going to pick a location and record the album of the songs in a concert. I suppose kinda like they do these days on Unplugged, except, y'know, it wasn't to be unplugged. It was to do a live album."
Among the songs featured in the film are "Let It Be," "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "For You Blue," "Octopus' Garden," "I Me Mine," "Across The Universe," "The Long And Winding Road," covers of "Besame Mucho," "Shake, Rattle And Roll," and "Kansas City," among others -- including the still unreleased originals "Jazz Piano Song" and "Suzy Parker."
The tracklisting to the Let It Be album is: "Two Of Us," "Dig A Pony," "Across The Universe," "I Me Mine," "Dig It," "Let It Be," "Maggie Mae," "I've Got A Feeling," "One After 909," "The Long And Winding Road," "For You Blue," and "Get Back."
In 1970 John Lennon recalled the nearly month-long film shoot saying: "It was just a dreadful, dreadful feeling being filmed all the time. I just wanted them to go away. And we'd be there at eight in the morning and you couldn't make music at eight in the morning, or 10, or whatever it was . . . in a strange place with people filming you and colored lights."
The tension between the group is palpable, especially during the sequence where Harrison and McCartney argue over Harrison's playing on the song "Two Of Us."
McCartney explained that unconsciously, the Beatles were actually telling the world that they were breaking up: "In fact what happened was when we got in there we showed how the breakup of a group works because we didn't realize that we were actually breaking up, y'know, as it was happening."
The movie lightens up considerably during the second half, when the filming moved to the group's new Apple basement studios, with the addition of keyboardist Billy Preston. A major highlight of the film is the final sequence, when the Beatles play in impromptu set on the Apple headquarters rooftop, featuring "Get Back," "Dig A Pony," "I've Got A Feeling," "Don't Let Me Down," and "One After 909." Filmed on January 30th, 1969, it would be the band's final public performance.
Reviews for the film, which was released a month after the group's breakup, were mixed, citing the sluggish and depressing nature of the film, as well as director Michael Lindsay-Hogg's sloppy editorial choices. But across the board, both critics and fans agreed on the power of the group's triumphant rooftop set.
Author Ritchie Unterberger chronicled the prolonged Get Back/Let It Be sessions in his book, titled The Unreleased Beatles: "They had bitten off more than they could chew. Y'know, even before they assembled in January, the idea was, 'Let's get back to playing as a live band' -- pretty good idea. But then it was, 'Let's make it an album and a film, and we're going to make the album a film of us doing a concert of songs we've never recorded before.' It's kind of like trying to do too much at once. And then you're recording it -- the comparison I made in the book is kind of Nixon's 'The Watergate Tapes,' you have no idea that this stuff is going to comeback to haunt you forever."
Beatlefan magazine's executive editor Al Sussman saw the film within days of its premiere and was left speechless by the group's live swan song: "It was really depressing. But, what made it worthwhile was the rooftop, y'know? Because when I left that theater, I was this far off the ground. Despite the fact that we knew everything that happened afterward. Yeah, that saves the film."
Ken Mansfield, the former U.S. manager of Apple Records, recently published his latest memoir on his time with working with the Beatles, titled The Roof: The Beatles' Final Concert. Mansfield was among the handful of insiders present at the rooftop concert that day. He recalled prior to the lunchtime gig walking in on the four Beatles who were using one of the Apple offices as a makeshift dressing room: "It was like walking in on a band, a nervous bunch of guys getting ready to do an audition. I don't know if it's because they hadn't played together, or whether they were trying to put the set together, but it was one of those kind of tense things where they were nervous. When we locked the doors upstairs, and the minute they started playing -- and y'know all the. . . everything that was going down, all the stuff. It's like it all went away and I really believe in my mind that they forgot everything and they were what they were. They were the Beatles."
George Martin said that he felt betrayed by Lennon and Harrison when they enlisted Phil Spector to rework the Let It Be tapes prior to their eventual release: "When the record came to be issued, EMI rang me up and said, 'They don't want your name on the record. It'll be 'Produced by Phil Spector.' I said, 'But I produced all the original stuff that they worked on.' I said, 'I'm not having that. Why don't you put on it, 'Produced by George Martin, over-produced by Phil Spector?' But they didn't seem to go for that."
The Let It Be album marks the only Beatles album to house three Number One songs -- albeit in different mixes to their single counterparts: "Get Back," "Let It Be," and the group's last chart-topper, "The Long And Winding Road."
The version of "Get Back" that closes the Let It Be album, which was long thought to be a live take, is actually a cheat -- Lennon and McCartney's pre and post-song comments were tagged by Phil Spector onto an abbreviated version of the studio-recorded single version.
Let It Be earned the Beatles their only Academy Award, when they won the 1970 Oscar for Best Original Song Score. The film was briefly available on VHS in 1981, but is not yet available on DVD.
The Let It Be album hit Number One on June 13th, 1970, ending Paul McCartney's three-week run on top of the charts with his solo debut, McCartney. Let It Be went on to hold the top spot for a solid month until the soundtrack to Woodstock displaced it.
FAST FORWARD
Released in 2021 was the long-awaited "Super Deluxe" version of the Beatles' Let It Be. The set features six discs -- a remastered version of the album, outtakes, a Blu-ray mix of Let It Be, and engineer Glyn Johns' original 1969 mix of the scrapped original album titled Get Back.
The Let It Be album has been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell in stereo, 5.1 surround DTS, and Dolby Atmos. The "Super Deluxe" collections also feature 27 previously unreleased session recordings, a four-track Let It Be EP, and the never before released 14-track Get Back stereo LP mix compiled by engineer Glyn Johns in May 1969.
The "Super Deluxe" editions feature a 100-page hard-back book with an introduction by Paul McCartney, extensive notes and track-by-track recording information and many previously unseen photos, personal notes, tape box images, and more.
The band's complete January 30th, 1969 Apple Rooftop performance is also now availalble for streaming.
On Thursday (5-4), after an extended court battle, a Manhattan Federal court found that Ed Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye's song to make it into his own.
Relieved to win the copyright trial, Sheeran talked to media outside the courthouse following the verdict and accused the Marvin Gaye estate of trying to alter his song in a way for the jury to believe it was stolen.
Sheeran said, "It's devastating to be accused of stealing someone else's song when we've put so much work into our livelihoods."
He thanked his legal team and said, "I'm just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy. I am not and never will allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake."
The lawsuit was over the similarities of Sheeran's 2014 hit, "Thinking Out Loud" and the Marvin Gaye classic, "Let's Get It On."
TL;DR:
Joe Perry explained why co-founding Aerosmith drummer, Joey Kramer will be sitting out of the band's upcoming "Peace Out" farewell tour -- but hinted at the chance that he might be able to join in.
Blabbermouth reported while chatting to Chicago's 97.1 FM The Drive, the guitarist explained, "His heart's in the right place, but, listen, playing the drums is an athletic event. And there's a certain point where. . . every joint starts to give out, man. So at this point we're not thinking he's gonna be there. We'll see."
Not too long ago when Aerosmith was prepping to head out on the road, Joey Kramer told us that playing live with Aerosmith still means everything to him: "Absolutely, positively, without a doubt. More than anything else that I do in life itself. 'Cause what it's about for me is being behind my drums, seeing those four guys in front of me, and playing for two hours. That's it -- that's what I live for."
Aerosmith kicks off their "Peace Out" farewell tour on September 2nd at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center.
The Who's Tommy Broadway extravaganza is making a stage comeback in Chicago, led by co-creators Pete Townshend and Tony Award winning director Des McAnuff. The musical will play at the Goodman Theatre with previews running from June 13th to July 23rd with an opening night set for June 26th.
A nine-piece band performs the Tony Award-winning original score, behind the 28-member cast. For ticket information, log on to GoodmanTheatre.org/Tommy.
Des McAnuff said in the announcement for the Tommy revival:
It's at once an honor and a joy to again collaborate with Pete to realize the power and pertinence of The Who's Tommy today. While the music remains as glorious as ever, our world years later is unimaginably and irrevocably changed. As a result, there's so much more we all can recognize-and celebrate-in our protagonist's evolution, as a collective deeper understanding of mental health has sharpened our lens.
Tommy Walker's triumph over devastating childhood trauma, to enlightened leadership, to ultimately recognizing the folly in which he's surrounded himself is an Amazing Journey to discover anew.
Pete Townshend views the Tommy song-cycle as a catalyst for his creative growth: "Through this album, I've taken a journey that has allowed me to embrace all kinds of other forms. Y'know, like, movies -- it's the only film score I've ever done -- it's the only really, truly successful theater musical I've been involved with. Y'know, there was an orchestral album, marching band album, God knows what. . . But from my point of view, it's taken me away from the band and then brought me back again."
12 a.m.-5 a.m.
