Pulse Music

It was 54 years ago today (January 30th, 1969) that the Beatles performed for the last time in public, on the roof of their Apple headquarters building in London. For the better part of that January, the group had been filming their rehearsals for a planned comeback concert, before band politics forced them to abort the plan and concentrate on recording a new album, tentatively titled Get Back.

The film crew continued filming the recording sessions for what eventually became the Let It Be album and movie, and on January 30th, the Beatles finally gave in to director Michael Lindsay-Hogg's request for a live concert finale for the film. Rather than the various exotic locations that had been tossed around for the group's first public appearance in nearly two-and-a-half years, such as a cruise ship, a mental asylum, or a Roman amphitheater, the group had their equipment set up on top of their business offices at 3 Saville Row for a brief lunchtime set -- similar to the ones they used to do years earlier in Liverpool's Cavern Club.

The Beatles and keyboardist Billy Preston, who were decked out in winter coats, played for about 42 minutes for a handful of fans, their wives, office workers and their personal staff. They performed a total of nine full songs: three versions of "Get Back," two versions of "Don't Let Me Down," two versions of "I've Got A Feeling," and one each of "Dig A Pony," and "One After 909" -- which was one of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's earliest compositions, dating back to the 1950's.

Not long before his November 2022 death, the late-Ken Mansfield -- former U.S. manager of Apple Records -- 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."

In between songs, while the film crew was busy setting up, the Beatles briefly ran through a few standards, including a few bars of "Danny Boy," "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody," and "God Save The Queen."

George Harrison had made it clear prior to the impromptu concert that none of his songs would be played on the roof. Toward the end of the Beatles' set, the police were called and politely demanded that the group quit disturbing the peace, as dozens of office workers had begun crowding around in the streets near the Beatles' headquarters to hear the band play.

At the end of the final performance of "Get Back," Lennon uttered the immortal line, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition." It was the last time that the Beatles would ever perform in public.

Most of the Beatles' "Rooftop Concert" had been widely bootlegged over the years. The Beatles themselves have also issued a lot of the rooftop concert over various releases. 1970's Let It Be album featured edited live performances of "Dig A Pony," "I've Got A Feeling," and "One After 909." The group's final performance of "Get Back" was included on 1996's The Beatles Anthology 3 album, and the 2003 Let It Be. . . Naked collection included new composite takes from different versions of "Don't Let Me Down," and "I've Got A Feeling." For the past 20 years, in one form or another, at least one version of all the songs from the group's final performance was va been officially released.

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 producer Phil Spector onto an abbreviated version of the studio-recorded single version.

In 1970, after Mick Jagger's barbs about the Beatles' supposed inadequacies as a live band, John Lennon set the record straight, telling Rolling Stone: "Our best work was never recorded, y'know? We were performers -- in spite off what Mick (Jagger) says about us -- in Liverpool, Hamburg, and around the dance halls, y'know? And what we generated was fantastic, when we played straight rock. And there was nobody to touch us in Britain, y'know?"

Paul McCartney admitted that the footage of the Beatles performing together underlines the core strength of "John, Paul, George, and Ringo": "The Beatles were the best. And, y'know, the thing about the Beatles is (they're) a very good little rock band. It really was a little rock band. Four guys, who when we played something -- we locked in. And because we worked so much in Liverpool, then in Hamburg, and then in England, and America -- we could read each other. So, yeah, I think we were the best (laughs)."

The Beatles' complete rooftop performance was featured as part of the winning Peter Jackson-directed The Beatles: Get Back documentary -- with the full audio from the legendary final performance released digitally as The Beatles: Get Back - Rooftop Concert.

Coming on September 12th is Bernie Taupin's long-awaited memoir, Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, And Me. The book by Elton John's longtime collaborator promises a non-holds barred look at his life writing the lyrics to Elton's biggest hits and the life-changing trip he stumbled upon as the pair became, arguably, the most popular and successful songwriting team of the 1970's.

Rolling Stone ran an excerpt from the book's official announcement, which states: "Readers visit Los Angeles with Bernie and Elton on the cusp of global fame. We spend time in Australia at an infamous rock n' roll hotel in an endless blizzard of drugs and spend late-night hours with John Lennon, Bob Marley, and Frank Sinatra."

It goes on to say, "Beyond the world of popular music, we witness memorable encounters with writers like Graham Greene, painters like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, and scores of notable misfits, miscreants, eccentrics, and geniuses, known and unknown. And of course, even if they're not famous in their own right, they are stars on the page, and we discover how they inspired the indelible lyrics to songs such as 'Tiny Dancer,' 'Candle In The Wind,' 'Bennie And The Jets,' and so many more.

Bernie Taupin in a statement:

It was never my intention to write a traditional A-to-Z autobiography. I began a few years back composing essays and observations on my life that ultimately gained momentum and started to look like a book. . . It's contemplative, self-assessing, and attempts to stay off the beaten path in not regurgitating what's already been written. Nonlinear, it's an exploratory trip bouncing back and forth along the decades.

Bernie Taupin told us that although his and Elton John's songs have become pop standards over the years, that shouldn't take away from the quality of the work: "First and foremost, we are good songwriters. And there's nothing wrong with writing a great song -- providing it retains elements of passion, and whatever. As long as it's not just a surface thing. And I think these songs are very commercial and there's nothing wrong with being commercial, yet they are at the same time very passionate."

Elton John told us that his songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin has given him great strength and proved to be one of the strongest relationships in his life: "It's been a remarkable partnership in the fact that we've never broken up -- although it was rumored that we did break up -- we didn't, we just had a break from each other and wrote with other people. Y'know, you can't suffocate each other. And the fact that we're still writing, and loving writing with each other -- we root for each other. And too often in this business, people get jealous, y'know, people break up a great thing over the most stupid thing. And he's been my brother without the music, he's been my brother with the music. He became the 'Brown Dirt Cowboy,' I became 'Captain Fantastic'-- we lived out. . . y'know, that album was very prophetic, that's what we became"

Foo Fighters are taking the place of Pantera at two German festivals, according to Ultimate-Guitar.com. Due to some of frontman Phil Anselmo's "past controversies" regarding his stance on race and culture, the Foos will step in on June 2nd at Nürburgring's Rock Am Ring and on June 4th at Nürnberg's Rock Im Park.

Longtime Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel told us a while back what he thinks has been a key to the Foos' longevity: "Well, one of the things, I think, that's made the band work so well is how we kind of structured it in the beginning and the opportunity we had, because Dave had been in Nirvana, to do things the way we wanted to do it. We didn't have the pressure that a lot of bands do of having to write the hit song. I mean, thankfully Dave's a good songwriter and able to write catchy songs, but we don't have that pressure where you have somebody breathing over your shoulder, and I think that really is something that destroys a lot of bands."

There has been no word as to who'll be filling the drum slot for the Foos following Taylor Hawkins' death last year.

UPDATED: Foo Fighters tour dates (subject to change):

May 26 - Boston, MA - Boston Calling Music Festival
May 28 - Columbus, OH - Sonic Temple Arts & Music Festival
June 18 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
June 2 - Nürburgring, Germany - Rock Am Ring
June 4 - Nürburg, Germany - Rock Im Park
September 9 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - The Town

On Thursday (1-26) Taylor Swift posted the words "Meet me at midnight," encouraging fans to stay up late to be the first to watch her new video for "Lavender Haze."

Adding to the excitement of the video, this is one of the few songs she's ever explicitly confirmed is about her longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.

About the song title, she said, "I happened upon the phrase Lavender Haze when I was watching Mad Men, and I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool." She explained that it was a common phrase used in the '50s where "they would just describe being in love, like, you were in the lavender haze."

This marks the third video released from her tenth studio album, Midnights.

TL;DR:

• On Thursday (1-26) Taylor Swift posted the words "Meet me at midnight," encouraging fans to stay up late to be the first to watch her new video for "Lavender Haze."
• This one of the few songs she's ever explicitly confirmed is about her longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.
• This marks the third video released from her tenth studio album, Midnights.

Niall Horan of One Direction has announced that he'll release a new single next month that he co-wrote, called "Heaven." This will be his first new solo material in almost three years.

Horan teased "Heaven" on TikTok, where he has amassed over 100 million views since last October. In the days leading up to the official announcement, fans around the globe began receiving boxes containing a candle, lyrics from the chorus, and the QR code that led to Horan's website.

The official release date is February 17, just weeks before he becomes the new coach on NBC's The Voice.

TL;DR:

• Niall Horan of One Direction will release a new single on February 17 called "Heaven."
• This will be his first new solo material in almost three years.
• In March, he becomes the new coach on NBC's The Voice.

Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, and blues guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. all appear in a Super Bowl commercial for the software company, Workday. A clip from the spot has gone viral, featuring Ozzy in an office scenario compete with bland, short sleeve dress shirt and tie asking, which co-worker wants a piercing.

Variety reported, "Workday has a clever concept that it hopes will make people more aware of the software it licenses to corporations that helps manage finances and human resources."

According to the report, Fox, which airs the big game, is asking for between $6 to $7 million for each of the Super Bowl commercials.

Over the years, Ozzy has appeared in commercial for Pepsi and Best Buy.

The 1975 and Lewis Capaldi played a joke on the band's audience when Capaldi made a surprise appearance at this week's show. Fans first saw him on the jumbo screen as he came through the backstage door. They started screaming when the name Harry Styles popped up on screen and got even louder when they saw it was actually Capaldi. He once again caught the audience off-guard by performing a cover of Taylor Swift's "Love Story."

Coldplay has been announced as musical guest for the February 4^th episode of Saturday Night Live. Look for promos to run throughout the week, as this will mark the band's seventh appearance. The show will be hosted by Pedro Pascal who stars in The Last of Us on HBO.

Doja Cat made an appearance arriving at the Jean Paul Gaultier show during Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris this week. She was also in the front row as Valentino unveiled its Haute Couture collection. Doja was seated alongside other stars such as Anne Hathaway, Sam Smith, and Dove Cameron.

Fall Out Boy debuted two new singles to a small audience in their hometown of Chicago this week. After playing stadiums around the world, they chose the stage at the legendary Metro, with a capacity of just over 1,000, to give their first live public debut of "Love From the Other Side" and, "Heartbreak Feels So Good."

They performed as a trio in the absence of guitarist Joe Trohman, who last week announced that he was taking a mental health break. Patrick Stump pulled double-duty on lead vocals and electric guitar. To help fill in the gap, longtime guitar tech Ben Young, played six-string near the stage wings on a few songs.

Both songs they debuted are from their upcoming eighth studio album, So Much (For) Stardust , to be released on March 24.

TL;DR:

• Fall Out Boy debuted two new songs to a small audience in their hometown of Chicago at the legendary Metro.
• It was their first live public debut of "Love From the Other Side" and, "Heartbreak Feels So Good."

The B-52's have announced spring and summer Las Vegas residencies at the Venetian Resort. The group, which features co-founders Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, and Cindy Wilson, are set to play a five-night stand in May with another taking place at the end of August and beginning of September.

The group is currently working with director Craig Johnson on the definitive documentary of their career, which is expected to finally see release this year.

We asked singer Kate Pierson how the B-52's have been able to keep the show on the road so smoothly after all these years: "We learned to accept each other with all our, y'know, wonderful things, and flaws, and attributes (laughs). Y'know, we really accept each other; we're still like a family. We still make each other laugh -- that's the key thing. Of course I'm not saying there aren't ups and downs, but I think it's still amazing that we can still make each other laugh, we still hang out after the show. Y'know, we really have fun together."

JUST ANNOUNCED: The B-52's tour dates (subject to change):

May 5, 6, 19, 12, 13 - Las Vegas - The Venetian Resort
August 25, 26, 30 - Las Vegas - The Venetian Resort
September 1, 2 - Las Vegas - The Venetian Resort

It was 53 years ago today (January 27th, 1970) that John Lennon recorded "Instant Karma." Lennon had already recorded several experimental albums and two singles under the name the Plastic Ono Band. "Instant Karma," however, was released under the name John Ono Lennon, the name he'd created when he legally changed his middle name from Winston to Ono the previous April. Although the public didn't know it, Lennon had quit the Beatles in September 1969, which is reportedly why he had the single's sleeve featured his name in bold, black letters, to announce himself to the world as a solo artist.

Lennon wrote the song in a single afternoon, recorded it within a week, and originally hoped to release it the following week. At the time, Lennon told Britain's music paper Melody Maker that he wanted to be able to release music as easily as issuing newspapers. Lennon talked about what the song meant, explaining, "Whenever you do something, there's a reaction to it. Even if you cough, you cough germs out all over the place. If you cough love out, out goes love. That's what 'Instant Karma' is."

The song was recorded between 7:00 p.m. on January 27th and 4:00 a.m. the following morning at London's Abbey Road Studios. At the suggestion of George Harrison, legendary "Wall Of Sound" creator Phil Spector produced the song. Harrison also played guitar and piano on the session. There's still some disagreement as to who actually performed on the backing track, with several reports listing Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, and Badfinger's Pete Ham overdubbing parts as well. Future Yes drummer Alan White -- who had made his live debut with Lennon the prior September in Toronto -- handled the drums. At the end of the session, the Beatles' road manager Mal Evans rounded up the patrons of Hatchett's, a nearby nightclub, to help supply backing vocals. Longtime "Fab Four" confidante and solo Beatles sideman, Klaus Voormann handled bass duties.

The late-Alan White, who was only 20-years-old at the time of the session, shed light on his iconic drum part on "Instant Karma": "I played most of the shuffle rhythm with my right hand on a 16-inch tom to my right -- that was covered by a towel that was taped on (laughs). And, so, I was hearing (in my headphones) pretty much what you hear (on the record). And. . . obviously, when they mixed it, they added more echo to some of those drum breaks and stuff like that."

Klaus Voormann recalled that John Lennon never made apologies for his emotions: "John writes always about himself and it doesn't mean that he means that the rest of his life -- like talking about Paul in that song -- he felt like this at this particular moment. He uses the words, it's so strong, and it's always something he did himself. Something out of himself. He's very egotistical, you could say. Well, why not?"

"Instant Karma" was released to radio on February 22nd, several weeks ahead of the Beatles' "Let It Be" single. The two songs battled each other all the way up the Billboard Hot 100.

On April 10th, 1970, Paul McCartney issued a press release announcing his split from the Beatles, effectively ending the group. The next day "Instant Karma" peaked at Number Three behind the Jackson Five's "ABC," which held the Number Two spot while the Beatles were on top with "Let It Be."

Like "Let It Be," "Instant Karma" will forever be tied into the Beatles' breakup, with the single peaking at Number Three the week the group's split was announced. Lennon explained that the Beatles broke up simply because they had grown stale: "We didn't breakup because we weren't friends, we just broke up out of sheer boredom, y'know? And boredom creates tension. It was not going anywhere. We'd stopped touring, and we just said 'time to make an album.' Y'know, the same four of us, we'd be looking at each other and playing the same licks. We were very good friends and we'd known each other since we were 15, y'know? And we got over all the actual fighting."

Although 'Instant Karma' was originally only a single-only release, it has turned up on a number of Lennon compilations over the years, including Shaved Fish, Lennon Legend, Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon, Power To The People: The Hits -- and most recently in remixed form on the Sean Lennon-produced 2020 Working Class Hero collection. An early-version -- featuring George Harrison supplying key arrangement suggestions -- was released in 2021 on the super deluxe version 50th anniversary edition of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

John Lennon's 1972 live version of "Instant Karma" can be found on the posthumously released collection Live In New York City.

It was 39 years ago today (January 27th, 1984) that John Lennon's first original posthumous album, Milk And Honey, was released. Lennon's tracks were culled from the summer 1980 sessions recorded at New York's Hit Factory during the same time as that year's Double Fantasy collection. The unfinished, live-in-studio takes were never intended for release in such primitive form, but were held back for a 1981 release once it was decided that Double Fantasy would feature half original songs from Yoko Ono. Milk And Honey featured an alternate color shot from the same photo session as 1980's Double Fantasy.

Unlike Double Fantasy, which features songs all recorded in 1980, several of Yoko's tracks were then-recent songs recorded in Manhattan and San Francisco. Milk And Honey, was the only musical Lennon album released on the Polydor label. The previous December, Ono and Polydor released the spoken word collection, Heart Play - Unfinished Dialogue. The album featured edited excerpts from David Scheff's 1980 interview with the Lennon's for Playboy.

Following both Lennon's death and the 1981 Album of The Year Grammy Award for Double Fantasy, the chart placings for Milk And Honey were disappointing -- with the album failing to crack the Top 10 in the U.S., stalling at Number 11 and peaking at Number Three in the U.K. To date the album has only been certified Gold for sale of 500,000 units.

Despite co-producing Milk All Honey, Jack Douglas was not credited for his work, and sued Yoko Ono for his rightful compensation -- along with back royalties for Double Fantasy. In his 2019 memoir, titled Me, Elton John revealed that Yoko had adamantly urged him to complete what he felt were the unfinished Milk And Honey songs -- which Elton declined to do.

The highlight of the set was the album's lead single, "Nobody Told Me." The tune, which had begun life back in 1976 under the title "Everybody's Talkin', Nobody's Talkin'" was originally intended for Lennon's unrealized Between The Lines album, which was sidelined upon the former-Beatle devoting his time to raising his newborn son Sean.

Under the title "Nobody Told Me," Lennon ran through the song during the summer 1980 Double Fantasy sessions at Manhattan's Hit Factory, and was among the tunes earmarked for Ringo Starr's upcoming 1981 solo album, which would feature contributions and productions from Paul McCartney and George Harrison. After Lennon's murder, Ringo ultimately felt it would be in poor taste to record either of Lennon's tracks.

"Nobody Told Me," which marked the fourth straight Lennon Top 10 from the Hit Factory sessions, was Lennon's final hit. The album's subsequent singles included the under-performing "Borrowed Time" -- which didn't even chart -- and "I'm Stepping Out," which limped to Number 55.

In 1980 John Lennon spoke about how he picked certain songs for Double Fantasy, while others were earmarked for its followup: "We've done 22 of songs -- basic tracks. So, then it was like having a lot of movie film; the way the film two movies? And it was a matter of which scene started where, and which scene works with the next. . . There's been a lot of shuffling around, as you can imagine."

In early-1981 Ringo Starr chatted with Barbara Walters and recalled the last time he saw John Lennon during a fall 1980 visit to Manhattan. At the time, Lennon gifted Ringo two demos for his upcoming sessions -- "Nobody Told Me" and the sadly ironic "Life Begins At 40 -- neither of which, Ringo ever recorded: "I saw him on the 15th of Novem. . . I was staying at the Plaza, we went over to New York for a little while. And I hadn't seen him in a little while, because, we see each other wherever we are, and he came over with Yoko for an hour. And we had such a great time, 'cause they stayed five hours. And it didn't matter it was a year between we hadn't seen each other; it was always fine when we did. But it was particularly great time that I had, anyway."

Milk And Honey featured Lennon's 1980 home demo of "Grow Old With Me. At the time of its original 1984 release, Yoko described Lennon's plans for the track as being, "(a) standard, the kind that they would play in church every time a couple gets married, with horns and other arrangements."

"Grow Old With Me" was inspired by a poem penned by Robert Browning, titled "Rabbi ben Ezra," as well as a Yoko Ono song, "Let Me Count The Ways," which in itself was inspired by a poem by Browning's wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Over the years, "Grow Old With Me" has been covered by several artists, most notably Mary Chapin-Carpenter and Glen Campbell, respectively.

Back in 1994, Yoko Ono gave the surviving Beatles one of Lennon's demos of the song as a possible choice for their Anthology reunion tracks, but the group passed on it at the time. Four years later, the late-George Martin provided a new string section over Lennon's original demo, which went on to close 1998's John Lennon Anthology box set.

2019 saw the release of Ringo Starr's 20th solo studio album, titled What's My Name, which featured a version of him and Paul McCartney teaming up on "Grow Old With Me." The new version of "Grow Old With Me," which was produced by Ringo, features Paul McCartney on bass and backing vocals, with Lennon's Double Fantasy producer, Jack Douglas, having supplied the orchestration for the track.

Machine Gun Kelly's biopic, Good Mourning has been nominated for seven Razzies for the Golden Raspberry Awards. Though this may sound positive, it's quite the opposite. The award show's goal is to honor the year's worst movies.

Good Mourning is nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, and two nominations for Worst Supporting Actor. Those nods going to Mod Sun and Pete Davidson. The movie is also up for Worst Actor, Worst Director, and Worst Onscreen Combo.

The only film that had more nominations than MGK was the Marilyn Monroe biopic called Blonde.

TL;DR:

• Machine Gun Kelly's biopic, Good Mourning has been nominated for seven Razzies for the Golden Raspberry Awards.
• The award show's goal is to honor the year's worst movies.
• The only film that had more nominations than MGK was the Marilyn Monroe biopic called Blonde.

Axl Rose has broken his silence after eulogizing his friend, the late-Lisa Marie Presley. The Guns N' Roses frontman surprised many by not only speaking at Presley's January 22nd memorial at Graceland -- but by performing "November Rain," a song she had previous suggested be played at her funeral.

Lisa Marie, the 54-year-old mother of four and only child of Elvis Presley, died in Los Angeles on January 12th after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Speaking to ET, Axl Rose shed light on his emotions while paying tribute to Lisa Marie: "I didn't really know I was going to speak, or anything, and I still feel like don't know that I deserved to be here, but, y'know, I wanted to do right by her and the family and the fans. So, it meant a lot. I was pretty nervous and emotional up there about it. Y'know, when I wrote it, I was calm -- but not saying it. It was my understanding she had actually talked about if this situation. . . so that's why, y'know, I was asked to do it. Of course, I had to be here." (29 OC: . . . to be here)

Fortnite is launching The Kid Laroi interactive experience, where fans attending a jam-packed concert can join him on an island for the Afterparty and listen to new music.

About the game, Laroi posted, "My Fortnite Island Experience is launching with my new single, ‘Love Again,' and some other surprises!"

The immersive experience features a custom-built quest across the cyber city Laroitown and will be available for a limited time through April 27th.

The Kid Laroi's Wild Dreams will be available starting this Friday, January 27.

TL;DR:

• Fortnite is launching The Kid Laroi interactive experience.
• The Kid Laroi's Wild Dreams will be available starting this Friday, January 27.

Paul McCartney has just posted a teaser for his first-ever book of Beatles-era photos, which chronicles early-"Beatlemania," titled, 1964: Eyes Of The Storm. The tome, which will be published on June 13th, features 275-shots of long unseen "Macca" photographs spotlighting six city portfolios -- Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami -- along with McCartney's personal recollections of the photos.

An exhibit of the photos will be shown in England's National Portrait Gallery this summer.

On April 15th, 1964, the then-21-year-old Paul McCartney sat down with David Frost and spoke candidly about the Beatles' recent accent to the top of the charts: "We used to, sort of, think of things in stages -- still do, I think. When we first started off playing in the Cavern and things, I thought, 'First of all let's get a record contract' -- we all did. We got record contract and thought, 'Let's get a Number One hit' -- 'got one of them (laughs) and went on. Y'know, we do it in stages."

SZA posted online to Miley Cyrus and congratulated her on her recent chart success. She followed it with a big surprise to her fans, she wrote that she was excited "to work together." It isn't clear if by "work together," SZA meant a collaboration on Miley's new album, which is due in March, or maybe something else. Miley's new single "Flowers" just debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In a new Instagram photo, Lizzo shared yet another new hairdo. The 34-year-old is now sporting a shoulder-length bob haircut with flipped-out edges. She posed in cat-eye sunglasses and showed off her streaks of platinum blonde and bangs. Last month, Lizzo had a mullet cut, which she raved was her new obsession.

Guinness Book of World Records announced that Blackpink's Lisa has three new entries for last year's accomplishments. First, she became the very first solo K-pop winner at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Second, she was technically nominated twice in the same category, thanks to Blackpink's own nod. And third, she set the new high water mark on Instagram with a massive 86.3 million followers.

Blues Traveler is heading back out on the road for a 17-city spring tour. The band hits the road on April 25th in Hutchinson, Kansas at the Fox Theatre and wraps things up on May 24th at Plymouth, New Hampshire's Flying Monkey. Jambands.com reported the band is currently taking pre-orders for its new archival live set, Live And Acoustic Fall Of 1997.

The band announced the new set, which ships in the spring, by posting, "The limited-edition double LP is a selection of many of the highlights from our legendary 1997 fall tour that produced the only acoustic sets that the original line up of Blues Traveler, including our beloved friend and bassist, Bobby Sheehan ever played on tour. These previously unheard and uncirculated tracks are remastered from the original 2-track soundboard recordings for the ultimate Blues Traveler live and acoustic experience."

Frontman John Popper told us that sometimes it's easy to forget that Blues Traveler's music has been a mainstay for three decades "We're surprised about the fact that people know who the hell we are at all really 'cause we spent the whole time playing. It's almost like you get on sort of a circuit, and that's what you go and do. So you figure you got a little audience that comes to see you. And then you realize you've played just about everywhere and you've actually had been on the radio a bunch and 'Oh yeah. I remember doing that.'"

JUST ANNOUNCED: Blues Traveler tour dates (subject to change):

April 25 - Hutchinson, KS - Fox Theatre
April 26 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Jones Assembly
April 28 - Wisconsin Dells, WI - Crystal Grand Music Theatre
April 29 - Nashville, IN - Brown County Event Center
April 30 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
May 2 - Bowling Green, KY - Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center (SKYPAC)
May 3 - Lexington, KY - Manchester Music Hall
May 5 - Montgomery, AL - Montgomery PAC
May 6 - Cullman, AL - Cullman Strawberry Festival
May 12 - Richmond, VA - The National
May 14 - Stroudsburg, PA - Sherman Theatre
May 16 - Tarrytown, NY - Tarrytown Music Hall
May 17 - Lynn, MA - Lynn Auditorium
May 20 - Atlantic City, NJ - The Concert Venue At Harrah's
May 21 - Bethel NY - Bethel Wood Center For The Arts Bethel,
May 23 - Waterville, ME - Opera House
May 2 - Plymouth, NH - Flying Monkey

Pharrell Williams visited Élysée Palace to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron for a discussion about internet safety and human rights.

Macron tweeted a picture of them from a palace room that showed a reflection of a giant chandelier in the window behind them. He posted that Pharrell is "very involved in the issues of the harmful effects of the internet and smart phones on young people" and asked other artists to "speak out". He also thanked Pharrell for his commitment.

Pharrell retweeted the image and added a prayer hands emoji.

On Wednesday evening (1-25) Pharrell attended the Yellow Pieces gala, a musical charity event that raises funds for the Hospital Foundation. The charity is chaired by the country's First Lady, Brigitte Macron.

TL;DR:

Back by popular demand is beloved singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan, who's returning to the U.S. for an eight-city run. O'Sullivan kicks things off on March 11th in Boston with the trek winding down on March 22nd in Nashville. Along the way he'll be making stops in New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Chicago, and Atlanta.

Gilbert O'Sullivan is best remembered on this side of the pond for his five Top 40 hits, including 1973's Top Ten favorite "Get Down," the previous year's Top Two smash, "Claire," and his six-week 1972 chart-topping classic -- "Alone Again" (Naturally)." The track topped the American charts for a whopping six weeks, displacing yet another monster 1972 classic "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers, which enjoyed a three-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

Gilbert O'Sullivan's recent studio set, Driven, snagged highly-coveted four-star reviews from both Mojo and Record Collector with a five-star rave from Shindig! Among the many highlights on the set are collaborations with guest performers KT Tunstall on "Take Love" and Simply Red's Mick Hucknall on "Let Bygones Be Bygones."

We caught up with O'Sullivan and pressed him on how he's been able to remain ageless as a singer, world-class songsmith, and record maker: "Y'know, you have to have the melody. Without the melody -- it's all very well being a good lyricist, but getting the melody is the hardest thing. So, therefore, if you're up for doing it -- if you're up for working hard, up for looking for the melody, working hard to get it, then I think you can compete with anybody. As long as you can come up with that, there's no reason why you need to be discounted and looked upon as the past as opposed to the present."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Gilbert O'Sullivan North American tour dates (subject to change):

March 11 - Boston, MA - City Winery Boston
March 12 - New York, NY - City Winery New York City
March 15 - Philadelphia, PA - City Winery Philadelphia
March 16 - Cleveland, OH - Music Box Supper Club
March 18 - St. Louis, MO - City Winery St. Louis
March 19 - Chicago, IL - City Winery Chicago
March 21 - Atlanta GA - City Winery Atlanta
March 22 - Nashville, TN - City Winery Nashville

Metallica has announced a global listening party for its upcoming album, 72 Seasons. The entire album will be played at the April 13th event -- one day before its street date.

According to the official announcement:

The metal titans have partnered with Trafalgar Releasing -- which previously helmed the 2019 cinematic release of Metallica's S&M2 concert -- to premiere their 12th album and first since 2016's Hardwired ... To Self-Destruct. Each song on the album will feature a music video and commentary from the band.

Tickets for the event can be purchased via https://www.metallica.film/.

Frontman James Hetfield told us a while back that the loyalty that fans show for Metallica really goes both ways for them: "Y'know, when I see three generations out in the crowd, and they're all three singing, like, 'Master Of Puppets,' it's like, 'Really? You guys really like this? Okay.' I've got to believe them at some point (laughs). But it still blows my mind to go out there and, no matter what country you're in, they are trying hard to sing along with it, and they just want to be a part of, man."

Live Nation's President and CFO Joe Berchtold apologized to Taylor Swift and her fans for the Eras Tour ticketing debacle during a Senate Judiciary Committee held in a hearing on January 24th.

In her opening statement, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said, "As million of Taylor Swift fans found out last fall there are few consequences for failing to deliver the services."

She added, "To have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition You can't have too much consolidation — something that, unfortunately for this country, as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say, we know ‘all too well.'"

In November 2022, Ticketmaster repeatedly crashed during the Eras Tour presale when 14 million people hit up the site when it was only supposed to be open to 1.5 million verified Swifties.

Berchol blamed scalpers and commented, "We apologize to the fans. We apologize to Ms. Swift. We need to do better and we will do better."

During the hearing, Klobuchar wasn't the only senator who quoted Swift's lyrics when addressing the CFO.

As documented by Mother Jones, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. "May I suggest, respectfully, that Ticketmaster look in the mirror and say, ‘I'm the problem. It's me,'" he added, citing lyrics to Swift's 2022 hit, "Anti-Hero."

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) also chimed in with a quote from Midnights, saying, "Karma's a relaxing thought, Aren't you envious that for you it's not."

'EYES OF THE STORM' PHOTO BOOK

Set for release just five days before his 81st birthday is Paul McCartney's first photo book, titled Eyes Of The Storm. The book -- culled from photos discovered from his Beatles days -- will be published on June 13th and features 275 photos shot as "Beatlemania" began to take the world by storm as seen-through the lens of "Macca's" 35mm camera.

Showbiz411.com reported, "The photos were taken in six cities: New York, Washington, London, Liverpool, Miami, and Paris. The book will have an introduction by Paul, plus essays by Jill Lepore and Nicholas Cullinan."

Paul McCartney was asked why he thinks that 60 years after the first Beatles recording sessions, their music continues to inspire the generations: "I'm not sure why -- it's really quite an amazing thing. When we started with the Beatles, we thought we might last two years. But then it was 10, and the music, it was 20, 30, 40 (years). And I think the only answer that I can come up with is that the music's well structured, it's well written. And so, when I play it now, I think, 'well this isn't bad, this is good -- y'know, whoever wrote this was clever.'"

CARNEGIE HALL TRIBUTE

"The Music Of Paul McCartney" tribute concert will take place on March 15th at New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall. The annual benefit concert produced by Michael Dorf will have current Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan serving as the event's musical director with performances by Graham Nash, Natalie Merchant, Lyle Lovett, Glen Hansard, Lake Street Drive, and Bettye LaVette, among others.

"The Music Of Paul McCartney at Carnegie Hall" is the 18th annual "Music Of" benefit for music education for underserved youth. For ticket info, log on to: https://musicof.org/

We caught up with Paul McCartney not too long ago and asked him what he considered his greatest achievement: "My most significant achievement is my children, they are very significant and boy. But it was easy achieving that (laughter). But work? Y'know, I don't know. It's a very difficult question 'cause I've been lucky to have been involved in so many cool things. I think one of the most magical things, I think a lot of people in music, you kind of end up believing in a kind of a mystery and a magic, 'cause there is that to it."

Justin Bieber has sold his entire song catalog to Hipgnosis Song Management for just over $200 million.

Sources tell Billboard the sale is the biggest for any artist of the "Peaches" singer's generation.

The acquisition covers all 290 titles in Bieber's catalog, including his most recent album Justice, as well as his artist royalties from his master recordings and neighboring rights.