Thursday, February 28, 2013

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Announce Summer Tour

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers will undertake a spring-summer tour starting May 16 with nearly two dozen stops that will be anchored by extended residencies in Los Angeles and New York.

Petty and his longtime bandmates will set down for a half-dozen nights at the 1,300-capacity Fonda Theatre in Hollywood from June 3 to June 11, following five nights at New York’s 2,800-capacity Beacon Theatre May 20-26.

Additionally, the band will play the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala., which runs May 17-19, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival sometime from June 13-16 in Manchester, Tenn., and the Firefly Festival in Dover, Del. June 21-23. None of the festivals have announced daily talent lineups yet.

The group is working on a successor to its 2010 album Mojo, which is scheduled for 2014 release.

In the meantime, check out the tour schedule:

5/16 Evansville, IN  – Ford Center
5/18 Gulf Shores, AL – Hangout Music Festival
5/20 New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
5/21 New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
5/23 New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
5/25 New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
5/26 New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
6/3 Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theater
6/4 Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theater
6/6 Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theater
6/8 Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theater
6/9 Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theater
6/11 Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theater
6/15 Noblesville, IN – Klipsch Music Center
6/16 Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
6/18 London, ONT – Budweiser Gardens
6/20 Pittsburgh, PA – Consol Energy Center
6/22 Dover, DE – Firefly Music Festival
6/23 Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
6/28 Milwaukee, WI – Marcus Amphitheater/Summerfest
6/29 Minneapois, MN – Target Center

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Illegal Downloading Of Music In Decline

Illegal music file-sharing "declined significantly," down by 17 percent in 2012 compared to 2011, according to The NPD Group.

With more services available, such as Spotify, Last.fm and Pandora for streaming and buying music, and giant digital music retailers like Amazon and Apple, consumers have more choices than ever for getting music legally, easily and relatively cheaply.

"For the music industry, which has been battling digital piracy for over a decade, last year was a year of progress," said Russ Crupnick, NPD's senior vice president of industry analysis, in a statement about the research group's findings, part of its "Annual Music Study 2012" report.

NPD's findings come on the heels of a recent report that says music sales actually saw a small gain, 0.3 percent, in 2012 to $16.5 billion, the industry's first revenue increase in 13 years, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Meanwhile, a new, U.S.-based Copyright Alert System is kicking in this week to target consumers who use peer-to-peer software to illegally share music, as well as movies and TV shows. The alert system will be used by five major Internet service providers to notify a customer whose Internet address has been detected sharing files illegally.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing peaked in 2005, NPD said, when about 20 percent of Internet users ages 13 and older used P2P services, such as LimeWire (now shut down), to download music. In 2012, "that number fell to 11 percent."

P2P services are still out there, of course. But The NPD Group notes that the volume of illegally downloaded music files from P2P sites "also declined 26 percent, compared to the previous year."

Also down: the "number of music files being burned and ripped from CDs owned by friends and family fell 44 percent, the number of files swapped from hard drives dropped 25 percent, and the volume of music downloads from digital lockers decreased 28 percent."

The NPD Group says the main reason for the reduced sharing is the "increased use of free, legal music streaming services. In fact nearly half of those who stopped or curtailed file sharing cited the use of streaming services as their primary reason for stopping or reducing their file-sharing activity."

"In recent years, we’ve seen less P2P activity, because the music industry has successfully used litigation to shut down Limewire and other services," said Crupnick. "Many of those who continued to use P2P services reported poor experiences, due to rampant spyware and viruses on illegal P2P sites."

NPD's research was based on 5,406 completed online surveys in the U.S. The survey was done between Dec. 12, 2012 and Jan. 9, 2013.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Greg Lake To Release Songs Of A Lifetime Live CD

Hot on the heels of a successful solo tour of the US, UK and sold out tour of Italy, singer/songwriter Greg Lake will be releasing the live Songs Of A Lifetime CD on Esoteric Antenna / Manticore Records on February 25.

Capturing all the excitement of Greg Lake in concert, Songs Of A Lifetime documents the musician's history, from his beginnings with King Crimson to super-stardom with Emerson, Lake & Palmer to his illustrious solo career, through stories and songs.

Performing his most popular songs including "21st Century Schizoid Man," "From The Beginning," "Still....You Turn Me On," "Lend Your Love To Me Tonight," "C'est la Vie" and "Karn Evil 9," as well as homages to Elvis Presley and The Beatles and Curtis Mayfield, Songs Of A Lifetime is a must-have for Greg Lake fans and music fans everywhere!

Hailed as an "artistic triumph" and "the experience of a lifetime," Songs Of A Lifetime gives new insight into Greg Lake and his influences, while showcasing in concert the influence his writing and voice have had not only for rock and roll, but contemporary music of all types.

Songs Of A Lifetime is a unique concert experience conceived while Lake was writing his autobiography. "From time to time during the writing of my autobiography, these songs would crop up that were in some way crucial or extremely important in the development of my career," Lake recalls. "These were not always songs that I had written myself, but sometimes songs that had been written and performed by other artists as well. I realized that what they actually represented was the journey that I had shared together with the audience over all these years."

Songs Of A Lifetime provides an evocative, emotional ride into the life and music of one of the world's most popular songwriters in a format thatrelies on audience involvement as well as the artistry of the performer.

"This is not one of those boring shows sitting on a stool strumming folk songs," Lake says. "I purposely set out to make this show dynamic and entertaining with lots of drama and pathos, even some humor at times as well. Everyone feels part of the performance because we all bonded by the shared memories of our musical journeys together."

The CD release coincides with the release of Greg Lake's autobiography, Lucky Man, a narrative of  experiences from childhood to the present, including never-before-revealed details, funny and poignant moments, and colorful facts of an amazing career as one of the world's leading and influential musicians, songwriters and vocalists.

In support of Songs Of A Lifetime and Lucky Man, touring plans in Japan, Europe, South America, USA and Canada are currently in the works and will be announced shortly.

Songs Of A Lifetime can be purchased at http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=3999.

Check out the following montage of the show at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcxESo-TcBI&feature=youtu.be.

For more information, go to http://www.greglake.com.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Bill Wyman 'Disappointed' By Role In Stones 50th Anniversary Shows

Forner Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman has said he was "disappointed" by his role in the Stones 50th anniversary shows.

The legendary group's former bassist joined the band at their London gigs for two tracks, 'Honky Tonk Women' and 'It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)', but he admits that he thought he would feature more heavily in their set.

He told The Times: "In December 2011 Keith Richards called and said, 'Come on mate, why don't you have a jam with us?' Then they asked if I'd be interested in getting involved in the band for a special occasion. I thought I would get quite heavily involved, so when they said they only wanted me to do two songs I was a bit disappointed."

Wyman also revealed that he wasn't given much time to rehearse with the rest of the band. "I only had one rehearsal and no sound-check so I just winged it. It was great, but I didn't want to go to America for two songs. I think they understood. Well, Charlie Watts did," he said.

Earlier this month, The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood promised that he would be twisting his bandmate's arms into playing this years' Glastonbury. The Stones have been strongly tipped to make their debut on the Pyramid Stage this year. When asked about it, Wood replied: "We've got a meeting next month and that's going to be my first question to them. It's something I've always been interested in. I'm going to twist their arms. I've got lots of high hopes this year, now that we're all rehearsed - let's get it cracking this summer!"

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Temptations' Otis "Damon" Harris Dead At 62

Otis "Damon" Harris, a former member of The Temptations who sang on the group's 1972 hit "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," has died at the age 62, the Baltimore Sun reported on Friday.

Harris, a native of Baltimore, auditioned to join the Temptations in 1971 at the age of 21 after the departure of Eddie Kendricks, one of the original lead singers of the group.

Harris died at the Joseph Richey Hospice on Monday after fighting prostate cancer for 14 years, according to the Sun.

As a teenager, Harris grew up admiring the Temptations, one of the top male singing groups of the 1960s and early 1970s, and formed a band with three high school friends named the Young Tempts that sang Temptations cover songs.

Harris sang with the Temptations until 1975, helping the group win three Grammy awards and lending his voice to hits including "Take a Look Around" and "Masterpiece."

Friday, February 22, 2013

The Rascals Reunite For Broadway Dates

From Billboard.com

The band that gave us "Good Lovin,'" "People Got To Be Free" and "I've Been Lonely Too Long" are grooving their way to Broadway.

The original members of the 1960s-era blue-eyed soul quartet — singer Eddie Brigati, keyboardist Felix Cavaliere, guitarist Gene Cornish and drummer Dino Danelli — will reunite for what producers call "a hybrid of a rock 'n' roll concert and a Broadway show."

Performances of "The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream" will begin April 15 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and will last only 15 performances, ending May 5. The show made its debut in late 2012 in Port Chester, N.Y.

It will showcase their hits, which also include "It's a Beautiful Morning," ''How Can I Be Sure" and "Groovin,'" and tell their history through archival footage, narration and dramatic film segments.
Steven Van Zandt, a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, is producing the show. Van Zandt inducted the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

"The Rascals created music that inspired a generation - and that feeling has lived on through their original fans and the legions of new fans that have discovered their music over the years," Van Zandt said in a statement.

Tickets go on sale Friday.

The Rascals trip to Broadway comes on the heels of other acts that have made the Great White Way into a concert location, including Barry Manilow, Frankie Valli and Hugh Jackman.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Original GNR Drummer Adler Hitting The Road

Adler, the new band led by original Guns N Roses drummer Steven Adler, have announced the first leg of their Back From The Dead tour.

Adler's debut album, Back From The Dead, was released November 26th via New Ocean Media. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, Dokken), the CD consists of 11 tracks, ranging from adrenaline-pumping rockers ("Back From The Dead", "Own Worst Enemy", "Another Version Of The Truth") to arena-rock anthems ("Good To Be Bad", "Blown Away") to powerful, heartfelt ballads ("Waterfall", "Just Don't Ask").

Back From The Dead also includes guest appearances by Adler's former GNR bandmate Slash and Rob Zombie/ex-Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5.

Adler the band includes Steven Adler on drums, Jacob Bunton on lead vocals and guitar, Lonny Paul on guitar  and Johnny Martin on bass.

"The process of making this record was incredible," Bunton says. "Our musical influences are all over the place and this record is a perfect reflection of everything that we love about rock 'n' roll."

"I'm so proud of this record," adds Adler. "This is the record I've been wanting to make for over 20 years and now I've finally found the band with the perfect chemistry to make it happen!" 

Check out Vintage Rock's Junkman chatting with the members of Adler, as well as his separate interview with Steven Adler

The band is also finalizing the European leg of the Back From The Dead tour, slated to start in mid- September. The tour will include dates in Spain, Germany, Italy, Holland, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Dates and venues TBA.

Back From The Dead 2013 Tour Dates:

3/2 - Ramona Mainstage - Ramona, CA
3/7 – Tokyo Duo -Tokyo, Japan with Duff McKagan’s LOADED
3/8 – Tokyo Duo -Tokyo, Japan w/ Duff McKagan’s LOADED
5/16 - The Coach House - San Juan Capistrano, CA
5/17 - Count's Vamp'd - Las Vegas, NV
5/18 - Club Red - Tempe, AZ
5/30 - St. Rocke - Hermosa Beach, CA
5/31 - Whisky A Go Go - Hollywood, CA
6/19 - Backstage Bar - Tacoma, WA
6/20 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
6/21 - Diamondz - Jerome, ID
6/22 - Rock The Falls Festival - Idaho Falls, ID
6/23 - Jammin Joe's - Arvada, CO
6/26 - TBA - Bismarck, ND
6/27 - Legacy Ballroom - Fargo, ND
6/28 - The Reverb - Waterloo, IA
6/29 - The Grove - Lincoln, NE
6/30 - Busters - Mankato, MN
7/3- The Summit Summer Concert Series - Whitesburg, KY
7/4 - The Back Bar - Janesville, WI
7/5 - Diesel Concert Theatre- Detroit, MI
7/6 - Montage Theater - Rochester, NY
7/7 - Shipwrecked Music Hall - Dennisport, MA
7/8 - Legendary Dobbs Concert Hall - Philladelphia, PA
7/9 - House Of Rock - White Marsh, MD
7/10 - Dead Horse Cantina - Mckees Rocks, PA
7/11 - Changes Niteclub - New Castle, PA
7/12 - Revolution Music Hall - Amityville, NY
7/13 - The Rock Junction - West Greenwich, RI
7/14 - TBA - New Jersey
7/15 - TBA - New York, NY
7/16 - Empire - West Sprinfield, VA
7/17 - Tink's Rock House - Marion, OH
7/18 - The Tap House - Akron, OH
7/19 - TBA - Cleveland, OH
7/20 - Tailgators - Bolingbrook, IL
7/21 - TBA - St. Louis
7/24 - House Of Blues - Houston, TX
7/26 - House Of Blues - Dallas, TX
7/27 - TBA - San Antonio, TX
7/28 - TBA - El Paso, TX

For more  information, check out the band’s website at www.adlerrocks.com

Adler Facebook is at www.facebook.com/adlermusic

Adler Twitter is at www.twitter.com/adlerrocks

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Beatles Collaborator Tony Sheridan Passes At 72

Tony Sheridan, the British guitarist, singer and songwriter who was the star on the Beatles’ first commercial recording — they were the backup band — died Saturday (February 16) in Hamburg, Germany. He was 72.

His death was announced by his daughter, Wendy Clare Sheridan-McGinnity.

Though Sheridan’s involvement with the Beatles was brief, it proved crucial to their career. They met in 1960, when the Beatles — then a quintet that included John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison on guitars, Stuart Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums — arrived in Hamburg to work as a club band.

Sheridan, already an accomplished performer, was also playing in Hamburg, and the Beatles both admired his work and emulated his performance style. At times they performed together, and in recent years Sheridan claimed to have arranged for Ringo Starr’s first performances with the group.  McCartney took over as bassist when Sutcliffe left the band at the end of 1960, and Starr replaced  Best as the group’s drummer in 1962.

In the spring of 1961, the German producer and composer Bert Kaempfert offered recording contracts to both Mr. Sheridan and the Beatles, with the intention of using the Beatles as Sheridan’s backup band, but with the option of recording them separately as well.

During sessions in Hamburg in 1961 and 1962, Mr. Sheridan and the Beatles recorded nine songs together. Sheridan sang seven of them — “My Bonnie,” “The Saints,” “Why (Can’t You Love Me Again),” “Nobody’s Child,” “Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby,” “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Swanee River.” The other two were purely Beatles performances: “Cry for a Shadow,” an instrumental by Lennon and Harrison, and “Ain’t She Sweet,” with Lennon singing.

When the first single from the sessions, “My Bonnie” — a rocked-up version of the folk ballad, “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” — was released in Germany on the Polydor label in October 1961, Beatles’ fans in Liverpool flooded local record shops with requests for the disc. One shop manager, Brian Epstein, decided to see what all the fuss was about, and caught a performance by the group at the Cavern, a club not far from his store. He quickly persuaded the Beatles to hire him as their manager, and within a year, he got them a recording contract of their own with EMI. They recorded their first album, “Please Please Me,” 50 years ago this month.

Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity was born in Norwich, England, on May 21, 1940. He began studying the violin when he was 7. Switching to guitar in the early 1950s, he formed his first band in 1956. Moving to London in 1958, he found work as a session musician and toured Britain with several American performers, including Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Conway Twitty.

In 1960, he took a band, Tony and the Jets, to Hamburg, where he took up residency at the Kaiserkeller and later at the Top Ten and the Star Club, clubs where the fledgling Beatles also appeared.

Sheridan’s recordings with the Beatles were regularly reissued after the Beatles became famous, and in 1964, Mr. Sheridan re-recorded his vocals on “Sweet Georgia Brown” to include a reference to “the Beatles’ hair.”

More recently, the sessions have been the focus of scholarly interest, most notably in Hans Olof Gottfridsson’s book “Beatles From Cavern to Star-Club,” which sorted out which of Mr. Sheridan’s recordings included the Beatles, who were listed on many releases as the Beat Brothers, a name used for several of Sheridan’s backup groups.

Sheridan toured Europe with Jerry Lee Lewis, Chubby Checker and other American musicians in the mid-1960s, and in 1967 he undertook a tour of American military bases in Vietnam. During that visit, he was mistakenly reported as having been killed in an attack in which one of his band members died. He returned to Hamburg in the early 1970s, and when the Star Club reopened in 1978, he performed there with members of Elvis Presley’s TCB Band as his backing group.

His most recent recordings include “Vagabond” (2002) and a DVD, “Chantal Meets Tony Sheridan” (2005), which includes the only recording of “Tell Me If You Can,” a song Mr. Sheridan wrote with McCartney in 1962.

Sheridan lived in northern Germany. In addition to Ms. Sheridan-McGinnity, survivors include three sons, Tony Jr., Bennet and Felim; and a daughter, Amber.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Van Halen, Billy Joel Headline New Aussie Stone Fest

Van Halen and Billy Joel will headline the new two-day Stone Music Festival in Sydney this April.

Other international acts confirmed for the April 20 and 21 fest at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium include Buckcherry, Richie Ramone, Lifehouse and so-called “supergroup” Kings of Chaos.

Australian fans of Van Halen have waited a long time for this news. The group hasn’t toured these parts since 1998, and certainly never with David Lee Roth on the mic.

Van Halen had been announced to the bill for the one-off September 2011 Soundwave Revolution tour, though the show was scuppered when a deal with the rockers couldn’t be nailed down. Plans for a subsequent tour of Australia were wrecked when guitarist Eddie Van Halen underwent emergency surgery in 2012 -- a trying year which saw his group also scrap 30 U.S. dates. The four-piece’s most recent album A Different Kind Of Truth opened at No. 4 on the ARIA albums chart in early 2012.

Billy Joel has racked-up many frequent flyer points to Australia. He last played here in December 2008 for Frontier Touring Company, one of six treks he’s made here since the 1980s for the Melbourne-based promoter.

Single day tickets for Stone start at Australian $179 ($184) and rise up the scale to Australian $429 ($442) for the two-day “platinum zone” package. For an extra Australian $30 ($31), organizers are offering a “Stone Run” package which includes a shirt and a DVD of the 1974 biker film “Stone,” which gives the event its name.

The news of the festival itself came as a surprise, and it dropped on a Sunday. Australia’s festivals market is already crowded, even saturated. Though it hasn’t deterred a handful of new arrivals from testing the waters this season. All Tomorrows Parties brought its sister two-day I’ll Be Your Mirror event to Melbourne for the first time this weekend, while Nas has unveiled a new hip hop show, Australian Movement Festival. Stone Music Festival’s late April slot means the show arrives outside Australia’s busy summer period.

The two-day Stone concert is promoted by Ardline Media and Platinum Entertainment. It's unconnected with the Stone Day (formerly Stone Fest), the longest-running festival in the nation's capital, Canberra.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Andrew Loog Oldham Confirmed For New York Sound City Keynote

On March 11, the New York Sound City 2013 conference will get underway with an array of music industry panels and roundtables at the Wythe hotel in Brooklyn, followed by an evening showcase at the Knitting Factory.

Andrew Loog Oldham, who managed the Rolling Stones in the 60s, will be a the featured keynote speaker. Oldham will be joined by the veteran music industry executive & manager Danny Fields (Iggy and the Stooges, Ramones, Velvet Underground, Nico, The Doors, MC5) for an hour-long conversation delving deep into the heart, blood and sweat of rock and roll.

The central theme of the New York Sound City 2013 conference is the notion of British Invasion -- how the relationship between New York and Liverpool, two great ports and hotbeds of music and creativity have shaped popular music for generations.

From the Rolling Stones and the Beatles with blues, R&B and rock and roll, through to the interplay between UK and US Punk movements with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Ramones and New York Dolls, and right up to the current EDM explosion. There has always been a symbiotic musical relationship between the US & UK, making Oldham a perfect fit as keynote speaker.

Credited with establishing the Stones' reputation as the bad boys of the British Invasion and orchestrating their ultimate rise to prominence as the "world's greatest rock & roll band," Andrew Loog Oldham worked with the Stones on multiple albums, including the band's 1964 debut.

Today, as the host of SiriusXM's Andrew Loog Oldham Program on Little Steven's Underground Garage Channel, he provides daily insights into the early days of the British invasion, tying it all together by showing a direct link between those glory days, and what's hot at this very moment.

Tickets for the New York Sound City 2013 conference are available at  http://www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk/home/business/nysc-tickets.aspx.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Whitesnake's Live Made In Japan Coming In April

Frontiers Records is releasing a live Whitesnake CD/DVD package entitled Made In Japan on April 19th in Europe, April 22nd in the UK and April 23rd in North America.

It will be available as a deluxe double-CD/single-DVD package, a Blu-ray and a standalone DVD. The performance footage was shot in HD and the sound was mixed in 5.1 and stereo -- all taken from the band's co-headlining set at the “Loud Park” festival on October 11th, 2011 held at Saitama Super Arena in Japan during their “Forevermore World Tour.”

The performance was initially recorded only for Japanese TV and future Loud Park promotions, but after three songs were broadcast on a Loud Park highlights program in Japan, demand lead to putting it out for the public at large.

Made In Japan contains songs from Whitesnake’s most recent studio album, Forevermore, as well as classic hits such as “Is This Love,” “Still Of The Night” and “Here I Go Again.”

The bonus CD features never-before-heard outtakes and acoustic versions of material from Forevermore that were recorded during soundchecks on the 2011 Japanese tour.

Additional DVD content includes various band photo slideshows and fan-shot videos.  Please see below for the full content listing.

Musicians on Made In Japan include David Coverdale (vocals), Doug Aldrich (guitars), Reb Beach (guitars), Michael Devin (bass), Briian Tichy (drums) and special guest Brian Ruedy (keyboards).

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Todd Rundgren Releasing New Album

Prolific musical experimenter, premier league pop craftsman, tireless producer, runt, wizard and true star Todd Rundgren will release his new studio album State on the Esoteric Antenna label via Cherry Red on Tuesday, April 9th.

State is Rundgren’s 24th solo studio album (and that’s not including the two albums he recorded with his first band the Nazz, and the nine albums he recorded with his band Utopia!).

the musician’s latest musical vision is a fusion of rock, soul, R&B and electronica that is at once danceable, groundbreaking, spiritual, challenging and infectious.

To coincide with the release of State, Rundgren will set out on a world tour, which will touch down the US in May.

The full list of shows is:
May 05 – Woodstock, N.Y., Bearsville Theater
May 08 – Norfolk, Conn., Infinity Hall
May 10 – New York, N.Y., The Gramercy Theatre
May 11 – Philadelphia, Pa., Trocadero Theatre
May 12 – Huntington, N.Y., The Paramount
May 14 – Kent, Ohio, The Kent Stage
May 15 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Rex Theater
May 16 – Columbus, Ohio, Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
May 18 – Cincinnati, Ohio, Bogart's
May 19 – Chicago, Ill., Park West
May 20 – Minneapolis, Minn., Varsity Theater

In other Todd Rundgren news, the singer's annual musical summer camp, this year celebrating his 65th birthday and dubbed Toddstock v6.5, takes place near New Orleans on June 17-22. For more information, go to www.toddstock2v65.com.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Vintage Rock Legends Shine At 2013 Grammy Awards

Legends who have been featured on Vintage Rock scored high at last night's Grammy Awards. 

Paul McCartney won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, for his 2012 release Kisses on the Bottom. The announcement was made prior to the show’s televised portion.

This win brings McCartney’s career Grammy total to 16. Kisses on the Bottom is an album largely comprised of lush cover versions of songs he enjoyed as a child, with guest appearances from Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton. He performed the album’s lead single, ‘My Valentine,’ with help from Joe Walsh at last year’s Grammy Awards ceremony.

Forty-five years after its initial creation, the Beach Boys‘ long-unreleased Smile album took home a  Grammy in the Best Historical Album category, beating out the deluxe version of McCartney‘s Ram.

The lavishly packaged five CD, two-LP 2012 deluxe box set release of The Smile Sessions was a well-deserved win. Back in the 60s, Wilson gave up on finishing Smile partially because he felt the Beatles had “got there first” with their groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

There were also some great performances at last night's Grammys. Sting joined pop stars Bruno Mars and Rihanna to perform a reggae-themed medley in honor of Bob Marley.

The former Police leader wandered into the proceedings somewhere near the start of the temporary supergroup’s performance of Mars’ hit ‘Locked Out of Heaven.’ The unlikely collective next segued into ‘Walking on the Moon,’ from the 1979 Police album Reggatta de Blanc.

Then they wrapped things up with Marley’s ‘Could You Be Loved,’ complete with an extremely mediocre rap from the reggae legend’s son Damien.

Elton John led an all-star performance of the Band‘s classic anthem ‘The Weight’ in tribute to Levon Helm, the Band’s drummer who died in April 2012 after a long battle with cancer.

John was joined for this performance by members of Alabama Shakes and Mumford & Sons, as well as legendary singer Mavis Staples. ‘The Weight,’ a 1968 single also featured on the band’s Music From Big Pink album, was one of the Band’s most famous songs, and quite a logical choice for a tribute to Helm.

The performance came after the show’s annual montage of musicians who passed away the previous year, and John took the opportunity to send his thoughts out to the victims of the recent Sandy Hook massacre: “As we commemorate the passing of these great men and women, we remember the teachers and students of Sandy Hook whose songs unfortunately ended too soon.”

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Bruce Springsteen Honored At Star-Studded MusiCares

Admirers from Elton John and Sting to Mumford & Sons and John Legend paid homage to Bruce Springsteen in the language they all understand: his songbook.

Springsteen was treated to an all-star revue of his musical resume at the annual MusiCares gala Friday night (Februaury 8) in the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Chosen as the 2013 Musicares Person of the Year for his artistry and philanthropy, Springsteen joked that he'd received the honor under false pretenses.

"Whatever philanthropy I've ever done usually involved playing the guitar," he said. "I was going to play the guitar anyway."

And he did. But not before a parade of A-listers took their turns tackling his material. And they had to wait until Springsteen was satisfied with the live auction results.

When producer David Foster, serving as auctioneer, didn't seem to be hustling up enough dough for a mint 1952 Telecaster, even after soliciting signatures from Sting, Tim McGraw, Katy Perry, Emmylou Harris and Neil Young, Springsteen strolled onstage to goad buyers.

He first added a free one-hour guitar lesson, then a ride in the side car of his Harley Davidson.

"So dig in, you one-percenters!" Springsteen said.

Next he sweetened the pot with the promise of eight tickets to any of his upcoming shows plus a backstage tour "conducted by me."

The final perk: "Lasagna made by my mother!"

A New Jersey woman forked over the final bid of $250,000.

The ecstatic audience, a record crowd of 3,000, seemed to share the sentiments of The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who said he accepted the invitation to host the gala because Springsteen "is awesome and I love him."

His passion started early. Driving home after working in a dive bar in New Jersey, a young Stewart listened to Springsteen tunes and told himself, "I am not a loser. I am a character in an epic poem about losers."

Springsteen sat at a table with family members, including wife Patti Scialfa and his mother, Adele Springsteen, 87. Sean Penn, J.J. Abrams and Conan O'Brien attended, along with previous honorees Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett and Bonnie Raitt.

Springsteen is a deserving honoree "because he lives his life in such an exemplary way," Raitt said before the gala. "He's committed to his art. He's a good family man. He's a real inspiration for how to give back. I couldn't fault him in any aspect of his life."

The night's entertainment focused more on Springsteen the songwriter than the rockin' Boss, with artists leaning toward midtempo, reflective material. There were exceptions. Alabama Shakes kicked off the program with a mighty "Adam Raised a Cain." Tom Morello and Jim James ripped off the roof with a rough-and-tumble "Ghost of Tom Joad." Ken Casey of Dropkick Murphys turned "American Land" into a punk reel. And Neil Young and Crazy Horse threw some bruising blows into "Born in the USA."

Natalie Maines and Ben Harper sang "Atlantic City" with Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica. Zac Brown and Mavis Staples took "My City of Ruins" to church. Elton John submitted a dramatic reading of "Streets of Philadelphia." Colombian rocker Juanes revised "Hungry Heart" with Spanish verses. Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill entwined voices on "Tougher Than the Rest." A backlit Mumford & Sons delivered an elegiac "I'm on Fire."

Also on tap: Kenny Chesney's acoustic "One Step Up," Jackson Brown and Morello collaborating on American Skin (41 Shots), John Legend's solo piano version of "Dancing in the Dark" and Sting's "Lonesome Day."

Introducing "Because the Night," Patti Smith explained how she and Springsteen collaborated on the song about her late husband, guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith.

""When I sing it, and I've sung it a million times, I always think about the composer as well as the muse," she said.

After the performances, an ebullient Springsteen said, "It's kind of a freaky experience. This is the huge Italian wedding Patti and I never had.

"I had one of the loveliest nights of my life ...John Legend made me sound like Gershwin. Neil Young made me sound like the Sex Pistols. What a night."

He talked about the power and magic of music, adding, "The Taliban will never win, not now or ever, by banning music and dancing. The minute you do that, you label yourself a tyrant and your cruel days are numbered."

He thanked MusiCares for its role in caring for musicians with financial and medical needs.

"We are bad with our money," he said, laughing. "We love too many and the wrong people. We are the wrong people."

Addressing the players, Springsteen said, "Thanks for taking care of my songs tonight. You made me feel like the person of the year. Now give me that damn guitar!"

With that, he charged into "We Take Care of Our Own," followed by rowdy versions of "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run," ending the set with an all-star finale of "Glory Days." While it may have been Springsteen's shortest show ever, it had all the heart and fire of his familiar marathons.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Not Your Granny's Grammys

From The Wall Street Journal

Forty million people tuned in to the Grammy Awards last year, the most viewers since Michael Jackson triumphed with Thriller. But that Oscars-size audience was due to the drawing power of a young singer (Adele) and the death of an older one (Whitney Houston) the day before the telecast. This Sunday, without those klieg-light factors, the Grammy Awards are set to be a more accurate mirror of today's music business, a volatile industry where both sales and stardom are spread more thinly than ever.

The once-stodgy awards are finding and honoring new artists faster than ever.

Here's a look at the 2013 Grammy Awards. From Skrillex to Gotye to Swedish House Mafia, this year's crop of nominees represent the changing face of music. Though big names like Justin Bieber and Bruce Springsteen were shut out of the major categories.

But as a result, Grammy viewers will get a better look at how new media and technology are reshaping pop music today.

The overseers of the awards were slow to recognize rock 'n' roll in the 1960s, and later infamously snubbed seminal albums by Eminem and Radiohead in favor of one released by Steely Dan 20 years past the jazz-rockers' prime. In recent years, however, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has stepped up efforts to make its ranks more young and diverse. The result is a voting membership that—despite some glaring snubs and blind spots—seems more attuned to the artists setting the pace of music culture.

Consider the top category, album of the year, where the five nominees are made up entirely of young acts. There's not a household name among them (as CBS has no doubt noticed; Justin Timberlake will perform on the show, though he isn't nominated), but each represents the different gears driving music careers now.

Mumford & Sons is a group of folk-rock harmonizers from England who climbed gradually on the strength of live shows and word-of-mouth. Frank Ocean is a hip-hop singer who harnessed an innovative sound and online buzz. The rock band Fun. ("fun." in the band's parlance) demonstrates the enduring power of radio, television and catchy hit singles. And the elder statesmen of the bunch (Jack White and the Black Keys duo) straddle the old school and new, yet they're all under 40 years old.

Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Lionel Richie once would have been no-brainer Grammy nominees, but they were shut out this year.

It's a sign that industry shifts are accelerating the life cycle of young artists. Three out of the five nominees were tapped for just their second release, including the one narrowly favored to win, Mumford & Sons. That follows three years in a row in which the best-album Grammy was taken by acts on their second or third release: Adele (2012), Arcade Fire ('11) and Taylor Swift ('10). That's the longest winning streak by early-career acts in the 54-year history of the Grammys. This suggests that Grammy voters are more open to honoring relative newcomers over lifers for the flagship award. For an organization that's been derided as the "Grannies," that's a significant course correction.

With relentless touring, folk rockers Mumford & Sons built an audience, broke into the mainstream and sold four million albums.

Or an over correction, some argue. Veterans who many industry insiders considered strong contenders for best-album nominations — Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen — were relegated to the genre categories of blues, Americana and rock. Other legends with new albums in 2012, including Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Lionel Richie, were shut out of the nominations completely. Then again, so was Justin Bieber, along with fellow pop stars One Direction and Nicki Minaj.

All this points to the leveling effect of digital technology, social media and everything else that blew up the old industry. Revenue from recorded music in the U.S. amounted to $7 billion in 2011, less than half for the industry at its peak in 1999, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. In 2012, the compact disc continued its long decline, with sales down 13% from last year, and down 70% from 10 years before, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Apple said this week that its iTunes store had sold its 25 billionth song.

But change is not just a matter of downloads gradually killing CDs. As record stores closed, a wilderness of other music sources have sprouted up. Nearly two-thirds of teens use YouTube as their primary music source, according to Nielsen. As an alternative to downloads, streaming music is gaining, served up in various styles by services like Pandora and Spotify. Even My Space is back, having recently relaunched with a clean interface and a mandate to siphon music fans' loyalty from Facebook .

Countless acts who came out with a hot debut have encountered sophomore slumps. So why has album No. 2 been a charm for so many Grammy nominees lately? "The career arc has shrunk dramatically," says Jeff Rabhan, chairman of New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. The Internet can conjure new stars almost overnight. But when things move at a viral pace, a breakout act can get set aside just as rapidly.

For the past few years, the sales charts have been dominated by two women, Adele and Taylor Swift, whose most recent albums have sold 10.3 million and 3.3 million copies, respectively. In the shadow of these giants, this year's nominees for album of the year offer a more realistic snapshot of what success looks like today. They're artists with core constituencies and strong sales, but whose impact is better measured across the many different channels that listeners shuffle through. When it came to conventional album sales, Frank Ocean's debut, Channel Orange, didn't crack the top 50 of 2012's best sellers. Yet it was No. 4 among albums that got the most coverage by music blogs, a ranking driven by its placement on many best-of-the-year roundups as calculated by the website Hype Machine.

"In addition to the sales of their records, these nominees all moved the needle, whether you're looking at Spotify, or YouTube, or all the other things that are intertwined with the new media [outlets] of our business. It's a validation of how the filters have changed," says Daniel Glass, founder of Glassnote Records, Mumford & Sons' North American label.

After moving to Los Angeles from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Ocean made connections and started writing songs for other singers, including Justin Bieber. That led to a contract in 2009 with the Def Jam label, but not much came of it initially, and Mr. Ocean turned his attention to working with an underground rap collective known as Odd Future. Recording as a group or as individuals, they released a torrent of music free, often on their Tumblr sites, and rapidly became an online cause celebre because of a raw style and graphic lyrics.

In early 2011, Mr. Ocean released his own free album-length "mixtape" called Nostalgia, Ultra. Recorded without the participation of his label, the music had intentionally ragged edges, and the singer's introspective ballads ran counter to the slickness of commercial R&B. In the song "American Wedding," he sang over instrumentals lifted from "Hotel California." (Online mixtapes occupy a gray area of copyright law because they're generally released free online.) When Mr. Ocean performed the song in concert, he played the Eagles track by triggering a "Guitar Hero" videogame controller.

Nostalgia, Ultra made a big splash online, reinvigorating Def Jam's interest in Mr. Ocean and leading to his contribution of vocals for an album by Kanye West and Jay-Z. Two weeks before the scheduled release of his first retail album, Channel Orange, the singer published a message online that described a "first love" he had with a man. The impact was amplified by the fact that the hip-hop world had never had a star come out as gay or bisexual. Nearly two-thirds of teens use YouTube as their primary music source, according to a Nielsen survey. Since the release last July, Mr. Ocean has performed less than 20 times.

By contrast, Mumford & Sons have done about 75 concerts since last March, when the group started laying groundwork for the release of its second album, Babel, in September. The band was formed by four friends (not family members) in London in late 2007. Among a new wave of British folk acts, Mumford & Sons defined themselves with galloping rhythms, hearty group harmonies and an attacking spirit to their acoustic music and lyrics, as represented by the F-bomb in the chorus of the breakout song "Little Lion Man."

The group kicked off a change in radio programming, as so-called alternative stations have put them and other folk bands into rotation next to hard-rock acts. That was a byproduct of the road work that has always been a linchpin for Mumford & Sons. Since its first concert in America in 2008, the group is on its 12th U.S. tour. For one tour, they traveled by rail with three other bands through the West, a jaunt chronicled in a documentary film. And last summer the group organized seven of its own mini festivals, each including a half dozen like-minded acts on the bill. Five more of these "Gentlemen of the Road" events are scheduled for next summer.

As the band's team marked their progress in the incremental growth of ticket sales, debut album Sigh No More was growing in step. It took one year from release for the album to reach a high of No. 2 on the Billboard chart. Once it got there (boosted by a performance on the 2011 Grammy Awards), Sigh No More held its ground in the top 10 for 20 weeks.

Babel stunned the industry by selling 600,000 copies in its first week. The success of Mumford & Sons, combined with their songwriting and the toe they have in folk tradition, has Grammy prognosticators predicting a best-album win. Others favor the Black Keys or Jack White, as much for the strong albums they made as the respect they've accrued during their own hard-fought ascents.

There is a history of upsets at the Grammys. Mr. Glass, a former executive at Chrysalis Records, recalls being in the audience in 1989 when one of the label's ancient acts, Jethro Tull, a flute-driven classic-rock group, won a Grammy for best hard-rock/metal album, beating out stalwarts like Metallica. It was a farcical moment that still gets dragged out whenever Grammy voters make choices that suggest they're clueless about contemporary music. This year, for instance, an obscure DJ from Lichtenstein, Al Walser, is nominated for best dance recording next to heavyweights such as Avicii and Skrillex, after he made lobbying efforts on a private website for Academy members.

Despite such gaffes, people inside the industry say that in recent years the Academy has aggressively recruited young performers, songwriters and producers. Neil Portnow, the president of the Recording Academy wouldn't disclose evidence to prove the membership is skewing younger. Instead, he points to efforts such as Grammy U, a four-year-old program on college campuses to create a "farm team" of students on a path into the music industry.

Says Mr. Portnow: "Nobody can point a finger at this Academy and say, 'They're out of touch.' "

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Dave Grohl Taps Elton John For New Queens Of The Stone Age Album

Elton John is the latest big name guest confirmed to appear on the new Queens Of The Stone Age album.

The unlikely collaboration was revealed by Dave Grohl, who is also appearing on the forthcoming album as drummer, when he interviewed Sir Elton as part of his week covering chat show host Chelsea Lately on her late night talk show in America last night (February 6).

During the interview, Grohl told the audience, "Recently, Elton and I recorded something together. Something that people wouldn't imagine the two of us doing together," before John revealed that it was a new song for the upcoming Queens Of The Stone Age album.

Sharing details of the recording session, the Rocket Man added, "I was in Vegas and I flew back to LA, and Engelbert Humperdinck had written me a very sweet letter and asked me to sing a duet with him. He is part of my history and I couldn't say no so I went and recorded a song with him. Then I drove three blocks and went from Engelbert to Queens Of The Stone Age, which was a bit of a mindfuck."

Grohl, interjecting, added: "I remember you (Elton) walking in and him being, like, (lethargically) 'Have you got a ballad for me?' and we were just like, 'no, we do not have a ballad for you.'" Talking specifically about recording the song, John added: "After three hours we got it and he (Grohl) drummed on every take and every take was amazing. He's built like a brick shithouse when he drums."

Other guests confirmed to appear on the band's new album include Trent Reznor, Mark Lanegan, Nick Oliveri and Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters. The band will be playing a number of festivals this summer, including Benicàssim in Spain, and Download in the UK.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

'Phil Spector' Trailer Hits The Web

HBO Films has released its first trailer promoting the upcoming Al Pacino-starring biopic on imprisoned record producer Phil Spector.

In the clip, Pacino's Spector is shown in full flight, firing rounds into the ceiling of a studio, ranting in court and taking abuse from supporters of Lana Clarkson, who he was convicted of murdering in 2003. And throughout, Pacino parades a range of extraordinary Spector hairstyles.

Oscar-nominee David Mamet [1] wrote and directed Phil Spector, while Barry Levinson serves as executive producer. Pacino plays opposite Oscar-winning British actress Helen Mirren, who portrays Spector's attorney Linda Kenney Baden.

Spector’s self-proclaimed "wall of sound" recording technique transformed 1960s pop music, and placed the music man in the mix of many hits with the likes of the Beatles, the Ronettes and the Ramones. A reclusive character, Spector’s strange behavior is also well documented by some of those artists who’ve worked with him.

On a retrial, Spector was convicted in 2009 of the second-degree murder of Clarkson, a B-movie actress. He's now serving 19 years to life for murder in a California jail. Spector, now 73, won't be eligible for parole until he reaches 88.

Phil Spector will premiere in the U.S. on Sunday, March 24 at 9 pm. International release dates have yet to be confirmed.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Wishbone Ash Set 2013 North America Spring Tour

Formed in 1969, Wishbone Ash has more than 20 original studio recordings and several live albums to their credit. And they're still at it, with plans to kick off a North American leg of their 2013 tour on February 28.

The group returns to the States following a successful spring tour last year to celebrate the release of their most recent studio album Elegant Stealth, as well as RoadWorks 3, a collection of live performances.

During the 2012 Elegant Stealth tour, Wishbone Ash played in the Northeast and Midwest. The upcoming North American tour will cover many familiar venues plus several new stops, including dates on the West Coast and in Canada.

Released in November 2011 by ZYX Music, Elegant Stealth represents a benchmark in the evolution of Wishbone Ash. Signature twin-lead melodies and a powerhouse rhythm section frame 11 new tracks that reflect a diverse realm of styles and moods.

 On Elegant Stealth, the group coalesces around strong songwriting and serious chops. Founding member Andy Powell handles lead vocals and trades licks with Finland’s guitar wizard Muddy Manninen. Bassist Bob Skeat, a 15-year veteran of the band and in-demand studio musician, sets the pace with Joe Crabtree, one of Britain’s new breed of drummers, having played with Pendragon and David Cross of King Crimson. The band demonstrates its versatility on Elegant Stealth, from the pop/rocker “Reason to Believe” to the gentler vibe of “Give it Up” to tunes like “Warm Tears” and “Big Issues,” where the band gets to stretch out and flex its musical muscles.

Citing Wishbone Ash as an influence on their style, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Southern Rock outfits like Lynyrd Skynyrd and, more recently, heavyweights like Opeth and some of the guitar- based Indie/Alternative bands, have all taken a little something from the legendary twin-guitar approach of Wishbone Ash.

Wishbone Ash North America Spring 2013 Tour Dates:

February 28 - Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry, NH
March 1 - Towne Crier, Pawling, NY - Featuring Argus Live
March 2 - Record Collector, Bordentown, NJ - Featuring Argus Live
March 3 - Ukranian American Cultural Center, Whippany, NJ
March 4 - Iron Horse, Northhampton, MA
March 5 - Bridge Street Live, Collinsville, CT
March 6 - Bull Run, Shirley, MA
March 7 - Sellersville Theatre, Sellersville, PA
March 8 - Iridium, New York, NY
March 9 - Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe, PA
March 10 - Wellsboro House; Wellsboro, PA
March 11 - Winchester Music Hall, Cleveland, OH
March 12 - Callahan’s, Auburn Hills, MI
March 13 - Fitzgerald’s, Berwyn, IL
March 14 - Pabst Theater – Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI
March 16 - Festival Place, Sherwood Park, Alberta, BC
March 19 - The Venue, Alberta, BC - Featuring Argus Live
March 20 - Jazzbones, Tacoma, WA - Featuring Argus Live
March 21 - Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR - Featuring Argus Live

More dates to come …

Monday, February 4, 2013

Fleetwood Mac's Rumours Ages Well Into Its Thirties

Whenever a music publication makes a list of top rock albums, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is there. While the album actually came out 36 years ago, the band is celebrating with what's being called a 35th anniversary expanded edition.

"We've been waiting a long time to put this out," Stevie Nicks told Rolling Stone. "If you were a Fleetwood Mac fan, you get to hear the songs turn into the songs without a lot of overdubbing. It's very simple."

"Rumours is the kind of album that transcends its origins and reputation, entering the realm of legend," writes Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic.com. "It's an album that simply exists outside of criticism and outside of its time, even if it thoroughly captures its era."

The album is noteworthy of course for such songs as "Go Your Own Way," "Don't Stop," and "You Make Lovin' Fun," but also for the band's own romantic turmoil as the album was being made, which bleeds through into the music.

"That really was a lot of the appeal of Rumours," Lindsey Buckingham admitted in the same Rolling Stone interview. "The music was wonderful, but the music was also authentic because it was two couples breaking up and writing dialogue to each other."

The band recently added more dates to their upcoming tour, which begins April 4 in Columbus, Ohio, and which will include many songs from Rumours.

Christine McVie will not be a part of the tour. In 2012, when the tour was announced, Nicks told Rolling Stone, "(McVie) went to England and she has never been back since 1998, so it's not really feasible, as much as we would all like to think that she'll just change her mind one day. I don't think it'll happen. We love her, so we had to let her go."

The band's 1975 song "Landslide" appeared in Sunday's Budweiser Super Bowl commercial, one of the most popular ads of the night.

For a chance to own the 35th anniversary expanded edition of Rumours, enter the Vintage Rock Giveaway, starting tomorrow. (February 5)

Friday, February 1, 2013

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Throw Three-Hour L.A. Bash

From Rolling Stone

Dave Grohl is an evangelist for the soul of rock & roll, and he's gotten into the habit of making his adolescent rock dreams come true. It happened again last night (January 31) at the Hollywood Palladium, where he was joined by Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, members of Cheap Trick, Rage Against the Machine, Fear and a small army of heroes and contemporaries in celebration of the late, legendary L.A. recording studio Sound City.

For more than three hours, Grohl and his Foo Fighters ripped through a chunk of rock & roll history, from pop to punk to classic rock, immediately following the premiere of his inspired new documentary, Sound City: Real to Reel, at the old Cinerama Dome blocks away.

"They made a movie about it, but they missed one little part," Fogerty shouted early in his set with the Foos, dressed in jeans and flannel shirt, looking over at Grohl. "What we got in common is we all love that guy right there."

Fogerty rocked through five Creedence Clearwater Revival standards and his 1985 solo hit "Centerfield," the last one played on a baseball bat-shaped guitar. Grohl shouted along to "Born on the Bayou" and traded verses on "Fortunate Son." At the close of "Bad Moon Rising," Grohl looked up with hands in praying position, one more dream fulfilled.

The night's closing set had the Foos led by Nicks, beginning with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," her 1981 hit with Tom Petty. Grohl was her singing partner this time, and Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett plucked dreamy bits of electric guitar.
    
Nicks arrived in black dress and tinted glasses, blonde hair past her shoulders, banging a tambourine. Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" unfolded amid undulating, spacey waves of sound and feeling. For "Landslide," Grohl backed up Nicks alone on 12-string acoustic, as the crowd sang and lifted up their glowing cell phones. One guy deep in the crowd kept it analog, holding up a single cigarette lighter.

Before beginning the soundtrack's dramatic "You Can't Fix This," Nicks explained that the song was based on a poem inspired by the recent death of her teenage godson at a fraternity party, a somber but moving note in an otherwise celebratory evening. And her set-closing "Gold Dust Woman" was dark and smoldering, rising from a noisy swirl, closing amid fading waves of feedback and a single, crashing beat from Taylor Hawkins. This summer's Fleetwood Mac tour will have something to live up to.

Between sets, a movie screen descended for excerpts and outtakes from the documentary, including a comment from Fogerty at the core of the film: "It's not the gear, it's not the technology. It's the people."

Sound City, proudly analog and tape-based, was where Nirvana recorded its career-making Nevermind. Grohl's comments at last year's Grammys were widely (mis)interpreted as being anti-EDM, when his sermon was really a warning against perfectionism and polish over the human element. It's the same reason punk rock was invented in the indulgent, glossed-up Seventies.

The night's juxtapositions might have seemed perverse to a musical ideologue, but it hung together as a simple celebration of all that once inspired the concert's generations of rockers. No one was more euphoric than Rick Springfield, who repeatedly tossed his guitar high into the air between songs, including his collaboration with the Foos on the movie soundtrack "The Man That Never Was." His "Jessie's Girl" was one of the night's biggest crowd-pleasers, and like other tunes from his pop-rock catalog, it was toughened up in the hands of the Foos.

Another implausible lineup featured Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, with Grohl on drums, ecstatically running through a set heavy with Cheap Trick hits. "I was in Kansas City 12 hours ago," Taylor told the crowd. "There was no fucking way I was missing this."

Cheap Trick's "Hello There" had Taylor wailing, "Are you ready to rock?" beside Nielsen in traditional bowtie and cap. The Slipknot growler sang "Surrender" as if he was always meant to. "From Can to Can't" (from the soundtrack) was built from a Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"-like guitar pattern. During Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame," Novoselic kicked high into the air, swinging his bass across the stage, an expression of real joy on his bearded face.

Earlier, Grohl first slipped behind the drums with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, pounding through the brain-scorched psychedelia of "Heaven & All," which opens the documentary's soundtrack, and a stormy "Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll" (from BRMC's 2001 debut).

"Dave Grohl rhymes with rock & roll," declared singer-guitarist-producer Chris Goss during his set with the night's ringmaster. Grohl and drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine (and now Black Sabbath) followed him into the overlapping guitar grind of "She Got Me" by Goss's Masters of Reality.

The night began with the Foos backing up Alain Johannes on the soundtrack's "A Trick With No Sleeve," a growling folk tune with an electric guitar shimmer, and Grohl banged his head to the misty-mountain-hop riffs. Johannes is a highly respected L.A. bandleader (Eleven, What Is This? etc.), producer, songwriter and sideman. He's been a member of Queens of the Stone Age and touring guitarist with the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures; last night he led the Foos through QOTSA's "Hangin' Tree," a brooding, driving, shape-shifting song he co-authored with Josh Homme.

Grohl sang harmony and was effussive with praise for the multi-instrumentalist. "I love you, Al," Grohl said to Johannes. "Thank you for playing music with me. You're a fucking genius."

The night turned to first-wave L.A. punk rock with Fear's Lee Ving, opening his set with a blazing harmonica wheeze before growling his signature "One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four!" at hyper-speed. With the Foos (and Johannes on bass), Ving ripped into the soundtrack's taunting "Your Wife is Calling." Soon the band was pounding through Fear's "I Love Livin' in the City," with Hawkins on jackhammer beat.

Foo Fighter guitarist Pat Smear, whose snarling early punk band the Germs came from the same underground L.A. scene, raised a fist as Ving snarled, as only he can, "This is an old-fashioned sing-along."

Jeff Lynne's ELO Announces 2024 North American Fall Tour

  Jeff Lynne’s ELO is set to embark on the band’s final tour dubbed “The Over and Out Tour.” The 27-date trek, produced by Live Nation, will...