• U2 Break Down No Line on the Horizon
• The Dead Reunite For New Tour
• Springsteen “Life Itself” Video Hits the Web
• Kelly Clarkson’s New Look for Masquerade
• Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck to Share Concert Bill
• Beatles Catalog Goes Digital in Podcast
• Prince Plots Three New Albums for 2009
• My Morning Jacket, Flaming Lips Rock in ‘09
• Britney Spears’ Twitter Gets Hacked
• Bret Michaels’ Rock of Love Bus Hits the Road
• On the Breaking Blog: Bodies of Water Video
• Tour Tracker: Allman Brothers, B.B. King
• News Ticker: Wilco, Courtney Love, DMX

Top stories from the last three days:

• Gn’R Guitarist Denies Tour Rumor
• 2008’s Biggest Rock News Stories
• Swift, Beyoncé, Britney Rule the Charts
• The Biggest Breakout Artists of ‘08
• Classic Feature: Delaney Bramlett
• Smoking Section: Love As Laughter Live
• Travers’ Best Films, Biggest Letdowns of ‘08
• Rock Daily By the Numbers: 2008 Blog-Down
• Is Lars Ulrich Holding Up Gn’R’s Video?
• Stump, T-Pain, Costello’s Big Collaborations
• Ben Gibbard, Zooey Deschanel Engaged
• New Music Report: Best & Worst Ideas in Rock
• Watch Digital John Lennon in New Ad
• Beastie Boys Reissuing Paul’s Boutique
• Readers’ Rock List: Best ‘08 Music Videos
• Black Crowes Recording at Helm’s Ramble
• Men in Tights: Meet Real Life Superheroes
• Labels Consider Hulu, New Video Website
• Cobain’s Smashed Guitar Sells for $100,000
• DJ AM Sues Over Plane Crash
• Springsteen Talks Working on a Dream

Scroll down for full news stories, commentary and much more in Rock Daily.

Photo: Mazur/Wireimage

Two former Yardbirds are set to share the stage: Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck have announced they’ll play two shows together at Saitama, Japan’s Super Arena, on February 21st and 22nd. The duo have performed together at album sessions, benefits and festivals in years past, but these concerts mark the first time the pair have ever shared the bill for major arena shows. How mighty are these two axmen? Clapton ranked Number Four on our list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and Beck came in Number 14. If by some chance you’ll find yourself in Japan for this epic exhibition of guitar gods (or you just happen to live in Japan), take note that tickets for these concerts go on sale January 17th.

Both guitarists have roots in the Yardbirds, that blues-tinged British band that also lists Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page among its famous alumni. After the Yardbirds’ hit “For Your Love,” Clapton exited the band in 1965 out of protest of the group’s move from the blues to a new pop sound. Clapton’s replacement, ironically enough, was Jeff Beck, who was fired from the band in 1968 before they ultimately disbanded. Jimmy Page formed a band in late 1968 called the new Yardbirds, but you more than likely know them by the name Led Zeppelin. (more…)

Photo by Cory Schwartz/Getty Images

Besides being the gateway to 2009, New Year’s Eve was also arguably the biggest concert night of 2008, with hundreds of artists performing across the globe for a champagne-soaked night of revelry. (Check out all the big names in our photo gallery.)

Here in New York City, My Morning Jacket was the top bill, rocking a packed Madison Square Garden with four hours’ worth of Evil Urges, old favorites and celebratory covers while the Jonas Brothers put on their winter coats to play the Times Square ball-dropping party.

Down Under, Franz Ferdinand treated fans to a sneak peek of their upcoming new album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand as the band headlined the third and final night of Australia’s Falls Music & Arts Festival

Stone Temple Pilots took the stage at Los Angeles’ Club Nokia for a hits-filled set featuring songs like “Wicked Garden,” “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart” and “Vaseline,” which you can watch in the video below: (more…)

Photo: Ufberg/Wireimage

Gregg Allman’s illness forced the Allman Brothers Band to cancel 2008’s annual run at New York’s Beacon Theatre, but the Southern jam band will be back in ‘09 — Austin Scaggs has the scoop on special guests and more in the Smoking Section. Plus, 83-year-old B.B. King continues to be a road warrior and Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn tours south of the border. Full dates for all three jaunts, after the jump. (more…)

The Breaking Blog kicked off 2008 with a post about L.A. quartet Bodies of Water, and we’re happy to do the same in 2009! Head on over to Rock Daily’s sister blog to watch the band’s creepy but beautiful new video for “Under the Pines.” Last year we said the band’s sound recalled “The Arcade Fire as composed by Ennio Morricone. The band funnels roots rock, soaring gospel, the Mamas & the Papas-style harmonies and Spaghetti Western themes into an uplifting, California-baked package.” We’ll stand by that description in ‘09:

• Watch Bodies of Water’s “Under the Pines” Video

We’re only 22 days away from the release of Bruce Springsteen’s new album Working on a Dream, but if the anticipation was too much, the Jersey rocker has revealed the video for new tune “Life Itself.” The song is also being offered as a free download over at the Amazon MP3 Store.

Keeping with the theme previously established by Working’s “My Lucky Day” video, we once again see Springsteen singing and strumming in the recording studio. This time, however, the video features montage footage of tunnels and beaches, despondent-looking people and snapshots of trees. Unlike the sunny, triumphant “Lucky Day,” however, “Life Itself” is a darker, more River-like track. “I knew you were in trouble, anyone could tell,” Bruce sings. “You squandered all your riches, your beauty and wealth. Like you had no further use for, life itself.” (more…)

Kelly Clarkson used the New Year break to reveal her glossy new look via the cover of her upcoming single “My Life Would Suck Without You.” Bouncing back from the brooding My December artwork, the “Suck” photo shows Clarkson sporting a wide-eyed, Katy Perry-esque look and a heart-shaped lollipop a la Madonna’s Hard Candy. If the tongue-in-cheek song title had you thinking “I Kissed A Girl,” you probably won’t be surprised to know that “Kissed” co-writers and producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin are the masterminds behind “Suck” as well (Martin also produced Britney Spears’ “If U Seek Amy,” completing the trifecta for controversial choruses.)

With the single’s album cover came the single’s lyrics, featuring the chorus ” ‘Cause we belong together now, Forever united here somehow, You got a piece of me, And honestly, My life would suck without you.” All we’re waiting on now is the actual song, due to hit radio January 19th. We’ve heard some new tracks from Clarkson’s upcoming album (including “Suck”) and decided they were, in fact, “totally awesome.” As for Clarkson’s fourth album, expected out on March 17th, reports have surfaced that the album will be called Masquerade. Clarkson is “in a period where she wants to take on the pop world again,” RCA general manager Tom Corson tells the Wall Street Journal. “She’s ready, and she’s got all the right support.” (more…)

Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

The Beatles will reportedly make a bulk of their musical catalog available as a free, legal download thanks to a series of Norwegian podcasts. In 2001, the Fab Four were the subject of a documentary series entitled “Vår daglige Beatles,” or “Our Daily Beatles,” in which Norwegian journalists told the stories behind every track in the Beatles official catalog in chronological order, with the tracks themselves being played after the story was told. Now, for the first time ever, the series is available as a downloadable podcast, marking the first time the Beatles music in any form has been legally available via download. Despite efforts to finally bring the Beatles to iTunes, Paul McCartney said talks between Apple Corps. and EMI Records have “stalled.”

Unfortunately for us English speakers, the three minutes of storytelling that accompany each track is only in Norwegian. (more…)

Photograph by Anton Corbjin

In early December, Rolling Stone’s Brian Hiatt traveled to London to visit U2 in the studio as Bono and Co. worked on the upcoming No Line on the Horizon. For the full story see the new issue, which hits newsstands Wednesday, January 7th. Click here for a first report on 10 of the album’s songs, including the title track and the tune Will.i.am remixed, “Magnificent”:

• U2 Break Down No Line on the Horizon

Somebody posing as the comeback star of 2008 just posted the following:

HI Yall! Brit Brit here, just wanted to update you all on the size of my vagina. Its about 4 feet wide with razor sharp teeth.

A few things could have happened here: Britney Spears could have become a fan of dark 2007 indie film Teeth; Spears may be having a chuckle (she loves to laugh, y’all!); or someone may have hacked into her Twitter feed. And to think parents were rankled when they realized the hidden message of Circus album track “If You Seek Amy”! Since only “official” members of the Spears camp have access to the feed, we’re going to have to imagine daddy Jamie isn’t responsible for this one. Here’s an example of a a tamer, more recent post:

“I love Japan! I think all the tiny cars are so cute! -Britney”

UPDATE: One of Spears’ online directors has confirmed the Twitter was indeed hacked (see the comments). The site has since been fixed, but see the photo above for the feed in all its hacky glory.

On a more upbeat note, Spears shared her 2009 resolutions with Glamour mag recently: “I would like to stop worrying so much, because I worry all the time. And to learn how to be happier, just in general. I have to learn to take things not so seriously. And to stop biting my nails!”

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

The Ohio Players founder Robert Ward passed away on Christmas Day at his home in Georgia. He was 70. Ward, a noteworthy blues guitarist, is credited with forming the Ohio Untouchables, who later changed their name to the Ohio Players after Ward left the band in 1965. Without Ward, the group went on to become one of the biggest funk-soul bands of the ’70s, penning hits like “Love Rollercoaster” and “Fire.” Ward, who had some hits of his own like “I Found A Love” with the Untouchables roster, pursued a solo career that spawned four solo albums and a stint as a Motown Records session musician.

The music world also lost Vincent Ford, the credited songwriter of Bob Marley’s 1974 hit “No Woman, No Cry.” Ford, who suffered from diabetes, died of complications from the disease on December 28th in Jamaica at age 68. Ford was a friend of Marley’s who ran a soup kitchen in “Trenchtown,” or Kingston, Jamaica. “No Woman, No Cry” became a major hit for the reggae star after it first appeared on Marley’s Natty Dread. Rolling Stone ranked “No Woman, No Cry” as Number 37 on the list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Ford was also credited with penning three songs on Marley’s 1976 album Rastaman Vibration. Although many credit Marley with actually writing the song, with the royalties Ford received from the long-lasting success (and non-stop covers and samples) of “No Woman, No Cry,” Ford reportedly used the money to ensure that his soup kitchen would stay open.

Every week Poison frontman Bret Michaels searches for a worthy life partner on Rock of Love Bus, while Rock Daily searches for ways to reference “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” in our recaps. Here’s our take on episode one:

Ninety Minutes of Rockin’ Reality in Three Sentences: In the most clever move recorded in reality television, Bret Michaels figures out how to combine his day job with his side hustle, taking 20 women on the road to vie for his attention while his band continues to tour the States — yes, Rock of Love has gone mobile! In episode one, Michaels does his usual bit: snaps photos of the ladies, then watches them drink and fight. Though one of his delicate flowers takes a test-tube shot where no test-tube shot has ever gone before. … (more…)

Photo: Brecheisen/Wireimage
More details about Prince’s busy 2009 have emerged: The Purple One will release not one, but three albums this year. The four songs he debuted on Los Angeles radio last month will appear on Lotus Flower (or Lotus Flow3r), the guitar-drenched LP of the trio. Also, there’s the funkier MPLSOUND, the album that was hinted at when that mysterious Website streaming a new Prince song emerged and then disappeared. Finally, there’s Elixir, a collaboration between Prince and his newest Wendy & Lisa/Vanity 6/Sheila E. protégé, Bria Valente. If Prince’s confirmation of the three new albums to the Los Angeles Times wasn’t proof enough for you, the Artist has also launched a new Website that seems like it’s earmarked for the influx of new releases: Lotusflow3r.com.

With Prince vehemently against dealing with record labels at this point in his career, the new site prides itself as a place where fans can “Listen to new tracks by Prince and Special Guests,” “Watch Videos and Exclusive Content” and “Buy music, concert tickets and more.” So essentially, Prince is becoming a one-man Live Nation. Although the Lotusflow3r site isn’t fully operational yet, three songs from each of the new albums are showcased: the previously radioed “Crimson & Clover” cover off Lotus Flower, MPLSOUND’s “(There’ll Never B) Another 1 Like Me” and the unheard “Here Eye Come,” featuring Valente on vocals and destined for Elixir. (more…)

Photo: West/Wireimage

• Wilco will release their first live DVD, Ashes of American Flags, in February or March. Ashes captures the band’s February 2008 performances from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Cain Ballroom. The band also plans to tour the southern U.S. in April, leading up to the follow-up to 2007’s Sky Blue Sky, due out later this year.

• Fans expecting Courtney Love to release Nobody’s Daughter on January 1st were disappointed when they found out that the album was not, in fact, coming out on January 1st. “Courtney had shot that Elle cover a few months ago and YES she had scribbled, Jan 1st as the online release date,” Love’s MySpace admin wrote. The admin added, in a Love-like long MySpace rant, that the album should be out later this year.
• According to the Los Angeles County Coroners, Dr. Dre’s son Andre Young died of an accidental overdose of heroin and morphine. Young was found dead at his family’s home on August 23, 2008.
• DMX is reportedly selling his Phoenix house for $200,000 under market value. During a SWAT raid in May ‘08, the front doors were knocked off, allowing robbers to come and go as they pleased while DMX bounced around from prison to prison. Now empty, the home, which is in “poor condition,” is also facing foreclosure.

Photo: Barnard/Getty

More than 40 years after initially forming and just months after reuniting to support Barack Obama, the Dead will embark on their first full tour in five years. The band features four founding members of the Grateful Dead — bassist Phil Lesh, guitarist Bob Weir and “the rhythm devils” Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann — joined by keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and Allman Brothers Band/Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes. The 19-date “An Evening With” tour will kick off April 12th in Greensboro, North Carolina, then hang out on the East Coast for 15 shows (including an April 25th gig at New York’s Madison Square Garden) before heading to the Midwest and West Coast for four shows, culminating in a May 10th concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre near the band’s hometown of San Francisco.

“We’ve got some unfinished business,” Weir said of the tour. “Everybody has a whole new bag of tricks; we have the body of material we worked up over the years and we have a mind meld going on here and it would be a sin to let that just wither and die.” (more…)