Chris Brown Plots Return to the Stage at October 27th Jersey Gig

Chris Brown has scheduled his first official live performance since his February 8th altercation with Rihanna — after which he pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to probation and community labor — booking a slot at New York hip-hop station Power 105's Powerhouse concert on October 27th at New Jersey's Izod Center. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Brown made a cameo during Lil Wayne's America's Most Wanted tour stop in Virginia, filling in for the injured Drake, but the Powerhouse concert marks the first time Brown's name will officially feature on the bill. The-Dream, Fabolous, Keri Hilson, Trey Songz, Mario and Ginuwine will also play the Powerhouse.

According to MTV, the concert will allow Brown to promote "Transformer," the first single off his upcoming album Graffiti. The Swizz Beatz-produced track, which also features a guest spot from Lil Wayne, is expected out soon. Brown was also (incorrectly) named among the performers at Jermaine Jackson's planned Michael Jackson tribute in Vienna on September 26th, but Brown denied he would be appearing and Jermaine inevitably delayed and moved the concert to June 2010 in London.

Brown is currently serving a 180-day community labor sentence, and it's unclear whether the singer has received permission from the Los Angeles court or the Virginia officials overseeing his sentence to perform at the New Jersey concert.

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• Chris Brown Returns To the Stage During Lil Wayne's Virginia Show

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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