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Melvins' 'Record-Breaking' Tour May Not Be, After All
September 25, 2012 2:05 PM ET| Greg Prato
In 1981, one of rock's hardest-touring acts, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, set a record by playing 51 shows in 50 days (and in the process, playing a show in each state). Recently, another group of perennial road dogs, the Melvins, have set out to break Thorogood's record, by launching what is being billed as "50 States + D.C. in 51 Days Record Breaker Fall U.S. Tour." However, it appears Melvins growler/guitarist Buzz Osborne may have been fed some false information, as he ... | More »
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Prince Baffles With Lackluster Set in Chicago
September 25, 2012 11:55 AM ET| Jessica Hopper
To misquote the master himself: His name is Prince, and he is vampy. Last night at the United Center in Chicago, Prince kicked off a three-night residency with a strangely subdued show that was by turns puzzling and anti-climactic. While Prince is never not energetic – most artists would have to work overtime to approach the singer at his most restrained – over the course of his two-hour set he continually ceded choruses, verses, entire songs to his trio of backup singers and the ... | More »
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Peter Gabriel Revisits 'So' at Euphoric Jones Beach Concert
September 24, 2012 12:00 PM ET| Andy Greene
Peter Gabriel's Front to Back Tour, which features a complete performance of his 1986 LP So, is an unabashedly nostalgic affair. Yet the show begins with a song so new it doesn't even have complete lyrics. Accompanied only by longtime bassist Tony Levin, Gabriel began the night at Jones Beach outside New York by sitting at a piano and presenting a song called "Obut." It's a tender ballad that's clearly a work-in-progress, and it sent a message: even on a night as backwards... | More »
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The Bad Plus Raise a Ruckus on Tour Opener in Knoxville
September 21, 2012 12:05 PM ET| Ryan Reed
A few songs into their lean, heavy-hitting set at Knoxville's Bijou Theatre, during the reflective coda of "The Empire Strikes Backwards" Bad Plus drummer Dave King squeaked an amplified toy duck, while pianist Ethan Iverson bathed the enthusiastic crowd in oceanic arpeggios. Given the Latin-tinged free-jazz ruckus that preceded, the trio had earned a moment to catch their collective breath. So they did: Iverson remained hunched over the ivories, as if his piano were whispering him elus... | More »
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Video: Springsteen Reunites With Original Drummer
September 20, 2012 12:35 PM ET
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off a three-night stand at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium last night with a blazing three hour and 45 minute show that featured rarities like "Mansion On The Hill" and "Human Touch" mixed in with classics and new songs from Wrecking Ball. For older fans, the highlight was likely the surprise return of original E Street Band drummer Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez on "E Street Shuffle." It began when Max Weinberg stepped away from his kit during th... | More »
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On the Charts: Dave Matthews Rules the 'World'
September 19, 2012 2:24 PM ET| Steve Knopper
WINNER OF THE WEEK: Dave Matthews Band. And rock albums in general. The hippie hero's Away from the World LP debuts at Number One with 266,000 copies sold; next on the album chart is Little Big Town's Tornado (technically a country band, although I think they sound like Fleetwood Mac so I'm including them here), with 113,000; Bob Dylan's Tempest, with 110,000; the Avett Brothers' The Carpenter, with 98,000; the xx's Coexist, with 73,000; and ZZ Top's La Futu... | More »
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Cheap Trick Set to Resume Aerosmith Tour
September 19, 2012 1:35 PM ET| Steve Baltin
After a brief hiatus, Cheap Trick will resume their tour with Aerosmith on November 8th in Oklahoma City. For the Illinois rockers, it's a continuation of a summer of fun. "It's cool, because we're out with a band that we've known, and they're not afraid to have us out with them," Cheap Trick frontman Robin Zander says, laughing. "We're old friends." Guitarist Rick Nielsen agrees. "We don't sit around and tell war stories, but there is a camaraderie. We�... | More »
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Wayne Coyne, Ke$ha Join Ben Folds Five in Nashville
September 18, 2012 11:40 AM ET| Adam Gold
Ben Folds is always good for a quirky curveball. The zany piano man pleasantly surprised a packed house at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium last night, where, midway through a performance by the reunited Ben Folds Five, unannounced odd couple Wayne Coyne and Nashville's own Ke$ha joined the band onstage. Folds' trio backed the Flaming Lips frontman and glitter-pop princess on a rollicking, saloon-like cover of the comical Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn duet, "You're the Reason Our... | More »
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Grizzly Bear Conjure Eerie Magic at Tour Kickoff
September 17, 2012 12:10 PM ET| Ryan Reed
As Grizzly Bear glided through "Adelma," an ambient interlude from their new album, Shields, the band's rainbow-hued stage lights faded to black. Light bulbs flickered in glass jars, drifting above the quintet's silhouettes, while multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor bent to his clarinet, conjuring sheets of noise that filled Knoxville's Tennessee Theatre with eerie magic. Later on, during the quietest expanses of "Lullabye," singer Ed Droste toyed with an auto-harp while drummer... | More »
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Flaming Lips Get Intimate Without Stripping Down in Big Sur
September 12, 2012 1:20 PM ET| Benjy Eisen
Bands seem to love playing music at the tiny but undeniably cool Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, California, along an undeveloped stretch of the wild west where the Pacific Ocean crashes into cliffs. Fans park their cars on the side of Route 1, just inches from such a cliff, then hike down the road to a clearing under giant redwoods, where a cottage has been converted into a kind of gift shop memorializing author Henry Miller and celebrating other local artists. The unique space, called the... | More »
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