Tampa Calling

This just in from the Bruce Springsteen newsite: The Boss had added 25 dates to his current U.S. tour, including a stop at Tampa’s Ford Amphitheatre on Sept. 12; tickets go on sale July 24. Here’s the complete details, with the fluffery (gushing quotes from European press) edited out:

Bruce Springsteen & The Legendary E Street Band have added 25 new US concert dates to their 2009 ‘Workin’ On a Dream’ tour. Springsteen has now sold over 1.5 million concert tickets in 2009 alone, with the new dates expected to push that number over the two million mark. (Video of the band performing “The River” at 2009’s Glastonbury and complete schedule of tour dates after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

“Don’t stop, believing — hold on to the feeyayaling!”

“‘Cause I can’t fight this feeling anymore, I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for! And if I have to crawl upon the floor, come crashing through your door, baby, I cant fight this feeling anymore!”

“Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me!” (Think of Cartman singing it. Makes it twice as great.)

All right, enough of that. Just wanted to introduce two concert announcements I received over the weekend about two upcoming shows featuring ’70s classic rock bands known for their epic power balladry.

Journey (the current incarnation pictured at right, in case you didn’t recognize) stops at the Amway Arena in Orlando Wed., Sept. 23, with Night Ranger to open. Tickets are $126, $66 and $36, and go on sale this Sat., July 18 at 10 a.m.

And the “Cant Stop Rockin’ Tour 2009″ with REO Speedwagon and Styx (also featuring special guest opener Night Ranger) play a pavilion only Ford Amphitheatre Fri., Oct. 30. The reserved seat tickets are $59.50, $39.50, $29.50 and $19.50, with four-packs available for $60. Sales this Sat., July 18 at 10 a.m.

If you and three to five of your friends plan on attending a Live Nation show this summer at Ford Amphitheatre, the company waves the service fees this Wednesday, July 1. So, basically, you save money on four- and six-packs of tickets for the following shows: blink-182, Coldplay, Crue Fest 2, Def Leppard with Poison and Cheap Trick, Depeche Mode, Incubus, Rascal Flats with Darius Rucker, and the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Tour featuring Marilyn Manson and Slayer. Here’s the release: Read the rest of this entry »

Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan is recovering from a cancer scare! First hospitalized for gastrointestinal issues on May 12, Gahan couldn’t shake what his people thought was just a nasty stomach flu (I think swine flu was ruled out early on). It’s a good thing Detective John Kimble wasn’t around, because it was definitely a toomah!

From the band’s website:

On May 12th, lead singer Dave Gahan suffered a severe bout of gastroenteritis, leading to his hospitalization and the cancellation of the Athens concert. While in hospital, further medical tests revealed a low-grade malignant tumour in Dave’s bladder, which has since been successfully removed. At doctors’ orders Dave Gahan must take a break until June 8th, to ensure that he makes a full recovery. The Leipzig show on June 8 will be the first concert following Dave’s recovery.

All told, Depeche Mode cancelled or postponed 15 shows in the four weeks Gahan will spend out of commission.

How will this affect their September 4 show at the Ford Amp? Read the rest of this entry »

Oklahoma is cooler than Florida! At least as far as official state rock songs are concerned. Residents declared The Flaming Lips‘ “Do You Realize?” the rock anthem of Oklahoma via an online vote. However, the Oklahoma state House rejected the resolution. Some representatives, inclined against all things cool, protested the vote, citing the band’s profanity and provocative wardrobe. A bandmember once wore a hammer & sickle t-shirt? Say it ain’t so! When all was thought lost, Gov. Brad Henry, part-time rock savior, overruled the legislature via executive order and threw his support behind the people’s choice. Oklahoma is now cool despite the best efforts of certain politicians. As for the Lips (pictured right), they are currently prepping a double album.

Joey Ramone passed away back in 2001, but his family still throws the annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash to raise money for the Joey Ramone Foundation for Lymphoma Research. In addition to sets by Fishbone and Supersuckers, this year’s show will feature a listening party of previously unheard Joey Ramone demos and rough mixes.

(Nick Cave’s Gladiator sequel, reissues from R.E.M. and Stone Roses, and more after the jump!) Read the rest of this entry »

Photos by Phil Bardi.

Let’s put this in perspective: when Jane’s Addiction and Nine Inch Nails toured together for the first Lollapalooza in 1991, current high-school seniors were just being born, crying for their momma’s milk. Now NIN and Jane’s have returned to milk the cash cow one more time. Though never officially declared a reunion tour, the fact that the original four members of Jane’s Addiction – singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Eric Avery and drummer Steven Perkins – have only occasionally been in the same room together, let alone played a show,  certainly made it feel like one. And that’s OK by me.  Jane’s pulled the plug at the peak of their success, leaving many fans and soon-to-be-fans craving a live show.

Trent Reznor is a different story. The reclusive god of goth has been releasing albums once every five years or so and touring about the same. Then he dropped the news that this tour would be NIN’s last. Maybe that’s so, but rock stars have a penchant for breaking such promises.

So, what can you expect when two powerhouse bands schedule a big reunion/farewell tour? Overworked fog machines? Yep. Tons of faded black t-shirts? Yep. Power-packed shows filled with the greatest hits? Err..  Not so much, at least for the NIN set.

Catching many of the crowd off guard, a four-piece NIN took the stage rather early, just before 8 p.m.  Reznor –  dressed in a green t-shirt, black jorts and combat boots — led the band through a spirited five-song run to open to the set: “Now I’m Nothing,” “Terrible Lie,” “SIN,” “March of the Pigs” and “Piggy.”  The performance lost steam as the band trudged through tracks from all over the NIN catalog. It seemed like most of the crowd — many attending their one concert of the year — were waiting for “Closer.” They didn’t get it, and seemed to be even more confused that the band chose to play an Adam Ant cover so late in the set. Reznor finally won the crowd back when he ended the set with great nostalgia (but no tripped out video) with “Head Like a Hole” and “Hurt.” (More text, pictures, setlists, and video after the jump) Read the rest of this entry »

CL’s choice picks for this weekend in music.

Friday, May 08
What was it that Deiter said on Sprockets? Oh yeah … “Your story has grown tiresome.” I can see this gimmicky show — Unwigged & Unplugged: An evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, which features the three now-silver-haired comedians who made up Spinal Tap performing acoustic — as getting real old real fast. Let’s hope the trio doesn’t think that just the songs can carry the day; they’d better have some funny shtick in there, or I could see this thing being a waste of time. Then again, I could be wrong. Still, one wonders: What happens when you run an acoustic guitar through an amp and turn the amp up to 11? Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg, $36.50-$49.50. —ES

Post rock meets experimental electronica by instrumental Los Angeles duo El Ten Eleven (pictured). Made up of Kristian Dunn (fretless bass, guitar/bass doubleneck) and Tim Fogarty (electric drums, acoustic drums, synthesizers), El Ten Eleven employs heavy looping and much effects pedal-pushing to create its fuzzified, lively brand of dance music. Also performing: Surly, The Tape Delay and Ghost of Gloria. Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., Orpheum, Ybor City, $8 in advance/$10 DOS. —LP

It’s only fitting that Nashville’s Kings of Leon have graduated to playing arenas — although the Sun Dome is pretty small in that regard — because their sound has morphed from a garage-y immediacy to, yup, more of an arena-style bombast. “Sex on Fire,” the first single from KoL’s current album, Only by the Night, casts a U2-ish hue. The shift must be working: Only by the Night ascended to No. 5 on the Billboard 200, besting 2007’s Because of the Times by 20 slots. For more, read CL’s interview with guitarist Matthew Followill here. Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., USF Sun Dome, Tampa, $35.50 and $43. —ES Read the rest of this entry »

Our guy Woody at Live Nation sent us this fresh info:

Tickets are $253.50, $98.50, $58.50 & $33.50, and go on sale Monday April 6 at 10 a.m. through livenation.com, 877-598-8698 (the toll free Live Nation ticketing phone number), and all TicketMaster outlets.

Long-time U2 Show Director Willie Williams has worked again with architect Mark Fisher (ZooTV, PopMart, Elevation and Vertigo), to create an innovative 360? design which affords an unobstructed view for the audience.  U2 360° also marks the first time a band has toured in stadiums with such a unique and original structure (which can be viewed at U2.com).

“U2 has always been at their best when surrounded by their audience, this staging takes a giant leap forward. With 85 percent of the tickets priced at less than $95.00, general admission floor tickets priced at $55.00 and at least 10,000 tickets at every venue priced at the $30.00 price range, we have worked very hard to ensure that U2 fans can purchase a great priced ticket with a guaranteed great view” says U2’s manager Paul McGuinness.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just in from our pal Woody at Live Nation, a couple of rock shows at the Ford Amphitheatre. Both go on sale Sat., March 21.:

• Rock ‘n’ Rebels Tours w/Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd

Sat., June 27. $126, $76, $56 and $46 for reserved seats and $26 for the festival lawn.

• Crue Fest 2 w/Motley Crue, Godsmack, Theory of a Deadman, Drowning Pool, Charm City Devils

Fri., Aug. 28. $95 general admission dance floor; $95, $65, $39.50 reserved seats; $29.50 festival lawn

$10 festival lawn special, first day of sale only, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

I’d rather step on a hundred pop tops than endure a  Jimmy Buffett show, but I hear that some people like him, so I dutifully pass this info along from LiveNation:

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band are back in town for one remarkable performance at Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday, April 25 as part of Jimmy Buffett’s “Summerzcool” Tour 2009.

Tickets go on-sale Saturday, February 7th at 10 a.m. There is a six ticket limit per customer.
Tickets available exclusively at www.livenation.com, (877) 598-8698 (the toll free Live Nation ticketing phone number), Ford Amphitheatre Box Office and participating Blockbuster stores Ticket prices subject to applicable fees.