Reunited Guns N’ Roses Confirm 21-City U.S. Tour + Overseas Dates
Patience… #GnFnR pic.twitter.com/Jk91zm9E0C
— Guns N’ Roses (@gunsnroses) March 25, 2016
Guns N’ Roses will play an expanded 21-city tour along with the previously announced set of six reunion shows.
Show dates are scheduled for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Toronto and Washington, D.C.. Exact dates and venues have not yet been announced.
The band posted the announcement video on their social media acccounts, and billboards in several of the cities.
Guns N’ Roses is rumored to be playing an intimate warm-up show on Friday, April 1 at the Troubadour, one of the LA clubs where the band first played before the release of its debut album, 1987’s Appetite For Destruction. More information is expected this morning, at which point a limited number of tickets will go on sale to the general public.
With the first Guns N’ Roses reunion show scheduled for just over a week from now, on April 8 in Las Vegas, the band has still not officially announced the lineup of musicians who will take the stage beyond singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan.
But a new photo posted at the group’s official Twitter account has sent fans into a frenzy. The picture of Ahead brand drumsticks fueled speculation that original drummer Steven Adler was returning to the group, especially after past and present Guns drummers Matt Sorum and Frank Ferrer both denied they used the sticks.
Guns N’ Roses Tour to Add Dates Outside U.S., With Opening Act the Cult
On Thursday, The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy told Vanyaland that his band will backup the reunited Guns N’ Roses in the coming months. And while Duffy didn’t elaborate, he did say the dates wouldn’t be taking place in the U.S.
“I believe we will be playing with them at a couple of shows that are not in the United States. I think I can say that, I believe,” Duffy said. “I just found out.”
Axl Rose Rehearsing With AC/DC
As if playing “Who’s in the band this week” with GNR and AC/DC by themselves isn’t enough, Axl has now fully crossed over into the AC/DC rumor mill as well. TMZ has posted two photos of Axl leaving the same rehearsal studio in Atlanta, Georgia as Angus Young, Cliff Williams and Chris Slade. There has been no official statement from AC/DC, but it appears that Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose has been rehearsing with the band.
Check out the photos at TMZ.com.
A rumor started last week suggesting Axl will perform as a guest vocalist with AC/DC gained traction after Atlanta Rock 100.5 host Jason Bailey claimed that a “very, very good source” confirmed to him that the collaboration was happening.
TMZ commented, “Looks like Axl’s been working hard to get in shape for the double duty tour — and this is our first look at him in a long time. If the voice works … do ya really care what he looks like?”
Def Leppard Frontman Joe Elliott’s Voice “All Back to Normal”
In a recent radio interview, Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen was asked about the health of bandmate and lead singer Joe Elliott, and said:
“He’s great. We toured nine months last year and Joe was actually touring with walking pneumonia for most of the time. And when he got better… He actually got a nasty cough just after Christmas, after pneumonia had gone, [he got] this awful hacking cough. So that’s really what kind of messed him up. You know, when we’d done these dates in Florida… We’d only done one show and, all of a sudden, his voice just kind of went out. And the doctor said, ‘Look, you’ve gotta stop singing for a month.’ So he’s doing great now. He’s actually all back to normal.”
Less than two months ago the band was forced to postpone the last ten dates of its tour with Styx and Tesla due to Elliott’s vocal issues.
You can now listen to the interview here.
Tommy Lee, Joe Satriani Join James Hetfield & Sammy Hagar + More at Acoustic-4-A-Cure Benefit Concert
Metallica’s James Hetfield and legendary rocker Sammy Hagar today announced the lineup for their third annual Acoustic-4-A-Cure concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco on May 15. Benefiting the Pediatric Cancer Program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, the concert features a star-studded lineup (in alphabetical order):
* Melissa Etheridge
* Sammy Hagar (VAN HALEN, CHICKENFOOT)
* James Hetfield (METALLICA)
* Tommy Lee (MÖTLEY CRÜE)
* John Mayer
* Pat Monahan
* Joe Satriani (CHICKENFOOT)
The musicians will perform acoustic sets with true once-in-a-lifetime musical moments, collaborations and more.
Tickets will go on sale beginning April 1 at 10:00 a.m. via LiveNation.com. Tickets will not be available at The Fillmore box office, charge by phone or outlets. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.
All proceeds from the concert will be donated to fund children’s brain tumor research at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, one of the nation’s leading children’s medical facilities.
New Releases
Motorhead’s ‘Clean Your Clock’ Will Feature One of Lemmy’s Final Shows
Motörhead will be releasing Clean Your Clock on May 27, which captures one of their final performances on Nov. 20-21, 2015 of Motörhead onstage at the Zenith in Munich, just weeks before frontman Lemmy Kilmister‘s sudden death. UDR, Motörhead’s label, promises an “indomitable cocktail of power, purpose and head-crunching volume.”
Clean Your Clock will be available on May 27 as a digital download, a single CD, two-LP set, a DVD-CD combo, a Blu-ray-CD set and in a box format that includes a colored double-vinyl set, DVD, CD and a metal Motörhead medal. There is also a limited-edition version of the box set.
Metallica Continue Reissue Teases With ‘Seek & Destroy’ and ‘Creeping Death’
Metallica are continuing their roll out of bonus material from the upcoming Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning reissues due on April 15. Now you can add a live version of Seek & Destroy and Creeping Death to the bonus gems.
The backstory behind Seek & Destroy is that Metallica had their gear ripped off in January of 1984, but their friends in Anthrax knew they had a gig and did them a solid by lending them their equipment for a January performance in 1984 at J Bees Rock III in Middletown, N.Y. The tapes were rolling that night and that’s performance of Seek & Destroy you’ll find on the Kill ‘Em All deluxe box set reissue.
Complete details of the Kill ‘Em All – Deluxe Remastered Box Set here. Details of the Ride The Lightning – Deluxe Remastered Box set are here.
New Gigs
Possible Dokken Reunion In The Works
“Wild” Mick Brown in a recent interview with The Double Stop, said about the talks to reunite the classic Dokken lineup (Don Dokken, Mick Brown, Jeff Pilson, and George Lynch):
“We are talking about maybe putting all four original members together again, (Laughs) and trying some shows!”
Sebastian Bach Is Returning For ‘The Gilmore Girls’ Revival On NetFlix
According to TV Series Finale, former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach has returned for the upcoming revival of The Gilmore Girls, which has been filming in recent weeks. Bach’s character Gil is expected to come back to rock with Hep Alien, the band he played with on the show.
Bach said earlier this year, “Honestly, the way I look at [my appearances on] television is to promote my music. I know that’s silly, but, to me, the albums last forever, more than any TV show. MTV doesn’t play rock videos, but if I’m on Gilmore Girls, it’s like, ‘Who is this dude? I’m going to check out his albums.’”
“Netflix has given that show a whole new thing. I walk around and I always hear [about] Gilmore Girls.
Iron Maiden’s Ed Force One to be Immortalized as a Model
As if the kings of metal swag don’t have enough things to sell, now Iron Maiden‘s Ed Force One jumbo jet will be immortalized in a new limited-edition model.
Licensing.biz reports that the 1:144 scale model of Maiden’s new-and-improved Boeing 747-400 is being manufactured, although no release date has been announced.
Global Merchandising Services licensing manager Jens Drinkwater says: “As soon as we knew that Bruce [Dickinson] would be piloting the plane for Iron Maiden’s world tour, we knew that we had to do something special to celebrate the occasion, and Revell are an obvious partner for this fantastic collaboration.”
Black Sabbath Teams With Fashion Brand Supreme for Clothing Line
A line of Black Sabbath gear is set to hit Supreme stores in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles and online on March 31. Based on classic Black Sabbath album covers, logos and other insignia, the line includes a denim trucker jacket adorned with the cover of Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut, a hooded parka, a hoodie, a crewneck sweatshirt, a long-sleeve T-shirt, four T-shirts, a baseball cap available in three colors, a rug and even a hockey jersey featuring inspired by the band’s Vol. 4 album.
Slipknot’s ‘Dysfunctional Family Portraits’ Photo Book Due for Release
Following a hugely successful touring exhibition, Paul Harries selected the best of his stunning Slipknot photographs for a new book. Released in the U.K. last year, “Dysfunctional Family Portraits” will finally be made available in North America in April.
MetalHeads Say The Damnedest Things
“I am looking forward to the death of rap. I’m looking forward to music coming back to lyrics and melody, instead of just talking. A song, as far as I’m concerned, is by definition lyric and melody … or just melody.”
“I’m all for anybody talking. ‘Wild Thing’ was talking: ‘Wild thing, she makes my heart sing/ she makes everything … .’ There’s no melody there. That’s cool. Napoleon XIV, ‘They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!’ That’s a funny song, but those are novelty records. So was Dickie Goodman and ‘Mr. Jaws’. These were all hits, by the way. But predominantly, music is about melody and lyric, whether it’s rap or doo-wop, or yeah, even rock.”
Simmons added: “Rap will die. Next year, ten years from now, at some point, and then something else will come along. And all that is good and healthy.”
~ Gene Simmons, KISS bassist and frontman, interviewed by RollingStone.