Guns N’ Roses Reunion Show at The Troubador
Rumors became reality when Guns N’ Roses hit the stage at the legendary Troubador in Los Angeles on April 1 for a 16-song set before a star-studded crowd just minutes after midnight. Per usual, the Gunners were over an hour late starting the show, but no one was complaining, even though GNR’s management forced attendees to lock their phones in magnetic bags. On stage were Axl, Slash, Duff, Melissa Reese on keyboards (their first female member), Frank Ferrer on drums (who has been playing with the previous incarnation of GNR), Dizzy Reed, also on keyboards and Richard Fortus on rhythm guitar.
Hundreds of fans waited up to 11 hours to score one of 180 $10 tickets to the show by lining up outside of the old Tower Records location on the Sunset Strip. About 50 celebrities had VIP seats in the balcony including Kate Hudson, Bradley Cooper, Chris Brown, Lenny Kravitz, Nicholas Cage, Andrew Dice Clay and Jim Carrey.
By all acccounts, Axl, Slash and Duff were in great form – fit, pumped up and playing together like they’d never had a 23-year break. Guns N’ Roses played their first show at the Troubador on June 6, 1985.
Check out the setlist, photos and videos, here!
Guns N’ Roses Reunion With Steven Adler Sidelined By Injury
Rock journalist and author Mick Wall says Guns N’ Roses have a number of further surprises up their collective sleeves – but he won’t reveal them as he has “never been into spoilers.”
One item Wall does let slip is that Appetite-era drummer Steven Adler WAS poised to make a guest appearance on drums before a last minute injury forced him to sit it out.
“Steven actually was going to be there too but he hurt his back during rehearsals,” claims Wall.
“They also told me some other things which I feel a douche for keeping to myself, but I’ve never been into spoilers. Why ruin the fun? This is the year when the fun is finally back to taunt us.” Yes, you’re a d-bag for holding back!
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott Says His Vocal Issues Weren’t Caused By Singing
When asked about vocal issues that caused the postponement of a number of shows in February, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott says:
“As far as I’m aware, it’s fine. You know, I got a really bad cough over Christmas and New Year, and that’s what did the damage. It wasn’t singing. It was just an injury. It was like a footballer getting kicked very hard on the shin and not being able to play for a few weeks or a couple of months or whatever. It was nothing to do with his ability to play; it was just an injury that he picked up. And it was the same thing with me. I just got a really, really bad cough, couldn’t clear it up, and I was warned, having seen a couple of throat doctors, that I needed to take four to six weeks off. So it’s about now that I start giving it a shout again. But other than that, everything else is fine, you know. It’s just… It just needed a rest.”
Great White, Lita Ford, Dio Disciples Lead 2016 ‘Ride for Ronnie’ Festivities
Last year’s inaugural Ride for Ronnie motorcycle ride and concert was such a big success, raising $155,000 for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, that the event saluting the late Ronnie James Dio will return this year. The 2016 Ride for Ronnie will start with a motorcycle ride and end with a day full of music from Great White, Lita Ford, Dio Disciples, Gabbie Rae, Budderside, Doctors of the Earth and more.
Riders will assemble for a continental breakfast at Harley-Davidson in Glendale, CA on Sunday, May 22 with kickstands up at 11AM. From there, they’ll travel through the streets of Los Angeles to Los Encinos Park in Encino, CA, where the concert will take place.
In addition to the performances, those on hand can enter a raffle, take part in live auctions and enjoy some tasty dining from the food trucks on hand.
The live auction will include a guitar from Chris Broderick (formerly of Megadeth) and a B.C. Rich guitar signed by Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, King Diamond and Geoff Tate. Proceeds raised during the day will go to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.
Riders and concert-goers can purchase tickets by visiting the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund website.
AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ Used in Cancer Treatment
A research team at the University of South Australia is finding that playing loud rock music during chemotherapy treatment has been effective at improving the efficiency of the drug. The song that they’ve been using is AC/DC‘s “Thunderstruck”.
According to the Lead, the vibrations caused by the music cause silicon micro particles carrying the chemotherapy drug camptothecin to bounce. As a result, it covers the cancerous cell more evenly and creates a plasma polymer overlay that prevents the drug from escaping.
Playing the music significantly improved the time it took for the plasma polymer to coat the cell. They chose Thunderstruck because of its rhythms and the title had a connection to their work. “Plasma is the fourth stage of matter, it is an ionised gas,” the research team said. “We used a cold plasma, but an example of a hot plasma would be the rays of thunder. We ended up using Thunderstruck because we liked how it linked thunder and plasma gas.”
Ok, you lost us at polymer, but we say Horns Up against cancer!
Steven Tyler Provides “Best Ever” Surprise For Young Ontario Fan
When Anthony Yorfido of Welland, Ontario tried to get tickets to a Steven Tyler concert in Niagara Falls, he had to “dream on” because the dates were sold out. Yorfido is a huge Aerosmith fan, born with Down syndrome.
Luckily, the afternoon of the first show, Yorfido and and his mother, Diane, walked into a Niagara Falls medical supplies store. A cocktail server at Fallsview Casino, Diane was there to pick up some support pantyhose.
There was a limo out front, and when she walked through the door, Diane thought she recognized the customer getting a back brace by the counter. “I’m looking at him and I know his face, but I couldn’t think of his name.” But Anthony did. “He goes, ‘Oh, my God! Steven Tyler, is that you?’ ”
In a flash, Anthony ran over to the rock legend to give him a hug. Tyler hugged him back, then hugged and kissed Diane for good measure. He then asked if they were going to the show that night. Couldn’t get tickets, Diane told him. “He’s like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about that, you guys are coming with me. I’ll get you backstage passes.’ ”
Anthony’s night was about to get even bigger. As Tyler took the stage that night to the song Sweet Emotion, he had Anthony brought out to play the maracas with the band, shouting, “Anthony’s in the house!”
Steven Tyler = pure class!
New Releases
Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock To Release ‘On A Mission: Live In Madrid’ In May
Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock will release On A Mission: Live In Madrid on CD, DVD and Blu-ray on May 6. The set was recorded during their 2015/2016 world tour at Joy Eslava theatre in Madrid, Spain.
Michael Schenker played various guitars during the show, including for the first time his new double-neck Flying-M with 2 necks, each with 6 strings, with each neck tuned differently.
Rob Halford Says New Judas Priest Album To Arrive In Early 2017
During a recent interview, Judas Priest singer Rob Halford hinted at a forthcoming record.
Halford said, “We’re going on to writing sessions very, very soon. As we’re all winding up Redeemer Of Souls… At the end of any tour, like most bands, [we say to ourselves], ‘What are we gonna do, guys, girls? What are we gonna do? Where are we going next? What’s the plan?’ We finished this tour, this big world tour, just before the holidays in December, and we’re about to start writing sessions pretty much now. And that’s great. Oh, man, I can’t wait to get into the writing zone again. […] You go into a room, like very, very soon I’ll be there hanging out with Glenn and Richie, you’ll be in a room with some amps, and, ‘Hey, guys, have a cup of tea, whatever.’ Turn the amps on, start riffing and boom, you could have another amazing Priest song by the end of the day. I love that part of being in Priest. So that’s the next step — writing sessions, get some really good, solid Priest material ready, and then, you know, Scott and Ian come in and we jam and we start putting the songs together. Like always, it’ll be ready when it’s ready, but there was already an extraordinary amount of ideas collected throughout that tour. So I’m optimistic that we should have something ready by… probably not by the end of this year, but definitely by the early part of next year.”
Ace Frehley Hopes To Release Next Book In 2017
Speaking to DJ Elliot Segal about the planned sequel to his autobiography No Regrets: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir, which came out in 2011, Frehley said: “Well, I’ve got a couple of chapters written and I have several notes for other chapters that are gonna be included, so I’m thinking hopefully getting it finished by the end of this year and out next year.”
Frehley also acknowledged the fact that he has had to piece a lot of the material together from third-party anecdotes owing to his active addictions around the time that the events took place.
“Everybody does have an Ace story, in most cases, and it’s actually good for me, because my memory isn’t what it used to be,” he said. “So [how it comes together is by] sitting down with old friends and employees and family members, and saying, ‘What do you remember? Jog my memory.’ And nine times out of ten, it comes back to me once they kick off the story.”
On Tour
Steven Tyler Says Aerosmith ‘Probably Doing a Farewell Tour’ in 2017
Aerosmith are on hiatus now as frontman Steven Tyler gears up to promote his upcoming country album.
“I’m doing 30 [solo] shows from May until August,” Tyler tells Rolling Stone. “And then in 2017 we go out with Aerosmith. We’re probably doing a farewell tour. Look, there’s two bands that still have the original members, us and the Stones. I’m grateful for that. Whether we do a farewell tour or go into the studio and do another record, I’m just excited about it.”
Hollywood Vampires Announce 2016 Tour Dates
Supergroup Hollywood Vampires — Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and actor Johnny Depp — will be back on the road starting May 27, at the Rock in Rio festival in Lisboa, Portugal. Shows in Sweden, Denmark and Romania follow, before the band starts U.S. shows during July.
“We have to carefully schedule the Vampires,” Cooper recently told Rolling Stone. “That’s because you have Johnny’s movie schedule, you’ve got Aerosmith, you’ve got Guns N’ Roses and you’ve got me! It’s five entities going five different directions. To get those guys all at once when we’re not working is really unique, so everybody looks at their calendar and you have to find that two weeks where everybody’s off.”
Check out the Tour dates here.
Alice Cooper Joins Blue Oyster Cult for ‘Psycho Las Vegas’ Festival
Alice Cooper has joined Blue Oyster Cult atop a very impressive collection of hard rock, metal and psychedelic bands performing at the Psycho Las Vegas festival this summer.
The three-day festival will take place in in Las Vegas, Nev., between Aug. 26-28 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. In addition to Cooper and BOC, the lineup features Down, Electric Wizard, Drive Like Jehu, Fu Manchu, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Baroness, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and both of guitar idol Matt Pike’s legendary bands: Sleep and High on Fire, Pentagram, Candlemass, Death, Converge, the Budos Band, A Place to Bury Strangers, Wovenhand, Black Heart Procession, Boris, Zombi, Color Haze, YOB and Dead Meadow.
MetalHeads Say The Damnedest Things
“When he got the all clear, I looked at Bruce and thought, ‘Here’s my mate, he’s been through hell, beaten cancer, and none of it was his fault,’” McBrain recalls in an interview with The Drummer’s Journal. “And there I was, putting myself through hell too, except I was doing it to myself with drink. So I knew I had to stop. I took a lot of inspiration from Bruce, it made me realize how stupid I was being.”
“I knew my drinking was getting bad when I saw footage of an interview I’d done when I was pissed.” McBrain shares. “I’d probably been drinking for about four days straight. My eyes were red and bloodshot, I was slurring words and not making any sense. I don’t remember doing the interview at all. I realized that is not good situation to be in. So I haven’t had a drink in a while now. I’m not saying I’ll never have another but something had to change.”
~ Nicko McBrain, drummer for Iron Maiden, inspired to quit drinking by bandmate Bruce Dickinson’s successful cancer battle