Stevie: Erika Goldring/WireImage; Billy: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks continue to add dates to their co-headlining tour. The latest addition is a December 8 concert at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. Tickets for the new date go on sale Friday, March 24, at 10 a.m. local time.
As previously reported, the Billy/Stevie tour kicked off last Friday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, with the two Rock & Roll Hall of Famers teaming up for a pair of duets: “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” Nicks’ duet with the late Tom Petty, and Joel’s “And So It Goes,” from his 1989 album, Storm Front.
The pair’s next date together is April 8 in Arlington, Texas. A complete list of dates can be found at billyjoel.com and stevienicksofficial.com.
James Hetfield has apparently apologized to Kip Winger over Metallica‘s “Nothing Else Matters” video, but Lars Ulrich has not.
As for why either would need to apologize to Winger, you may recall that in the “Nothing Else Matters” video, there’s a shot of Ulrich standing next to a photo of the “Seventeen” singer with darts sticking out of it.
Speaking with the Appetite for Distortionpodcast, Winger shares, “[Lars has] never apologized, but James Hetfield called me about a year and a half ago and apologized for the incident.”
“James is a kind of guy I could totally be friends with,” Winger continues. “He was very sincere, it wasn’t like he just called to apologize and then blow me off. He’s actually texted me a few times, we text every now and then. I don’t think Lars would ever call me to apologize.”
As for what inspired the diss in the first place, Winger muses, “I think everybody was just young kids, and they were thinking it was funny.”
“To me, it’s not funny to slag off a fellow musician,” he says. “But, who knows? I mean, they were just doing what they were doing.”
The “Nothing Else Matters” video hit 1 billion views on YouTube in 2021. The moment with the Winger poster happens around the 2:55 mark.
Motörhead‘s Snaggletooth mascot is now a character in Iron Maiden‘s Legacy of the Beast mobile game.
As it’s done with bands including Avenged Sevenfold, Ghost, Five Finger Death Punch and Disturbed, Legacy of the Beast has added a Motörhead-themed level, in which you can play as Snaggletooth.
The level, dubbed Born to Raise Hell, is modeled after the famed Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, and includes references to Motörhead lyrics and albums.
You can play Born to Raise Hell in Legacy of the Beast now through March 22.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen was the victim of an attack outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, over the weekend.
TMZ obtained the police report from the incident, which reveals Allen was the victim of a sneak attack by 19-year-old Max Hartley, who was hiding behind a pole and rushed Allen as he was smoking a cigarette outside the hotel. A women tried to help the drummer, but was also attacked. Hartley knocked her to the ground, and grabbed her by the hair and dragged her as she tried to run back to the hotel to get help.
Hartley was eventually arrested after cops caught him breaking car windows at a nearby parking garage. He was charged with elder abuse, battery and criminal mischief. He was eventually released on bail.
So far there’s no word on Allen’s condition. He and the band were in Florida for a stop on their tour with Mötley Crüe. The Stadium Tour’s next show is happening May 22 in Sheffield, England.
Talking Heads‘ iconic concert film Stop Making Sense is about to celebrate its 40th anniversary, and that milestone will be marked by a new theatrical release, plus a deluxe edition of the movie’s soundtrack.
A24, the studio behind this year’s Oscar-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once, will release a newly restored 4K version of the concert film to theaters later this year, sharing a trailer that features frontman David Byrne getting back into his iconic oversized suit.
On top of that, on August 18 a deluxe edition of the soundtrack will be released, containing for the first time ever the complete Stop Making Sense concert, including previously unreleased songs “Cities” and “Big Business/I Zimbra.”
Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) will be released as a limited edition two-LP set and digitally, along with a Dolby Atmos mix. The vinyl version will include a 28-page booklet with previously unreleased photos and new liner notes from all the band members.
“We had done a live album before this, but coupled with the film, and with the improved mixes and sound quality, this record reached a whole new audience,” Byrne recalls in the liner notes. “As often happens, the songs got an added energy when we performed them live and were inspired by having an audience. In many ways, these versions are more exciting than the studio recordings, so maybe that’s why a lot of folks discovered us via this record.”
Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme, was recorded over three shows at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983. In 2021 it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Here’s the track list for Stop Making Sense:
“Psycho Killer”
“Heaven”
“Thank You For Sending Me An Angel”
“Found A Job”
“Slippery People”
“Cities”
“Burning Down The House”
”Life During Wartime”
“Making Flippy Floppy”
“Swamp”
“What a Day That Was”
“This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”
“Once In A Lifetime”
“Big Business / I Zimbra”
“Genius Of Love”
“Girlfriend Is Better”
“Take Me To The River”
“Crosseyed And Painless”
Nancy Wilson, one-half of the rock duo Heart, was born in San Francisco, California.
Nancy and her older sister Ann, along with Roger Fisher and Steve Fossen, formed Heart in 1973, and were later joined by Michael Derosier and Howard Leese, releasing their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, in 1975, which featured future Heart classics “Crazy on You” and “Magic Man.”
The group went on to sell over 35 million records, and landed two number one singles, “These Dreams” and “Alone,” along with Top 40 singles “Barracuda,” “What About Love,” “Never,” “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You,” and more.
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
Nancy and sister Ann also formed the acoustic group Lovemongers, which released the EP Battle of Evermore in 1992, and the full-length album Whirlygig in 1997. Nancy also released several solo albums, the most recent of which, You and Me, came out in 2021.
Def Leppard is going orchestral. The band is set to release a brand new album, Drastic Symphonies, featuring some of their classic tunes reimagined with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The album features audio from the original recordings, combined with the Royal Philharmonic’s performance, plus new vocals and guitars. It features reworked versions of Def Leppard songs like “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Hysteria,” “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak,” “Love Bites” and more, including the just-released version of “Animal.”
“Def Leppard has always enjoyed veering off the expected path … So, when the offer to revisit some of our back catalogue with the Royal Philharmonic was presented to us, we all jumped at it,” frontman Joe Elliott shares. “Although we’re far from the first band to ever do this, working directly with an orchestra at Abbey Road on some of our more orchestrated songs seemed too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
Drastic Symphonies will be released May 19 on CD, two-LP black vinyl, limited two-LP colored vinyl, limited two-LP picture disc, CD/Blu-ray (Atmos) and digitally. It is available for preorder now.
Here’s the track list for Drastic Symphonies:
“Turn To Dust”
“Paper Sun”
“Animal”
“Pour Some Sugar on Me (Stripped version)”
“Hysteria”
“Love Bites”
“Goodbye For Good This Time”
“Love”
“Gods Of War”
“Angels (Can’t Help You Now)”
“Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”
“Switch 625”
“Too Late for Love”
“When Love & Hate Collide”
“Kings Of the World”
“Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” (vinyl & Atmos versions only)
The Zombies are set to kick off a short run of U.S. dates this week, and according to frontman Colin Blunstone, there will be more than just older folks in the audience.
“We’re really, really fortunate in that our fan base goes right across the ages,” Blunstone tells ABC Audio. “So that when we play, and especially in America, there’ll be people there in their teens and then it goes right through the ages to people who followed us from the ’60s.”
He loves the spectrum of fans that come to the shows. “It really, really, really adds an energy,” he says. “Our fanbase really does lift us.”
The 77-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer says his favorite thing about touring is “the hour and a half, hour and three quarters onstage,” noting “it really lifts your spirits to play with a band that they’re all wonderful musicians.”
And just because The Zombies have been around since ’60s, and he and bandmate RodArgent are in their 70s, doesn’t mean they are taking it easy onstage.
“I know that some bands from the ’60s tend to go through the motions, but we don’t take any prisoners,” he says. “We’ve often said there’s more energy on the stage now than there was in 1964 when we were teenagers.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
The Zombies tour kicks off Saturday in San Antonio, Texas. A complete list of dates can be found at thezombiesmusic.com.
Jim Gordon, a top session drummer who played with some of rock’s biggest acts, including Derek and the Dominoes, Joe Cocker and George Harrison, died Monday from natural causes at California Medical Facility in Vacavillle, California, after a long incarceration and lifelong battle with mental illness, publicist Bob Merlis confirmed on Wednesday. Gordon was 77.
Gordon was a member of The Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles session musicians who played on hundreds of pop hits in the late 1960s, including Glen Campbell‘s “Gentle on My Mind” and The Beach Boys‘ influential album, Pet Sounds. As a member of Eric Clapton‘s band Derek and the Dominos, he was credited with co-writing the group’s 1970 classic “Layla.” He was also a member of Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen group, as well as Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and he was one of the main drummers on George Harrison’s 1970 album All Things Must Pass.
Gordon’s other credits include songs and albums by John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Traffic, Steely Dan, Seals & Crofts and Carly Simon. Gordon’s drum solo on the Incredible Bongo Band’s version of “Apache” is one of the most sampled drum breaks in hip-hop history.
However, Gordon also had a history of mental illness. While touring with Cocker in 1970, he assaulted his then girlfriend, singer Rita Coolidge. In 1983, Gordon bludgeoned and then stabbed his 72-year-old mother to death, claiming that voices told him to do so. A year later, he was officially diagnosed with schizophrenia and sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. He was up for parole multiple times, which was denied.
Streams of Pearl Jam‘s “All or None” jumped higher than a post-apocalyptic giraffe’s neck following its placement on The Last of Us.
According to a new report published by Spotify, “All or None” saw a 5,000% increase in global streams on the platform after it was featured in the seventh episode of the HBO series, which is based on the 2013 video game of the same name.
Spotify streams of other featured The Last of Us songs, such as Linda Ronstadt‘s “Long, Long Time” and Depeche Mode‘s “Never Let Me Down Again,” went up 4,900% and 520%, respectively, following their episodes.
By the way, “All or None” isn’t the only Pearl Jam song that’s intersected with The Last of Us universe. In the 2020 sequel game The Last of Us Part II, Joel teaches Ellie how to play the PJ song “Future Days” on the guitar.
Frontman Eddie Vedder also performed “Future Days” at the 2020 Game Awards, during which The Last of Us Part II won Game of the Year.
