Metallica on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (ABC/Randy Holmes)
Metallica has broken another attendance record.
The band’s concert Wednesday night at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in Bologna, Italy, broke an attendance record with over 47,000 fans in attendance.
According to Metallica’s post on Instagram, it was actually the sixth record-breaking crowd on the current leg of their M72 World tour.
“With five record-breaking crowds already on this leg of #M72, the Italian branch of the #MetallicaFamily knew what was at stake… and they definitely delivered,” the band wrote. “Thank you so much for making #M72Bologna a night to remember!”
Metallica next brings their M72 world tour to Budapest on June 11. The European/U.K. leg of the trek wraps with a no repeat weekend, July 3 and 5 in London.
The band will then return to the U.S. to kick off their residency at the Las Vegas Sphere on Oct. 1.
A complete list of dates can be found at Metallica.com.
‘Paul SimonLL The Quiet Celebration Concert’ (Hulu)
Paul Simon fans will now get to enjoy his A Quiet Celebration tour from the comfort of their own home.
Paul Simon: The Quiet Celebration Concert, an almost two-hour concert film, will air on Hulu and Disney+ starting June 26.
The film was recorded live at McCaw Hall in Seattle back in August. It features performances of songs from his most recent album, Seven Psalms, as well as new renditions of classic hits. The tour, which he launched in April 2025, was Simon’s first after dealing with the loss of hearing in his left ear.
“This tour has enabled me to play with musicians again. I really missed it,” says Simon. “Everybody has enjoyed the experience so much. There’s been a feeling of camaraderie and elation that we were playing this piece of music that we were really interested in, and that had a significant effect on me.”
“It made for one of the most extraordinary tours I’ve done — maybe the most joyous,” he adds.
In addition to the concert film, a companion album will be released Oct. 9 digitally and as a three-LP or two-CD set.
Simon kicked off a new leg of the tour on Wednesday in Stanford, California, and will play there again on Thursday. A complete list of dates can be found at PaulSimon.com.
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Guitarist Josh Klinghoffer performs at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on March 12, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Image
Guitarist Josh Klinghoffer has shared his thoughts about the Red Hot Chili Peppers rarely playing songs from the albums he appeared on.
Klinghoffer joined the Peppers in 2011, replacing John Frusciante, who took over on guitar in 1988 following the death of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak. Frusciante appeared on many of their hit albums, including 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik and 1999’s Californication.
Klinghoffer was with the group until 2019, when Frusciante returned, and appeared on 2011’s I’m With You and 2016’s The Getaway. In an interview with Guitar World, he was asked whether it bothered him that those albums are “ignored by the band.”
“Not really,” he replied. “It’s a funny thing. I guess it’s particular to the way John views the band when he’s not in it, and it makes sense to me. They have enough music that they don’t need to look to some of the other records.”
“I guess it’s just something unique to that band, you know? Having such a revolving door there, and such a strong presence in John,” he added. “He’s kind of the preeminent guitar player, you know? He’s the one who made the work with them where they experienced their global fame.”
Frusciante acknowledged that there seems to be “a little bit of a slight disrespect to the records that aren’t the John records. Once John’s back in the picture, it’s like the other records don’t exist.”
“That’s the only weird thing to me, because those records were important at the time, you know?” he said. “They were important enough to go and play them around the world.”
Klinghoffer’s solo project, Pluralone, will release the new album A Drop in the Ocean on June 12.
The Beatles’ message of “All You Need is Love” will once again be celebrated June 25 on Global Beatles Day, and this year it’s gotten the official support of The Beatles.
The fan initiative was launched in 2009 by lifelong fan Faith Cohen. It celebrates the anniversary of the legendary band’s 1967 live performance of “All You Need is Love” on the BBC’s Our World special, which marked the first international satellite television broadcast of the song.
Apple Corps Ltd, the company founded by The Beatles, has now officially recognized the fan celebration. To mark the occasion, on June 25 it will release a colorized version of the Our World performance to YouTube for the first time.
“More than ever, the message of The Beatles, and of ‘All You Need Is Love’ speaks to something vital for community, connection, and the power of bringing people together,” Apple Corps CEO Tom Greene wrote in a recent letter to Cohen. “That is what makes Global Beatles Day so special. It asks nothing more than for people, wherever they are, to stop, listen, and share a little joy.”
Billy Joel attends MSG Entertainment and Billy Joel special franchise announcement at Chase Square at Madison Square Garden on June 1, 2023 in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
Billy Joel spent 10 years performing at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and now he’s lent the title of one of his signature songs to a collection of merch that celebrates the Garden’s other residents — The Knicks — making it to the NBA Finals.
Called the New York State of Mind collection, the collab with the Sportiqe brand is now available online, and inside New York City’s NBA Store. It includes a hoodie and a tee, each one sporting the Knicks logo and the words “New York State of Mind.”
The collection is the start of future Sportiqe Billy Joel merch collabs, which will tie in with other New York teams and venues through 2026. The brand did something similar in 2025 with Frank Sinatra and the New York Yankees.
Sportiqe co-founder Jason Franklin says in a statement, “I started taking piano lessons when I was 8 years old because I loved Billy Joel – the first song I ever learned to play was one of his songs. Thirty-six years later, it’s incredibly meaningful to launch this collaboration during the Knicks’ long-awaited return to the Finals.”
The Knicks will play the San Antonio Spurs at the Garden during games 2, 4 and, if necessary, 6.
Frampton, a documentary about Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Peter Frampton, will premiere Thursday night at New York City’s Tribeca Festival, and Frampton himself will make an appearance at the screening.
The documentary covers Frampton’s entire life and career, and features commentary from Bill Wyman, Roger Daltrey, Tom Morello, Cameron Crowe, Sheryl Crow, Nancy Wilson of Heart, Alice Cooper and Ringo Starr. While there are plenty of high points — like Frampton Comes Alive! becoming, at one point, the best-selling album of all time — the doc covers many low points as well, like the car crash that nearly killed him, the period when he was flat broke, and his life today, living with a degenerative muscle disease.
Frampton jokes that he was “exhausted” after seeing his whole life onscreen.
“When you see it all in one hour and 50 minutes … it’s a lot of stuff,” he tells ABC Audio. “Y’know, it’s 60 years’ worth, basically, of career and life, and so yeah, it was quite amazing to see it all in one go.”
At one point in the film, Cameron Crowe describes one of Peter’s Frampton Comes Alive! concerts as “the peak of rock.” Frampton says that wasn’t necessarily good thing.
“I knew it was the peak of rock for me,” he laughs. “You can’t get much higher.” But, he admits, “It just got too big for me. The #1 in the charts, the stadium shows — so exciting. But when you become the biggest record in history — I’ll take #2, not #1, in anything, because there’s so much pressure on the #1. And so for me, it was very hard at that point.”
Seeing the results of that pressure is one of the things Frampton wants fans to take away from the documentary.
“I’ve always wanted people to know exactly what was happening at various times when they were just [putting] that album on and [playing] it over and over and again,” he says.
“And also how it affected me, as opposed to them. I think it gives everybody a really good sense of how the business was back then.”
Europe’s ‘Come This Madness’ (Silver Lining Music / Hell & Back Recordings)
Europe has released a second single from their upcoming album, Come This Madness, their first new album in nine years.
The Swedish rockers, best known for their 1986 hit “The Final Countdown,” have dropped the song “The Cult of Ignorance,” along with a star-studded video featuring appearances by The Hives’ Howling Pellet, Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson, actress Malin Akerman, tennis champ Stefan Edberg and others.
“I love this track! It’s a straightforward rock anthem with lyrics reflecting the times we live in, written slightly tongue in cheek,” says Europe’s founding member and frontman Joey Tempest. “The title was inspired by a phrase coined by author and biochemist Isaac Asimov. It reflects some of the negative tendencies emerging in our world today, though it is written in a slightly light-hearted tone.”
Come This Madness, Europe’s first album since 2017’s Walk the Earth, will be released Sept. 25.
Ace Frehley’s Les Paul guitar (Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions)
Ace Frehley’s most-played guitar brought in big bucks at auction.
The late KISS guitarist’s 1975 Les Paul sold for $512,000 at Julien’s Auctions’ Music Icons auction, which took place May 29-30 at the Hard Rock Café Times Square.
The guitar was described in a press release as Frehley’s “constant companion” from the beginning of his career and was used “more than any other guitar in his arsenal.”
Other Frehley items that sold at auction include: a 1997 Gibson signature Les Paul, which he played at Super Bowl 33, for $57,600; a custom Gibson Les Paul Jr, which he played during the 1996 KISS reunion tour, for $57,600; a life-size stage-worn Destroyer mannequin, which sold for $51,200; and a stage-worn purple jumpsuit, which sold for $11,520.
Other big sellers at the auction include: Eddie Van Halen’s autographed Charvel art series guitar from his last performance with Sammy Hagar, which sold for $115,200 and a belt worn by The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger at their 1969 Hyde Park concert, which sold for $51,200.
William Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain performs in concert, May 25, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Mariano Regidor/Redferns); Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen performs during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on May 17, 2015 in Las Vegas (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
You can say a lot of things about the late Eddie Van Halen, but you can’t deny that he was an incredible guitar player, right? Or maybe you can, if you’re The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Speaking to Stereogum, Jim Reid of the Scottish alt-rock duo talked about how, when it comes to playing guitar, sometimes simpler is better. “I can play guitar, but only just. It’s kinda deliberate. I play guitar to the level that I need to play guitar,” he said. “And sometimes knowing too much about making music gets in the way, and it ends up back to Eddie Van Halen again, do you know what I mean?”
Jim’s older brother and bandmate William Reid then chimed in.
“I think guitar players should never learn scales. I think the worst guitar players in the world, like Eddie Van Halen — I can’t stand Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing,” said William. “I think he ruined rock guitar all through the ’80s and ’90s ’cause so many people copied him.”
“And I just couldn’t get any of that playing as fast as you f****** can and cramming as many notes in one second as you could,” William went on.
So whose playing does he admire?
“I listen to Peter Hook’s bass riffs, and I think that’s a thousand times better than anything Eddie Van Halen could ever conjure up,” said William. He was referring to the New Order and Joy Division bass player, who’ll be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame later this year.
Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders performs at BBC Radio 2 In The Park 2023 at Victoria Park on September 17, 2023 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Cameron Smith/Getty Images)
Chrissie Hynde has shared her thoughts on concertgoers who record and take pictures on their phones during concerts, and let’s just say she’s not a fan.
“Question: What is it with people and their phones?” the Pretenders frontwoman writes on social media. “But my real question is: why do people have to film or take pictures at concerts or museums? Why???”
She then mentions discussing the topic with singer Emmylou Harris before Harris’ recent concert in London.
“This is a subject that comes up every time I meet any artist. It’s become like an unpleasant fug hanging over the head of all artists,” Hynde writes. “You can plaster a venue with signs requesting ‘NO CAMERAS’ but people don’t respect it. It’s as if people feel entitled, even though the artist clearly has asked them not to do it.”
She notes that Bob Dylan goes so far as to have fans lock up their phones before his shows, writing, “You would think an artist of his stature could make a simple request and the audience would respect it… no chance.”
Hynde says recording and filming at concerts is “like a weird compulsion that people can’t control,” noting, “no one seems to be able to understand why artists don’t like it.” She then compares it to “a mosquito buzzing around your head when you’re trying to go to sleep.”
Hynde shares that at Harris’ London show she encountered a man who was recording the whole concert and when someone told him it was rude and distracting, he told them to “mind their own business.”
“My conclusion is: if Jesus Christ were to walk into a room, the first thing everyone would do would be to pull out their phone,” she writes. “Can someone please explain?”
