Patti Smith is on tour in Europe and she’s added a surprising cover to her set list.
Fan shot footage posted to social media shows Smith performing a cover of Lana Del Rey’s hit “Summertime Sadness.” According to one post, Smith told fans Lana’s tune made her think about times she shared with her husband Fred “Sonic” Smith, who passed away in November 1994.
Smith’s tour continues Friday with her second show in Dublin, Ireland, and she has dates in Europe booked throughout July and then again in September. She also has three U.S. shows happening in October. A complete list of dates can be found at pattismith.net.
Foo Fighters welcomed a hometown hero to the stage during their concert in Birmingham, England, on Thursday.
The show featured a surprise appearance by Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, who joined Dave Grohl onstage for a performance of the Sabbath classic “Paranoid.”
Black Sabbath, of course, formed in Birmingham.
You can watch fan-shot footage of the Foozer Butler collaboration streaming now on YouTube.
Butler, by the way, was among the many guests that played the 2022 Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts. During the Los Angeles show, he joined the Foos alongside Sebastian Bach and Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich to perform “Paranoid” and fellow Sabbath tune “Supernaut.”
Foo Fighters are currently touring Europe in support of their latest album, 2023’s But Here We Are. They’ll launch a U.S. stadium tour in July.
Elton John‘s album Caribou turns 50 years old Friday: It was released in the U.K. on June 28, 1974. It topped the chart and produced two big hit singles, but looking back, the guy who co-wrote it — Bernie Taupin — doesn’t think it’s his and Elton’s best work. In fact, he thinks people have the wrong idea about a lot of the albums he and Elton released in the ’70s.
By 1974 Elton was a huge superstar, and he was also incredibly prolific. In ’74, he released Caribou and a Greatest Hits album, which both hit #1, and in ’75 he released Rock of the Westies and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, both of which also hit #1. But with that kind of output — plus nonstop touring — something had to give, and according to Taupin, it was the quality of the music.
“I don’t think Caribou or Rock of the Westies are great albums,” Taupin tells ABC Audio. “They’ve got good tracks on them.” Indeed, Caribou had “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” and “The Bitch Is Back,” while Rock of the Westies had “Island Girl” and “Grow Some Funk of Your Own.”
But, Taupin notes, “People seem to lump that whole ’70s collective together and they always say, ‘Oh,’ y’know, the ’70s records were the classic albums.’ Well, there were some classic albums, but there were a couple that I don’t think measured up to the others and in total weren’t great records.”
He allows, “Yes, they had some classic tracks on them, but they also had a lot of filler.”
If you want an example, look no further than “Solar Prestige a Gammon,” a song on Caribou that’s entirely made up of nonsense words.
Pearl Jam has canceled their upcoming concert scheduled for Saturday at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, citing “illness in the band.”
“This decision was the last thing we wanted to have to make, especially as we know so many of you made travel plans based on the tour schedule,” the band writes in a Facebook post. “There was simply no other option based on our current health and also having to avoid further damage.”
The post doesn’t specify the nature of the illness or which band member, or members, it’s affecting, but reviews of Pearl Jam’s last show, held Tuesday in Manchester, England, noted that frontman Eddie Vedder was feeling under the weather.
“We couldn’t be more disappointed to not play one of our favorite cities this tour,” PJ’s post continues. “Despite best efforts, rescheduling was not possible at this time due to existing schedule commitments. We are deeply grateful for your support and sincerely apologize to the incredible Pearl Jam community for the inconvenience and disappointment.”
Those who purchased tickets will receive refunds at their point of purchase.
The London show was just the third date on Pearl Jam’s European tour in support of their new album, Dark Matter. The outing is expected to resume July 2 in Germany.
Pearl Jam is set launch a summer U.S. leg of the tour in August.
A new documentary about Jimi Hendrix’s famed Electric Lady Studios in New York is expected to hit theaters this summer.
Abramorama has nabbed the global rights to Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision, directed by John McDermott, who also directed two other Hendrix docs: Electric Church and Music, Money, Madness: Jimi Hendrix Live In Maui.
According to the description, the film will look at “how the space rose from the rubble of a bankrupt Manhattan nightclub to become a state-of-the-art recording facility inspired by Hendrix’s desire for a permanent studio.”
The doc will feature previously unseen footage and photos, along with track breakdowns from recording engineer Eddie Kramer. It will also include interviews withExperience bassist Billy Cox, original Electric Lady staff members and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Steve Winwood, who took part in Hendrix’s first session at the studio.
Opened in 1970, Electric Lady Studios was the first commercial studio owned by an artist. It was constructed specifically for Hendrix, who died just weeks after its opening. The studio went on to be a go-to spot for musicians, with artists such as John Lennon, David Bowie, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and more recording there.
Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision will open in New York City on Aug. 9, with a wider release to follow.
Slash is set to make a special in-store appearance at Easy Street Records in Seattle on July 7.
The Guns N’ Roses guitarist will perform with his blues band,bassist Johnny Griparic, keyboardist Teddy “ZigZag” Andreadis, drummer Michael Jerome and vocalist/guitarist Tash Neal, as they celebrate Slash’s recently released blues album Orgy of the Damned.
Only a limited number of attendees will be allowed at the show, and spots can be reserved by pre-purchasing a copy of the record through Easy Street.
The in-store performance will happen ahead of the Redmond, Washington, stop of Slash’s S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Blues Festival, which takes place July 8 and features performances by Warren Haynes Band, Samantha Fish and Eric Gales.
Orgy of the Damned, which was released in May, features guest appearances by AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson, Iggy Pop, ZZ Top‘s Billy F Gibbons and Demi Lovato.
One year ago Elton John gave what he said would be his final U.K. performance by making his first-ever appearance at England’s legendary Glastonbury Festival. On Wednesday he posted a video documenting what went into creating that performance, which received rave reviews.
The video starts at rehearsal week before the June 25, 2023, performance, during which Elton runs through songs like “Tiny Dancer” and “Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters,” coordinates with his special musical guests and talks about changing up the set list from his regular show.
Then we go to the day of the performance and get a peek inside Elton’s green room, where we see him greeting Emily and Michael Eavis, the daughter and father who run the festival. We also see footage of Elton performing with his guests, including The Killers’ Brandon Flowers and Stephen Sanchez. Then there’s footage of Elton performing, with a massive fireworks display and the crowd going wild.
“All I can do is do what I do: bring people together with my music,” he says.
E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt has been friends with Bruce Springsteen ever since starting out in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and he realizes a friendship like that is very rare.
“You just don’t have that many friends for 60 years. I think the fact that it survived some ups and downs, it says something about our nature,” the rocker tells People. “The nature of the importance of friendship in general, which is what attracted me to being in a band rather than a solo show business person.”
Van Zandt, who is the subject of the new documentary Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, currently streaming on Max, says fans can see that friendship on display when they take the stage together.
“Fifty years later, how are we still playing to 300,000 people in one country in one week?” he says. “I think we’re communicating that friendship, which is real with me and him. When they see us on the same microphone, that isn’t an act. Nobody’s that good an actor to keep this act up for 50 years.”
He adds, “I think that’s something that you cannot take for granted.”
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street kick off a two-night stand in the Netherlands on Thursday. The tour returns to North America on Aug. 15 in Pittsburgh. A complete list of dates can be found at brucepsringsteen.net.
Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy Kilmister may reunite in animated form.
As Sharon Osbourne tells Arizona’s The Entertainer! magazine, a cartoon about the Prince of Darkness and the late Motörhead frontman is in the works.
“They are superheroes,” Sharon says of the show’s premise. “It’s very, very funny. It’s irreverent and funny. Hopefully somebody will buy that and that’ll go out. We’re excited about it.”
Ozzy and Lemmy were friends in real life, and they collaborated on the former’s 1991 album, No More Tears. In 2021, Ozzy released a new version of his song “Hellraiser,” which was later recorded by Motörhead, featuring both his and Lemmy’s vocals.
Meanwhile, Ozzy and his family were set to appear at Phoenix’s Mad Monster Party horror convention in July, but the Osbournes have since had to cancel. However, Ozzy and Sharon’s son, Jack, will still attend.
Queen’s Brian May and ZZ Top’sBilly F Gibbons lend their musical talents to Friendlytown, the new album from Booker T and the MG’s guitarist Steve Cropper and his band The Midnight Hour.
May sings and plays guitar on the first single released from the record, “Too Much Stress,” which also features Gibbons on guitar.
Cropper notes, “It was heaven playing with those two.”
The album, the follow-up to Cropper & The Midnight Hour’s 2021 Grammy-nominated album, Fire It Up, also features a guest appearance by guitarist Tim Montana.
“If your booty is not shaking in the first two bars of this album you’re already dead in a chair,” Cropper shares. “I feel so good about this batch of songs. They’re packed with radio hooks, and we have Billy Gibbons, Brian May, and Tim Montana playing on the album—it’s like guitar heaven.”
