Eric Clapton is returning to North America this fall. The guitar great has announced dates for a short tour, featuring special guest Jimmie Vaughan.
The five-city tour kicks off September 8 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and hits Toronto, St. Louis and Minneapolis before wrapping September 16 in Denver, Colorado. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 31, at 10 a.m. local time.
These five dates will be the only shows Clapton will be doing in North America in 2023. More info can be found at ericclapton.com.
Next up for Clapton, he’s headlining a six-night stand at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan, starting April 15, followed by two Jeff Beck tribute shows at Royal Albert Hall in London, May 22 and 23.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Billy Joel & Stevie Nicks
Billy Joel returned to New York this weekend for the 88th show of his Madison Square Garden residency and brought out a special guest for the occasion – ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons.
According to Stereogum, the two Billys joined forces for the ZZ Top tracks “La Grange” and “Tush,” with Joel telling the audience the experience was “a fantasy come true.”
You can watch fan-shot videos of both performances on YouTube.
Joel’s next MSG residency show is set for April 22, and he’s inching ever closer to his milestone 100th show. He recently announced his 94th concert at MSG will take place September 10, with presale tickets set to go on sale March 29 at 10 a.m. ET and the general sale happening March 31 at 10 a.m. ET.
A complete list of Billy Joel tour dates can be found at billyjoel.com.
Kevin Nixon/Classic Rock Magazine/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Former Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley has been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack over the weekend.
A post on Bayley’s Instagram published Sunday by the musician’s management team reads, “We sincerely regret to announce that Blaze had a heart attack at home yesterday evening & is now in hospital in a stable condition, awaiting news of further surgery/treatment.”
The post adds that Bayley is “in good spirits,” however, his European tour dates scheduled for March and April have been postponed.
The Iron Maiden Twitter account also shared Bayley’s post alongside the caption, “Everyone at Iron Maiden wishes Blaze a quick and full recovery!”
Bayley joined Iron Maiden in 1994, and contributed to the albums The X Factor and Virtual XI. He parted ways with the group in 1999, after which longtime vocalist Bruce Dickinson rejoined the band. He has remained Maiden’s singer ever since.
Your week is about to get a lot heavier, courtesy of Metallica.
The metal legends will drop another new song off their upcoming 72 Seasons album Thursday, March 30. We don’t know the name of the track yet, but you can listen to a 15-second clip of its guitar riff now via Metallica’s Twitter.
72 Seasons, the follow-up to 2016’s Hardwired…to Self-Destruct, drops April 14. It also includes the previously released songs “Lux Æterna,” “Screaming Suicide” and “If Darkness Had a Son.”
Metallica will be supporting 72 Seasons on a massive world tour, which begins in Europe in April before hitting the U.S. in August.
U2 filmed the video for “Where the Streets Have No Name,” the third single off their album The Joshua Tree. Inspired by The Beatles’ 1969 rooftop concert, U2 took to the roof of a downtown Los Angeles liquor store to perform the song.
The production attracted more than 1,000 fans who gathered to watch the performance, prompting the police to try to shut them down — something the band was hoping for in order to add drama to the video.
The band actually performed an eight-song set during the video shoot, including four performances of “Where the Streets Have No Name.”
The video went on to earn U2 a Grammy for Best Performance Music Video.
U2 has another top 10 hit. The band’s latest release, Songs of Surrender, debuts at five on theBillboard200 Albums chart this week. The Irish rockers moved 46,500 equivalent album units of Songs of Surrender to land their 13th top 10 record.
With the new chart placement, U2 is now the fourth group to chart a top 10 album in each decade from the 1980s to the 2020s. The others are AC/DC, Def Leppard and Metallica.
As previously reported, Songs of Surrender, which has U2 rerecording and reimagining 40 of their classic hits, has already topped the U.K. Official Albums chart, making it their 11th U.K. number one.
Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron is denying that he’s joined Foo Fighters in place of the late Taylor Hawkins.
In a since-expired Instagram Story, viewed by ABC Audio, Cameron writes, “FYI the internet rumors are false, I haven’t joined the Foos.”
Cameron’s comments are seemingly in response to a report published by the U.K. tabloid The Sun earlier this month, which quoted a source saying Cameron was a “front runner” to play drums with Foo Fighters for their upcoming comeback shows beginning in May. The Sun reported that Against Me! drummer Atom Willard, who’s also played with Angels & Airwaves, was in the running, as well.
“Primarily it will be Matt but Atom will be on rotation with him,” the source is quoted as saying. “They have both been rehearsing at Studio 606, the Foos’ studio.”
Hawkins passed away March 25, 2022 — one year ago last Saturday. Foo Fighters headlined two massive tribute concerts to Hawkins last September. On New Year’s Eve, Dave Grohl and company announced that they intended to continue on as a band without Hawkins.
Foo Fighters’ first show back is currently scheduled for May 24 in Gilford, New Hampshire. The group has not yet officially announced a replacement drummer.
from left to right: Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald, John McFee. Photo by Clay Patrick McBride
The Doobie Brothers resume their 50th anniversary tour this week, and guitarist and co-founder Tom Johnston says the most important thing about the shows is the people who come to see them.
“The thing that keeps everything fresh is the crowd,” he tells ABC Audio. “Each night a crowd can react differently in a different part of the country and you don’t really know what that’s gonna be like.”
Johnston says most fans are there to hear the classic Doobie hits like “Listen to the Music,” “China Grove,” “Takin’ to the Streets” and more, and he’s OK with that. “You would think you get tired of those,” he says. “The one thing that keeps those fresh is the reaction from the crowd, so it’s like playing them for the first time every night.”
This leg of the tour will hit Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and while Johnston expects most audiences to react similarly to those in the U.S., that’s not the case in Japan.
“They have a whole unique way of responding,” he says. “They’re very polite, they listen to what you’re doing, and they applaud like crazy and then they stop, and they sit down and they’re quiet.” He adds, “It’s something you had to get used to, but that’s the way they are, and it’s, it’s kind of cool.”
The Doobie Brothers, featuring Johnston, PatSimmons, John McFee and Micheal McDonald, return to the road March 29 in Singapore and bring their 50th anniversary tour back to the States in May. A complete list of tour dates can be found at thedoobiebrothers.com.
Stephen Stills is giving fans a taste of his upcoming live album, Stephen Stills Live at Berkeley 1971, dropping April 28. The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has shared a piano medley of the Crosby, Stills & Nash tune “49 Bye-Byes” and the Buffalo Springfield classic “For What It’s Worth.”
As previously reported, Stills Live at Berkeley 1971 was recorded during Stills’ first solo tour. It features 14 previously unreleased live performances, recorded August 20 and 21, 1971, at Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley, California, including two songs with Stills’ CSN bandmate David Crosby.
Stephen Stills Live at Berkeley 1971 is available for preorder in a variety of formats, including two-LP, CD, digital and a deluxe package that contains photos by famed photographer Henry Diltz, a numbered limited-edition self-portrait, framed lithograph and more.
U2 has a new number one album in the U.K. The Irish rockers’ latest release, Songs of Surrender, tops the U.K. Official Albums chart, outselling their closest competition, The Weeknd’s Highlights, two to one.
Songs of Surrender is the band’s first U.K. number one since 2009’s No Line on the Horizon and their 11th overall, tying David Bowie, who also had 11 number ones. (The Beatles still have the most with 15.)
U2’s Songs of Surrender, featuring 40 rerecorded and reimagined U2 classics, is also the most popular vinyl seller in the U.K., topping the Official Vinyl Albums chart this week.
The new album gave a bump to one of U2’s previous releases: 2006’s greatest hits compilation U218 Singles isback at 38 this week.
