Season two of Queen The Greatest Live continues, with this week’s episode titled “Flash and the Hero.”
Episode seven once again focuses on the opening of the show, this time the band’s January 5, 1982 concert at Milton Keynes Bowl in the U.K. It shows how Queen got the audience going with their one-two punch opening number, a medley of their songs “Flash” and “The Hero.”
The band builds excitement in the crowd by playing “Flash,” from the 1980 film FlashGordon, over the PA system as they take the stage, and then launch into “The Hero,” the second track from the film’s soundtrack.
Queen’s Milton Keynes show was part of the 30-date European Hot Space Tour. Queen On Fire – Live at the Bowl was released on DVD/CD back in 2004.
Over the past nine years, Billy Joel has performed in stadiums and other venues around the world, but each month — barring illness or a global pandemic — he comes back to New York to do a concert at Madison Square Garden as part of his ongoing residency. Billboard reports those shows alone have just crossed the $200 million mark in total earnings.
Through Billy’s Valentine’s Day show — the 87th of the residency, which kicked off in 2014 — Billboard reports that his total grosses are $201.5 million and he’s sold 1.6 million tickets. Of course, he’s also raking in the bucks from his other, non-Garden concerts.
Billy has said that he’ll continue his residency as long as there’s interest, and according to Billboard, there certainly is: The shows continue to sell out nine years on. What’s more, Billy’s earning more per show: Back in 2014, he was taking in nearly $2 million per show, but now he makes more than $3 million, mostly due to the increased ticket prices that come with dynamic pricing.
According to Billboard, since 1986, which is the first year that data is available, Billy has earned over $1 billion on the road and sold more than 14 million tickets.
The Piano Man will be adding to his huge take starting next week when his co-headlining tour with Stevie Nicks kicks off in LA’s SoiFi Stadium.
Lynyrd Skynyrd can thank American Idol for their latest chart resurgence. The band’s classic track “Simple Man” has returned to the Billboardcharts following Idol contestant Colin Stough‘s performance of it on the season premiere of the ABC talent competition.
“Simple Man” is currently at 23 on the Hot Rock Alternative Songs chart, thanks to 3.6 million new U.S. streams and 1,000 new downloads. The tune is also up to 11 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart.
Stough earned a golden ticket with his performance, which has since been viewed over 1 million times on YouTube.
One of Lynyrd Skynrd’s most popular tunes, “Simple Man” appeared on the band’s debut album, (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd). It has spent over 100 weeks on Billboard’s Rock Streaming Songs chart and another 25 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart.
Journey band members Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain have been at odds for a while now, with dueling lawsuits, cease-and-desist letters and more. But in a new article, Billboarddelves into their very public feud.
Amidst the details of their conflict, the mag reveals things have gotten so bad that the bandmates have hired security guards to watch over their dressing rooms in order to keep each other out.
A source tells Billboard Schon first hired two police officers to watch his room during the band’s 2022 tour because he thought “people were out to get him.” Then at a Florida show last spring, Cain caught an assistant, sent by Schon and his wife, Michaele, snooping around his dressing room. There’s no word on what they were looking for, but that prompted Cain to hire security to guard his room during the tour, as well.
The insider says the rest of the tour was filled with fights over whose guard outranked whose. The source notes of the Schons, “That’s just the level of pettiness and control and conspiracy they came to believe in.”
Journey is currently on their 50th anniversary Freedom tour; Billboard notes things are so bad between Schon and Cain that at their January 27 show they stood “at least 20 yards apart at all times, on opposite sides of the stage.” The tour hits University Park, Pennsylvania, on Friday.
According to Deadline, the Metallica frontman has been cast in the upcoming movie The Thicket, based on the 2013 novel of the same name.
The film, which Deadline describes as a “dark western thriller,” stars Game of Thrones‘ Peter Dinklage, who is also producing.
Hetfield made his dramatic acting debut in 2019’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which you may remember as the movie starring Zac Efron as infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. The “Enter Sandman” rocker played the police officer who first arrested Bundy.
In addition to his acting gig, Hetfield and the rest of Metallica are preparing to release their new album, 72 Seasons, on April 14. Metallica will support the record on a massive world tour, which begins in Europe in April before coming to the U.S. in August.
Spinning Gold, the movie about music producer Neil Bogart and Casablanca Records, is hitting theaters this month, and it’s getting a soundtrack featuring lots of classic tunes covered by the stars of the film.
Bogart is credited with launching the careers of such artists as Donna Summer, Gladys Knight, The Village People and even KISS. The soundtrack features covers of such classic tunes as KISS’ “Beth” and “Rock and Roll All Nite,” Summers’ “Bad Girls” and “Dim All The Lights,” Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and more.
The movie stars Tony winner Jeremy Jordan as Bogart, with X Ambassadors vocalist Sam Harris as KISS’ Paul Stanley, Casey Likes as Gene Simmons and All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth as Peter Criss. Other artists portrayed in the film include George Clinton, played by Wiz Khalifa; Ron Isley, played by Jason Derulo; Gladys Knight, played by Ledisi; Bill Withers, played by Pink Sweat$; and Donna Summer, played by Tayla Parx.
Spinning Gold and its soundtrack will be released March 31.
Here is the track list for the Spinning Gold soundtrack:
“It’s Your Thing” – Performed by Jason Derulo
“Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)” – Performed by Wiz Khalifa
“Shout It Out Loud” – Performed by Sam Harris and Casey Likes
“Bad Girls” – Performed by Tayla Parx
“Midnight Train To Georgia” – Performed by Ledisi
“Ain’t No Sunshine” – Performed by Pink Sweat$
“Love To Love You Baby” – Performed by Tayla Parx
“Rock And Roll All Nite” – Performed by Sam Harris and Casey Likes
“Cherry On Top” – Performed by Jeremy Jordan
“One Toke Over The Line” – Performed by Alec Benjamin
“Lean On Me” – Performed by Pink Sweat$
“Dim All The Lights” – Performed by Tayla Parx
“Mothership Connection” – Performed by Wiz Khalifa
“Ooh Child” – Performed by Trevis Romell Harris
“Oh Happy Day” – Performed by Jeremy Jordan
“Who Is He (And What Is He To You)” – Performed by Pink Sweat$
“Beth” – Performed by Alex Gaskarth
“Last Dance” – Performed by Jeremy Jordan and Tayla Parx
“Greatest Time (Spinning Gold)” – Performed by Jeremy Jordan and Cast
Motörhead disbanded in 2015 following the death of frontman Lemmy Kilmister — and according to drummer Mikkey Dee, it’ll stay that way.
During an interview with The Metal Voice, Dee was asked whether he and fellow surviving member Phil Campbell would ever tour as Motörhead again, to which he replied, “That, to me, is stepping over the line.”
“We will never, ever, ever tour with Motörhead as a name ever and bring someone else in [to replace Lemmy],” Dee said. “That will never happen.”
Still, Dee isn’t opposed to performing Motörhead songs live, as long as it isn’t being billed as “Motörhead.” For example, he mentions that he recently played some at a show under his own name.
“It has nothing to do with trying to be Motörhead,” he said. “This [show] is not advertised as Motörhead, it’s advertised ‘Mikkey Dee with Friends,’ for instance. So there’s definitely a line there.”
Meanwhile, a reissue of Motörhead’s final album, 2015’s Bad Magic, was released last month.
Billy Corgan is a fan of Kelly Clarkson‘s “1979” cover.
The pop star and American Idol winner put her spin on the classic Smashing Pumpkins tune this week during the “Kellyoke” segment of her daytime talk show. After the Pumpkins Twitter account shared a video of the cover, Corgan retweeted it along with the caption, “Cool! Love Kelly as an artist, too.”
Clarkson’s other recent “Kellyoke” covers include Blink-182‘s “All the Small Things,”Arctic Monkeys‘ “Do I Wanna Know?” and The Offspring‘s “Come Out and Play.” She also released a Kellyoke EP last year featuring renditions of songs by artists including Radiohead, Billie Eilish and SHAED.
The Pumpkins, meanwhile, are prepping the final installment of their three-act album, Atum. The first parts were released last November and January, respectively, while part three arrives April 21.
David Bowie is being celebrated in New York this June. The David Bowie World Fan Convention is set to take place June 16 to 18 at the Manhattan club Racket.
The event will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bowie’s Let’s Dance and the 50th anniversary of Aladdin Sane. It will feature appearances by several Bowie associates, including producers Tony Visconti, Mark Plati and Tim Palmer, guitarists Carlos Alomar and Kevin Armstrong, and pianist Mike Garson.
It will also feature Deryck Todd‘s BowieBall, which will be hosted by Bowie performer Michael T, with performances from Bowie tribute band Sons of the Silent Age and vocalist Ava Cherry, as well as Bowie DJs TheMenWhoFell2Earth.
Tickets for the convention, which includes the BowieBall, are on sale now.
Roger Waters recently announced he’s rerecording the classic Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon, which turned 50 on Wednesday. Well, now he’s giving fans the first taste of what to expect with his new recording.
“When we recorded the stripped down songs for the Lockdown Sessions, the 50th anniversary of the release of Dark Side of The Moon was looming on the horizon,” Waters shares in a post on Facebook. “It occurred to … me that Dark Side of the Moon could well be a suitable candidate for a similar re-working, partly as a tribute to the original work, but also to re-address the political and emotional message of the whole album.”
The post featured a snippet of Waters’ take on “Us and Them.” He says when he and his collaborators first discussed the idea of making the record, they were “giggling and shouting ‘You must be f***ing mad'” at one another before eventually taking it on.
“It’s turned out really great and I’m excited for everyone to hear it,” he says. “It’s not a replacement for the original which, obviously, is irreplaceable. But it is a way for the seventy nine year old man to look back across the intervening fifty years into the eyes of the twenty nine year old and say, to quote a poem of mine about my Father, ‘We did our best, we kept his trust, our Dad would have been proud of us’.”
Waters also shares, “[I]t is a way for me to honor a recording that Nick (Mason) and Rick (Wright) and Dave (Gilmour) and I have every right to be very proud of.”
