Neil Young has a plan for sustainable touring

Neil Young has a plan for sustainable touring
Gus Stewart/Redferns

Neil Young hasn’t been on tour since before the pandemic, and while he has no immediate plans to hit the road, when he does, he hopes to do so in a more environmentally friendly way. In fact, in a new interview with The New Yorker, Young says he already has a plan for a more sustainable tour.

“I’ve been working on it with a couple of my friends for about seven or eight months. We’re trying to figure out how to do a self-sustaining, renewable tour,” he shares. “Everything that moves our vehicles around, the stage, the lights, the sound, everything that powers it is clean. Nothing dirty with us. We set it up; we do this everywhere we go.”

He adds, “This is something that’s very important to me, if I’m ever going to go out again… and I’m not sure I want to, I’m still feeling that out. But if I’m ever going to do it, I want to make sure that everything is clean.”

Young’s plan also includes the food people eat at shows. He notes, “I’ve been working on this idea of bringing the food and the drink and the merch into the realm where it’s all clean. I will make sure that the food comes from real farmers.” He insists, “It’s about sustainability and renewability in the future, loving Earth for what it is. We want to do the right thing. That’s kind of the idea.”

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Brian May hoping to reissue ‘Star Fleet Project’ solo EP this summer

Brian May hoping to reissue ‘Star Fleet Project’ solo EP this summer
Sven Hoogerhuis/BSR Agency/Getty Images

Brian May is working hard on a reissue of his 1983 solo EP, Star Fleet Project. The Queen guitarist shared on Instagram that it will be his next Gold Series reissue box set, and he’s expecting it will be out summer 2023.

“It won’t be just a remaster- we’re remixing everything from highest definition transfers from the original multitracks,” he writes. “You’ll still be able to hear the old mixes, but I’m excited about what we’re cooking up now,” noting, “All the original material – every detail rescued – magnificently remixed – and much more !!!”

The EP featured the late Eddie Van Halen, who May says fans will hear “in his prime that nobody ever heard before.” 

May notes, “Wish I could unleash it all now – but such is the state of record production now it will take until meet Summer to turn it around. It WILL Be worth the wait – I promise !!!”

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Mötley Crüe & Def Leppard announce first US shows of 2023

Mötley Crüe & Def Leppard announce first US shows of 2023
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation

In addition to their joint world tour, Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard will be sharing the stage Stateside in 2023.

The two bands have announced a pair of co-headlining shows taking place February 10 and 11 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 2, at 10 a.m. local time.

For all ticket info, visit Motley.com or DefLeppard.com.

Shortly after the AC performances, the world tour will launch February 18 in Mexico City, followed by a trip to South America and Europe. The global outing follows Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard’s 2022 U.S. Stadium Tour, which also featured Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts on the bill.

The Stadium Tour shows, originally scheduled for 2020 and delayed two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marked Mötley’s return to the live stage after voiding their infamous “cessation of touring” agreement, which they had signed to legally prevent them from touring again.

The full Crüe reunion won’t last into 2023, however, as guitarist Mick Mars announced in October that he’s retiring from touring. Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 will take his place for the upcoming shows.

In other Def Leppard news, the “Photograph” rockers are mourning the death of their trainer Eric, who toured with the band in 2018. In a tweet posted Tuesday, the group shares “sincere condolences” to Eric’s family.

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The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton & more make list of worst decisions in music history

The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton & more make list of worst decisions in music history
David Wolff-Patrick/Redferns

Few artists make all the right decisions when it comes to their career, but there are some who make spectacularly bad decisions, and Rolling Stone is taking a long hard look at them. The mag has just come out with a list they’ve dubbed “The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History,” created by artists like The Rolling StonesThe Beatles, Eric Clapton and more.

Coming in at number one is The Rolling Stones’ decision to hire Hells Angels for security at their 1969 free concert at Altamont Speedway, which ended with the death of concertgoer Meredith Hunter. Others making the top five include: Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his underage cousin at two, Decca Records passing on The Beatles in 1962 at three, Eric Clapton and his anti-vax conspiracy theories at four and the 1999 Woodstock festival at five.

Other bad decisions making the list include: U2 giving away their album Songs of Innocence for free on iTunes in 2015, Billy Squier’s cheesy music video for “Rock Me Tonight,” Steve Van Zandt quitting the E Street Band ahead of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour in 1984, John Lennon saying The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” in 1966 and lots more.

Check out the complete list here.

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The B-52s announce 10-night Las Vegas residency

The B-52s announce 10-night Las Vegas residency
Randy Holmes via Getty Images

The B-52s will wrap their farewell tour in Georgia in January, but that doesn’t mean they are saying goodbye to performing altogether. In fact, they just announced a new set of Las Vegas dates.

The band is set for a new 10-night residency at The Venetian Resort, with dates in May, August and September. The shows kick off May 5 and run through September 3. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. local time.

The new dates follow a series of sold-out performances in Sin City in October.

As for those final farewell tour dates, The B-52s will play Atlanta’s Fox Theatre on January 6, 7 and 8, and Athens’ Classic Center on January 10.

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Rick Wakeman announces new album

Rick Wakeman announces new album
Robin Little/Redferns

Rick Wakeman is ready to release some new music. The Yes keyboardist just announced his brand-new concept album, A Gallery of the Imagination. He says it was inspired by his first piano teacher, Mrs. Symes, who taught him a lesson he never forgot: “when you play, you are painting pictures through music.” 

Wakeman says the songs on the album are presented “as if they were pictures in a gallery,” noting, “just as there are many different styles in an art gallery, so there are many different musical styles on A Gallery of the Imagination.” 

“One of my great loves is going to museums and art galleries and seeing all the different types of art, so I thought, why not a music gallery… the Gallery of the Imagination?” he says. “People can paint their own mind pictures to the different types of music that are on the album. It is very diverse and for me, it works very well because the concept holds it all together.”

Fans can pre-order the album now, and it will be shipped before Christmas. Vinyl and deluxe editions will be out in February.

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Report: Burglars break into home owned by Tommy Lee

Report: Burglars break into home owned by Tommy Lee
Jim Dyson/Getty Images

Tommy Lee‘s home in Calabasas, California, is probably feeling a bit less sweet after it was reportedly burglarized.

According to TMZ, the house was broken into last week and was left trashed with broken glass and lamps. Along with the property damage, a bathroom mirror and cabinet handles were reportedly stolen.

The Mötley Crüe drummer was not inside the house during the break in, as he’s long been trying to sell the property.

If you watched Pam & Tommy, then you know this isn’t Lee’s first brush with thieves. The Emmy-nominated miniseries told the story of Lee and Pamela Anderson‘s infamous sex tape, which was stolen from their home in 1995.

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Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament teams up with Blink-182 & Pixies to benefit skate park initiative

Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament teams up with Blink-182 & Pixies to benefit skate park initiative
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for PJ

Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament has teamed up with Blink-182 and Pixies to help support his Montana Pool Service organization, which builds skate parks across his home state.

Both the “All the Small Things” outfit and the “Where Is My Mind?” rockers have contributed signature skateboard decks, which will help fund the creation of two more parks set to be built in 2023.

The decks go on sale Tuesday at noon ET.

Since 2000, Ament and MPS have built over 30 skate parks for Montana’s rural and native communities.

“Thanks to MPS, there is a new generation of rippers out there creating their own scene and style — an opportunity to express themselves in a unique way that would otherwise not be possible,” Ament says.

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Robert Plant & Alison Krauss preview their CMT Crossroads episode

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss preview their CMT Crossroads episode
courtesy of CMT

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss star in a brand-new episode of CMT Crossroads, and now, fans are getting their first look at the episode. 

The 90-minute special, CMT Crossroads: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. A preview of the episode features the pair teaming up for their Raise the Roof track “High and Lonesome.” 

The special will also have the two artists performing tracks from their albums Raising Sand and Raise The Roof, including “Can’t Let Go,” “Gone Gone Gone” and more. They will also team for some Led Zeppelin tracks, including “Rock and Roll” and “When The Levee Breaks.”

Plant and Krauss have appeared on CMT Crossroads together before. They first teamed for an episode in 2008 following the release of Raising Sand.

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U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. needs surgery; likely won’t tour with band in 2023

U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. needs surgery; likely won’t tour with band in 2023
Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images

U2 fans are always anxiously awaiting tour news, but they just got some that may not make them happy. In a Washington Post piece celebrating the band’s upcoming lifetime achievement award from the Kennedy Center, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. revealed that any tour U2 may do next year will be without him. 

Although not directly quoted, writer Geoff Edgers says Mullen shared that “if the band plays live in 2023 it will probably be without him, as he needs surgery to continue playing.” What type of surgery he needs wasn’t revealed, but on Twitter, Edgers writes he “has issues with his neck and elbows,” sharing that Larry said, “I have lots of bits falling off, elbows, knees, necks, and so during Covid, when we weren’t playing, I got a chance to have a look at some of these things. So there’s some damage along the way.”

On a happier note, U2 does reveal they have two albums described as either completed or almost completed. They include Songs of Ascent, which is said to be “nearly finished.” The article notes, “Bono and the Edge aren’t sure when to release it.” There’s also Surrender, featuring stripped-down versions of the 40 songs Bono writes about in his recent memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.

The 2022 Kennedy Center Honors goes down Sunday in the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. and airs December 28 on CBS.

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