Classic Rock News

Looks like Roger Waters’ concert in Frankfurt will go on as planned.

As previously reported, the local city council canceled his May show in the city due to the Pink Floyd member’s political beliefs, accusing him of being “one of the world’s most well-known antisemites.” Waters threatened to sue, and he has come out victorious.

According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, a Frankfurt administrative court has ruled that Waters’ free speech was violated when the show was canceled and that the concert’s organizer, Messe Frankfurt, the state and the city had an obligation to stick to their contract and “make it possible for Waters to stage the concert.”

While the court acknowledged that Waters’ show features symbolism associated with National Socialism, it doesn’t believe he is promoting any Nazi propaganda. It did note that it was in “especially poor taste” for the concert to happen at Frankfurt Festhalle, a location where over 3,000 Jews were detained and abused in November 1938 before being sent to concentration camps, but they ruled the show would “not be injurious to the human dignity of those people.”

The Frankfurt stop on Waters’ This Is Not A Drill tour is scheduled to take place May 28. The tour hits Zurich, Switzerland, on April 25. A complete list of dates can be found at rogerwaters.com.

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On This Day, April 25, 1987…

Three weeks after its release, U2’s The Joshua Tree hit number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.

The album, the band’s fifth studio release, was U2’s first U.S. chart-topper, and it remained at number one for nine weeks.

The record included future U2 classics “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which remain U2’s only number-one singles in the U.S., as well as “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

The Irish rockers went on to have seven more number one albums: 1988’s Rattle and Hum, 1991’s Achtung Baby, 1993’s Zooropa, 1997’s Pop, 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, 2009’s No Line on the Horizon, and 2017’s Songs of Experience.

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U2 just confirmed dates for their Las Vegas shows, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere, which will kick off in September. The shows will be without drummer Larry Mullen Jr., which has upset some fans, but The Edge doesn’t seem concerned about fans accepting fill-in Bram van den Berg behind the drum kit.

The Edge tells Variety rehearsals for the show have “been fun” and says so far Bram has been “doing an incredible job.”

The Edge admits Bram has “some serious shoes to fill,” noting, “Larry is one of the greatest drummers of his era, so that’s in no doubt.” But, he says, “I think everyone will be very happy when they get to see us live,” adding, “The songs are sounding incredible, and it’s just so much fun to play them again. We just had a real blast in the rehearsal room.”

Since this will be the first show ever at the Sphere at The Venetian, The Edge expects there may be some bumps in the road they have to deal with, and he’s ready for the challenge.

“Inevitably, you know, when you’re doing something for the very first time, as this is on multiple levels, there’s going to be surprises along the way. And I think we’re OK with that,” he says. “You know, this is rock ‘n’ roll. It should feel a little dangerous. It should feel a little like there’s some jeopardy in the air.”

So far, the U2 Sphere shows will consist of five dates: September 29 and 30, and October 5, 7 and 8. Verified fan registration is open until Wednesday, April 26, at 10 a.m. ET, with the presale happening Thursday, April 27. 

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David Lee Roth is showing off his dancing moves. The former Van Halen frontman posted a new video of him dancing to his cover of Wilson Pickett‘s “She’s Looking Good,” which appeared on his 2003 album, Diamond Dave. 

The clip has Roth, dressed in a checkered suit, dancing and shaking his hips with a huge smile on his face.

This certainly isn’t the first somewhat bizarre video Roth has released. Last month he posted a video, soundtracked to Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places,” that featured him, a mannequin, a statue of a dog and what appears to be a fast-food burger.

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Looks like Aerosmith fans have something to look forward to. The band is amping up anticipation for some big news with a countdown clock on their website, which is counting down to May 1 at 10 a.m. ET.

Although there’s no official word yet on what’s coming, it sounds like it may be some tour dates. Especially since last week the Boston Globe reported that the band is expected to announce a 40-city U.S. tour. 

If it is indeed a tour, it will be Aerosmith’s first full North American tour since 2015, although they have been performing their Deuces Wild residency in Las Vegas since 2019. In addition, last September they played two shows, one in Maine and one at Boston’s Fenway Park.

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Geezer Butler admits that not every Black Sabbath album was great, and for him, that’s particularly true for 1978’s Never Say Die!, which was their last record with Ozzy Osbourne until 2013’s 13.

“I will say that Never Say Die! is easily the worst album we did,” he tells Metal Edge magazine, explaining that the problem was they “wanted to do it on our own, but in truth, not one of us had a single clue about what to do.”

A major issue, Butler says, is that the band and Ozzy didn’t see eye-to-eye on what they were doing.

“The thing is, we were trying to progress too much musically. We completely lost the plot, I think,” he explains. “We stopped doing the things that made Sabbath what it was and began going from more melodic stuff, which was a mistake looking back.”

He notes, “Ozzy always wanted to still sound like the old version of Sabbath, while Tony (Iommi) and I wanted to expand musically. Looking back, Ozzy was probably right because our expansion caused us to lose what Sabbath was supposed to be about.” 

As for his favorite album, Butler praises 1970’s Paranoid. “It was a totally complete album. It wasn’t forced, and the chemistry between the four of us was so fluid,” he says. “It was the most organic record that Sabbath – in any era – ever made. It was completely natural, as it should have been.”

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Willie Nelson, who turns 90 on April 29, has announced a fall leg of his annual Outlaw Music Festival Tour, where he’ll be joined by Bobby Weir & Wolf Brothers featuring The Wolf Pack, Gov’t Mule, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs and more.

The new leg kicks off September 8 in Raleigh, North Carolina, wrapping October 15 in Pelham, Alabama. Lineups will vary per show, but other artists on the bill include Tedeschi Trucks Band, The String Cheese Incident, Los Lobos and The Avett Brothers.

“I am so thrilled to announce these additional dates for our 2023 Outlaw Music Festival Tour,” says Willie. “I can’t wait to keep the celebration of my 90th birthday going into the fall with this great lineup of artists, my friends and family, and of course, the amazing fans.”

A presale for the new shows begins Wednesday, April 26, at 10 a.m. local time, with a general sale set for Friday, April 28, at 10 a.m. local time.

The first leg of the 2023 Outlaw Music Festival kicks off June 23 in Somerset, Wisconsin, with a lineup that includes Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, John Fogerty and more. A complete list of Outlaw Music Festival dates, and lineups, can be found at willienelson.com.

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In 2002, former Van Halen frontmen Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth toured together on Song for Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll tour, but apparently it did not make them friends. In fact, Hagar doesn’t have very many nice things to say about Roth.

“He’s not a fun guy. He doesn’t play well with others. I’m not sure what his problem is … He just always is about, ‘How can I make this guy look bad?’” Hagar said on Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast. “[I thought] he’d be a fun guy to know. But he ain’t like that. He ain’t like his persona. When you get around him, he ain’t that guy. He’s some other cat.”

While Hagar acknowledges Roth’s “early stuff is frickin’ great,” he’s not that impressed with any of Roth’s later solo stuff.  “He’s a showman. … He doesn’t care about singing,” Hagar says. “If he did, he’d take care of his voice or he’d take voice lessons, and get warmed up and do something.” He adds that the last time Roth played shows he “sang so bad” that “it was embarrassing.”

“He doesn’t care about his voice, which drives me nuts, man. I care more about my voice than I do my d***,” Hagar said. “If my d*** didn’t work a couple of times, I’d be OK with it — I’d be bummed out — but if my voice f**** up onstage, I’m f****** bummed, man.”

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Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx has shared his thoughts on the legal battle between the band and former guitarist Mick Mars, who has suggested he was forced out after retiring from the road, not the band. But Sixx doesn’t see it that way. 

“If a member of a band tells you that they can’t tour because of health reasons, you have two choices,” Sixx tells Planet Rock. “You can quit as a band (after) 42 years of work. Or we could look at each other and go ‘are we done yet?!’ We’re really peaking, and we understand (Mick’s) health issues.”

He adds, “We wish him the best and we know that he’s a little bit confused and being misled by representatives right now. But we still have to stay focused on why we’re here.”

As for the future of group, Sixx says Mars’ replacement, John 5, has brought renewed energy to the group. Sixx says that the band seems to “play differently” with new blood in the mix, noting, “We’re still playing the same songs that people wanna hear but it kind of like re-inspires you.”

He adds, “It’s a nice time (for Mötley Crüe) and it’s kind of inspired us to write a little bit. We love our history, we’re very proud of everything we’ve done. We’ve always been really supportive of Mick no matter what Mick was going through. We’re just happy with where we’re at right now.”

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Metallica‘s new album 72 Seasons has debuted on the Billboard 200 with the biggest sales week for a rock record in nearly four years.

The 11th studio effort from the “Enter Sandman” metallers enters the chart at #2 with a total of 146,000 equivalent album units, 134,000 of which were traditional album sales. The last rock record to put up bigger numbers in its first frame is Tool‘s 13-years-in-the-making Fear Inoculum. Following its release in August 2019, the album moved 270,000 units, 248,000 of which were traditional album sales.

72 Seasons is the bestselling album of the week and, in the olden days, that would’ve been good enough for a #1 debut on the Billboard 200. However, since December 2014, Billboard has incorporated streaming numbers into the Billboard 200 ranking, which factor into the “equivalent album units” total.

With those streaming numbers, country star Morgan Wallen‘s chart juggernaut One Thing at a Time stays at #1, with a total of 166,000 equivalent album units, only 12,000 of which were traditional album sales.

Surely this won’t stick in the craw of Metallica fans, who may or may not still be bitter about Jethro Tull winning the first metal Grammy in 1989 over …And Justice for All.

Metallica will launch a worldwide tour in support of 72 Seasons April 27 in Amsterdam. The trek comes to the U.S. in August.

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