SAMMY HAGAR: And Then There Were Two
Sammy Hagar arrived back in Las Vegas Wednesday for the last three dates of his Best of All Worlds Tour Stays in Vegas residency at the Dolby Live at Park MGM. Wednesday's show was business as usual, but he's promising some "special surprises" for Friday and Saturday. "Friday you got some friends coming [and we'll be] streaming live. Saturday, last show. Hello. That's a party." Friday night's show will be streamed live at 11 ET at VEEPS.com/SammyHagar. Tickets are $20.
And Sammy posted a video of his manager talking to John, a Vegas Uber driver, who called Sammy the "Greatest Of All Time." "Hey Sammy, you the G.O.A.T. (Laughter). You the G.O.A.T." Sammy saw the video and said John is a "cool philosophical driver. My man was telling it like it is!"
Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go's attended Wednesday night's show, and she posted photos on Instagram with Hagar and his wife Kari. She wrote in the caption, "Sammy you were EPIC - what a great show! We had the best time!" Carlisle and The Go-Go's are playing Vegas tonight (Thursday), and Hagar commented on the photo, saying, "Can't wait to see The Go-Go's tomorrow night. What a pleasure. Things like this can only happen in Las Vegas."
PINK FLOYD: Pompeii Debuts on Six Charts
Pink Floyd's latest album, Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII (1972), after debuting at number-one in the U.K., Italy, Germany and Belgium, has landed in the Top 10 of six Billboard charts.
It's number-three on the Top Album Sales chart with 20,000 copies sold; one on the Indie Store Album Sales chart; two on Vinyl Albums with 12,500 copies sold in its first week; two on the
Top Rock Albums chart; three on Top Rock & Alternative Albums; and 28 on the Billboard 200, making it their 15th Top 40-charting album.
And, with its debut at number-three on the Top Album Sales with 20,000 copies, that makes it their largest sales week for an album in over 10 years. Their last album, 2014's The Endless River, sold 29,000 copies in its seventh week of release. Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII
contains the eight performances from the film, which was recently re-released.
GUNS N' ROSES: Paper N' Pen
Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan has a side hustle -- he's writing for the relaunched Hit Parader magazine. On tour with the band in the Pacific Rim, he says. "The first issue is [coming out] June 1st. And I'm a columnist... so we'll see how that goes. But I wrote an article — hopefully it's okay — about sort of the rock and roll history of Tokyo and Japan. And then with my own experiences dating back to 1988, to now. Tokyo right now is so fresh in my mind 'cause I just finished the column.
"Yeah, while I was in Tokyo this time, my wife [Susan] and daughter Mae were there and a couple of her friends. So we did some fun stuff. But I had a Fender event at the only Fender store in the world. It's a three-story, very impressive store, right in Harajuku, where my favorite kind of punk rock clothing shop is. It's called Jim Sinn... They've become friends of mine over the years. They love Susan. We've made that our pilgrimage to that punk rock clothing store. Then at the Fender event, I had [GnR drummer] Isaac [Carpenter] come and play. Instead of me just playing bass and having like a clinic, I had Isaac come, and he played drums, and we played little bits and pieces of a bunch of Guns songs. And it was super fun. Playing Taiwan again was great. Taipei's a great city. We are now in Bangkok, and more to come on that." Guns take their tour to Mumbai, India on Saturday.
ALICE IN CHAINS: Kinney Comments on Health Issues
Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney has finally commented on his medical emergency ahead of their May 8th show in Uncasville, Connecticut that caused the band to cancel all their performances this month. Kinney didn't reveal what his health issue was in his post on their
social media. He thanked fans that were impacted by the May 8th cancelation and said, "I was very much looking forward to getting back out there and playing with the band again, and it's been a difficult but necessary decision to make. I don't personally utilize social media and I'm not particularly fond of my health issues being made public, but I understand that people are concerned." "When the doctors advised me against playing in the short-term, I quickly went through The 5 Stages of Grief:
· 1. Denial (I'm fine)
· 2. Anger (F this - I'm still going to play)
· 3. Bargaining (What's it gonna take for me to hear a better diagnosis?)
· 4. Depression (This sucks)
· 5. Acceptance (This sucks, but okay)
"I finally concluded that medical doctors with many hard-earned degrees on their walls might know a bit more about health than a musician with some shiny spray-painted records on his wall. The outpouring of love, concern and well wishes has been both extremely humbling and very much appreciated." He concluded, "The good news is that I'm going to be fine and I'm going to live. The bad news (for some of you?) is that I'm going to be fine and I'm going to live."
R.E.M., COLDPLAY, TEDDY SWIMS: Auction for Mental Health
Coldplay, R.E.M. and Teddy Swims and more have donated items to be auctioned off to raise money for Music's Mental Health Fund. R.E.M. donated a Rickenbacker 360 Thinline autographed by all four original members -- Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry. Coldplay have donated tickets to one of their North American dates in the fall plus plus a drum skin played during theMusic of the Spheres show signed by the band. Teddy Swims donated two tickets to a show on his tour plus an autographed setlist. And The Revivalists, Fitz and the Tantrums and Blackberry Smoke all donated autographed guitars.
Simple Minds Announce 2025 North American Tour With Soft Cell And Modern English
Simple Minds is gearing up for a North American tour that kicks off tonight in Washington state and wraps up on July 22nd in Indianna. The 24-date trek will feature support from Soft Cell and Modern English. The tour also coincides with the 40th anniversary of their hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)." Tickets for Simple Mind's 2025 North America Tour are available now.
OASIS: At Least We Know One Other Band Member
The lineup of Oasis beyond the Gallagher brothers has been the subject of much speculation -- and now we finally have a confirmation from one of the other players. Bassist Andy Bell, who played in Oasis between 1999 and 2009 and later joined Liam Gallagher's post-Oasis project Beady Eye, confirmed his involvement in the tour in a new interview with Austrian newspaper
Oe24. Bell said, “I’m in and I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll see each other on tour. Or rather, you’ll see me – I’ll hardly be able to see you in the audience." Bell is the first confirmed member of the lineup NME reported back in March that includes original guitarist Paul "Bonehead’" Arthurs, his replacement Gem Archer and drummer Joey Waronker.
Tommy Lee, Wife Brittany Furlan Separate
Looks like it hasn't worked out for Tommy Lee and another wife. "TMZ" reports that the Motley Crue drummer and wife Brittany Forlan have separated, with a possible divorce on the horizon. Sources tell the outlet that the two have been living separately for the past two weeks, and that the split was brought about by Lee's drinking. There have been signs this was coming, as Tommy had unfollowed Brittany on Instagram recently. The couple have been married since 2019.
GREGG ALLMAN: 41 Years Ago
Gregg Allman's estate has gone into the vault for another archival release. The Gregg Allman Band – One Night In DC, May 15, 1984 was recorded in front of 900 fans at The Bayou in Washington, D.C. It contains songs he recorded for the two albums he'd released up to that point, along with a handful of staples from The Allman Brothers Band catalog, including "Trouble No More," "Melissa," "Midnight Rider," "One Way Out," "Statesboro Blues," and the first release off this album, "Dreams." The album will be released on CD and digitally June 20th. Allman died eight years ago to the day this Saturday, May 17th, 2017, from liver cancer. He was 69.
DOOBIE BROTHERS: Four Out of 10
The Doobie Brothers have released the fourth of 10 songs off their new album, Walk This Road. “Angels & Mercy” was written by Pat Simmons, who says, “It’s fast and loud, maybe the most rocking thing on the album. It’s an intense song that was a lot of fun to record as well as just coming up with the parts. It’s something that we can play live and have fun with it.” "It's a song about a desperate man at the end of his rope. He's been running for a long time from one thing or another and looking for redemption. As the song builds I want the listener to feel this struggle and the desperation of this guy and to understand that there's deliverance waiting right there -- right in front of him -- and all he has to do is reach out and grab it."
Walk This Road is the Doobies' first album since 2021's Liberte, and first collection of new material with Michael McDonald since 1980’s One Step Closer. It will be out on June 6th. They'll perform at an album release party that night at Irving Plaza in New York, followed by a U.K. tour in July, with a U.S. tour starting on August 4th in Clarkston, Michigan.
The Kinks Announce "The Journey Part 3"
The Kinks have announced that the third part of the career spanning "The Journey" trilogy is on the way. "The Journey - Part 3" will bring the band's career retrospective from 1977 up to the mid-eighties, covering the albums "Sleepwalker," "Misfits," "Low Budget," "Give The People What They Want" "State of Confusion" and "Word of Mouth." The set consists of one disk of remastered hit tracks, and another of never-before-heard live recordings from the band’s historic Royal Albert Hall show from July 11, 1993. "The Journey Part 3" comes out July 11.
Iggy Pop, Jack White And Sex Pistols To Headline CBGB Festival
Iggy Pop, Jack White, and Sex Pistols are set to headline the new CBGB Festival. The festival, named after the New York bar CBGB and OMFUG, is taking place on September 27th in Brooklyn. The one-day event will have 21 bands performing across three stages. Johnny Mar, Gorilla Biscuits, The Linda Lindas, and Marky Ramone are some of the other artists featured on the lineup. General tickets for the festival will be made available now.
IN OTHER NEWS
Red Hot Chili Peppers have shared a snippet of their appearance on the Netflix animated series Love Death + Robots where director David Fincher has transformed their performance of "Can't Stop" at Ireland's Slane Castle in 2003 into a song done with marionettes. Watch it on Instagram.
Amy Lee of Evanescence and Halsey performed their song "Hand That Feeds" live for the first time Wednesday night at the Hollywood Bowl. Check it out on YouTube.
Social Distortion have been tapped to fill Alice in Chains’ slot at Welcome to Rockville
tonight (Friday) in Daytona Beach, Florida.
SNL: Ladies & Gentleman...50 Years of Music exhibit featuring Mick Jagger, Blondie, Billie Eilish and more opens at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on May 23rd, but the official opening party is slated for June 14th and will feature a performance by longtime Saturday Night Live cast member and musician Fred Armisen.