The Rolling Stones tradition of clever tour announcements was about to add another a couple of weeks ago.  Billboards touting 'Satisfaction Thursday' popped-up in the metro areas of many markets that were going to land dates on the North American tour.  Thursday came and went with no announcment.  There were reports that a ticketing issue had thwarted the planned tour unveiling.  Confirmation of the tou finally did go public Tuesday (3/31).  While only 15 citiies are on the itinerary, there's ample room between several of the bookings for the group to add an additional date should demand warrant it.  Interestingly, the tour is heavy with mid-size market dates and only one stop north of the border. No LA, New York, Chicago, Montreal or Tornoto dates.

Rolling Stones - Zip Code Tour

5/24 - San Diego

5/30 - Columbus

6/03 - Minneapolis

6/06 - Dallas

6/09 - Atlanta

6/12 - Orlando

6/17 - Nashville

6/20 - Pittsburgh

6/23 - Milwaukee

6-27 - Kansas City

7/01 - Raleigh

7/04 - Indianapolis

7/08 - Detroit

7/11 - Buffalo

7/15 - Quebec

Wolflight, a new solo album from Genesis veteran Steve Hackett, comes out Tuesday (3/30).  Here's a look and listen to the title song.  One track on the 9 song album features Chris Squire of Yes on bass.

High Voltage Productions, the company making the AC/DC biopic, ran into a roadblock when it attempted to gain rights to Bon Scott's story through the late lead singer's estate.  The company contends that the fact their offer to the estate to allow it to have a degree of creative participation in the project as well as a financial position was rejected will not prevent the film from moving forward.  In a statement about the impass High Voltage stated, 'Our legal team has made it quite clear that we do not even need to secure or option story rights as Mr. Scott is deceased and the Estate cannot preclude us from making an unauthorized biopic or docudrama.'

AntiMusic.com

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The headliners for the 2015 Lollapalooza festival this year make it plenty evident that the talent pool and drawing power of cutting edge talent is very shallow these days. Organizers of the annual festival that adopted Chicago's Grant Park as its permanent site have gone to Paul McCartney and Metallica to headline. Others on the July 31 - August 2 bill include Alabama Shakes, Florence & The Machine, TV On The Radio and a dozen or so other bands we've never heard of.

David Coverdale will include remakes of a trio of tracks he did with Deep Purple on the next Whitesnake album.  Coverdale calls it a '...huge thank you from me to Deep Purple for the opportunity I was given over 40 years ago.'  The Purple Album has a release date of May 19.

HenneMusic.com

The boys in Van Halen will be raising hell all over North America this summer and fall.  Things get off to a raucous start with a special performance on Hollywood Boulevard Monday (3/30) on Jimmy Kimmel Live that will mark David Lee Roth's first ever US television performance fronting the band. Highlights from the set will be featured that night and Tuesday on the Kimmel show.  The North American tour launches at the White River Amphitheatre in Seattle on July 5 and is scheduled to wrap with an October 2 concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

VHND.com

MORE VAN HALEN INSIGHTS

7/5, Seattle, WA, White River Amphitheatre
7/7, Portland, OR, Amphitheater Northwest
7/ 9, Concord, CA, Concord Pavilion
7/ 11, San Bernardino, CA, San Manuel Amphitheater
7/ 14, Irvine, CA, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
7/ 16, Mountain View, CA, Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/ 18, Salt Lake City, UT, USANA Amphitheatre
7/ 20, Morrison, CO, Red Rocks Amphitheatre
7/  22, Kansas City, MO, Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
7/ 24, Chicago, IL, First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
7/ 26, St. Louis, MO, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
7/ 28, Pittsburgh, PA, First Niagra Pavilion
7/ 30, Bangor, ME, Darling’sWaterfront Pavilion
8/1, Boston, MA, Xfinity Center
8/3, Cleveland, OH, Blossom Music Center
8/5, London, ON, Western Fair District
8/7, Toronto, ON, Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
8/9, Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Center
8/11, Hartford, CT, Xfinity Center
8/13, Wantagh, NY, Nikon At Jones Beach Theater
8/23, Hershey, PA, Hershey Park
8/25, Darien Center, NY, Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
8/27, Camden, NJ, Susquehanna Bank Center
8/29, Washington DC, Jiffy Lube Live
8/31, Cincinnati, OH, Riverbend Music Center
9/2, Indianapolis, IN, Klipsch Amphitheatre
9/4, Detroit, MI, DTE Energy Music Theater
9/6, Bethel, NY, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
9/9, Raleigh, NC, Walnut Creek Amphitheater
9/11, Charlotte, NC, PNC Music Pavilion
9/13, Tampa, FL, MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
9/15, West Palm Beach, FL, Coral Sky Amphitheatre
9/17, Birmingham, AL, Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
9/21, Austin, TX, Austin360 Amphitheater
9/23, Dallas, TX, Gexa Energy Pavilion
9/25, Houston, TX, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
9/28, Phoenix, AZ, Ak-Chin Pavilion
9/30, San Diego, CA, Sleep Train Amphitheatre
10/2, Hollywood, CA, Hollywood Bowl

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Soldier Stadium will still get the final dates surviving members of the Grateful Dead have committed to playing together as a band, but the legendary group's California Bay Area fan base will get at least two concerts in the week prior to the trio of concerts on the July 4th weekend the band has booked in Chicago. Sports Business Daily contends that The Dead will do performances on June 27 & 28 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, the home field of the San Francisco 49ers since the start of the 2014 season. 
SportingNews.com

MORE GRATEFUL DEAD INSIGHTS

David Crosby has compiled quite the rap sheet and some significant jail time for instances involving weapons and drugs. His latest run in with the law appears to be accidental.  Crosby was driving his black Tesla into a setting sun on Sunday (3/22) when his vehicle apparently hit a 46 year old jogger.  Crosby reported to police that he was unable to see Jose Jimenez because of glare from the sun. Jimenez, who suffered non life threatening injuries in the incident, was transported by a medi-vac helicopter from the scene of the accident on Baseline Avenue in Santa Ynez, California to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. California Highway Patrol officers indicate that Crosby immediately stopped and assisted Jimenez and say that the musician was not impaired in any way at the time of the accident.

KEYT.com

MORE DAVID CROSBY INSIGHTS

Bob Seger sustained a shoulder injury that has forced him to postpone Sunday's (3/22) concert in Indianapolis.  His web site announced that Seger hopes to be able to reschedule the Ride Out Tour stop in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse.   No details were offered on the cause or severity of the injury or whether additional dates could face rescheduling,

BobSeger.com

MORE BOB SEGER INSIGHTS/feature/bob-seger

Jack White and Robert Plant have both expressed an appreciation for the other's work but the two had never played together until Plant took the stage during White's band's set at Lollapalooza Argentina and the two cranked out a version of Zeppelin's Lemon Song.

Def Leppard's slate is pretty full. In the coming months, the group will tour with Styx and Tesla and finish up work on its new studio album.  With a little R&R in order, the group has decided to get it during a work & playcation aboard the MSC Divina. The cruise ship sails out of Miami on January 21 for a Rockin' excursion that includes port calls in Half Moon Cay, and Freeport in the Bahamas. Pricing for the Hysteria on the High Seas crusie are getting worked out.  Members of the band's Rock Brigade fan club will have first dibs.

Def Leppard.com

MORE DEF LEPPARD INSIGHTS

Ellen Degeneres has an impressive audience.  How many of them are Van Halen fans is an entirely different matter, so the band's decision to make noise about its Tokyo Dome Live In Concert with a performance on her show April 2 seems out of place.  The 25 track concert disc featuring David Lee Roth back in front of the band during a June, 2013 concert will be relased a couple of days before the telecast.  Here's a listen to Unchained from the live album.

Hennemusic.com

MORE VAN HALEN INSIGHTS

The bass player in Free, the band Paul Rodgers fronted before Bad Company, has died at 62.  Andy Fraser had battled both cancer and AIDS since the 1980's.  Fraser reportedly passed away Monday (3/16) at his California home.  Fraser also did a stint in John Mayall's Blues Breakers.

ClassicRock.Team.Rock.com 

The Music Icons auction being conducted at the Hard Rock Café in New York City's Times Square will include perhaps the most valuable 'loaner' guitar in history.  It is a 1963 Mastersound electric that George Harrison had on loan while Barratt's Music Store in Manchester was doing some repair work on his Country Gent guitar.  Harrison's own guitar was returned the very same day he'd dropped it off, but George held on to the loaner for nearly a month, playing it during that span of time at several club concerts and sporting it when a publicity photo was taken at the Cavern Club on August 3rd.  A 1962 Gibson Les Paul SG that belonged to Eric Clapton is also included in the auction, as are a ring Jimi Hendrix wore and a bath robe that John Lennon owned.  The auction takes place May 15 & 16.

SonicState.com

An upcoming release of material a young Jimi Hendrix played on during a brief stint with Curtis Knight and the Squires before launching his solo career is due out soon (story).  Here's a preview from it of Station Break, an instrumental from the album titled You Can't Use My Name.

Looking to bolster interest in the NFL Hall Of Fame induction, officials of the Canton, Ohio institution are turning to Rock Hall Of Famers Aerosmith.  The kick-off Concert For Legends will take place August 7 at the Hall Of Fame Stadium. Football Hall Of Famer Andre Tippet thinks the choice is perfect.  The Patriots linebacker says Aerosmith music was in heavy rotation during his days of playing for the Super Bowl champs - and still is these days.  Joe Perry says that no matter where the band was while touring when news of Patriot victories reached them, he and his Aerosmith mates '...would swell with pride and think, yah, those are our boys.
WashingtonTimes AP

MORE AEROSMITH INSIGHTS

The Rolling Stones have staged a number of high profile tour announcement events, including a flatbed truck performance while rolling through Manhattan.  Whether a similar spectacle is staged to announce the group's upcoming summer stadium tour in the States remains to be seen, but some sources say that the group's 1971 classic album Sticky Fingers, due for an expanded edition reissue this year,  will be performed in its entirety at each stop on this tour.  The tour launch is said to be in San Diego on May 24th.  Milwaukee looks likely for June 22, the home of the Indy 500 is rumored to be slotted for July 4th.  Other cities in the discussion include Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

SongMango.com

MORE ROLLING STONES INSIGHTS

The Spring 2015 day to bolster interest and spending at independent record stores has a number of interesting items in playthis year.  Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters is serving as the Ambassador or the event and his band will serve-up several previously unreleased tracks and demos on a 10" disc titled Songs from the Laundry Room.  Changes on 7" will be available on a clear pressing from David Bowie. U2's notorious iTunes only release of Songs Of Innocence will be made available on vinyl. Jeff Beck, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The White Stripes and Black Keys will also have limited edition releases in the mix on April 18.  Gregg Allman is releasing a picture disc of a solo concert he performed in Macon, Georgia.  A Side By Side series made available by Rhino Records includes a red viny single featuring versions of Dark Globe by REM on one side and Syd Barrett on the other.  Robert Plant turns loose More Roar, a trio of live tracks from his 2014 tour. Wake Up To Find Out: Nassau Coliseum, a box set of the Grateful Dead's March 29, 1990 concert in Uniondale, Long Island will also be available in limited numbers.  Get the full list and details about each release here.

Fleetwood Mac's active touring plans mean the group's highly anticipated album of new material is 'a couple of years' from being released, according to Mick Fleetwood.  The group's last record with Christine McVie came out in 1987 (Tango In The Night).  As for the new songs and the process of working together, the drummer called the songs 'wonderful' and says things have gone '...amazingly well' in the studio sessions held with Christine.  The most fully developed songs are ones written by Lindsey Buckingham, according to Buckingham.

List.co.uk  ABC Radio News
 

MORE FLEETWOOD MAC INSIGHTS

Midnight Rider, the ill-fated biopic about Gregg Allman, was derailed by a shooting mishap on a rural Georgia railroad bridge when a train plowed into a metal bed that had been placed on the tracks for a scene in the film early in 2014, killing one crew member and injuring others.  The incident led to involuntary manslaughter and tresspass charges against the film makers (story).  Director Randall Miller entered a guilty plea on Monday (3/9), effectively ending any further prosecution of his wife and business partner, Jody Savin.  Miller was sentenced to spend two years in jail, eight years on probation and pay a $20,000 fine.  After the charges were filed, Allman put an end to the film project.

HenneMusic.com

MORE GREGG ALLMAN INSIGHTS

VIP packages have become big business for bands looking to squeeze extra bucks out of fans.  All include premium seating. Some include transportation, hotels, meet & greets or merch. Kiss added another perk for fans that sprung for VIP treatment at the group's Tuesday (3/3) concert in Tokyo by doing a 10 song acoustic set for them before applying make-up and gear for the concert. Included in the set, several of the band's own songs plus covers of If I Fell and You've Got To Hide Your Love Away by the Beatles and You Shook Me, the Muddy Waters song Led Zeppelin covered on its debut album.

Blabbermouth.net

Having performed as a member of his brother's Grateful Dead cover band while a freshman in college, Bruce Hornsby entered his stint as a member of the Dead with a decent grip on most of the band's best known songs. But joining a group with such a vast repertoire for what will be three concerts an even wider audience than the Grateful Dead's considerable fan base will be paying attention to represents a challenge to him and Trey Anastasio. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, the keyboard player sounded upbeat about getting reacquainted with the 60+ songs he expects the band will be working into one or more of the three set lists for the Fare Thee Well concerts in Chicago (story).  He commended the group for recruiting Trey Anastasio, calling the Phish guitarist a '...prime-time player' with '...a joyful quality about his music making. A great exuberance' he thinks '...will be a huge plus with this band.'  As for the ease he felt when brought on after the death of Brent Mydland, Hornsby credited long tour bus sessions talking music with Jerry Garcia, who Bruce says, '...knew the territory so intimately and deeply. He was basically giving me a music lesson every day.'

Roger Waters has been the only continuously active member of Pink Floyd for a long time.  David Gilmour has plans to tour himself in 2015.  The guitarist has confrimed through his web site that his 4th solo album will be out later this year and that tour dates are being set for September.  While Waters tours concentrate on recreating the Pink Floyd concert experience, Gilmour's may include Floyd songs but will be mostly devoted to his solo material.

MusicFeeds.com

MORE DAVID GILMOUR INSIGHTS

Lars Ulrich reports that Metallica's next album is close to finished.  With almost 20 songs in the mix, the group has plenty to choose from for its first album in seven years.  Talking with Rolling Stone, the drummer said, 'The creative elements are close to being done', but cautions, '...this is still Metallica time' and adds that group members are busy with personal and family commitments.  Some of the new songs will probably debut live before the album's release.

HenneMusic.com

MORE METALLICA INSIGHTS