As I warned last week, Guns n Roses had been told yet again to respect the curfews put in place at the Reading and Leeds festivals. And lo and behold, they ignored it once again, turning up an hour late at Reading, threatening to boycott Leeds when the power was cut and generally upsetting the other bands there for their lack of professionalism.
It was all a little bit too predictable this time. There is no reason to be bad just for the sake of it, to live up to the rock n roll image and disrespect the organisers. I can’t really defend them this time.
If you live in Manchester and happen to have been to the funky Mojo bar off Deansgate then you’ll know that it is fast becoming one of the most popular venues in town. They serve great cocktails, beers and any spirits you fancy, plus play a great selection of indie, rock, alternative and well known classics.
I happened to end up in there yet again for my birthday this weekend just gone and I have to say it was another top night. As usual, we ended up dancing on the seats and getting into the spirit of the occasion.
For those who don’t like a place too packed, and like a quiet place to talk, this is not the venue for you, but if you like to dance and have a good time you could do far worse than go to Mojo.
It doesn’t seem like that long ago when it was last year’s festival and once again the roads leading to Branham Park will be chock a block with revellers already. I’m quite envious of those of you that are going to the festival this year.
I’m quite interested to know whether Guns n Roses adhere to the 11pm curfew or not. The festival organisers’ insistence that it’s lights out at 11 on the dot will certainly make things interesting.
I will hopefully get to see some of the acts who are performing by catching up with it on TV over the weekend.
The eighth album from the LA rockers is almost here and it will be released next month under the title – Hurley.
The follow up to ‘Raditude’ is out in the UK on September the 13th and the band has decided to move to a lesser known label in Epitaph Records. This is certainly a bit of a departure from the Universal Music Group owned Geffen.
Weezer are all set to play at the Reading and Leeds festivals at the end of August, so lucky festival goers should be able to get to hear what the new songs sound like.
My all time favourite Weezer track still has to be “Say It Ain’t So” from the Blue album.
The tracklisting for Hurley is listed below:
01 Memories
02 Ruling Me
03 Trainwrecks
04 Unspoken
05 Where’s My Sex?
06 Run Away
07 Hang On
08 Smart Girls
09 Brave New World
10 Time Flies
11 All My Friend Are Insects (bonus track on the deluxe edition)
12 Viva La Vida (bonus track on the deluxe edition)
13 I Want To Be Something (bonus track on the deluxe edition)
14 Represent (bonus track on the deluxe edition)
If you are a dedicated fan of Guns n Roses you will certainly remember how long you had to wait for the full Chinese Democracy album to finally be released at the end of 2008, and it has also been a while since the band last toured the UK.
Well, it may not be a particularly wide-encompassing tour but, in addition to the Leeds/Reading Festival dates, Guns n Roses will be taking to the stage in London, Birmingham and Manchester in October.
Tickets for this mini UK tour are now on sale and standing tickets have inevitably sold out at these venues already.
I was fortunate enough to get two tickets for the Manchester gig so am looking forward to it, even it if it is on a Monday night. I’d much rather it have been on a weekend, but beggers can’t be choosers when it comes to seeing GnR in action!
The tour dates are as follows;
London - O2 Arena on October 13th
Birmingham - LG Arena on 17th
Manchester - MEN Arena on 8th
The untimely demise of Paul Gray, a well-liked member of the Des-Moines metal band, on Monday has left fans in shock, and the remaining eight members in mourning.
Investigations are still underway into the circumstances surrounding Gray’s death, after he was found dead in his Iowa hotel room, but police have confirmed that they do not suspect foul play was involved.
The band is symbolised by their masks and well known for their extreme behaviour when on stage.
Tributes have been pouring in on fan sites and the official Slipknot site (http://www.slipknot1.com/) for “maggots” which has put up an image of Paul with his bass doing what he loved best.
This has been another big week in the history of the Rolling Stones. At the weekend, the ageing rockers went straight to number one (again) with the re-release of their 1972 album Exile on Main Street, which has proved to be a hit once more with a new generation of rock fans.
However, the band has today had to deny rumours emanating from Down Under that Charlie Watts has decided to quit the band. This is not the first time however that the drummer’s status has been questioned.
Despite these denials it has generally been a good few days for the band. The album stormed to the top of this week’s charts and beat Faithless to number one.
The Rolling Stones have proved once again that their music is timeless and are back where they belong.
The US mobile tech company Hands-On Mobile is all set to finally bring the popular Guitar Hero series to their mobile devices.
The good news for those with a BlackBerry or Android handset is that the games will be released on their platforms and the latest instalment entitled “Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass” will have you rocking out on your mobile phone.
The popularity of instrument-playing games on mobile phones has already been seen in the Tap Tap Revenge series and the Rock Band game apps available on Apple’s iPhone. There are already plenty of apps out there to keep rockers rocking!
All has been quiet with the band for a few years (since Stadium Arcadium) as they have all gone off and done their own thing. When it was revealed last October that John Frusciante was to depart the rockers for the second time, it was unclear what was going to happen.
Fans of the funk / alternative rock outfit needn’t worry though, as the RHCP are due to start work on a new album produced by Rick Rubin in July, along with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, and hope to release it at the end of the year or early 2011.
Other good news includes a strong rumour that the band are all set for their own version of the Guitar Hero video game, complete with old tracks and songs from the new album.
For now, you will have to watch this space…
Rock has always traditionally been the rebellious younger brother when it comes to music in Britain. It may not always be celebrated by the masses, yet - until last year - it was still the genre of choice when it came to the charts.
Recent results published by the Official Charts Company (OCC) would suggest that the trend is now turning towards bland, generic pop music.
All thanks to headline-grabbing celebrities like Cheryl Cole, La Roux and Lady GaGa pop music is indeed becoming more popular.
The figures showed that 33.5 percent of singles sold in 2009 were classified as pop compared to 28 percent the previous year. Rock music sales fell from 31 percent to 24.5 percent over the same period, with Kings of Leon, Kasabian and Rage Against the Machine leading the charge.
Despite these grim statistics (which don’t really surprise me), I’ll stick to my rock music, thank you very much.