Talk About Rock Music

Here is a quick guide to the rock bands who are currently touring the United States this month, and who will be doing over the next few months.

(more…)

After recent news that Papa Roach will be accompanying Nickelback on their US and Canada 2009 Tour this summer, Nickelback have announced some extra dates down under in November. The Canadian rock band will be playing in Auckland, New Zealand before moving on to Sydney in Australia, and ending in Perth.

This is great news for Australasian Nickelback fans who have been waiting a long time now to see their heroes in action for themselves.

Nickelback successfully played out to a 20,000 sell-out crowd last night at the Post-Gazette Pavillion in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania with fan favourites as well as tracks from the Dark Horse album.

Nickelback Tour dates in Australia and New Zealand

07-11-2009 Auckland, NZ (Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster from Wednesday 22nd July)
11-11-2009 Brisbane, AUS
13-11-2009 Sydney, AUS
16-11-2009 Melbourne, AUS
19-11-2009 Adelaide, AUS
21-11-2009 Perth, AUS

Nickelback won three top awards for Best Video, Best Post-Production and MuchLOUD Best Rock Video at the MMVAs held in Toronto, Canada last Sunday night. The Vancouver rock band also went out with a big bang and lots of explosions after performing the last song of the evening.

Nickelback are currently in the middle of their North American tour - after their successful UK leg of the tour as discussed in a previous post - with 35 dates still to go, which will end in Houston, Texas on 12th September. They are being supported by Hinder, Papa Roach and Saving Abel.

(more…)

I was watching Detroit Rock City again the other night - you know, the one with the four young metalheads trying to get to a KISS concert in Detroit, which is set in the 1970s. The 1999 film may have been an ‘American Pie’ style road movie but it did have its moments.

Well, I wondered what KISS were up to these days and so Googled them – I was interested to find out that the band seem to have patched up their differences and are now looking to release a new album.

The album will be produced by Paul Stanley and the band is currently on their 35th anniversary tour, which include concerts in Europe for the first time since 1999.

Canadian rockers Anvil had spent many years in commercial obscurity (they were formed 30 years ago) until a certain documentary propelled them into the limelight last year. Now they will be supporting AC/DC!

I mentioned in one of my Top 3 Rock Movies blog posts recently that a work colleague had strongly recommended I watch Anvil! The Story of Anvil when it came out on DVD. As a lover of films, and rock music, the documentary (which is supposed to be very funny) really appealed to me – so much so I have actually pre-ordered it (out on Blu-ray and DVD on 15th June)!

(more…)

For members of Pearl Jam’s Ten Club, including myself, the pre-sale tickets for the four European dates of Pearl Jam’s upcoming summer tour have been available for purchase since April 30th (27th for members active before April 26th). In a previous post, I was saying how things were quiet on the Pearl Jam front, but this news is great for fans in the UK.

Pearl Jam is bringing their music back to Europe starting August 13th in Rotterdam and ending August 18th at London’s O2 Arena.

The band is also doing a show in Toronto, Canada and two in the United States; Austin, Texas and Chicago, Illinois.

Here are the full European tour dates:

Date - City - Venue

13 Aug - Rotterdam - Ahoy
15 Aug - Berlin - Wulheide
17 Aug - Manchester - MEN Arena
18 Aug - London - 02 Arena

As there are only two UK dates on this current tour, tickets are sure to be in high demand. I purchased my two standing tickets for the Manchester gig in the pre-sale, but the rest of the UK tickets go on general sale from tomorrow morning (Friday) at 9am.

Visit these links for details and to purchase tickets:

Rotterdam- http://www.livenation.nl/

Berlin- http://www.tickets.de/

Manchester- http://www.livenation.co.uk/ and http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk

London- http://www.livenation.co.uk/ and http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk

As anticipated in a recent blog article, Green Day has finally announced they will be playing a full UK tour in October to promote their new album “21st Century Breakdown”. The tour will follow on from the first leg of the band’s North American tour in August.

This UK (and European) tour will be their first in over four years. Anyone who has ever been to a Green Day gig will know exactly what they are in for – over 2 hours of relentless energy and fist-pumping rock from Billie Joe and co. The shows are sure to be a sell out, so I would advise true Green Day fans to get their tickets the minute they go on sale at 10am (BST) this Friday.

The band has scheduled ten dates concluding in my hometown Manchester on October 31st.

They will play:

October 2009
19 Glasgow SECC
20 Belfast Odyssey Arena
21 Dublin 02
23+24 London O2 Arena
26 Sheffield Arena
27+28 Birmingham LG Arena
30+31 Manchester MEN Arena

Tickets can be purchased from: www.ticketmaster.co.uk and www.gigsandtours.com.

Since Green Day announced details of a massive US tour this summer (as noted in a previous post) following the release of their new album 21st Century Breakdown I have been frantically trying to find out if this tour will eventually include the UK. On the MTV website it does say that the group are expected to tour the UK this year too, but that is all I can find at the moment.

However, I was excited to hear that Green Day and Blink 182 (who toured together in 2002) are set to be approached by Festival Republic, the Leeds/Reading Festival organisers to headline next year’s festivals.

The event’s chief booker, Neil Pengelly told Rock Sound that he had spoken to both bands regarding this year’s bash but that next year would be a better fit for all concerned.

He said:

“I think that Blink-182 will be doing something over here next year and I don’t think we will see them here this year. I can’t say what Green Day want to do but I’m sure they will reveal their plans in the course of time.

“We would love to have Green Day at Reading and Leeds one year and when they are around doing festivals then I’m sure we are something they will look at.”

This year has seen a notable lack of rock emphasis giving way to indie acts. Pengelly did admit the lack of a heavy rock day in the line-up:

“It was definitely a question and something we are conscious of as we booked the rest of the bill.

“We want to keep that appeal and be as broad as possible while at the same time getting the best bands we can. Once we announce the Lock-Up Stage people will see how rounded it is.”

Green Day last played the event in 2004 and I was there – it was an amazing performance for the band. I was also there the year before when Blink 182 headlined with Linkin Park and more strangely (for a rock festival), 50 Cent.

As soon as I found out that Bruce Sprinsteen was to headline the Sunday night of the Hard Rock Calling festival I decided then and there to get day tickets for the event. I later found out that Dave Matthews Band was the support for the occasion, which I was also happy about. The South African band is huge in America but hardly known here in the UK, which surprised some of my friends living in Florida.

The day tickets for the Sunday are already completely sold out so I’m glad I was quick to get them. Earlier this month, Neil Young announced he is to follow his Glastonbury appearance by headlining the Saturday night slot of the festival, taking place on June 27th and 28th at Hyde Park in London.

Young, whose new album, ‘Fork in The Road’ will be released this coming Monday (6th April), will play the Hyde Park festival with his full band. I was actually quite tempted to get the Saturday ticket as well, especially as it was confirmed the Fleet Foxes, Ben Harper, Seasick Steve and The Pretenders will all be playing. The Gaslight Anthem will also be playing on the Sunday, although I will need to get listening to some of their music before I go.

Kings of sleaze rock, Faster Pussycat, have announce tour dates for this year!  Although I am absolutely mortified as none of the UK dates are anywhere near me and during the week when I can’t have any time off, any of you who do make it will be in for a rare treat.

I managed to see this amazing band two years ago and all I can say is Wow!  They mix old school and glam with pure sleaze rock, catchy riffs and big choruses.  Imagine the likes of Bon Jovi back to a time when they were good and multiply it by 1,000 and you come somewhere close to how brilliant this band is.

They first came into our lives back in the 80’s and toured with the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Motorhead and Alice Cooper.  They have a slightly heavier sound than they had originally, probably due to when they reformed back in 2001 with a slightly different line-up which in my opinion, has made them even better.

Here are the dates for all you luck people who are want to go and see them.

Mon 19th Jan - London, United Kingdom - The Underworld
Wed 21st Jan -  Dudley, United Kingdom - JBs
Thu 22nd Jan -  Sheffield, United Kingdom - Corporation
Fri 23rd Jan -  Leeds, United Kingdom - Rio’s
Sat 24th Jan -  Argelato, Italy - Que Meo Meo
Sun 25th Jan -  Rome, Italy - Jailbreak Club
Tue 27th Jan -  Uster, Switzerland - Rock City
Thu 29th Jan -  La Roca, Spain - La Nau
Fri 30th Jan -  Bilbao, Spain - Rock Star