Rock
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Bring Me the Horizon has reacted to the unexpected support from Liam Gallagher after covering Oasis’ iconic “Wonderwall” for Spotify Singles earlier this year.
The band, who reworked the Britpop anthem into a heavier, more atmospheric version, admitted they were taken aback by Gallagher’s positive response.
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“It’s a good song, it’s actually one of my favorites. Top five,” frontman Oli Sykes said of the track while speaking to NME on the red carpet at the BRIT Awards 2025. “We always usually cover stuff that no one has ever heard of, so we were like, ‘Now let’s try to reimagine something that everyone knows. Make it easy for ourselves.’ It came out alright I think! It was crazy that Liam didn’t slag it off to the high heavens…”
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Drummer Mat Nicholls echoed the sentiment, acknowledging Oasis’ influence on their generation of British musicians.
“[We grew up] listening to them, definitely. It’s hard to ignore them, especially being our age, because Oasis are a British staple. We were expecting [Liam] to absolutely rinse us, but he said some actually nice things! It was cool and I think it went down as good as we wished it could.”
Gallagher had previously responded to the cover on social media, writing, “I f—ing LOVE it.” When a fan speculated that his brother Noel might be displeased, Liam doubled down: “I’m not, it’s absolutely incredible, made my day. I’m off out on my skateboard, f— y’all.”
The BRIT Awards marked another milestone for the band, who previously won Best Alternative/Rock Act in 2024. This year, they were nominated for Group of the Year but lost out to Ezra Collective.
The band is set to headline Reading & Leeds Festival 2025 alongside Travis Scott, Chappell Roan, and Hozier. It marks their second time topping the bill at the twin-site festival, following their 2022 co-headlining slot with Arctic Monkeys.
Souvenirs, Dan Fogelberg’s second album and the revered singer/songwriter’s commercial breakthrough, will be introduced to a new generation with a special vinyl reissue and digital remastered version to celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary.
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The Joe Walsh-produced album, originally released in October 1974, was Fogelberg’s first album to reach the top 20 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. The upbeat, philosophical single, “Part of the Plan,” reached No. 31 on the Hot 100 and was also an adult contemporary hit, peaking at No. 22.
The digital version will include four bonus tracks via Sony’s Legacy Recordings, including previously unreleased tune, “I Know a Thief,” a delicate, yet intense song that will be available on all streamers today. Also included on the digital release, which will be available for streaming in full on April 4, are three other bonus tracks: early versions of “As the Raven Flies” and “Illinois” and the original demo of “There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler.” Sony found the recordings in their vaults as work began on the reissues.
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The 180-gram audiophile vinyl LP version, which can be pre-ordered here, will be limited to 3,000 numbered copies, and will ship on May 30. The Chris Bellman-remastered edition includes a 16-page booklet featuring previously unseen photographs by Henry Diltz, as well as liner notes from Charles L. Granata and exclusive interviews with many involved in the album’s creation, including Fogelberg’s friend and manager Irving Azoff, Full Moon Records executive Bryan Garofalo, Diltz, producer/engineer Bill Szymczyk and bassist Kenny Passarelli and Gerry Beckley of America.
DAN FOGELBERG
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Impex Records/Sony Music will release both projects in conjunction with Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group (IAG), which oversees Fogelberg’s legacy in partnership with his estate. Azoff and Fogelberg, who died in 2007 from cancer, dropped out of the University of Illinois together in the early 1970s to come to Los Angeles, moving into a one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood from which Azoff oversaw Fogelberg’s nascent career.
Souvenirs, which was released on Azoff’s Epic Records-distributed Full Moon imprint, followed Fogelberg’s Norbert Putnam-produced Columbia Records debut, Home Free, which came out in 1972 but had not yielded any hits. With Souvenirs, he found his sound.
“When Dan made the first record, that was kind of the post-Neil Young After the Gold Rush era. He was inspired by a lot of the production on those records,” Azoff tells Billboard. “But he wanted to go more electric on the second album.”
Azoff had also begun managing the Eagles and Fogelberg opened for the band and struck up a friendship with Walsh, leading the Eagles guitarist to produce Souvenirs and record the set fully in Los Angeles. Eagles Don Henley and Glenn Frey also sang backing vocals on the set.
The album helped make Fogelberg a mainstay on adult contemporary radio for nearly 20 years, scoring such top 10 hits as “Longer,” “Heart Hotels,” “Same Old Lang Syne,” “Leader of the Band,” “Make Love Stay” and “Rhythm of the Rain.”
In 2023, IAG acquired the controlling interests in a broad range of Fogelberg’s rights, including name, image, likeness, sound recordings, audiovisual works and music publishing. His widow, Jean Fogelberg, controls the rest.
The hope is that the reissue will appeal to Fogelberg devotees, as well as introduce him to new listeners.
“We are always looking for a new generation of fans and I think his music will identify with younger people,” Azoff says. “There seems to be room now for sensitive lyrically relevant music. We are just happy to try to put his work in front of fans new and old.”
As significant anniversaries arise for subsequent Fogelberg albums, Azoff says, “I am sure we are looking forward to remarketing each album as they hit milestones.”
At this stage, though, there are no plans for visual components, such as a documentary. “I wish there enough footage for the right documentary but in those days, there just isn’t enough,” Azoff says.
Track Listing:
Part of the Plan
Illinois
Changing Horses
Better Change
Souvenirs
The Long Way
As The Raven Flies
Song from Half Mountain
Morning Sky
Someone’s Been Telling You Stories
There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler
BONUS TRACKS (Digital Only):
I Know a Thief (Never Before Heard)
As the Raven Flies (Early Version)
There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler (Original Demo Version)
Illinois (Early Version)
Reunited thrash metal icons Slayer announced a run of 2025 shows in the North America and Europe on Tuesday (March 4), with the gigs representing the band’s first U.K. and Canadian concerts in six years. As previously announced, the group — bassist/singer Tom Araya, guitarist Kerry King, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt — will also make an appearance at Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final show on July 5.
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The run of shows will kick off on July 3 when Slayer hit the 35,000-capacity Blackweir Fields in Cardiff, Wales, with a line-up featuring support acts Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Mastodon, Hatebreed and Neckbreakker.
Their next stop will be the Back to the Beginning show with Black Sabbath at Villa Park in the Osbourne-led group’s hometown of Birmingham, where Slayer will join a galaxy of stars saluting the pioneering metal band that will include: Metallica, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon and a supergroup featuring Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins), David Draiman (Disturbed), Duff McKagan & Slash (Guns ‘n Roses), Frank Bello (Anthrax), Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit), Jake E Lee, Jonathan Davis (Korn), KK Downing, Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), Mike Bordin (Faith No More), Rudy Sarzo, Sammy Hagar, Scott Ian (Anthrax), Sleep Token ii (Sleep Token), Papa V Perpetua (Ghost), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Wolfgang Van Halen and Zakk Wylde.
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“I am a Sabbath fan, and doing this show is an honor,” said Araya in a statement. “I was hanging out with my brother and his friends during my junior year in high school, and we would play Sabbath all the time, so I am a big fan. Black Sabbath were the originators, people call them ’the godfathers of metal music.’ I think it’s going to be an amazing experience, from the beginning to the end. I’m really, really honored to be a part of this, it’s going to be great.”
King added, “I remember when we played with Black Sabbath at Ozzfest in 2004. It was when Rob Halford came back to Judas Priest and we were third on the bill. You couldn’t give me a better bill, I’ll never forget that. As it stands now, Slayer plays a handful of gigs a year. But that’s how important this Sabbath date is, and it’s great we will get to play a longer set for our fans in Cardiff and London on this visit too. Being on the Sabbath bill means the world to me, because these are my uber-heroes. And to know that their camp thinks enough of us to offer us a spot is flattering and humbling.”
Following the Sabbath celebration, Slayer will move on to the 45,000-capacity Finsbury Park in London with the same roster of support acts before moving on to the Quebec Festival d’été in Québec City, Quebec with Mastodon on July 11. The final announced stop will be a Sept. 18 gig at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, KY, where they will share the stage with Rob Zombie, Lamb of God, Down, The Story So Far, Cannibal Corpse, Cavalera, Neck Deep, Exodus and Atreyu, among others.
Green Day were forced to cancel the final Australian stop on their global Saviors stadium tour on Wednesday (March 5) due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred. As citizens hunkered down in anticipation of imminent landfall, the veteran punk band informed fans that the show at CBUS Super Stadium had been called off amid severe weather warnings for Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
“Hey Australia, unfortunately due to circumstances out of our control, tomorrow’s Gold Coast show has been cancelled,” they wrote on their Instagram Stories. “With Cyclone Alfred bringing some seriously nasty weather, it’s just not possible to go ahead safely. We know this is a huge disappointment, as we’re just as bummed as you are. Stay safe out there!”
In a series of statements, the venue first warned ticket holders on Monday that they were monitoring forecasts calling for “windy and rainy” conditions, encouraging fans to keep an eye on the weather in the coming days. The bad news arrived on Tuesday evening (Australian time), when the venue wrote on X, “CBS Super Stadium has been advised that the the Green Day Saviors concert has been cancelled, due to the extreme weather conditions forecast.”
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It continued, “We know how excited fans were for the concert and we share your disappointment. Concert organisers explored every opportunity to go ahead with the event, but the safety and travel certainty of concert goers, performers and staff cannot be ensured under current conditions.”
Promoter Live Nation also posted about the show’s cancellation, writing, “We understand the immense disappointment surrounding the cancellation of tomorrow’s Green Day show on the Gold Coast due to Cyclone Alfred. This decision was made in close consultation with local authorities and with Green Day, prioritising the safety of all involved.”
LN also explained why the show was called off instead of postponed. “Due to Green Day’s international touring schedule it will not be possible to reschedule the Gold Coast show to a later date,” LN added, with ticket holders promised a full refund. Green Day — who last visited Australia in 2017 on their Revolution Radio tour — are slated to play Lollapalooza India on Sunday (March 9).
Cyclone Alfred is expected to be the first extreme storm to impact the Queensland area in more than half a century, with expected wind speeds exceeding 80 m.p.h. and up to 17 inches of rainfall over the next three days.
Brand New have announced their first public performances in several years, marking the band’s official return to the stage.
The band, led by Jesse Lacey, had previously played a secret “Friends and Family” show in Nashville in December to benefit Make Life Skate Life. Now, fans will finally get the chance to see Brand New on stage again, in their first publicly ticketed concerts since 2017.
Though the band’s social media profiles have remained mostly inactive—with their last Instagram post dating back to October 2017—fans began sharing screenshots of emails they received on March 3, containing presale information for the newly announced concerts, as per LambGoat. The band’s official website also lists the dates and presale details, confirming their long-speculated return.
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The trio of shows will kick off March 26 in Dallas, Texas, before heading to Newport, Kentucky, on March 28, and wrapping up in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 29.
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Lacey, who previously addressed the sexual misconduct allegations against him, admitted in 2017 that he had caused “pain and harm to a number of people.”
The fallout led to Brand New canceling all remaining tour dates, and the band largely disappeared from public view.
During a solo performance at Eastside Bowl in Nashville on March 2, Lacey also publicly spoke for the first time about the passing of his stepson Miles, who died in 2021. The intimate set featured a mix of Brand New tracks and solo material, including a new song titled “Death.”
“I’m not gonna talk too much about this, but me and my wife Andrea lost our son three years ago. His name was Miles, and it was as hard as you can imagine,” he told the crowd. “Grief is a very hard thing to navigate, and I have found that for me, music lessens the poison of it.”
The moment was met with quiet support from the audience, as Lacey expressed gratitude to those who have helped carry the weight of his grief.
In the wake of their loss, Jesse and Andrea Lacey also founded Moms Skate Club, a charity dedicated to supporting mothers in the skateboarding community. Donations to the organization can be made here.
While no word has been given on whether new music is in the works, Brand New’s upcoming shows suggest that the band is testing the waters for a more significant return. With their influence still felt across the alternative and emo scenes, their live comeback is certain to be a major talking point in the months ahead.
Back in 2017, Brand New scored their first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, displacing Kesha’s Rainbow. The group’s Science Fiction, their first new album in eight years.
The Offspring announced the dates for their Supercharged Worldwide in ’25 tour on Monday morning (March 3). The 34-date Live Nation-produced run from the Orange County, CA-bred punk stalwarts is slated to kick off on July 11 in West Palm Beach, FL at the iThink Financial Amphitheatre and include stops in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas, Arizona, California and Utah before winding down on Sept. 7 at Ball Arena in Denver, CO.
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The shows will include support on all the dates from Jimmy Eat World and New Found Glory. A Citi presale for cardmembers will kick off on Tuesday (March 4) at 10 a.m. local time through Thursday (March 6) at 10 p.m. local time, with details here. An artist presale will begin on Wednesday (March 5) at 10 a.m. local time, with additional presales throughout the week ahead of a general on-sale beginning Friday (March 7) at 10 a.m. local time here.
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The tour is in support of the band’s 11th studio album, 2024’s Supercharged, which included their Billboard Rock & Alternative Airplay chart No. 1 “Make It All Right.”
Check out the dates for the Offspring’s Supercharged Worldwide in ’25 tour below.
July 11 — West Palm Beach, FL @ iThink Financial Amphitheatre
July 12 — Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre at the FL State Fairgrounds
July 15 — Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
July 16 — Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park
July 18 — Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
July 19 — Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
July 20 — Scranton, PA @ The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
July 22 — Syracuse, NY @ Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview
July 23 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
July 25 — Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
July 26 — Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
July 27 — Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
July 29 — Camden, NJ @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
July 30 — Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center
August 1 — Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for The Arts
August 2 — Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
August 3 — Wantagh, NY @ Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
August 13 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
August 15 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
August 16 — Tinley Park, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
August 17 — Maryland Heights, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
August 20 — Ridgedale, MO @ Thunder Ridge Nature Arena
August 22 — Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion
August 23 — The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
August 24 — Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater
August 26 — Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
August 27 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
August 29 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum**
August 30 — Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
August 31 — Wheatland, CA @ Toyota Amphitheatre
Sept. 3 — Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
Sept. 4 — Ridgefield, WA @ Cascades Amphitheater
Sept. 6 — West Valley City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sept. 7 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
** no Jimmy Eat World
Beck is hitting the road this summer for another run of orchestral shows. The “Saw Lightning” singer announced the run of nine North American gigs in which he’ll team up with local symphony players on Monday (March 3), following a pair of well-received orchestral gigs at New York’s Carnegie Hall and L.A.’s Hollywood Bowl last summer.
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The upcoming run of shows with support from Molly Lewis are slated to kick off on July 15 at the Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, CT with the Westville Philharmonic providing support, followed by stops in Montreal, a two-night stint in Toronto, as well as gigs in Cincinnati, Chicago and Colorado Springs and Morrison, CO before winding down on July 29 at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego.
According to a release, Beck will be accompanied by “native orchestras for nine shows in eight cities in the U.S. and Canada — as they unite to reimagine a body of work that includes hits and deep cuts from classic Beck works including the multi-platinum Odelay, world-tripping Mutations, somber and reflective Sea Change, and GRAMMY Album of the Year winner Morning Phase, plus a share of surprises.”
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Pre-sale and other ticketing information is available here. A general on-sale will kick off on Friday (March 7) at 10 a.m. local time (except for the Chicago show).
Before he hits the road for the orchestral gigs, Beck will play the star-studded 2025 Love Rocks NYC benefit show on March 6 at New York’s Beacon Theatre alongside Cher, Alicia Keys, Kate Hudson, Phish’s Trey Anastasio, Mavis Staples, Michael McDonald, Peter Frampton and more.
The singer released his 14th studio album, Hyperspace, in 2019, which featured the singles “Saw Lightning,” “Uneventful Days” and “Dark Places.”
Check out the dates for Beck’s 2025 North American orchestral tour below.
July 15 – New Haven, CT @ Westville Music Bowl (with The Westville Philharmonic*)July 16 – Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier (with L’Orchestre Métropolitain*)July 18, 19 – Toronto, ON @ Roy Thomson Hall (with Toronto Symphony Orchestra *)July 21 – Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center (with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra *)July 23 – Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia Festival (with Chicago Symphony Orchestra *)July 26 – Colorado Springs, CO @ Ford Amphitheater (with Colorado Symphony ^)July 27 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre (with Colorado Symphony ^)July 29 – San Diego, CA @ The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park (with San Diego Symphony *)
*Conducted by Edwin Outwater^Conducted by Christopher Dragon
Justice and Tame Impala’s collaboration “Neverender” lands both acts their first No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, leaping three places to top the March 8-dated tally.
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For electronic duo Justice, “Neverender” is its first No. 1 on any airplay-based chart. The tune previously became its first entry on any radio ranking since “D.A.N.C.E.,” which peaked at No. 25 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay in 2007.
Meanwhile, “Neverender” marks the first Alternative Airplay ruler for Tame Impala, the project of Kevin Parker, in his eighth appearance. Parker, who first made the list with the No. 8-peaking “Elephant” in 2013, has two previous No. 2s in “Lost in Yesterday” (2020) and as featured, alongside Bootie Brown, on Gorillaz’s “New Gold” (2023).
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Tame Impala boasts two No. 1s on Adult Alternative Airplay: “Lost in Yesterday” and “Is It True,” both in 2020.
“Neverender” gives Alternative Airplay its second and third newcomers to the top spot on the chart in 2025. Almost Monday snagged its first leader in early February with “Can’t Slow Down.”
“Neverender” reigns in its 25th week on the ranking and just over 10 months after its April 25, 2024, release.
Concurrently, the song bounds 22-11 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.9 million audience impressions, up 37%, in the week ending Feb. 27, according to Luminate.
On the most recent Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated March 1, reflecting data Feb. 14-20), “Neverender” appeared at No. 9 for a sixth total week; it reached No. 8 in May 2024. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 826,000 official U.S. streams last week.
“Neverender” is on Hyperdrama, Justice’s fourth studio album and first since 2016’s Woman. The former bowed at No. 1 on the Top Dance Albums chart in May 2024 and has earned 84,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated March 8 will update Tuesday, March 4, on Billboard.com.
There are many things one is certain to see and hear a dance music mega-festival: fireworks, kandi bracelets, trance, house, bass, techno, wild outfits and the wide expanses of skin they reveal. No one, however, would ever expect to see rock icon Jon Bon Jovi.
And thus it was a shock when the superstar turned up onstage during Armin van Buuren‘s set at Ultra Music Festival Miami last March. He’d made his first ever trip to Ultra to help the Dutch trance legend debut his remix of Bon Jovi’s classic “Keep The Faith,” the title track and lead single from the band’s 1992 album, which was the group’s fifth studio LP.
Bon Jovi fans will understand why van Buuren’s edit worked so well, with the original six-minute anthem possessing the same sort of simmer, slow build/big-ass release structure that defines so many dance music hits.
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But talking to Billboard over Zoom while on a family ski vacation in the Dolomites, van Buuren says he was “super nervous” about how the dance crowd might receive the remix, and also how die-hard Bon Jovi fans might respond to his update, which isolates the vocals and piano stabs, using them to assemble a giant build created around the punchy “faith!” lyric and sleek, frenetically arranged synth stabs. In fact, everyone liked it a lot — with the remix getting an official release today (Feb. 28) on van Buuren’s venerable Armada Music and UMG Recordings.
“Bon Jovi songs have had some unique and epic moments over the years, but this is truly ahighlight,” Jon Bon Jovi says in a statement. “Armin is a total pro, and I was thrilled to work with him on the track. I had such a blast at my first Ultra, the crowd was absolutely electric. Thanks to Armin forhaving me.”
Here, van Buuren discusses how the dance version of “Keep the Faith” came to be, and why — in the case of Jon Bon Jovi — he was very happy to meet his idol.
What are your early memories of Bon Jovi?
Bon Jovi was literally everywhere, especially in the Netherlands; he was super popular. The way we consume music is now radically different now of course. We all have all these beautiful apps and [streaming platforms] but back in the day, it was all record stores and vinyl and the top 40 radio show and, Bon Jovi was the cool dude. He always looked so cool in pictures. I remember buying his records at my local record store and driving home with them and adding another CD to my collection.
How did you first link with Jon Bon Jovi to get the project going?
I met up with his manager, who was a friend of a friend, in L.A. … That’s how the conversation started. I asked “Can I try something?” They asked which song, and I said, “Keep The Faith.” It turned out that the first demo was a home run, and I didn’t actually change much after the very first idea. I lined up all the stems. I got a groove going. I tried updating the sounds without alienating the song, because the guitars and the song structure is already amazing. It’s a very effective song. The structure is very straightforward and very powerful, very energetic. So that made it fairly easy.
Of all the Bon Jovi classics, why did you pick this one to remix?
Obviously, “Living on a Prayer” is the biggest Bon Jovi track. But [his team] said, “We’re okay with [anything] except that one, because it’s been done.” I got that, and his repertoire is humongous.
The great thing about “Keep the Faith” is that it was easy to translate into my EDM world, which always has a BPM challenge. It was 128 BPM, and obviously we sped it up. We made the tempo faster to fit my set. The original, compared to my version, doesn’t really feel a lot faster. When I started working on the mix, I told everybody to let me first get a draft version going, to make sure everybody was happy with the rough idea.
Also, for myself, I asked, “Is this going to persuade a crowd going crazy at Ultra Music Festival? All of a sudden they hear all these guitars coming in and Bon Jovi onstage. How am I going to translate that into an Ultra world, which obviously is very challenging?” People at Ultra have a certain expectation. Dance music has a certain sound.
How did you actually get Jon onstage with you at Ultra?
[While I was making it] I wasn’t even sure if Jon Bon Jovi would be up for doing a live performance, because he had problems with his vocal cords. But I didn’t know that at the time. His manager told me there was a chance [he would come], and that she’d ask him. He actually lives close to Miami, so I asked if we could persuade him to come to Ultra Music Festival.
Apparently, he’s not very enthusiastic about remixes — but he called his manager after he got the first draft of the remix and said, like, “This is insane. I love it so much, and I want to perform this live, but I can’t sing.” Then when he showed up at Ultra. We had time to take photos backstage. We had time to chat a little bit. He even gave me a gift. It was incredible.
What did he give you?
He gave me a very special limited edition Bon Jovi jacket that I still haven’t touched to this day. I’m afraid to wear it. He was very, very nice. I mean, it’s rare, you know — I’ve met quite a few superstars in my career, and was lucky enough to work with a few superstars in the studio, and there’s always this disappointment a little bit after. You know how they say, “Don’t meet your heroes?”
But with Jon Bon Jovi it was the other way around. He was super nice. He was super humble. He was very interested in what I was doing, and he was like, “I don’t know much about the dance music world, but tell me.”
That’s so cool.
And then the climax story, obviously, is that he came onstage. I told [the crowd], “He’s my childhood hero. Here he is, Mr. Jon Bon Jovi” — and completely non-planned, he started actually singing along with the song, which was so random and so great. But he couldn’t really sing, because his doctor strictly forbade him from using his vocal cords, because he just had a massive surgery on his vocal cords. So I was like, “What? He’s singing!” That was the cherry on top. But I was afraid, because I was like, “What if he hurt his vocal cords? What if he hurt his throat?”
We agreed that he was just going to come on, say a few words, we would vibe to the drop, and that’s it. But he sang along, and that’s super special.
Did he say anything after about what compelled him to start singing?
I didn’t meet him straight after, because he left and my performance lasted for another hour. But I texted him after, like, “So dude, you just started singing.” He’s like, “Yeah, I don’t know. Spur of the moment.”
I mean, that has to be a big compliment though.
Well, at that point he hadn’t been on a big stage for a while, so maybe he felt the energy. But you have to imagine, for me, Ultra Music Miami is always one of the most important gigs of the year. I get Bon Jovi on stage, and I’m super nervous, because I’m playing something completely new — which is always a bit uncomfortable with the crowd, because they don’t know what to expect, and they don’t know what you’ve created. And then he comes on. It was a climax, absolutely.
The remix seemed very well received in the moment, and then well received online when the performance video was posted to YouTube. Did you feel that momentum as you were playing it?
Yeah, but I was a little bit afraid. I mean, Bon Jovi has a lot of really big fans. Like, fans that follow him around. He’s a superstar. It’s kind of like ruining one of his paintings, in a way. It’s so out of my world. I was just afraid that people would be upset for kind of ruining the original song, because I have so much respect for the original. The the way it was produced and the way it was mastered, it just sounds so great. It’s a timeless record.
But then I keep telling myself that this is not supposed to replace the original version, it’s just an addition and my interpretation of his great work with the band. I think it adds to the lifespan of the song, and I hope a young generation will appreciate this.
Was it always clear that it would become an official release?
No, not at all. I mean, it’s very difficult, because it’s signed to Universal. It’s a major record company, so you have to really ask politely. That’s why it took a year after the performance to come out. Because he had a documentary coming out, he had an album coming out, and obviously his release schedule can’t be interfered with, so you have to be very delicate.
But that’s all up to management, and I wasn’t involved in that, but that’s the reason why it took a year. The track was done. We haven’t really changed a lot from the version I did at Ultra. We’re thinking about maybe [releasing] another more commercial or radio-friendly version — but the version we’re releasing now is the version pretty close to the version that I did at Ultra Music Festival Miami, because there’s so much demand for it.
R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe has made it clear over the years that the beloved indie rock godheads are definitely done. But on Thursday night (Feb. 28), the original quartet were back on stage together for just the second time since their split in 2011 to play a high-spirited version of their 1984 classic “Pretty Persuasion.”
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The totally unexpected moment came during a show by actor Michael Shannon as part of his latest tour with Verbow singer/guitarist Jason Narducy performing full R.E.M. albums, in this case the group’s 1985 Southern Gothic jangle classic Fables of the Reconstruction. Not only did Stipe take the stage with former bandmates guitarist Peter Buck, bassist/singer Mike Mills and long-retired drummer Bill Berry on tambourine, but they did it at the 40 Watt Club, the legendary 500-capacity venue in their hometown of Athens, Georgia that has been the launching pad for dozens of local bands and a favorite haunt for R.E.M.’s members over the years.
In a thrilling video posted by the 40 Watt, Stipe, wearing red shades and sharing the mic with Mills and Narducy, belts out the lyrics “It’s gone and won/ Hurry and buy/ All has been tried/ Hurry and buy,” as the packed-in crowd jump and clap and, of course, hold up their phones to capture the once-in-a-lifetime moment.
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It was only the second time that Berry has performed alongside his former bandmates since leaving the group in 1997 citing a desire to quit touring after suffering a brain aneurysm on stage in Switzerland in 1995. R.E.M. soldiered on after Berry’s departure and released five more albums as a trio before calling it quits for good in 2011. They had not all been on stage together since until last year when they stage a surprise get-back at the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame induction to perform another of their most iconic anthems, “Losing My Religion.”
Though the 40 Watt is in a different spot now, it has long been an incubator for the local music scene, hosting a number of prominent hometown indie bands (Pylon, Love Tractor, Gudalcanal Diary, Drive-By Truckers, B-52s, Widespread Panic, Vic Chesnutt) over the years, as well as acts that went on to global stardom that popped in for early gigs or serious underplay shows, including Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, as well as Iggy Pop, Run-DMC and Snoop Dogg, among countless others.
And while the second surprise reunion by R.E.M. in a year surely stirred excitement among fans, Stipe has made it clear that their performing and recording days are over. In a 2021 interview with WYNC’s All Of It, Stipe responded to a question about a possible third act by saying, “That’s wishful thinking at best. We will never reunite. We decided when we split up that that would be really tacky and probably money-grabbing, which might be the impetus for a lot of bands to get back together. We don’t really need that. And I’m really happy that we have the legacy of 32 years of work that we have from 1980 to 2011.”
R.E.M.’s last full concert was in November 2008 in Mexico City. Since then the only other time they’ve performed was at a private party for their manager, Bertis Downs, in 2016.
Check out the video of R.E.M. playing “Pretty Persuasion” below.