Rock

22 Jan 2024

Avril Lavigne Sets 2024 North American ‘Greatest Hits’ Tour Dates

Avril Lavigne announced the dates for her 2024 Avril Lavigne: The Greatest Hits tour on Monday (Jan. 22). The North American outing is slated to kick off on May 22 with a show at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and keep her on the road through a Sept. 16 gig at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB.

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In between, the 27-date Live Nation-produced tour will have Lavigne performing such smash hits as “Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi” and “Girlfriend” in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Ottawa, Toronto, Nashville, Milwaukee, Chicago and Minneapolis before the final scheduled show in Edmonton.

Joining Lavigne on select dates through the tour will be Simple Plan and All Time Low, with Royal & the Serpent and Girlfriends also playing on select dates as opening acts. Tickets will be available first through an artist presale beginning Wednesday (Jan. 24) at 10 a.m. local time, with additional presales throughout the week before the general onsale kicks off at 10 a.m. local time here.

Lavigne will also take her Greatest Hits show on the road in the U.K. and Europe this summer on a run that will will include several festival gigs, including the Pinkpop Festival (June 21) in Landgraff, Netherlands and the Hurricane Festival (June 22) in Schnee, Germany.

Check out Lavigne’s 2024 North American tour dates below.

May 22 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena ^

May 25 — Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre ^

May 26 — Ridgefield, WA @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater ^

May 28 — Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre ^

May 30 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum ^

June 1 — Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena ^

June 2 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre ^

Aug. 14 — Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre +

Aug. 16 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage +

Aug. 17 — Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC @ Festival International de Montgolfières ~

Aug. 20 — Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater  +

Aug. 21 — Hartford, CT @ The XFINITY Theatre  +

Aug. 23 — Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center  +

Aug. 24 — Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center  +

Aug. 27 — Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater +

Aug. 29 — Camden, NJ @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion  +

Aug. 31 — Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live  +

Sept. 1 — Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion  +

Sept. 3 — Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre + 

Sept. 4 — Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheater  +

Sept. 6 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center  +

Sept. 7 — Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre  +

Sept. 9 — Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Insurance Amphitheater  +

Sept. 10 — Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island  +

Sept. 12 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory  +

Sept. 14 — Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre +

Sept. 16 — Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place

^ With All Time Low and Royal & The Serpent

+ With Simple Plan and Girlfriends

~ Festival Date

22 Jan 2024

Eagles Set Final-Ever U.K. Shows on 2024 European Swing of ‘Long Goodbye’ Tour

The Eagles have set what they’re calling their last U.K. tour dates as part of the veteran group’s Long Goodbye final tour. On Monday (Jan. 22) the band — Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, with Vince Gill and Deacon Frey — announced a three-show residency run at the new Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester on May 31, June 1 and June 4.

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The gig at the U.K.’s largest indoor arena will feature support from the group’s fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, Steely Dan, with tickets going on sale to the general public on Friday (Jan. 26) at 10 a.m. GMT via Live Nation. In addition the band announced a June 13 gig at the Gelredrome in Arnhem, Netherlands.

The band is slated to hit the road again on Feb. 2 for the first of two shows at the Moody Center in Austin, TX, followed by a run of North American stops in St. Louis, Omaha, Tulsa, Houston, New Orleans, Hollywood (FL), Orlando, Toronto and Charlotte before heading overseas.

During a four-night run at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. in early January, the veteran rock group paid homage to the venue they first played in 1975, while also offering tributes to some fallen comrades they’ve lost along the way.

“It’s good to be back here at the Forum,” singer Henley said at one of the gigs. “We consider the Forum to be our home field. … They’ve improved the place a lot since then. Remember all those ugly yellow and orange seats?” he joked about the different color scheme when the Lakers played at the Forum before moving to Staples Center in 1999. The 21-song set also featured nods to late bandmates Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner, as well as their “dear friend” Jimmy Buffett via Henley’s 1984 solo hit “The Boys of Summer,” a fitting tribute to the beach life-loving “Margaritaville” singer who died in September 2023.

See the announcement below.

21 Jan 2024

Fans Choose Green Day’s ‘Saviors’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music

Green Day‘s Saviors has topped this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Jan. 19) on Billboard, choosing the veteran pop-punk trio’s 14th studio album as their favorite new music release of the past week.

Saviors brought in almost 27% of the vote, beating out new music by Kygo and Ava Max (“Whatever”), Nicki Minaj featuring Future (“Press Play”), Norah Jones (“Running”), Bleachers (“Tiny Moves”), and others.

Nearly four years since their last studio LP — 2020’s Father of All… — Green Day returned on Friday with a brand new set featuring a slew of singles, including Billboard‘s Rock Airplay chart-topper “The American Dream Is Killing Me.”

“‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’ was written by Billie [Joe Armstrong] almost four years ago. But we all knew it was just low-hanging fruit. We’re not a parody of who we are, and songs like that need time to be fleshed out. If that means just sitting back and letting life happen, so be it. And it was one of the last things we recorded,” Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt told Rolling Stone in early January.

In addition to “The American Dream Is Killing Me,” the iconic rockers also released single like “Dilemma,” “Bobby Sox,” “One Eyed Bastard” and “Look Ma, No Brains!” To promote the new album, the band played an impromptu show in the Rockefeller Center subway station on Jan. 16 for a segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Green Day will hit the road this summer to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their major-label debut, Dookie, and the 20th anniversary of American Idiot by playing both albums in full on a massive stadium tour. The trek launches its North American leg on July 29 at Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park. Rancid, the Smashing Pumpkins and the Linda Lindas will open the North American shows.

Trailing behind Saviors on the poll is tropical house producer Kygo and pop hitmaker Ava Max’s “Whatever,” which brought in nearly 26% of the vote. With nostalgic vibes, the throwback smash lifts its chorus from Shakira’s English-language breakout single “Whenever, Wherever.”

See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.

19 Jan 2024

Sting, Incubus & My Morning Jacket to Headline BeachLife Festival 2024

Sting, Incubus and My Morning Jacket are set to headline this year’s BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach, Calif., May 3-5. Also playing are DEVO, Dirty Heads and Trey Anastasio + Classic TAB, among others.

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The high-end live music, art and culinary event is celebrating its fifth year as the South Bay’s premiere event, and is organized and promoted by local promoter and restauranteur Allen Sanford.

BeachLife Festival will once again host the DAOU SideStage dining experience, located on stage and curated by a team of award-winning chefs providing foodies the opportunity to be served a four-course meal while watching their favorite musicians perform. BeachLife will offer various food and beverage options, including a massive craft beer bar with local L.A. and Southern California breweries, multiple bars, lounges, food vendors and food trucks across the venue with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options available.

Philanthropy and community are ever important to BeachLife, which supports many organizations in Southern California’s South Bay community, including the L.A. Kings Care Foundation and a number of national and local nonprofit organization. BeachLife will host a silent auction to drive awareness and help to raise much needed funding for these important causes. Philanthropic partners for 2024 include Heal the Bay, Surfrider Foundation, Redondo Beach Education Fund, Wyland Foundation and Redondo Beach Police Foundation.

Passes are on sale now at www.BeachLifeFestival.com. General admission tickets are available now starting at $159 for single day, and $399 for a three-day pass. All ages are welcome, and children ages 6 and under are free with ticketed adult.

See the full lineup below:

19 Jan 2024

Green Day Throws a ’90s House Party in New Video for Queer-Affirming Song ‘Bobby Sox’

Nostalgia for the ’90s can be found all throughout today’s music, but when Green Day leans into penning a ’90s-style punk track, it just hits different.

On Friday (Jan. 19), the legendary rock trio shared the music video for their new song “Bobby Sox.” The single unveiled off of their just-released album Saviors, “Bobby Sox” sees the band leaning into its fuzzed-out punk sound with a rocked-out love song in which frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sings to prospective partners — both male and female — in a nod to his bisexuality.

In the grainy new video, Green Day takes over a backyard to throw a daylight rager, as members of the diverse crowd make out, get tattoos, jump off roofs and yes, sing along to the band’s performance of its new track. “Do you wanna be my girlfriend?” Armstrong wails in the final chorus. “Do you wanna be my boyfriend?”

In a statement released with the video, Armstrong said that the group wanted to capture the feeling of their early career with a new song, while also making a song that spoke to queer audiences as well. “‘Bobby Sox’ is one of my favorite songs on the album, it’s the ‘Nineties’90s song that we never wrote,” he said. “It started out being a song I wrote for my wife, but as it materialized, I wanted to switch it up and added, ‘Do you wanna be my boyfriend?’ on top of ‘Do you wanna be my girlfriend’ … So the song becomes a kind of universal anthem.”

Armstrong also spoke about the track in a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, saying that it felt “liberating” to sing about someone wanting to be his boyfriend. “It became more of a queer singalong,” he said.

Check out the video for Green Day’s “Bobby Sox” below:



19 Jan 2024

Jeffrey Wright Recalls the Time David Bowie Asked If He Wanted to Hear Some Unreleased Tunes: ‘Sure, Put in Your Little Disc’

Like many of us, David Bowie was one of American Fiction actor Jeffrey Wright’s all-time heroes. But unlike most of us, Wright not only got meet the late rock legend, he also had the opportunity to act alongside him in the 1996 biopic Basquiat, in which he played neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat alongside Bowie as pop art figurehead Andy Warhol.

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On The Kelly Clarkson Show on Friday (Jan. 19), Wright recalled meeting Bowie on the film in reaction to a picture Clarkson put on the big screen from a photo shoot the actor did with the “Space Oddity” singer to promote the biopic about the talented street-artist-turned-international-phenom.

“He meant the world to me,” Wright said of Bowie, who died of liver cancer in 2016 at 69. “There were periods of my life where his music was the soundtrack.” Wright describe the intense prep he did for the film — directed by artist Julian Schnabel — in which the actor painted for six months in Schnabel’s studio in the presence of dozens of original Basquiat paintings to get into character.

One day while working on a canvas, Wright said the door opened and Bowie — who also dabbled in painting, as well as quite a bit of big screen acting — walked in unexpectedly. “He kneels down next to me and he says, ‘do you mind if I watch?’,” Wright said Bowie asked. “And I said, ‘well, I think I’m gonna have to get used to it, yeah.’”

Wright recalled that they had a laugh and for the remainder of the shoot Bowie was “so generous and so smart and funny… and he couldn’t have been cooler to me.” In fact, one day he was in the hair and makeup trailer with Gary Oldman — who played a fictional composite character modeled on Schnabel — and Bowie walked in with a most incredible query. “‘Do you want to hear some music?’” the singer asked them.

“And we’re like, ‘huh?!’,” Wright remembers responding in gleeful shock. “And we’re like, ‘yeah David Bowie we’ll tolerate your music, yeah sure! Put in your little disc.’” What Bowie cued up were tracks from his then-unreleased new album, the arty concept song cycle Outside, which included some songs that ended up in the film.

“And we’re listening to it and we’re like, ‘Whoa!’ and David’s sitting there air-guitaring to his own music… and it was like, you know, the cool guy at school who found some obscure record somewhere and brought it in,” Wright recalled thinking. “Except the cool guy was David Bowie!”

American Fiction — about a struggling Black novelist horrified by the smash success of a racially charged book he wrote as as joke — is in theaters now.

Watch Wright talk about Bowie below.

19 Jan 2024

Dolly Parton Can’t Stop Rocking, Releases ‘Rockstar’ Deluxe Edition With 9 Bonus Tracks

If you thought Dolly Parton was done rocking, think again. The country icon and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer celebrated her 78th birthday on Friday (Jan. 19) by dropping a deluxe version of her debut rock album, Rockstar.

“It’s my Birthday so I’m going to give you a present!” Parton wrote on X. “I’m releasing four never released songs for my birthday, to go with the Rockstar album, and a few others that you may have heard before that were not on the album. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you all have a happy birthday for me! LOL.”

The nine fresh tracks include a live version of her originals “Rockin’ It,” “Mama Never Said” and the golden oldie Sylvester Stallone-featuring “Stay Out of My Bedroom” from the 1984 Rhinestone soundtrack.

Other bonus tracks include her take on Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise,” a take on her classic “Jolene” with leather and lace Italian rockers Måneskin, as well as covers of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Billy Joel’s “The Entertainer” and the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).”

Five of the bonus tracks appeared on previous digital and limited edition versions of the album that debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in late November and No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Album Sales chart, marking her first leader on the 32-year-old tally.

See Parton’s announcement and listen to the bonus tracks below.

19 Jan 2024

‘Tonight Show’ Posts Official Video of Green Day’s Ripping Subway Pop-Up Concert

Green Day are in full promotional blitz mode to support their just released new studio album, Saviors. In addition to talk show and radio appearances, the veteran pop-punk trio also went undercover, and underground, to film a bit for The Tonight Show earlier this week with host Jimmy Fallon in a New York City subway station.

The surprise concert was extensively documented on social media by the many fans who crowded onto the 50th Street station platform to watch the band rip through some classics and new songs. But on Thursday night (Jan. 18), Fallon finally aired the official footage from the punk pop-up on his show, beginning with the group and the host setting up to busk while wearing adorably unconvincing disguises.

If the lighting rigs and cameras didn’t give away the bit, surely Fallon’s flowing blonde weird beard and matching shoulder-length cascade of crimped hair and drummer Tré Cool’s unconvincing soul patch beard and nerd glasses tipped some eagle-eyed fans off. The quartet warmed up commuters with a run through Bad Company’s 1975 power ballad “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” with Fallon handling lead vocals and tambourine.

Singer Billie Joe Armstrong — rocking a fake blonde mustache, green wool beanie and red shades — sang backup and strummed an acoustic guitar for the swaying crowd as it swelled upon recognition of the one-of-a-kind subway surprise. Fallon drew huge cheers as he ripped off his disguise and the band tore into a raucous, acoustic run through their beloved 1994 smash “Basket Case” with the host sharing a mic with bassist Mike Dirnt and adding backing vocals and tambourine during the commute-destroying gig.

The show also posted a bonus online-only nine-minute extended video featuring runs through the new Saviors songs “Dilemma” and “Look Ma, No Brains!” and another classic, “American Idiot.” On the latter, Billie Joe once again poked followers of one-term former president Donald Trump with his by-now-familiar lyrical eye poke at the “MAGA agenda,” a line the mass of strap hangers lustily shouted along to in the midst of a campaign season in which the four-times indicted Trump is daily bouncing between courtrooms and campaign events.

Green Day’s 14th album is out today (Jan. 19) and the group is gearing up to hit the road this summer to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their major label debut, Dookie, and the 20th anniversary of American Idiot by playing both albums in full on a massive stadium tour that kicks off its North American leg on July 29 in Washington, D.C. at Nationals Park; Rancid, the Smashing Pumpkins and the Linda Lindas will open the North American shows.

Watch the subway show below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=rNhypzrTQFk&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

18 Jan 2024

Green Day Shares the Blessings With New ‘Saviors’ Album: Stream It Now

No need to traverse a boulevard a broken dreams, a new Green Day album has finally arrived. Nearly four years since their last studio LP — 2020’s Father of All… — the iconic rockers are back with a brand new set featuring a slew of singles including the Rock Airplay chart-topper “The American Dream Is Killing Me.”

Saviors marks a return to the thematic bent of “American Idiot,” which bassist Mike Dirnt addressed in a recent Rolling Stone interview. “‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’ was written by Billie [Joe Armstrong] almost four years ago. But we all knew it was just low-hanging fruit. We’re not a parody of who we are, and songs like that need time to be fleshed out. If that means just sitting back and letting life happen, so be it. And it was one of the last things we recorded.”

In addition, “The American Dream Is Killing Me,” the band also released single such as “Dilemma,” “Bobby Sox,” “One Eyed Bastard” and “Look Ma, No Brains!” Every track on Saviors was written and composed by Dirnt, Armstrong and Tré Cool. To promote the new record, Green Day played an impromptu show in the Rockefeller Center subway station on Tuesday (Jan. 16) for an upcoming late night segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Starting July 29 at Nationals Park, Washington, D.C., Green Day will kickoff their worldwide stadium tour in support of Saviors. The tour will celebrate both the 30th anniversary of Dookie and the 20th anniversary of American Idiot, and feature support acts such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas.

Green Day has scored nine entries on the Billboard Hot 100, including the top 10 hits “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (No. 2) and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” (No. 6). Over on the Billboard 200, the band has logged 11 top 10 entries, including the chart-toppers American Idiot (2004, three weeks), 21st Century Breakdown (2009, one week) and Revolution Radio (2016, one week).

Stream Saviors here.

18 Jan 2024

Billboard Explains: Green Day’s Chart Success

Green Day didn’t want to be a bunch of American idiots, so they became Billboard chart titans instead. The iconic rockers are currently prepping the release of Saviors — their 14th studio album — and in anticipation of their latest LP, Billboard is reflecting on the band’s biggest chart achievements across their decades-long career.

The Cali-bred band made its first entry on a Billboard chart back in 1994 with “Longview,” their debut single. The track soared to No. 1 on Alternative Airplay, becoming the first of 12 for the Grammy-winning rock icons. Since “Longview,” Green Day has gone on to become the act with the second-most chart-toppers in Alternative Airplay history, alongside fellow rock bands Foo Fighters and Linkin Park (12).

Alternative Airplay has proven to be an area of dominance for Green Day. The band is tied with Red Hot Chili Peppers for the fourth-most Alternative Airplay entries of all time (37), and they also boast the third-most top 10 hits on the ranking (25). Over on Rock & Alternative Airplay, Green Day stands as the act with the second-most No. 1 hits (7).

Of course, Green Day wouldn’t be Green Day without its era-defining crossover success. The band has notched a pair of top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — both in 2006 — thanks to the beloved American Idiot singles “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (No. 2) and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” (No. 6). On the Billboard 200, the band has sent 11 titles to the top 10, including the chart-toppers American Idiot (2004, three weeks), 21st Century Breakdown (2009, one week) and Revolution Radio (2016, one week).

Although Saviors doesn’t hit DSPs until Jan. 19, the album has already helped the band increase some of its Billboard chart tallies. “The American Dream Is Killing Me,” the set’s lead single, peaked atop Rock Airplay and reached No. 22 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs.

Check out the full Billboard Explains video on Green Day’s chart success above.

After that video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.