State Champ Radio Rock
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Nearly 18 years after first appearing on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, Fall Out Boy has its first No. 1.
“Love From the Other Side,” from the four-piece’s upcoming eighth studio album So Much (for) Stardust (due March 24), jumps from No. 3 to the top of the chart dated March 4. The band previously rose as high as No. 2 with “Dance, Dance” in 2006.
“Love” became the act’s seventh Alternative Airplay top 10, a run that started with its first entry, “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” (No. 3, 2005). Fall Out Boy had most recently reached the top 10 with the No. 10-peaking “Dear Future Self (Hands Up)” in 2019.
Fall Out Boy’s 17-year, nine-month run from a first charting song (“Sugar” debuted on the June 4, 2005, survey) to first a No. 1 is the longest in the Alternative Airplay survey’s 34-year history, surpassing the 17 years and two weeks it took Stone Temple Pilots between 1993’s “Plush” and 2010’s “Between the Lines.”
It also follows up the similarly lengthy 15 years, six months and two weeks it took Paramore between “Misery Business” and first ruler “This Is Why,” which reigned just a month ago.
Longest Wait Between First Appearance and First No. 1, Alternative Airplay:17 years, nine months: Fall Out Boy, “Love From the Other Side” (2005-23)17 years, two weeks: Stone Temple Pilots, “Between the Lines” (1993-2010)16 years, 10 months, two weeks: Alice in Chains, “Check My Brain” (1992-2009)15 years, six months, two weeks: Paramore, “This Is Why” (2007-23)15 years, five months, two weeks: Nine Inch Nails, “The Hand That Feeds” (1989-2005)
Concurrently, “Love” bullets at No. 31, after reaching No. 30 the previous week, on Mainstream Rock Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, the song rises 3-2 with 4.8 million audience impressions, up 10%, Feb. 17-23, according to Luminate.
On the latest Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart (dated Feb. 25), “Love” placed at No. 31, after rising as high as No. 11 (Feb. 4). In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 1.4 million official U.S. streams in the Feb. 10-16 tracking week.
So Much (for) Stardust marks Fall Out Boy’s first full-length since Mania, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in February 2018, and has earned 558,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated March 4 will refresh on Billboard.com Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Paramore and Pierce the Veil lead Billboard’s rock albums charts dated Feb. 25 with new releases This Is Why and The Jaws of Life, respectively.
Paramore’s sixth studio album and first since 2017’s After Laughter bows atop the Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums tallies with 64,000 equivalent album units earned Feb. 10-16, according to Luminate. That sum includes 47,000 units via album sales.
The set is Paramore’s fourth straight No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, dating to 2009, when Brand New Eyes ruled for a week. Its successors Paramore (2013) and the aforementioned Laughter also led for one frame each.
With four No. 1s, Paramore is tied with Florence + the Machine for the most rulers by a woman or woman-led act since the chart began in 2006. Concurrently, as previously reported, Why starts at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200, the band’s best rank since Paramore debuted at No. 1 in 2013.
All 10 of the new album’s tracks appear on the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs survey, paced by “Running Out of Time,” which debuts at No. 18 with 3.3 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week. The album’s title track and lead single (which ranks at No. 19 on the latest Hot Rock & Alternative Songs list, after rising to No. 15 in October) became the band’s first Alternative Airplay No. 1 when it reigned for one week in February.
Carlos de la Garza, who produced the album, concurrently debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Producers chart for the first time. De la Garza is the sole producer behind all 10 of Paramore’s chart entries on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. De la Garza dethrones Steve Lacy on Rock & Alternative Producers after leading for 30 consecutive weeks (dating to July 30, 2022).
Meanwhile, Pierce the Veil’s Jaws bows at No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums with 27,000 units earned. It’s the band’s third Top Hard Rock Albums leader (and third in a row), following 2012’s Collide With the Sky and 2016’s Misadventures. The new LP also launches at No. 2 on Top Alternative Albums and No. 3 on both Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums.
On the Billboard 200, Jaws starts at No. 14. Multiple songs from the set appear on Hot Hard Rock Songs, paced by “Death of an Executioner,” which premieres at No. 7 (1.8 million streams). The album’s lead single, “Pass the Nirvana,” appeared on Mainstream Rock Airplay for three weeks, peaking at No. 39 in December. Follow-up “Emergency Contact” climbs 27-24 on Alternative Airplay.
It’s rare for a band to reach a point of satisfaction and contentment where it can say “enough” — and then move on to a new era.
But that’s the case for Godsmack as it releases Lighting Up the Sky, which the heavy rock quartet says will be the final album of its 28-year career, on Feb. 24 via BMG.
“There’s a time in everyone’s life where we have to honor what we promised ourselves, when we arrive at what we set as a goal,” frontman Sully Erna explains to Billboard from his home in New Hampshire.
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“We’ve enjoyed decades of doing this and we’ve sacrificed a lot of time. But the reality is — and I say this with zero ego — we’re at 27 top 10 (Mainstream Rock Airplay) singles, 12 No. 1s (including ‘Surrender’ from the new album). We could pull three or four more off this new record — it’s a strong record, we feel. That means we could do back-to-back nights in an arena, play 15 songs each night and never play the same single, let alone deep cuts. That’s a helluva place to get to…so you think, how much more do we need?”
But Erna and his bandmates — Tony Rombola on guitar, Robbie Merrill on bass and drummer Shannon Larkin — are quick to add that while the albums may be over, Godsmack is far from it.
“This isn’t ending,” Erna says. “We’re just ending one chapter in our lives, but we’re opening a whole new chapter for our sunset years: to be able to create, now, a greatest hits show, and enjoy the rest of our career playing live, which is really what the reward is for all the work that we do in the studio.”
Larkin, who’s been with Godsmack since 2002, concurs. “We don’t want to break up the band. The whole band has never been on more greased wheels. Everything’s just right. But, being honest, we’ve always felt like making records was more of a chore. Our reward and what we really love about this life we’ve chosen is to play live. We pride ourselves on that, and it’s what we’re going to dedicate ourselves to from now on.”
There’s no question Godsmack has done the record thing well since its debut, All Wound Up, in 1997. In addition to the impressive run of singles, nine of the band’s releases have been certified gold or better and two (1998’s Godsmack and its followup, Awake, in 2000) are multi-platinum. The group has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards and has won 16 of its hometown Boston Music Awards as well as a Billboard Music Award for rock artist of the year in 2001.
“Proud, that’s the best word that I can use,” Erna, who’s released two solo albums and overcame some acknowledged substance abuse issues, says of Godsmack’s legacy. “We’ve been through so much and so many challenges, so many hurdles, so many mountains we’ve had to climb. These guys have been there for me when, literally, I’ve fallen on my face. They’ve been my rock and trusted me and allowed me to lead and capture a dream all of us always wanted since we were kids. So, I’m grateful. And I’m so proud of us ’cause we didn’t do the selfish thing when things got really bad and break up and disappoint the fans and disappoint the work. That’s the best part of it.”
With the members all in their mid- and late 50s, Larkin says age was also a factor in Godsmack’s planning. “The elephant in the room is age,” the 55-year-old drummer says. “We’ve all agreed that we’d like to remain a band until we feel like we’re too old to be cool and perform our songs right and we look like a bunch of old farts or something. I won’t mention any names, but we’ve all seen bands that are probably past their shelf life, and they should wrap it up ’cause they have such a great history. We don’t want to leave a weak impression, like the old and gray Godsmack 10 years from now or whatever.”
An air of finality is palpable throughout Lighting Up the Sky‘s 11 tracks — right up to a riff from “Moon Baby,” the first song on their self-titled major label debut, on the new album’s title track at the end. “That made me think this could really feel complete if we bring people back to the beginning as they finish this one,” Erna, 55, notes. “I think that what you get on this record is really a montage of all things Godsmack. There’s stuff for the old fans like ‘Red White & Blue.’ There’s stuff for the newer fans that echo, like, (2018’s) ‘Bulletproof.’ And then there’s stuff in there I just love myself and wanted to stretch these songs out, ’cause I’m such a fan of the old classic rock sound and arrangements that Peter Frampton and Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and those kind of bands brought us. So when you hear songs like ‘You and I’ and ‘Let’s Go’ and there’s these really great, tricky middle sections, that’s just me being inspired by the people who paved the way and wanting to create that atmosphere and a full-album journey for the listeners.”
“He doesn’t write singles,” Larkin says of Erna. “He’s looking at the record as a body of work that has a 45-, 50-minute listening time and takes you on a journey, like the records all the bands we loved made. It’s the same with this one.”
Erna and company also reached back to the past in choosing a co-producer for Lighting Up the Sky — Andrew “Mudrock” Murdock, who had the same role on the Godsmack and Awake albums.
“It just made sense that if this was gonna be the last one, why not end it where we began and bring back the original team that helped us have success in the first place?” Erna says. “It just felt like the right thing to do. He’s such a great guy and as soon as we saw each other it’s like we picked up right where we left off. Godsmack changed his life in so many ways and I know he’s grateful for that — as we are for him to give us the opportunity in the first stages to be able to make our first record for 2,600 bucks over a weekend. That was a big favor. We’re both part of each other’s success stories.”
Erna and Larkin acknowledge that making Lighting Up the Sky was “very emotional” throughout the process — so much so that guitarist Rombola “was there every step of the way,” according to Erna. “He even looked at me at one point and said, ‘Y’know what, Sully — I want to be here because this is the last one and I don’t want to miss any of it.’ We sat in the studio a few different times and shared tears.”
Larkin, meanwhile, recalls a profound moment when the band members and a longtime assistant, “drills in hand,” spent a full day together dismantling the band’s studio, which was first built in New England and then migrated to Los Angeles and Nashville before being set up in Florida, where three of the four now reside, for Lighting Up the Sky.
“We even took the soundproofing off the walls and we stacked it all up against the back wall,” Larkin says. “The four of us were just standing there looking at this big pile of our studio and…it was a touching moment, a personal moment when the finality hit us that this is the last time we’ll do that as a band.”
Another resonant moment for the band was “Best of Times,” which Larkin refers to as “a love letter from Sully to Tony and Robbie and me.” Erna composed the lyrics around an idea that had been around since 2014’s 1000HP album and wouldn’t allow the band in the studio while he was recording his vocals, “which they were very confused about,” the frontman notes. “Once I had a pretty good rough (vocal) laid out, they came in and I gave them all the lyrics, and I will tell you it was a really emotional moment — caught on camera. A couple of the guys broke down.
“I mean, how can you not love guys that you’ve spent 30 years of your life with and not have a true brotherhood and care and respect for. It was just a tip of my hat to say, ‘Thank you for being with me the whole way and tolerating me even when I didn’t know how to manage myself.’ They’ve been my rock.”
The band is now turning its attention toward touring. Their trek begins April 21 in Santiago, Chile, and the group has announced a May run of U.S. shows with I Prevail opening, starting May 4 in Denver. Godsmack plans to cover North America primarily this year, then eyeball other territories during 2024. After that cycle for the album, Godsmack plans on “playing live shows whenever we want,” according to Erna.
“We’re looking forward to that,” he says. “We’re gonna build the show as big and beautiful as we can and play the best of the songs we’ve written that had the most success and the ones the fans have chosen to be their favorites. What feels right is for us to honor our career and end this strong — whenever we decide it’s the right time to end it.”
Woody Harrelson and Jack White will both join the five-timers club when they appear on Saturday Night Live this weekend. But before they hit the stage, the pair had to clear up a few things with cast member Chloe Fineman in this week’s promo for Saturday’s (Feb. 25) show.
In the first of two bits the trio shot, Harrelson does his job and hypes up White’s appearance, while a thirsty Fineman tries to get something going on the side with the Woodman. “Woody and Chloe back at it again,” she says with sass, snapping her fingers over her head, as White interjects, “Oh, I didn’t know you guys worked together before.”
“Oh, it’s a figure of speech, like ‘Woody and Chloe back at it,’ or ‘Woody and Chloe starring in a hit movie,’” Fineman adds nervously as Harrelson reminds the feature player to stop asking him to cast her in his next movie.
In the second promo Fineman tries to get her groove back and tells Harrelson he’s “the best” host. “Am I?,” he wonders, noting that considering that White is the musical guest, a better pairing might have balanced things out a bit. “Wouldn’t the best host be Jack Black?” he asks.
“You know, white-black, yin-yang, you know I think it could really help bring America together,” he suggests, as Fineman just double-checks to make sure the famously toke-loving actor understands that he does actually have to host this week.
“Stop tearing this country apart, Chloe!,” White implores her.
Harrelson — who appears in the upcoming basketball drama Champions and the HBO political series White House Plumbers — previously hosted Saturday Night Live in 1989, 1992, 2014 and 2019. White who dropped two albums in 2022, April’s Fear of the Dawn and July’s Entering Heaven Alive, has performed on the show five times as well, dating back to his White Stripes days.
The show airs every Saturday live on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT. For those without cable, the broadcast will also stream on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans on demand access to previous SNL episodes as well.
Check out this week’s SNL promo below.
Depeche Mode becomes one of just two acts to appear on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart in each decade of the list’s existence thanks to “Ghosts Again,” which debuts at No. 27 on the Feb. 25-dated survey.
The song is the act’s 21st appearance on Alternative Airplay, which began in 1988, and first since “Where’s the Revolution,” which hit No. 40 in 2017.
Depeche Mode has made at least one appearance on Alternative Airplay in the 1980s, ‘90s, 2000s, ‘10s and now the ‘20s, making it the second act to do so, following Red Hot Chili Peppers, which accomplished the feat last year.
The No. 27 entrance of “Ghosts” gives Depeche Mode its best-charting Alternative Airplay hit since “Soothe My Soul” reached No. 27 in 2013, as well as the band’s top debut since “Wrong” started at No. 27 in 2009.
Among its 21 entries, Depeche Mode boasts four No. 1s: 1990’s “Enjoy the Silence” and “Policy of Truth,” and 1993’s “I Feel You” and “Walking in My Shoes.”
Concurrently, “Ghosts” opens at No. 30 on Adult Alternative Airplay, where it’s Depeche Mode’s first song to chart since “Wrong” reached No. 15 in 2009.
On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Ghosts” bows at No. 24 with 1.5 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. It’s the band’s best rank on the survey, which began in 2009.
“Ghosts” is the first single from Depeche Mode’s 15th studio album, Memento Mori, due March 24.
It’s been more than half a century since The Beatles and Rolling Stones reinvented the idea of rock and roll in their own unique styles. And while they have always remained cordial, there is one thing the British icons have never done: collaborate in the studio.
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That streak looks to end on the Stones’ upcoming studio album. A spokesperson for the Stones confirmed to Billboard in an email on Thursday (Feb. 23) that Sir Paul McCartney is “playing bass on a song” on the Mick Jagger-led group’s upcoming album; CNN was first in an on-the-record confirmation of the collaboration.
The exciting news came as the rep also threw cold water on a previous Variety report that cited unnamed sources claiming fellow surviving Beatle drummer Ringo Starr might make the long-awaited superstar summit as well.
“Ringo isn’t appearing,” the rep tells Billboard.
At press time there was no additional information on the album the Stones have reportedly been wrapping work on in Los Angeles with Grammy-winning producer Andrew Watt (Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Bieber); the untitled collection will be the veteran band’s first new studio album of new songs since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.
In addition to McCartney, the Stones album is likely to feature drumming from the group’s late timekeeper Charlie Watts, who died in 2021 at 80. Longtime group friend and touring drummer Steve Jordan told the L.A. Times that Watts had recorded his drum parts for a handful of songs before his passing. At press time neither the Stones nor McCartney had responded to the reports of their collaboration and a spokesperson for Sir Paul had no comment.
The debate about rock supremacy and friendly rivalry between the bands continues to this day, with McCartney telling Howard Stern in a 2020 interview that, “The Stones are a fantastic group, I go to see them every time they come out because they’re a great, great band and Mick can really do it, the singing and the moves, and Keith and now Ronnie and Charlie. They’re great.”
But, as “really, really” great as McCartney thinks they are, he confidently added, “I love ’em… I love The Stones, but I’m with you: The Beatles are better.” Jagger responded a week later in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that, “[Paul’s] a sweetheart. There’s obviously no competition. He’s a sweetheart.” Jagger noted that the Stones have continued to tour consistently into their sixth decade, while the Beatles quit the road in 1966.
“One band is a… unbelievably luckily still playing in stadiums and then the other band doesn’t exist,” Jagger said. The decadeslong back-and-forth continued a year later when McCartney took a polite swipe at the Stones in a New Yorker profile, describing them as a “blues cover band.”
Though the groups never collaborated on any studio recordings in their prime — or since — McCartney and late Beatle John Lennon wrote the Stones’ first hit, 1963’s “I Wanna Be Your Man” and Jagger was in the studio when the Beatles tracked 1967’s “All You Need Is Love.”
The Rolling Stones’ new concert album, GRRR Live!, debuts at No. 7 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Feb. 25), marking the fifth consecutive year the band has placed a top 10-charting set on the tally.
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The new live effort was recorded on Dec. 15, 2012, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, as part of the group’s 50th anniversary trek, dubbed the 50 & Counting Tour. The show was originally broadcast live as a pay-per-view event titled One More Shot, but was not released in a home video or audio format until its GRRR Live! bow on Feb. 10. For its album release, the show was re-edited and remixed.
The GRRR Live! album features a robust lineup of guest stars in The Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr., Lady Gaga, John Mayer, Bruce Springsteen and former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. The set was released in multiple configurations, including a 24-track digital album, a limited edition red-colored $80 three-vinyl-LP set, and variants that housed the concert on either blu-ray or DVD alongside two CDs.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Elsewhere on the new Top Album Sales chart, Paramore debuts atop the list with its latest studio album, This Is Why, launching with 47,000 copies sold. It’s the second leader for the band, which also led the tally with 2013’s self-titled set.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER’S The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION falls to No. 2 after spending its first two weeks at No. 1. It sold 28,000 in its third week, down 34%.
Pierce the Veil logs its highest charting effort yet on Top Album Sales as the rock band’s latest release The Jaws of Life starts at No. 3 with 18,000 sold. Taylor Swift’s former leader Midnights dips 3-4 with 17,000 (up 11%). Harry Styles’ chart-topping Harry’s House falls 4-5 with 9,000 sold (down 6%).
Rock band In Flames scores its first top 10 on Top Album Sales as Foregone bows at No. 6 with nearly 9,000 sold. It’s the ninth charting effort for the act, who had previously gone as high as No. 20 with I, the Mask in 2019.
Veteran alternative act Yo La Tengo hits the top 10 on Top Album Sales for the first time as This Stupid World bows at No. 8 with 6,000 sold. The band’s peak until the new chart was No. 26 in 2013 with Fade.
Closing out the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart are Tyler, the Creator’s former leader IGOR, rising 17-9 with just over 6,000 (after the set was reissued in physical formats) and Shania Twain’s Queen of Me falls 2-10 in its second week with 6,000 (down 82%).
In the week ending Feb. 16, there were 1.884 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.552 million (up 9.8%) and digital albums comprised 332,000 (down 8.7%).
There were 622,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Feb. 16 (up 2.7% week-over-week) and 919,000 vinyl albums sold (up 14.7%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 4.281 million (down 0.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 6.218 million (up 25.6%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 12.922 million (up 6.3% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 10.560 million (up 13.7%) and digital album sales total 2.361 million (down 17.7%).
Graham Nash is gearing up to release his first studio album in seven years. The collection, Now, is due out on May 19 through BMG and will serve as the follow-up to his 2016 album, This Path Tonight.
“I believe that my new album, Now, is the most personal one I have ever made,” Nash, 81, said in a statement announcing the project. “At this point in my life, that’s something to say.” The record was produced by Nash and his touring keyboardist Todd Caldwell and serves as the long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s This Path Tonight.
“I used to think that I would never love again/ I used to think that I would be all on my own/ I really thought that it was coming to an end/ And just the thought of it chilled me to the bone/ But not now… Right now, here I am/ Still living my life/ Right now, right now,” Nash sings urgently on the first single over a swarm of keening electric guitars. The singer will embark on his Sixty Years of Songs and Stories tour in April with a two-night stand at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA and will play multiple nights in most cities, including a five-night run at Chicago’s legendary Old Town School of Folk Music and three nights at the New York City Winery before winding down with two gigs at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, CA.
Listen to “Right Now” below and see the album track list and Nash’s upcoming tour dates.
Now track list:
“Right Now”
“A Better Life”
“Golden Idols”
“Stars & Stripes”
“Love of Mine”
“Theme From Pastoral”
“In a Dream”
“Stand Up”
“It Feels Like Home”
“Buddy’s Back”
“Follow Your Heart”
“I Watched It All Come Down”
“When It Comes to You”
2023 tour dates:
April 12 — Phoenixville, PA @ Colonial TheatreApril 13 — Phoenixville, PA @ Colonial TheatreApril 15 — Annapolis, MD @ Ram’s Head on StageApril 16 — Annapolis, MD @ Ram’s Head on StageApril 18 — Alexandria, VA @ The BirchmereApril 19 — Alexandria, VA @ The BirchmereApril 21 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Carnegie of Homestead Music HallApril 22 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Carnegie of Homestead Music HallApril 23 — Carmel, IN @ The PalladiumApril 25 — Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk MusicApril 26 — Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk MusicApril 28 — Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk MusicApril 29 — Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk MusicApril 30 — Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk MusicMay 2 — Minneapolis, MN @ The DakotaMay 4 — Minneapolis, MN @ The DakotaMay 5 — Minneapolis, MN @ The DakotaMay 7 — Columbus, OH @ Southern TheatreMay 8 — Buffalo, NY @ Asbury HallMay 10 — Bethel Woods, NY @ Bethel Woods Event GalleryMay 11 — Beverly, MA @ Cabot TheaterMay 13 — Portsmouth, NH @ The Music HallMay 14 — New York, NY @ City WineryMay 16 — New York, NY @ City WineryMay 17 — New York, NY @ City WineryJune 17 — Malibu, CA @ Smothers TheatreJune 18 — San Diego, CA @ Humphrey’sJune 20 — Tucson, AZ @ Fox TheatreJune 21 — Phoenix, AZ @ Celebrity TheatreJune 24 — Boulder, CO @ Boulder TheaterJune 25 — Fort Collins, CO @ Washington’sJune 27 — Steamboat Springs, CO @ Strings Music PavilionJune 29 — Breckenridge, CO @ Riverwalk CenterJuly 1 — Park City, UT @ The Egyptian TheatreJuly 2 — Park City, UT @ The Egyptian TheatreJuly 3 — Park City, UT @ The Egyptian TheatreJuly 7 — Sandpoint, ID @ The PanidaJuly 8 — Tacoma, WA @ Pantages TheaterJuly 11 — Berkeley, CA @ Freight & SalvageJuly 13 — Berkeley, CA @ Freight & SalvageJuly 15 — Santa Barbara, CA @ The Lobero TheatreJuly 16 — Santa Barbara, CA @ The Lobero Theatre
Guns N’ Roses announced an extensive 2023 world tour on Tuesday (Feb.21), a run that will have the veteran hard rockers playing festivals, stadiums and arenas across the Middle East, Europe and North America.
The global trek is slated to kick off on June 5 in Tel Aviv, Israel at the Park Hayarkon and run through dates in Madrid, Copenhagen, London, Rome, Paris and Athens before hopping to North America on August 5 with a gig in Moncton, New Brunswick at the Medavie Blue Cross Stadium. The run will include shows in Montreal, Boston, Chicago, Nashville, Toronto, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego and Phoenix before winding down on Oct. 16 at BC Place in Vancouver.
Tickets sales for the Live Nation-promoted outing will begin with the band’s Nightrain presale, which kicks off on Wednesday (Feb. 22) at 10 a.m. local time, with a general onsale for all dates beginning on Friday (Feb. 24) at 10 .m. local time here.
Though the reunited band has not announced plans for any new music to follow-up 2008’s long-gestating Chinese Democracy, the Axl Rose-led group has been hitting the road hard over the past few years, including their three-year (2016-2019) Not in This Lifetime Tour and 2021’s We’re F’N Back! tour. But in an exciting tease, the release announcing the upcoming dates promises that they will be “unveiling more news and surprises soon.”
In November, GNR released a commemorative box set celebrating their 1991 two-album set Use Your Illusion with dozens of previously unreleased tracks and videos.
Check out the dates for GNR’s 2023 tour below.
June 5 – Tel Aviv, Israel @ Park Hayarkon
June 9 – Madrid, Spain @ Civitas Metropolitan Stadium
June 12 – Vigo, Spain @ Estadio Abanca Balaídos
June 15 – Dessel, Belgium @ Grasspop Metal Meeting
June 17 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Copenhell
June 21 – Oslo, Norway @ Tons of Rock
June 27 – Glasgow, UK @ Bellahouston Park
June 30 – London, UK @ BST Hyde Park
July 3 – Frankfurt, Germany @ Deutsch Bank Park
July 5 – Bern, Switzerland @ BERNEXPO
July 8 – Rome, Italy @ Circo Massimo
July 11 – Landgraaf, Netherlands @ Megaland
July 13 – Paris, France @ La Defense
July 16 – Bucharest, Romania @ National Arena
July 19 – Budapest, Hungary @ Puskás Arena
July 22 – Athens, Greece @ Olympic Stadium
August 5 – Moncton, NB @ Medavie Blue Cross Stadium
August 8 – Montreal, QC @ Parc Jean Drapeau
August 11 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
August 15 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
August 21 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
August 24 – Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field
August 26 – Nashville, TN @ GEODIS Park
August 29 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
Sept. 1 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Sept. 3 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
Sept. 6 – Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena
Sept. 9 – St. Louis, MO @ Busch Stadium
Sept. 12 – Knoxville, TN @ Thompson-Boling Arena
Sept. 15 – Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live
Sept. 20 – Biloxi, MS @ Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Sept. 23 – Kansas City, MO @ Kauffman Stadium
Sept. 26 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome
Sept. 28 – Houston, TX @ Minute Maid Park
Oct. 1 – San Diego, CA @ Snapdragon Stadium
Oct. 8 – Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival
Oct. 11 – Phoenix, AZ @ Chase Field
Oct. 16 – Vancouver, BC @ BC Place
Travis Barker is legendary for hitting his kit with wild abandon. But with the Blink-182 reunion slated to kick off on March 11 in Tijuana, Mexico, the dynamic drummer may want to slow his roll and heal up after suffering yet another injury to his ring finger. Two weeks after revealing that he’d smashed his finger so hard during rehearsals that he dislocated it and tore some ligaments, Barker said he did it again.
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TMZ reported that Barker posted an Instagram Story on Sunday in which he showed off his clearly swollen, bruised ring finger, with what looked like a giant bump on his middle knuckle, captioning the image “again.”
Barker confirmed the news in his Story on Monday, posting two x-ray images of his left middle finger that clearly depicted a serious ding on the ring fing. At press time it was unclear if the injury would have any impact on the band’s touring plans in support of their as-yet-untitled reunion album with twice former singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge; a spokesperson for the group had not returned requests for additional comment at press time.
In January, DeLonge teased that the collection is “the best album we’ve ever made,” assuring fans that they need to “buckle up.” Amping up the excitement, DeLonge added, “I’m personally tripping and so proud of what we have created TOGETHER. As one unified force of fun, eternal youth, and most of all- close friends.”
DeLonge — who rejoined the band in 2022 after leaving for a second time in 2014 — tagged bandmates drummer Travis Barker and singer/bassist Mark Hoppus in the post about the eagerly awaited follow-up to the trio’s 2019 album Nine, their second, and final, studio effort featuring fill-in third member Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio).
While a release date and title for the new album have not yet been announced, the collection’s first single, “EDGING,” has been a smash at alternative radio.
The reunited trio’s massive world tour is slated to kick off on March 11 in Tijuana, Mexico at the Imperial GNP festival and keep the band on the road in South America and Mexico through April 2 before shifting to North America on May 4 with a show at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota; those dates will run through a July 16 gig in Nashville at the Bridgestone Arena and then move on to Europe in September and Australia/New Zealand in early 2024.
