Rock
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Eddie Vedder and Post Malone joined forces — both onstage and off — for a good cause.
The two stars sang a duet of Pearl Jam‘s “Better Man” last week for the second annual Reportin’ for Duty benefit honoring late actor Leslie Jordan, which this year took place at Humble Baron at Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tenn., and raised more than $1 million for the EB Research Partnership. And on Thursday (Feb. 22), Posty shared a video of their performance on YouTube, giving fans who didn’t attend a chance to see him take the stage with Vedder.
The clip finds both Vedder and Malone wielding acoustic guitars as they take turns singing lines from the 1994 track, a No. 2 Alternative Airplay hit for Pearl Jam. The event also featured performances from The War and Treaty, Jelly Roll, Ruby Amanfu, Jake Wesley Rogers and Dan Spencer.
“I can’t find words to say how powerful and inspiring it was to be gathered with such incredible musicians under one small roof for a cause that’s so impactful on young people’s lives,” Vedder said in a statement. “I had chills. Had tears. And all the while with a grin of positivity and action.”
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“I love when music connects me to great people like Eddie, and good causes like EB Research Partnership,” added Post. “Eddie is someone I look up to as a dad, a musician, and a person. I’m honored that he’s brought me into the EB community.”
Eddie and Jill Vedder founded EBRP in 2010 alongside a group of parents of children with Epidermolysis Bullosa, a life-threatening genetic skin disorder. According to Mayo Clinic, the condition “causes fragile, blistering skin” in response to “minor injury, even from heat, rubbing or scratching.”
As of now, there is no cure for EB — something the Vedders’ foundation aims to change within the next decade. Eddie continued in his statement, “The generosity of all who were involved is tremendously appreciated and will help us continue to fund research aimed at curing EB by 2030.”
Watch Eddie Vedder and Post Malone perform “Better Man” together below.
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HARDY notches a second No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart thanks to the appropriately named “Rockstar,” which bows atop the Feb. 24-dated survey. “Rockstar” accumulated 2.5 million official U.S. streams, 209,000 radio audience impressions and 2,000 sold from its Feb. 9 release through Feb. 15, according to Luminate. The download count launches […]
Kings of Leon stormed back after several years of silence on Thursday (Feb. 22) with the raucous single “Mustang.” The song is the first taste of the sibling group’s upcoming ninth studio album, Can We Please Have Fun (May 10), their first effort on new label Capitol Records and first full-length album since 2021’s When You See Yourself.
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According to a statement announcing the 12-song album, Can We Please Have Fun is “a document of one of this era’s great rock & roll bands cutting loose, trying new things, and, yes, having some fun.” The collection was recorded at Nashville’s Dark Horse studio and produced by Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Florence + the Machine). It’s described as a return to the group’s “gritty origins while simultaneously finding new gears. It’s the sound of a band unified in vision and purpose, freed from any expectations, and the album the band says they’ve always wanted to make.”
The driving “Mustang” is a classic KOL burner, with singer Caleb Followill promising that love is all around over an insistent, thrumming bass line as he howls, “There’s a mustang in the city/ And it’s calling me out/ Are you a mustang or a kitty?/ What are you all about?” while the song slowly builds to one of the band’s signature radio-ready, shout-along choruses.
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The Brook Linder-directed video for “Mustang” finds the band jamming out on rooftops and bridges amid a series of random images of a Roomba pulling a bunch of deflated balloons, an urban LARPing battle, EMTs attending to a patient on a city street and men wearing animal masks running through a park with mysterious satchels.
Caleb Followill said in a statement that the sessions for CWPHF were “the most enjoyable record I’ve ever been a part of,” with drummer Nathan Followill adding, “It’s like we allowed ourselves to be musically vulnerable. I love it when a rock band is not embarrassed to admit that every song doesn’t have to be on 11.”
KOL also announced the dates for their upcoming summer/fall Live Nation-produced 26-date North American tour, which will kick off on August 14 at the Moody Center in Austin, TX and keep them on the road through an Oct. 5 gig at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, CT.
The band cancelled the remaining four dates of their U.S. tour in support of When You See Yourself in Sept. 2021 following the death of their mother, Betty Ann; KOL is comprised of brothers Caleb, Nathan and bassist Jared Followill and cousin guitarist Matthew Followill.
Check out the track list for CWPHF, the “Mustang” video and the band’s 2024 tour dates below.
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CWPHF:
“Ballerina Radio”
“Rainbow Ball”
“Nowhere To Run”
“Mustang”
“Actual Daydream”
“Split Screen”
“Don’t Stop The Bleeding”
“Nothing To Do”
“Television”
“Hesitation Generation”
“Ease Me On”
“Seen”
2024 North American tour dates:
August 14 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
August 16 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
August 17 — Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
August 20 — Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial Theatre
August 22 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
August 23 — Palm Springs, CA @ Acrisure Arena
August 25 — Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre*
August 26 Santa Barbara, CA Santa Barbara Bowl*
August 28 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
August 29 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
August 31 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
Sept. 2 — Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
Sept. 3 — Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
Sept. 5 — Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre
Sept. 13 — Huntsville, AL @ Orion Amphitheater
Sept. 14 — Cincinnati, OH @ The Andrew J Brady Music Center
Sept. 16 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Sept. 18 — New York, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
Sept. 20 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
Sept. 23 — Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion at The Mann
Sept. 25 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
Sept. 26 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
Sept. 28 — Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Oct. 1 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
Oct. 2 — Laval, QC @ Place Bell
Oct. 5 — Bridgeport, CT @ Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
*Not a Live Nation Date
The 1975 will be taking a break at the end of its Still at Their Very Best Tour, but fans needn’t worry – the band won’t be gone for long. While performing at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England, Wednesday (Feb. 21), Matty Healy said that new music was just around the corner – and to prove it, he played a snippet of an unreleased song for the crowd.
Speaking about the approaching end of his and his bandmates’ European tour, Healy said, “The truth is, everyone’s kind of afraid that we’re going to go away for ages.”
“We’re working on a new record now,” he continued, sitting behind a piano onstage. “I just need to stop for, like, a minute.”
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The “Somebody Else” singer went on to spontaneously pull out his phone and hold its speaker up to his microphone, then played a few seconds of a vibrant, up-tempo track that began with a countdown. He went on to seemingly share a lyric that related back to his need to take a break after tour, telling fans, “It’s a line actually, what is it … ‘I take a minute when I think I won’t die from stopping.’”
“And that’s really how I’ve felt for a long time,” Healy added. “We really appreciate you guys and thank you so much. We’re going to go away and hopefully make you a good new album. I just don’t know what to do in the meantime, really.”
Billboard has reached out to the band’s reps for more information.
The Manchester band’s stop in Birmingham marked its last show in the U.K. this tour. Healy, guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald and drummer George Daniel will continue performing through Europe for the next month – with dates planned in Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and more – before closing out the Still at Their Very Best trek March 24 with a concert in Amsterdam.
The 1975 has been touring since late 2022 in support of its fifth studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, which debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. The group started with a nine-month run dubbed the At Their Very Best Tour, which lasted through mid-August 2023, before immediately embarking on another sweep of North America and Europe for the Still at Their Very Best Tour.
Watch Healy discuss new music and play part of an unreleased song below.
Longtime Trans-Siberian Orchestra keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij died on Tuesday at age 49. The pianist’s death was confirmed by the orchestral rock band on their socials, in which they paid tribute to the Ukrainian-born musician who spent more than a decade touring with the group whose over-the-top holiday shows have become an annual Boxscore Report-topping staple of the Christmas season.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear friend and bandmate, Vitalij Kuprij,” read the TSO’s statement. “He was a world-renowned classical pianist and composer. In 2010, Vitalij joined TSO for the inaugural ‘Beethoven’s Last Night’ tour and seamlessly became an integral part of the band. His flawless and energetic performances consistently captivated audiences, and many of you came to know and love him as much as we did.”
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The post noted that in addition to his prowess as a musician, Kuprij was an “accomplished chess player, an avid fisherman, and simply a fun-loving soul. His absence will be profoundly felt by all.” Kuprij was part of TSO from 2009-2019 and rejoined the group in 2021, most recently performing on their Nov.-Dec. 2023 tour.
His friend, Finnish guitarist/producer Lars Eric Mattsson also paid homage to Kuprij, writing, “Woke up to really sad news this morning as my dear friend and keyboard maestro Vitalij Kuprij has passed away last night. The Ukranian born virtuoso was living in Philadelphia and recently came off another hugely successful tour with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I have known and worked with Vitalij for over 20 years and he always talked about seeing me here in Finland to go fishing, which was his second love after music.”
At press time no additional information was available on the details or cause of Kuprij’s death. According to AllMusic, Kuprij was born in 1974 in Volodarka, Ukraine, and early on showed great promise on the piano, winning first prize in the All-Union Chopin competition in the Republic of Kazan in the former Soviet Union and the top honors at the Geneva Duo competition for violin and piano as a youth.
He formed his first progressive metal band in 1993, Atlantis Rising, relocating to the U.S. in 1995, where the band was refashioned into Artension, which released a series of albums on the Shrapnel label. Kuprij released a number of solo albums and also worked with the groups Ring of Fire and the Vivaldi Metal Project.
Progressive rock band TSO was founded in 1996 by producer/songwriter Paul O’Neill and has been barnstorming arenas from coast-to-coast for more than 25 years with over-the-top productions mixing rock opera theatrics with explosive light shows. Some of their most beloved productions include “Christmas Eve and Other Stories,” “The Christmas Attic” and “Beethoven’s Last Night.”
See the tributes below.
First the comeback concert tour, now AC/DC announces a reissue of its catalog on wax.
In celebration of 50 years rocking, the legendary Australian band will release its full set of albums, pressed on “vibrant gold vinyl,” reads a brief statement. The first nine titles will be released March 15, and are part of the “AC/DC 50” collection: High Voltage (1975), Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap (1976), Powerage (1978), Highway to Hell (1979), Back in Black (1980), For Those About to Rock (1981), Who Made Who (1986), The Razor’s Edge (1990), and the double album Live (1992).
Also, new colored pressings of Highway to Hell (orange blend) and Back In Black (black/white blend) are available to pre-order from AC/DC’s official webstore.
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As previously reported, the Rock Hall-inducted band is powering-up for a pan-European tour with a line-up featuring singer Brian Johnson, guitarist Angus Young, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction) replacing longtime bassist Cliff Williams. Williams retired from the band after the conclusion of the 2016 Rock or Bust tour, returning to the fold briefly for the 2020 Power Up album.
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Power Up blasted to the summit of the Billboard 200, for their third leader, and on the Official U.K. Albums Charts, for their fourth No. 1.
In their homeland, Power Up charged to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart for their sixth leader, setting a unique record as the only Australian group to have No. 1 albums in each of the past five decades.
The forthcoming 24-date trek of the U.K. and Europe, their first in eight years, is slated to kick off May 17 with the first of two dates at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen.
Formed in Sydney in 1973, the rockers were inducted into the inaugural ARIA Hall of Fame, saluted at a ceremony in 1988, alongside Dame Joan Sutherland, Johnny O’Keefe, Slim Dusty, Col Joye and Vanda & Young. In 2003, AC/DC were elevated into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, and, a decade on, in 2013, Back In Black was entered into the Grammy Hall Of Fame, established by the Recording Academy to honor “recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance.”
Those meaty rock records are never out of style. The title track from their seminal seventh LP, Back In Black, recently passed one billion views on YouTube, the band’s second to hit the milestone after “Thunderstruck” crossed the line in 2021.
It’s been 24 years since No Doubt released their Return of Saturn single, “Ex-Girlfriend,” but the track still brings up emotions for Gwen Stefani.
“I can’t listen to a lot of the songs because they speak so clearly to me,” the singer told KROQ’s Klein & Ally during an Audacy Check-In interview this week. “And it’s like you have regret and mistakes you’ve made. Most of the songs are about that. If I do ‘Ex-Girlfriend,’ even when I say it, I almost throw up in my mouth because…it’s just like, ‘Oh my God.’ It just brings you right back.”
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She continued, “There are lots of times when you’d be on tour doing the repetitive songs, but it’s not the songs. You’re not in the songs. You’re there with these new people every night and they’re receiving the songs. So that’s where you get the energy and you relive that moment with them. I can remember when ‘Don’t Speak’ came out. My family was very conservative. I was very naive. The only place we’d ever traveled to was San Francisco. I’m not kidding you. We would [do]…Catalina Island, Big Bear. [I lived at home until I was 26] and when I was 21, they called this family meeting, and we were like, ‘We’re going to go to Italy next year, and it’s going to be this big trip.’ And we did. I cried when we left. I was like, ‘I’ll never get to go back to my Italy.’”
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After going on what sounded like a permanent hiatus in 2013, the singer will be reuniting with longtime bandmates bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young for this year’s Coachella festival in April.
“We’ll see you in the desert this April!!!,” read a statement on No Doubt’s social accounts last week announcing the Coachella gig alongside a stacked roster featuring Lana Del Rey, Tyler, The Creator and Doja Cat as headliners, along with Peso Pluma, Lil Uzi Vert, Blur, Ice Spice, J Balvin, Jhené Aiko and more.
Listen to Audacy’s full interview with Gwen Stefani below.
Reunited thrash metal band Slayer will headline the second night of this year’s Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, KY. The band join fellow headliners Slipknot, Mötley Crüe and Korn at the event slated to take place at the Highland Festival Grounds at Kentucky Exposition Center on Sept. 26-29.
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The 10th anniversary of North America’s largest rock festival will also feature sets from Disturbed, Judas Priest, Five Finger Death Punch, Evanescence, Falling in Reverse, Breaking Benjamin, The Offspring, Staind, Till Lindemann, Chevelle, Dropkick Murphys, Halestorm, Gojira, Seether, In This Moment, Anthrax, Sum 41, Mastodon and Rage Against the Machine guitarist and solo act Tom Morello.
“We’re thrilled to announce that Slayer will be reuniting for an earth-shattering performance at Louder Than Life,” promoter Danny Wimmer of Danny Wimmer Presents said of the thrash icons who retired in 2019 after what they said at the time was their final tour. ”I was at their last show at The Forum in 2019 and have been working since then to bring them back to the Louder stage! With over 140 bands on five stages, we’re celebrating our 10th Louder Than Life with the biggest lineup yet!”
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Slayer — whose final lineup included original members guitarist Kerry King and bassist/singer Tom Araya along with drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt — were also announced as headliners for this year’s Riot Fest on Wednesday (Feb. 21).
The 150 acts at Louder Than Life will set up on five stages at the festival that will also include a selection of Louisville’s best spirits and local cuisine and sets from Anthrax, Mastodon, Architects, Skillet, Clutch, Highly Suspect, Lorna Shore, Body Count, Spiritbox, Grandson, Nothing More, Sevendust, Jinjer, Poppy, Badflower, Starset, Sleeping With Sirens, Filter, Eagles of Death Metal, Juliette Lewis and the Licks, Marky Ramone Plays the Ramones Classics, Black Stone Cherry, PUP, Three 6 Mafia, P.O.D., Fozzy, Fugitive, Saosin, L.S. Dunes, Biohazard, Polaris, From Ashes To New, LIT and many more.
Single day and weekend GA admission along with Park Community VIP passes and information on new Loud Lounge Suites are on sale now here; Angel’s Envy Top Shelf VIP passes, RV and car + tent camping passes are already sold out.
Check out the 2024 Louder Than Life festival poster below.
Everyone has a price, it seems, except for Noel Gallagher. In a new interview with MOJO magazine, former Oasis singer and solo star Liam Gallagher says that his estranged older brother put the kibosh on one of the most anticipated reunions in modern rock history.
After years of rumors, innuendo and testy back-and-forth between the famously battling siblings, Liam told MOJO that he tried to call the band’s songwriter, guitarist and occasional vocalist — well, his people attempted to called Noel’s people — to proffer a major offer to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s landmark August 1994 debut album, Definitely Maybe.
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“I did call him! Well, my people called Noel’s management team,” Liam said. “We put an offer on the table for an Oasis thing – because we got offered it – and he said no. It was a big tour, a lot of money. He turned it down. I get it, he’s got a divorce going down. I’ll do the Definitely Maybe thing and have a nice time without him.”
Definitely Maybe is on the Mt. Rushmore of the 1990s Britpop movement thanks to such enduring tracks as “Supersonic,” “Shakermaker” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” “Cigarettes & Alcohol” and “Live Forever,” which helped the collection become the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history. The band’s signature mix of Beatles reverence, punkish swagger and Liam’s snarling, no f’s given vocal delivery immediately rocketed the Manchester-bred band into the British rock pantheon during what turned out to be a too-short-lived ride due to the near-constant sniping between the brothers and a merry-go-round of rhythm sections and guitarists.
Their run began with a signing to legendary Creation Records in 1993 and included the release of 1995’s equally epic (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? — featuring hits “Some Might Say,” “Roll With It,” “Wonderwall,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova” — and five more studio albums before an acrimonious split in 2009. Since then, the Gallaghers have made a sport of denigrating each other in the press and on social media, often blaming one another for a failure to re-launch.
It sounds like the band, who’ve been nominated as part of the 2024 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will not likely reach a détente this year. But Liam suggested that maybe a 2025 Morning Glory? get back could happen. “It’s down to the universe. It’ll happen when it happens, it’s not in our hands anymore,” Liam told MOJO. “Me, I love nostalgia though. I’m doing the lot.”
But in a recent interview, Liam said that he won’t be singing any Oasis or Stone Roses songs on his upcoming joint tour with Roses guitarist John Squire to support their self-titled duo album. “Nah, not doing any of that. It’s gonna be just this album and maybe a few covers that we might get round to doing, but it won’t be our other bands and that, ‘cause that’s naff,” he said. “No, them songs mean too much to me man for me to be howling over.”
At press time a spokesperson for Noel Gallagher had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on Liam’s interview.
Foreigner founder Mick Jones’ ongoing absence from the band’s live concerts since 2022 has been widely noticed and commented on by fans. He’s now revealing that it is Parkinson’s disease that has sidelined him from being on stage with the group, which is in the midst of a farewell tour.
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“Fans will have become very aware that for some time now, I have not been performing onstage with the band. Several years ago, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I want everyone to know that I am doing alright,” Jones said in a statement released on Wednesday (Feb. 21). “However, I’ve always liked to be at my best when performing onstage, and sadly, at present, I find that a bit difficult. I am still very much involved in the background with Foreigner and remain a presence. Parkinson’s is a daily struggle; the important thing is to persevere and remind myself of the wonderful career I’ve had in music. I thank all the fans who have supported Foreigner throughout the years and continue to attend our concerts — I want you to know I appreciate your support; it always means so very much to me, but especially so at this point in my life.”
The English-born Jones, 79, formed Foreigner during 1976 in New York, shortly after playing in the Leslie West Band. He put together a band of British and American musicians, including Ian McDonald of King Crimson fame and Lou Gramm from the band Black Sheep, and hit it out of the box with a self-titled debut in 1977, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200, was certified five-times platinum and launched the enduring hits “Feels Like the First Time” and “Cold as Ice.” In its wake Foreigner has released eight more studio albums and sold more than 80 million records worldwide, spawning additional hits such as “Hot Blooded,” “Urgent,” “Juke Box Hero” and “I Want to Know What Love Is” (the lattermost a Billboard Hot 100 topper).
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Earlier this month the group received its first-ever nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. After the first week of fan voting, Foreigner ranked third, behind Ozzy Osbourne and Peter Frampton, with well over 100,000 votes.
During his last years of touring with the band Jones would come on for a few songs each night, a bit like a special guest at the shows. Foreigner is currently led by bassist Jeff Pilson, who’s been with the band since 2004, and frontman Kelly Hansen, who joined the following year.
In a previous interview, Billboard asked Jones — who had heart surgery during 2012 and was playing only a few songs each night with the band during the late 2010s — about the prospect of Foreigner continuing without him on board. “That’s a tough one,” he said, adding that, “I look at it as a team. If you think about…any kind of sports teams, they change players all the time. The thought of my music carrying on in that way has some appeal to me.”
Pilson, meanwhile, told Billboard last year that Jones still makes “the final decision” on anything related to the band — including checking off on the farewell tour that began last summer. “I would say it was difficult for him because (Foreigner) is his baby,” the bassist noted. “This is his lifetime achievement. It’s difficult, but I know he endorses the decision.” The tour is slated to finish in North America this summer; dates have been announced through Aug. 28, including a summer run with Styx and John Waite. Band manager Phil Carson says some international dates might take the tour into 2025, however.
There may also be some new Foreigner music in the offing — the band’s first since 2009’s Can’t Slow Down album, save for “The Flame Still Burns” from the 2017 compilation 40. “It is very much in the realm of possibility,” Pilson said last year. “We do have some tracks floating around unfinished, and they’re unfinished for a reason; we haven’t figured out what to do just yet. But they’re good songs, so at some point I’m really hoping they come out.”
Hansen added that Jones has been writing with longtime collaborator Marti Frederiksen. “There’s a whole bunch of stuff in different stages of completion,” he said. “We’ve got stuff going back a long time, so I think that might be something that’s going to happen.”