Arctic Monkeys (David Brendan Hall), Iggy Pop (Thaib A. Wahab), and Queens of the Stone Age (Philip Cosores) Iggy Pop has announced he will livestream his iconic 2016 concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in support of Post Pop Depression, the album he released that same year. While all Iggy Pop shows are highly entertaining in their own right, this one was pretty dang special as he was backed by Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders and Queens of the Stone Age members Josh Homme and Dean Fertita. The gig will stream live at 3:00 p.m. ET today on YouTube. The recent Lifetime Achievement Grammy-winner teased the event with a simple tweet, writing, “Ready to re-live it?” For most viewers, it will be a chance to witness that show in all of its glory for the first time. Post Pop Depression is a ...
The coronavirus pandemic has temporarily changed the future of live music. Drive-in concerts are now a thing, as are drive-in raves, because experts predict shows won’t return until 2021. With prominent figures like Live Nation now planning to resume concerts at “full scale” next year, organizers at nonprofit Event Safety Alliance have drafted a new guide to keep concertgoers and venue employees safe. Unfortunately, it includes a temporary ban on moshing and crowdsurfing (via Alternative Press). The Event Safety Alliance guide was created to help venues that plan to reopen eventually but want to do so safely. The suggestions within the document were written after staff members Steven Adelman and Jacob Worek spoke to over 400 promoters, caterers, Ticketmaster employees, and other worke...
Last month, Bruce Springsteen led Jersey4Jersey, a livestreamed concert benefiting COVID-19 relief efforts in the state of New Jersey. On Monday, New York held its own virtual fundraising event, headlined by its own local hero in Billy Joel. Following appearances by New York celebrities (Spike Lee, Jennifer Lopez, Robert De Niro) and politicians (Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayer Bill De Blasio), the Piano Man himself closed out the virtual telethon. Joel aptly chose to pay tribute to the Big Apple, the war-weary epicenter of the pandemic, by playing a moving rendition of his 1976 single “Miami 2017”, also known as “Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway”. As Rise Up New York!’s main event of the evening, Joel’s performance was broadcast on big screens all across the shuttered city, including Times...
The Lowdown: Hayley Williams once said on the writing of Paramore’s Brand New Eyes album, “Some of it hurt, some of it was like, ‘Am I being too honest even with myself?’’’ Honesty has long been a trend with Williams’ approach to music-making; she’s been the principal songwriter for Paramore since 2005, and her scathing, dynamic vocals have granted her ever-evolving lyrics the perfect expression of painful, angry, at times heartbroken truth. On Petals for Armor, she dives inward at a new level, using dark pop melodies to not only vocalize her innermost thoughts, but also battle them, untangle them, and reckon with them in a way that feels personal to her own experience. She sings on the blistering “Watch Me While I Bloom”, “You only got one side of me/ Here’s something new/ I’m alive in sp...
Gimme a Reason takes classic albums celebrating major anniversaries and breaks down song by song the reasons we still love them so many years later. This week, we celebrate 50 years of The Beatles’ Let It Be. It’s become an iconic scene: The Beatles carrying out their last-ever live performance on the roof of Apple Corps, joined by keyboardist and general legend Billy Preston, their long hair flipping around in the London wind while they recorded live takes of songs like “Dig a Pony” and “Don’t Let Me Down” before eventually being shut down by the Metropolitan Police. The event was unannounced. Onlookers gathered on their lunch breaks, looking up at the midday sensation. This was the concert from which the final version of the Let It Be album would in part manifest, preserving takes of thr...