Rock
Bluesman Lucky Peterson Dies at 55
American bluesman Lucky Peterson, a master of the six string and the Hammond B3, died Sunday (May 17) at his home in Dallas. He was 55. Peterson was at home when he “became ill and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but unfortunately did not recover,” reads a statement posted on his social pages. The cause of death is not immediately known. Born Judge Peterson in Buffalo, New York in 1964, Peterson had blues in his veins. His father James Peterson was a notable blues guitarist and owner of The Governor’s Inn, a roadhouse club where many of the genre’s greats would stop by. [embedded content] A prodigious talent, “Little” Lucky Peterson gave his first concert when most of us were still learning to use cutlery and his talents were spotted early on by blues legend Willie Dixon....
Elvis Presley’s Graceland Set to Reopen After Shutdown Due to Pandemic
Elvis Presley’s Graceland says it will reopen Thursday (May 21) after it shut down tours and exhibits due to the new coronavirus outbreak. The tourist attraction in Memphis, Tennessee, said Sunday (May 17) that it has adjusted its tours, and restaurant and retail operations, since it closed in March. The Memphis tourist attraction is centered on the life and career of the late rock n’ roll icon. It annually attracts about 500,000 visitors, including international travelers. Graceland said in a news release that it is reducing tours of Presley’s former home-turned-museum to 25% capacity, requiring employees and encouraging visitors to wear face masks, and limiting restaurant capacities to 50%. Temperature checks for guests and employees will be implemented and hand sanitizing stations are b...
Little Richard to Be Buried at Historically Black College in Alabama
Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard will be buried at Oakwood University, a historically black university in Huntsville, Alabama. Gerald Kibble, director of Oakwood Memorial Gardens, said the private funeral will be held Wednesday (May 20) and will not be open to the public. Little Richard’s close friend Pastor Bill Minson said the singer was an alumnus of the university. Little Richard died May 9 at the age of 87 in Tennessee due to bone cancer. The cemetery is owned by the Seventh-day Adventist university.
The Who’s Live at Leeds Remains a Peerless Document of Rock and Roll Power
Today, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of arguably the greatest live rock and roll album of all time. June 1969. Back from the brink, The Who are bigger than they ever imagined possible. With Tommy selling 200,000 copies in the first two weeks in the US alone, it was a remarkable turnaround for a band who, only a few months earlier, neared bankruptcy and calling it a day. In what must have seemed like the blink of an eye, the rock opera was born, and, with it, Pete Townshend ascended to his throne, the last high king of 1960s counterculture. With FM-friendly Tommy A-sides “Pinball Wizard” and “I’m Free” refining their “maximum R&B” down to proto prog-inflected rock, The Who found themselves zig-zagging across the world, topping major festival bills and — full testament to their expan...
Foo Fighters Streaming 2008 Live at Wembley Stadium Concert for Free: Watch
For the latest edition of Foo Fridays, Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters have unlocked the concert film Live at Wembley Stadium. The footage was compiled over two sold-out shows in London on June 6th and 7th of 2008. The set drew heavily from the Foos 2007 album Echoes, Silence. Patience & Grace, and included special guest appearances by Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. With Grohl on the drums and Taylor Hawkins on the mic, they played the Zeppelin favorite “Rock and Roll”, before Grohl and Hawkins switched places for “Ramble On”. In introducing Page and Jones, Grohl said that the country of England “made us the band we are today,” and so he felt compelled to plan something special. “Just so you know, tonight, playing here at fucking Wembley Stadium, i...
Blackpink’s Playlist With Lady Gaga, Troye Sivan & More Will Brighten Up Your Quarantine: Exclusive
It’s been a while since the world has heard new music from BLACKPINK, but even amid the global coronavirus pandemic, the K-pop quartet are keeping busy. Not only are they going to be in Lady Gaga’s area later this month with a feature on her Chromatica album, but the members have also been seen back in the studio working on their own new music. The group also released the live album from the Tokyo Dome performance of their 2019-2020 In Your Area world tour on Thursday (May 14), for those looking to relive that experience ahead of the upcoming releases. Though South Korea isn’t shut down with stay-at-home orders, life is still in all sorts of tumultuous states for the music industry in Seoul, with stars unable to interact directly with audiences. Like many around the world, BLACKPINK’s...
Neil Young’s Unheard ‘70s Album ‘Homegrown’ Will Finally be Released
Neil Young’s Homegrown, one of the great “Holy Grails” of his unreleased catalogue, will finally see the light of day some 46 years after its recording. The twelve-track studio set will be released June 19 on all formats, via Reprise Records, the Warner Music Group label and Young announced Friday. In a letter posted to the Neil Young Archives, the legendary Canadian rocker admits Homegrown was the one that got away for far too long. “I apologize,” he writes. “This album Homegrown should have been there for you a couple of years after Harvest. It’s the sad side of a love affair. The damage done. The heartache. I just couldn’t listen to it. I wanted to move on. So I kept it to myself, hidden away in the vault, on the shelf, in the back of my mind….but I should have sha...
Prince and the Revolution 1985 Live Album Finally Released: Stream
The companion album to the 1985 concert film Prince and the Revolution: Live has finally been unlocked from the vault. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The recording was made on March 30th, 1985 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York, as Prince and his famed backup band The Revolution toured in support of 1984’s Purple Rain. The set included all nine tracks off of Purple Rain, as well as a smattering of hits and B-sides from 1999, the Controversy cut “Do Me, Baby”, and even a “Yankee Doodle Dandy” interlude. Sheila E., who opened for Prince, joined him on “Baby I’m a Star”, and the concert ended with an 18-minute rendition of “Purple Rain”. To capture the performance in all its luscious glory, the tapes have been remastered by The Purple On...
Liner ‘Notes’: The 1975’s Matty Healy Talks Releasing an Opus Under Quarantine
The 1975 frontman talks about the band’s sprawling fourth LP ‘Notes on a Conditional Form,’ as well as his own quarantine living, and his band’s new status as critics’ darlings entering their second decade as The 1975. When you’re a four-piece rock band in the year 2020, it’s a hard thing to keep scaling up. But that’s what The 1975 and frontman Matty Healy have done over the course of seven years and three albums — soon to be four, with the release next Friday (May 22) of their much-anticipated new album, Notes on a Conditional Form. While the band’s 2013 self-titled debut brought them fame (and infamy) in their home country of the U.K., and earned them a pop cult following in the U.S., 2016 sophomore set I Like It When...
Powderfinger Are Reuniting For a Fundraising Virtual Concert
BRISBANE — They’re back. Powderfinger, arguably Australia’s biggest guitar band of the century, are reuniting for a one-off fundraising virtual concert. Dubbed One Night Lonely, the gig will stream Saturday, May 23 on YouTube and will raise much needed money for Support Act, the national charity that helps artists, roadies and music workers in crisis, and Beyond Blue, an organization that provides advice and support on mental health issues. Rumors of a Powderfinger reunion are as regular as a hot Australian summer. A teaser on social media Wednesday confirmed something was up, and the official announcement dropped early Thursday. Testing… is this thing on? — Powderfinger (@powderfinger_au) May 13, 2020 It’s been a decade since the five-piece from Brisbane were an active outfit....
The Killers Bring the Energy, Dedicate ‘Caution’ to Frontline Workers on ‘Fallon’: Watch
The Killers hit the right note, with the right message, when they appeared on The Tonight Show on Wednesday night (May 13). Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vannucci represented the Las Vegas pop-rock outfit for an at-home performance of “Caution,” lifted from their forthcoming set Imploding the Mirage. At the top, Vannucci dedicated the song to healthcare workers “who are putting themselves out on the frontlines helping everybody in need.” He added, “we can’t tell you how much we appreciate that and how heroic that is.” The pair brought the energy and filled it up on guitars, keys and a drum machine, with no gimmicks. “Caution” made chart history last month when it rose 2-1 on Billboard’s Alternative Songs airplay survey, a full 13 years and six months after their last leader on the...
Bryan Adams Blasts ‘Wet Markets’ for COVID-19, Faces Accusations of Racism
Bryan Adams posted an acoustic quarantine video performance of his 1983 hit “Cuts Like a Knife” on Monday (May 11) on the day that he was slated to kick off a run of shows at the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London. But it was his angry rant about the COVID-19 pandemic that really caught people’s attention. “Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of a tenancy of gigs at the @royalalberthall, but thanks to some f—ing bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards, the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus,” Adams wrote, along with the hashtag #banwetmarkets, the latest in a series of wet market criticisms from the vegan musician. “My message to them other than &...
