Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel unveiled plans for their first major concert tour since 1983, due to kick off Oct. 18 at the Palace of Auburn Hills outside Detroit. The trek, dubbed Old Friends, will run through mid-December and will visit around 30 markets. Tickets for some shows will go on sale Monday (Sept. 15).
Shows will find the legendary folk/rock duo performing both acoustically and with a full backing band, which will include drummer Jim Keltner and guitarist Mark Stewart, who played on Simon’s 2000 Warner Bros. album “You’re the One.”
“We’d like to stay as true to the spirit of the Simon & Garfunkel period and our work in the ’60s and early ’70s as we can,” Simon said. “If not note-for-note, then certainly we don’t intend to reimagine that work. We’re going to try to capture it as it was and not alter it.”
Although the bulk of the set lists will be drawn from “the body of the five albums we produced,” according to Simon, a handful of songs from the artists’ respective solo careers will be featured. Simon said he had always imagined his 1977 hit “Slip Slidin’ Away” as a Simon & Garfunkel song, while Garfunkel has frequently included Simon’s “American Tune” in his solo performances.
The pair embarked on a short tour in 1994, but remained apart for the rest of the decade amid reports that relations between the two artists were strained. But after being presented earlier this year with a lifetime achievement award at the Grammys — which they opened with a rendition of “The Sounds of Silence” — the seeds were planted for a full-scale reunion.
For a full list of cities vistit Billboard.com.

The day after Dave Matthews’ releases his RCA solo debut, “Some Devil,” the Dave Matthews Band will play a benefit show in New York’s Central Park that is expected to draw upwards of 100,000 people. F
America Online is sponsoring the show and is using it to hype the newest version of its software, AOL 9.0. The concert, which RCA will tape for an immediate DVD and CD release, will be held on the park’s Great Lawn and will raise funds for the AOL Concert for the Schools! program, which will benefit The Fund for Public Schools of New York City and the Music Resource Center in DMB’s homebase of Charlottesville, Va.
Tickets are free and can be obtained through AOL and DMB’s official fan association, the Warehouse. Donations of at least $25 are requested and all seats are general admission. The band is also offering Warehouse/fan club members “preferred viewing section passes,” which includes access to a backstage barbecue picnic and an exclusive viewing area on the Great Lawn
“Some Devil,” which features guest appearances from regular Matthews collaborator Tim Reynolds and Phish’s Trey Anastasio, will kickstart a busy season for Matthews-related releases. According to a source, a CD/DVD of the Central Park show will be released in November, followed early next year by a three-DVD/six-CD collection taped at the band’s three-night September 2002 stand at the Gorge in George, Wash.
Source Billboard.com.

Singer-songwriter and music legend Warren Zevon passed away on Sunday,September 7 at the age of 56. Zevon had survived 9 months longer than doctors had anticipated. Instead of retreating from the world, he bestowed upon it one final gift — a masterpiece of an album titled The Wind.
Zevon had written many terrific songs over the years and, of course, will always be remembered for “Werewolves of London” and “Excitable Boy.” His dark humor filled his tales with caustic sarcasm, but he also had a softer side, one that was frequently overlooked. It’s this side of Zevon that makes The Wind resonate so fully.
Source: musicbox-online.com

The Flaming Lips are in the bag of acts slated to open for the Chili Peppers’ fall outing. The Lips hop onboard October 8-21, while Mike “Uncle Punkrock” Watt & The Secondmen stay on through the 27th. French Toast support September 16-25 and Queens Of The Stone Age appear 18-25.
It’ll be the fourth round of dates for the Peppers’ seemingly never-ending tour. The outing, which began last June has already seen the band play South America, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Europe in support of their latest album, By The Way.
Source: Pollstar

With album sales in a mult-year decline, the world

After a quiet four years, Guster is making up for lost time. The band released their long-awaited album, Keep It Together and, to the delight of fans, hit the road running. Although it was four years between albums, Guster has kept a steady stage presence. They had a surprise spring tour this year, ahead of the new disc, and have just launched an autumn tour.
Already in progress, Guster’s newest outing finds the Boston trio tackling theatres and universities all over North America through November 9. One show is scheduled for the beginning of December in Detroit.
Support is lined up as well, in the form of a couple of Canadians. Sam Roberts opens September 9-28 and Kathleen Edwards handles September 30 through October 26. Their respective bands will be joining them. Guster also has a slot on the “Austin City Limits” show September 6.
Source Pollstar.com.

Academy award-winning actor Woody Harrelson will channel his karmic energy into what he hopes will turn out to be the largest outdoor yoga class in the world — and all are welcome to participate, rain or shine.
Harrelson, in Toronto to promote the film “Go Further” by director-producer Ron Mann, will join fellow cast members for a 90-minute outdoor yoga session on the University of Toronto campus on Sunday morning.
Organizers are expecting between 500 to 1,000 people to attend.
The former self proclaimed enthusiast of drugs and alcohol tuned into the organic lifestyle for the film as he cycled from Seattle to Los Angeles on a spiritual journey, extolling the virtues of an ecologically sound life.
The film chronicles the eco-friendly antics of Harrelson and friends as they traverse the U.S. west coast. “It’s kind of a free for all,” said Catherine Fawcett of Harrelson’s publicity group, FLIP Publicity & Promotions Inc.
Participants are urged to bike, walk or take transit to the university as “the air will be nicer to breathe,” the press release said.
“In the film, which follows Woody down the Pacific Coast highway, he stopped at campuses to speak about sustainable organic living and more often than not, impromptu yoga classes happened at these campuses,” said Debbie Rix of Flip.
Harrelson, whose acting credits include playing a daft bartender in the television series “Cheers” and the movie “Natural Born Killers” is also a fierce activist of legalizing marijuana.
Source CNN.com.

Phil & Friends, featuring it

Vida Blue will release The Illustrated Band, the second studio release from the ambitious organ trio led by Phish-keyboardist Page McConnell.

On the eve of beginning an extensive touring schedule t) in Boston, Guided By Voices Tim Tobias has left the band for unexplained reasons. A post on the group’s official Web site says only that Tobias will be replaced by Chris Slusarenko for the North American dates and Superdrag’s Sam Powers for the European run, beginning Sept. 10 in Munich.
Tobias joined GBV in 1999 and has played on the group’s last three studio albums, including the recently released “Earthquake Glue” (Matador). Tobias and his brother Todd were also members of GBV frontman Robert Pollard’s side project Circus Devils.
Source Billboard.com.