April 2003

Donald Fagen, Walter Becker and the rest of the yet-announced 2003 version of the Steely Dan Orchestra will embark on a US tour late this summer, which is the first leg of a large tour. The band

Another summer tour has been announced. The Counting Crowes and John Mayer will be on a twin-bill, co-headling outdoor ampitheaters from July 7th to early September across the United States. The Counting Crowes are currently touring the Eastern states with Sixpence None The Richer and Blue Merle as openers on select dates.John Mayer, a recent Grammy winner, has been laying low this year after his breakthrough 2002 that saw him rise to pop stardom. With the exception of a couple shows in Europe earlier this year, this will be Mayer

The recording industry and Internet music broadcasters hope a new agreement will prevent a repeat of their recent battle over online music royalties, allowing them to focus instead on providing better music services for consumers. The two sides agreed Thursday on how much big webcasters like Yahoo!, America Online, Microsoft and RealNetworks must pay to broadcast songs over the Internet during 2003 and 2004. The new deal, if approved by the U.S. Copyright Office, will allow the two industries to avoid a lengthy arbitration process to set the royalty rates. “We are delighted to have reached an agreement that will bring compensation to musicians without a costly arbitration,” said Thomas Lee, president of the American Federation of Musicians. “We hope webcasting will bring more music to more fans.”
Source CNN.com.

Dozens walked out of Pearl Jam ‘s U.S. tour opener after lead singer Eddie Vedder took a mask of President Bush and impaled it on a microphone stand. Several concert-goers booed and shouted Tuesday night (April 1) for Vedder to shut up as he told the crowd he was against the war and Bush. “It was like he decapitated someone in a primal ritual and stuck their head on a stick,” said attendee Keith Zimmerman. Vedder used a Bush mask in Australia and Japan to perform the song “Bushleaguer,” from the band’s latest album, Riot Act. The song’s lyrics say, “He’s not a leader, he’s a Texas leaguer.”
Source Pollstar.com.

The Trey Anastasio Band has announced a 10-date tour in support of their live album Plasma to be released April 29th. It includes 2 night runs at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC, the Warfield in San Francisco, Chicago Theatre, and the Memorial Auditorium in Burlington , VT which will be part of the city

For anybody who wants to hear energy up close and personal, get ready for this. The Beastie Boys have announced that they will play a club show at the House of Blues in Las Vegas on April 25th. The show will serve as a warm up to the band

Former Pavement front man and lyrical genius Stephen Malkmus will be hitting clubs across the US in support of his most recent release Pig Lib with his band