2004

Advance ticket sales have been announced for a Ben Fold’s peformance at London’s Hammersmith Apollo on May 31st, 2005. Fans can buy tickets on Ben’s website starting Wednesday, December 15th — at 10:00am london time (that’s 5:00am new york time).

So far 13 dates have been confirmed through June 17, 2005 including shows in Germany and Scotland.

Tour Dates

6/04/05 berlin, germany columbia halle
6/05/05 koln, germany live music hall
6/07/05 glasgow, scotland royal concert hall
6/08/05 dublin, ireland vicar street
6/10/05 southampton, england guild hall
6/11/05 manchester, england lowry
6/13/05 sheffield, england octagon
6/14/05 leicester, england de montford hall
6/16/05 cambridge, england corn exchange
6/17/05 warwick, england arts centre

Beth Orton, Fatboy Slim, Mavis Staples, Billy Idol and, as previously reported, Aimee Mann, are among the first confirmed acts for the 2005 South by Southwest music festival. The event will be held in mid-March in Austin, Texas.

As previously reported, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant will deliver the keynote address and perform his first show in the United States since the summer of 2002. Staples will sit for a one-on-one interview in addition her performance. R&B vocalist Erykah Badu is also confirmed to speak.

Among the first discussions set for the conference portion of the festival are panels on digital rights collection, ringtones and satellite radio.

Source billboard.com.

After nearly waiting four year between their last set of albums, 2003

Singer-songwriter Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes will launch two separate winter tours for their two upcoming full-length releases, I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (both due January 25th).

The first of the dates — beginning January 14th in Oberst’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska — will be in support of the largely acoustic I’m Wide Awake, which Oberst says is packed with tunes about “drinkin’, travelin’, love gained and love lost.” These include the tearjerker “Lua” and the gorgeous “Land Locked Blues” — one of three songs that feature Emmylou Harris. “We sent her the songs, and she said she liked ’em, and we were like, ‘No way!'” explains Oberst. “A few weeks later, we flew to Nashville and did it in one day. She’s super-rad.”

Dates for the second tour, also featuring Saddle Creek labelmates the Faint, is set for early May, with dates to be announced. These shows will focus on Digital Ash, which Oberst describes as the darker of the two records, dealing with “the fear of death and trying to move past that.” The album features string arrangements, heavy guitar from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner and electro synths on the single “Take It Easy (Love Nothing).”

Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning tour dates:

With Tilly and the Wall:

1/14: Omaha, NE, Sokol Auditorium
1/15: Minneapolis, State Theatre
1/16: Milwaukee, Pabst Theatre
1/17: Chicago, Riviera Theatre
1/18: Ann Arbor, MI, Michigan Theatre
1/19: Columbus, OH, Wexner Center for the Arts
1/21: Toronto, Phoenix Theatre
1/22: Montreal, Spectrum de Montreal
1/23: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground
1/24: Cambridge, MA, Sanders Theatre (Harvard University)
1/25, 1/26: New York, NY, Town Hall
1/28: Philadelphia, Academy of Music
1/29: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
1/30: Norfolk, VA, Norva Theatre
1/31: Raleigh, NC, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
2/1: Atlanta, Variety Playhouse

With Neva Dinova:

2/3: Miami, Olympia Theatre at Gusman Center
2/4: Tampa, Tampa Theatre
2/5: Orlando, House of Blues
2/7: Fort Worth, TX, Ridglea Theatre
2/8: Austin, La Zona Rosa
2/10: Phoenix, Celebrity Theatre
2/11: San Diego, Spreckles Theatre
2/12, 2/13: Los Angeles, Orpheum Theatre

Source rollingstone.com.

Thousands waited in line in near-freezing temperatures Tuesday night to pay tribute at a memorial service for slain rock star “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.

Security was tight; guards used screening wands on grieving fans as they arrived for the public mourning of the former guitarist for the heavy metal band Pantera.

Messages such as “RIP Dime” and “Honk, honk for Dimebag, Peace in the after life” were scrawled on cars in the convention center parking lot. A high-pitched guitar solo blared from a pickup.

“A legend died on Wednesday night. I guarantee I’ll be telling my kids about this day and the day that he died,” said Skyler Smith, 18. “My heart was broken.”

Abbott, 38, was shot to death in Columbus, Ohio, while performing with his new band, Damageplan. Three others also were killed before police killed 25-year-old gunman Nathan Gale, described as an obsessed fan.

Fans cheered the arrival of flower arrangements in the shape of guitars and a display with the words “Crown the Moment, Crown Royal,” a reference to Abbott’s favorite brand of whiskey.

Michael Schaefer, 21, of Garland, and his wife both wore black Pantera concert shirts. “It’s still a real shock, the fact that it actually happened and the fact that someone would want to hurt him,” Michael Schaefer said.

Rick Cunningham, 48, a former lead singer for the Dallas band “Rage,” was among those who waited in the long line for the service — and one of a few who wore a suit and tie. He said he’d known Abbott for 20 years.

“It’s terrible, man. He was the nicest fella you would ever want to meet,” he said.

Abbott had formed Damageplan with his brother and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott; the guitarist lived in nearby Dalworthington Gardens.

Source CNN.com.

Queen is reforming and is planning a European tour next year with former Bad Company and Free lead singer Paul Rodgers. “I won’t go into more details right now, but, barring accidents, Queen and Paul Rodgers will be on the road, pretty much for sure, around April 2005,” guitarist Brian May wrote on his official Web site.

“It really all came about because of the Fender 50th Anniversary gig that I did with Paul Rodgers,” he continued. “We were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on in ‘All Right Now’ that suddenly it seems blindingly obvious that there was ‘something happening here.'” According to Queen’s official Web site, the shows will feature both Queen and Rodgers material.

May said the last two or three weeks have been spent discussing venues as well as material both Queen and Rodgers may approach in concert. “Suddenly the Queen Phoenix is rising from the again from the ashes, and will take precedence over everything in our lives,” he added.

Queen has not toured since the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury in November 1991. In the spring of 1992, the surviving members staged a star-studded tribute concert at London’s Wembley Stadium for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, an AIDS-related charity.

The group’s last studio album was 1991’s “Innuendo” but May, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon reunited to release 1995’s “Made in Heaven,” which featured vocals Mercury recorded prior to his death.

Queen returned to further notoriety with the recent musical “We Will Rock You,” which is playing at Las Vegas’ Paris Hotel.

Source billboard.com.

Merge will on March 22 reissue Dinosaur Jr.’s first three albums “Dinosaur,” “You’re Living All Over Me” and “Bug.” Previously released by the Homestead and SST labels, the sets have been remastered and include a smattering of bonus tracks and rare photos. Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, Mike Watt and Guided By Voices’ Robert Pollard contributed to new liner notes.

The Massachusetts-based trio’s 1985 Homestead debut, “Dinosaur,” introduced the template of Neil Young-influenced guitar leads from J Mascis and a balancing act between noise and melody. The new edition is bolstered with a live version of album track “Does It Float.”

The group made a dramatic leap on 1987’s “You’re Living All Over Me,” featuring future college radio staples such as “In a Jar” and “Little Fury Things,” as well as “Poledo,” a track penned by bassist Lou Barlow that foreshadowed his future work in Sebadoh. The new edition features videos for “Little Fury Things” and “Just Like Heaven.”

Released a year later, “Bug” became the band’s best-selling album to date on the strength of such tracks as “Freak Scene” and “No Bones.” Videos for both are included on the reissue.

With Barlow having left to form Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr. signed to Sire in 1990 and released four albums for the label before splitting at the end of the decade. Mascis has subsequently released albums with his band the Fog for Artemis and Ultimatum.

In an unusual twist, Barlow is now also signed to Merge, which will in late January release his new solo album, “EMOH.” The set sports a cover of Ratt’s “Round and Round” plus guest spots by Sebadoh colleagues Jason Loewenstein and Russ Pollard.

Source billboard.com.