November 2005

Dates are beginning to trickle in for Billy Joel’s return to the road. It looks like the outing will start in January and run well into the spring months. A formal announcement of the arena tour is expected in the next day or so.
This will mark the Piano Man’s first solo headlining tour since his 1998-99 run which grossed $47.1 million over 73 shows. His subsequent tours with Elton John were even more lucrative and made the two pop kings the highest-grossing touring duo ever.
The new tour comes on the heals of the November 22 release of a Joel box set, curated by the artist himself. The four-CD / one-DVD package includes 23 unreleased tracks and loads of bonuses.

As it prepares for its maiden tour of South America, which begins Nov. 22 in Santiago, Chile, Pearl Jam continues to work on its new studio album, which is due next spring via J Records.

“It’s been a difficult record and it’s like sometimes the harder something is, then the more valuable it becomes,” frontman Eddie Vedder said earlier this week during a Brazilian radio interview. “It’s easily the best stuff we’ve done but also some of the hardest stuff. It’s very aggressive, because again, it’s kind of a product of what it’s like to be an American these days. It’s pretty aggressive, especially when you turn it loud.”

The band has been working on and off throughout the year on the as-yet-untitled set, but Vedder admitted, “It’s not quite done. I’m hoping to finish the last of the songs while I’m down [in South America]. I’m bringing my tape machines and all that down. If I can come back and finish the last few songs in January, then it will be out in April or something.”

For now, Pearl Jam is not planning to unveil any new songs in a live setting. “We want them to be heard for the first time when the record comes out,” Vedder said.

But he added he had been mulling an album title that was a play on Soundgarden’s “Superunknown”: “I was thinking of the word ‘un-owned’ — not owned by anybody,” he said. “The sky is un-owned. The moon is un-owned. We’re un-owned. We want to remain un-owned. The title was ‘Superun-owned.'”

Continuing a new initiative launched during Pearl Jam’s recent fall North American tour, the South American shows will be available for paid download from the band’s Web site within hours of their completion.

Source billboard.com.

Two Boston Music Award 2005 nominees, The Slip and Apollo Sunshine, have announced their New Years Eve show will be held at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA. The Slip will headline the event, with AS starting off the evening. Tickets are on sale now.

Leading up to the holiday celebration, The Slip will also be playing at Lupo’s in Providence, RI on 12/28 (with Apollo Sunshine opening) and at Southpaw in Brooklyn on Friday, 12/30.

for more info see: theslip.com

Warren Haynes’ 17th annual Christmas Jam concert is set for Dec. 17 at the Civic Center Arena in Asheville, N.C. The artist will perform with his band Gov’t Mule at the event, which will also feature Trey Anastasio, Ray Lamontagne, John Scofield, Ivan Neville and John Medeski.

Other artists on the bill include Electric Hot Tuna, Audley Freed, Kevn Kinney, Edwin McCain, Dave Schools, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Marty Stuart and Patterson Hood and Jason Isbell from the Drive By Truckers.

Post-production proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity. Prior to the 2003 concert, Haynes gave keys to a family for their new Habitat for Humanity home, which was constructed with funds from the 2002 concert. The 2003 and 2004 events raised $100,000 each, bringing the total for the last four years to more than $300,000.

Gov’t Mule is in the midst of its About to Rage tour, which will conclude Dec. 3 in Cincinnati. The band will then regroup for a Dec. 29-31 stand at New York’s Beacon Theatre, dubbed Mule-a-Go-Go.

Source billboard.com.

With his next studio album not due until next year, Ray LaMontagne will tide fans over with a live EP and short run of tour dates. Due Dec. 6 via RCA, “Live From Bonnaroo 2005” features six tracks recorded at this summer’s incarnation of the Tennessee festival, including “Burn”, “Trouble” and the previously unreleased “Empty.”

The artist will hit the road beginning Nov. 30 in Portsmouth, N.H., with support from Brandi Carlile. As previously reported, LaMontagne will also appear at Warren Haynes’ 17th annual Xmas Jam, to be held Dec. 17 in Asheville, N.C.

Here are Lamontagne tour dates:

Nov. 30: Portsmouth, N.H. (Music Hall)
Dec. 1: Montreal, Quebec (Outremont Theater)
Dec. 2-3: Boston (Berklee College of Music)
Dec. 5: New York (Town Hall)
Dec. 7: Chicago (Park West)
Dec. 8: Minneapolis (Pantages Theater)
Dec. 10: Atlanta (Tabernacle)
Dec. 12: Keene, N.H. (Colonial Theater)
Dec. 17: Asheville, N.C. (Asheville Civic Center)

Source billboard.com.

Hal Abramson, promoter of this summer’s Shakedown Festival in Oregon, has resurfaced and given Pollstar his side of the story. The jam band event was canceled just hours before gates were to open, leaving a lot of fans and concert insiders scratching their heads.

Lowell MacGregor, owner of festival site Columbia Meadows near the city of Saint Helens, has been fielding calls all summer, giving his side of the story. Abramson, on the other hand, left the area soon after the would-be August 26-28 concert collapsed and could not be reached. His side of things showed up online at the Shakedown’s Web site.

Abramson says he’s quit the music biz and is living at his mother’s house. The experience left him destitute and he’s now under the care of a psychiatric clinic. He recently fired off a screed to the Columbia County board of commissioners, detailing MacGregor’s alleged mishandling of the festival.

To read more, visit pollstar.com.

Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu will release his studio debut, “Youth,” Jan. 31 via Epic/Or Music/J Dub. As previously reported, the majority of the project was overseen by noted producer Bill Laswell. Three other tracks were co-produced by Jimmy Douglass and ill factor.

Matisyahu has been touring all year in support of the concert set “Live at Stubb’s,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart and No. 14 on the Top Heatseekers survey. The album has sold 87,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Youth” will feature two songs from “Stubb’s”: “King Without a Crown” and “Warrior.”

The artist’s busy touring schedule will continue through the end of the year, having just announced a six-show Hanukkah tour that begins Dec. 24 in Philadelphia.

Matisyahu is also tipped to appear on two songs from P.O.D.’s new album, “Testify,” due early next year via Atlantic.

Source billboard.com.