2005

Six months after the low-key launch of the CD/DVD hybrid known as DualDisc, major labels are planning a big show of faith in the fledgling format: Two of April’s highest-profile releases — BruceSpringsteen’s Devils and Dust and Rob Thomas’ solo debut, Something to Be — will be available only as DualDiscs. The format pairs a standard CD on one side of a disc with a DVD on the flip side that offers video content and, often, a surround-sound mix of the record.

DualDisc versions of the new Nine Inch Nails and Bon Jovi albums are in the works, and a flood of extras-packed reissues — from AC/DC’s Back in Black to David Bowie’s Reality — are already exploiting the format. “In the long term, we definitely see a transition from CD to DualDisc,” says Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business for Sony BMG. Sony, which owns Springsteen’s label, Columbia Records, formed a consortium last year with the other three major record companies to promote the newdiscs.

To read more, visit rollingstone.com.

Living Colour and Yohimbe Brothers guitar virtuoso Vernon Reid will be touring this summer with The Roots as their lead guitarist. Reid has stepped in to temporarily fill the void left by the departure of the Roots’s guitarist Ben Kenney. No word yet on whether The Roots have named a permanent replacement.

Source rollingstone.com.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers have secured the reunited Black Crowes for much of a North American tour that will kick off in early June and remain on the road through late August. The run will mark Petty’s return to the touring circuit after a two-year break from large-scale outings.

Petty’s run will open June 8 in Ft. Myers, Fla. At deadline, 22 shows were confirmed, including a June 11 headlining slot on the rock stage at Atlanta’s 12th annual Music Midtown Festival.

The Crowes opened their first tour since October 2001 on Tuesday in New York. As previously reported, the group warmed up for its return by playing surprise club shows throughout the Northeast.

In related news, the Crowes have linked with Instant Live to provide authorized soundboard recordings of shows on its current run, but at deadline it was unclear when the venture will be up and running.

Here are Petty’s tour dates:

June 8: Ft. Myers, Fla. (Germain Arena)
June 10: Tampa, Fla. (Ford Amphitheatre)
June 11: Atlanta (Music Midtown Festival)
June 14: Cincinnati (Riverbend Music Center)
June 15: Burgettstown, Pa. (Post-Gazette Pavilion)
June 17: Camden, N.J. (Tweeter Waterfront)
June 18: Mansfield, Mass. (Tweeter Center)
June 21: Wantagh, N.Y. (Jones Beach)
June 22: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)
June 24: Hartford, Conn. (ctnow.com Meadows Music Theatre)
June 25: Buffalo, N.Y. (Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)
June 28: Grand Rapids, Mich. (Van Andel Arena)
June 30: Cuyhoga Falls, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)
July 1: Milwaukee (Marcus Amphitheatre; Summerfest)
July 13: Nashville (Starwood Amphitheatre)
July 15: Tinley Park, Ill. (Tweeter Center)
July 16: Caddot, Wis. (Rockfest)
July 20: Clarkston, Mich. (DTE Energy Music Theatre)
July 21: Noblesville, Ind. (Verizon Wireless Music Center)
July 27: Columbia, Md. (Merriweather Post Pavilion)
July 30: Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Saratoga Performing Arts Center)
Aug. 26: Berkeley, Calif. (Greek Theatre)

Source billboard/com.

Floydfest IV has been cofirmed for July 29, 30, 31 in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia. For a fourth year in a row, towards the end of the summer, performers from all over the World, and music lovers from all over the country gather for an idyllic three-day music and arts Global Gathering. This year, no less than six continents will be represented, with musicians coming from as far as Australia. Committed to Cultural Preservation, the festival succeeds in blending traditions and arts from dozens of different countries every year into a vision of Global Community.

Acts on this year

Beginning with last nights opening performance at The Hammerstein Ballroom, Chris Kuroda will be running the light board for the newly reunited Black Crowes, and their entire tour.

During opening night, Chris got to flex his muscles on such classic Crowes tunes as “Twice as Hard”, “Jealous Again” and “Stare It Cold.” As well, opening night saw the band move through their vast repetoire, from their earliest material, to their most recent, while managing to work in the oft covered “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, A Train To Cry.” Chris’s lights were, expectedly, of far less influence than during his Phish days, however there were more than a few instances on which the lights were noticably adding to the music and to the overall feel of the show.

Source phantasytour.com.

America’s rockinest rock geeks are ready to return to the road on a tour that’ll take them worldwide.

Rumors of a Pixies/Weezer summer tour have been axed due to scheduling conflicts. But Weezer is about to return to touring – something they haven’t done since 2002.

With the band’s fifth album, Make Believe, set for a May 10 release, they’ll begin a worldwide tour at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom April 26.

The theatre tour will take Weezer down the West Coast, stopping in Seattle, San Francisco and Indio, Calif., where they’ll play the humongous Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival April 30 where they’re right up there with Coldplay and Bauhaus on the list of headliners.

Other tour stops include Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, New York (two nights) and Atlanta.

The group currently has North American dates booked through May 14.

Once the Rivers Cuomo & Co. are finished conquering the U.S. and Canada, they’ll head to Europe for concerts in Germany, France and Austria. Then it’s off to the U.K. where the band will play two back-to-back gigs at London’s Brixton Academy June 14-15.

In August, Weezer will head to Japan for the Summer Sonic festival.

Source pollstar.com.

N.E.R.D., the band formed by blockbuster producers the Neptunes, have broken up, frontman Pharrell Williams announced in a BBC Radio 1 interview over the weekend. Pharrell emphasized that he and production partner Chad Hugo will continue their work as the Neptunes.

“N.E.R.D. is dead,” said Pharrell. “I don’t agree with the management at Virgin Records, so we’re done.” He explained that he and Hugo will “still do what we do in the studio” and remain on good terms with third N.E.R.D. member and childhood friend Shay. “I’m not here to slander or throw dirt,” Pharrell continued. “I’m just not happy, so therefore N.E.R.D. is expired.” Virgin declined to comment.

Rock/hip-hop trio N.E.R.D., or No One Ever Really Dies, released their debut album, In Search of…, in 2002. The record’s two singles, “Lapdance” and “Rock Star,” were modest hits and had videos in heavy rotation on MTV. (“Lapdance” was helped by its late-night clip featuring a roomful of nearly naked women.) The follow-up, Fly or Die, debuted at Number Six on the Billboard album chart upon its release last March.

Pharrell left open the possibility that new N.E.R.D. tracks might be released in the future, but through less formal channels. “Perhaps we’ll do some music for our fans and leak it on the Internet or something,” he said. “Who knows?”

The Neptunes collaborated with Mariah Carey on her upcoming album and currently have projects scheduled with Mary J. Blige and Omarion. It is unclear whether Pharrell, who was recently featured as a vocalist on Snoop Dogg’s hit “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” will pursue solo recordings in the future.

Source rollingstone.com.