Month: March 2024

Five Finger Death Punch will be hitting the road for their headlining US tour this summer/fall, with support from Marilyn Manson and Slaughter To Prevail. Manson’s return to the stage will mark his first live shows since a slew of sexual assault accusations halted his career (Manson has denied any wrongdoing); he hasn’t performed since taking the stage for a Los Angeles benefit show in January 2020, with his last full concert taking place in November 2019.

Before FFDP’s North American run, the band will be in Europe this spring for more stadium dates with Metallica on their M72 World Tour in addition to headlining shows with special guest Ice Nine Kills and select appearances at major festivals.

The 26-date North American tour will kick-off August 2nd in Hershey, Pennsylvania, running through September 19th in Houston, Texas.  The band are also gearing up to release a deluxe edition of their 2022 album AfterLife on April 5th, including the new song “This Is the Way” featuring vocals from late rapper DMX. For more information, head to 5FDP’s website here.

General tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

Editorial credit: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com

The Pretenders will embark on headlining tour this summer, kicking-off July 13th at Red Bank, NJ’s historic Count Basie Center for the Arts and running through mid-August.

Also this summer, the legendary band will be special guests on various stops of the Foo Fighters’ All or Nothing At All Stadium Tour, opening shows in New York City, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Denver, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle.

The Pretenders will also be touring Europe and UK this fall, with shows in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Poland, France, and the United Kingdom, before wrapping up on October 28th with a sold-out show at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.

General tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

The Pretenders Announce 2024 US Tour

Editorial credit: Ben Houdijk / Shutterstock.com

Ricky Phillips, Styx’s bassist for over 20 years, has announced that he’s leaving the group.

In a message to fans on Facebook, the bassist shared: “Dear Friends, after touring for 50 years with The Baby’s, Bad English, opening for Tina Turner (on the Private Dancer tour with John Parr), Belinda Carlisle’s first solo tour, rehearsing in Tahoe and recording at Little Mountain in Canada with Jimmy Page and David Coverdale and writing, touring, and co-producing 10/10 with Ronnie Montrose, to name a chosen few…l’m taking a breather. My last 20+ years of touring and recording with my friends in Styx has come to an end. I am taking a break from the road. I’m not retiring, just taking a break. Presently, I have accepted an offer to co-produce a project in a studio close to home. I’ve known since I was a kid that live performance is in my blood so, in time I will post any future engagements or commitments. But for right now, Melissa and I will share coffee talk and meals from home…with our critters close by. Of course, I will always cherish the adventurous days recording and touring with Styx. And, I will truly miss the wonderfully-crazy and faithful Styx fans…whose smiling faces I often saw more than my own family. Peace be with you all…and Happy Trails, Ricky”

Prior to joining Styx in 2003, Phillips performed with the Babys, Bad English, Coverdale-Page and Ted Nugent. Styx responded to Phillips’ on their Facebook page with a show of support for their longtime bandmate, writing: “It was a joy to spend two decades with Ricky Phillips in Styx and we wish him all the best in his next adventure. He’ll always be a part of the Styx family and we’ll miss his presence on our stage and in our touring lives. With all our love, The Styx Family.”

Styx is currently on tour, and a replacement for Phillips has yet to be announced. Chuck Panozzo, who co-founded Styx and was the original bassist, is still involved with the band at a limited capacity due to his HIV diagnosis.

Editorial credit: Brandon Nagy / Shutterstock.com

Slash is set to embark on the S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival Summer 2024 Tour in support of his new blues covers album Orgy of the Damned.  The traveling roadshow’s name is an acronym that stands for “Solidarity, Engagement, Restore, Equality N’ Tolerance.”

The S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival Summer 2024 Tour kicks-off July 5 in Bonner, Montana, hitting cities including Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Toronto, Boston, New York, Atlanta, and Huntsville before concluding on Aug. 17 in Grand Prairie, Texas. The trek will see the Guns N’ Roses guitarist sharing the bill with a rotating cast of modern blues and blues-adjacent icons such as Warren Haynes Band, Keb’ ‘Mo, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Robert Randolph, Samantha Fish, Eric Gales, ZZ Ward, Jackie Venson, and Larkin Poe.

General tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

Editorial credit: yakub88 / Shutterstock.com

The Black Crowes have dropped a new music video for “Wanting and Waiting,” the first single from their new album, Happiness Bastards.

The clip, directed by Christopher Acosta, is the band’s first music video in 16 years, their last being 2008’s “Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution.” The video features brothers Chris and Rich Robinson and the rest of the band performing in front of a large video screen that flashes various words and images, including skulls and crows.

In celebration of the band’s new album, The Black Crowes will be returning to the road this spring with the 35-date Happiness Bastards Tour.. The tour kicks-off April 2 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. A complete list of dates can be found at theblackcrowes.com

Happiness Bastards, the band’s first album of new music in 15 years, is available to stream here.
Check out the video for ‘Wanting and Waiting’ – here.

Editorial credit: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com

Bon Jovi will release their new album Forever on June 7, marking the band’s 16th studio LP and their first since 2020. Forever features frontman Jon Bon Jovi once again working alongside his two remaining founding bandmates: keyboardist David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres, joined by bassist Hugh McDonald and guitarist Phil X.

Jon Bon Jovi revealed in an interview that he’s had to overcome serious vocal problems that plagued him on the band’s 2022 tour and ultimately required surgery. Said Jon: “The overarching sentiment of this album is that of joy. How did I get to joy? I had to work through a lot of dark misery. I’m thinking about where to go musically and I run into a problem physically, where now I have to seek out a specialist in the field to do a vocal surgery that is not often done.”. As a result of his vocal cord issues, there is no tour expected this year as Jon continues to recover, however, a record-release show is planed for this June.

Bon Jovi’s upcoming four-part documentary Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story will debut April 26 on Netflix, and will finally address founding lead guitarist Richie Sambora’s departure and continued estrangement from the band.

The band also debuted the video for the first single from the album, titled “Legendary”, which you can check out – here.
You can pre-order/pre-save Bon Jovi’s new album, “Forever”, out June 7th: here.

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com