Month: August 2024

Fall Out Boy, Incubus and Weezer are set to headline the inaugural Oceans Calling Second Wave festival – a spin-off of the Oceans Calling Festival in Ocean City, Maryland, which takes place this Sept. 27-29 featuring headliners blink-182, The Killers and Dave Matthews Band.

Oceans Calling Second Wave will take place Jan. 19-22, 2025, in Riviera Cancún, Mexico, and will also feature artists including 311, Cage the Elephant, Jack’s Mannequin and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. A social media post from Weezer read: “Hip hip we’re headlining Oceans Calling Second Wave next year in Cancun. Consider this our “Island In The Sun” moment get tickets August 2nd at 12pm ET oceanscallingsecondwave.com”

The inaugural all-inclusive Oceans Calling Second Wave vacation is built off the massive success of the Oceans Calling Festival in Ocean City, Maryland. Featuring an incredible lineup of artists, regional culinary fare, and unique attractions, the destination festival brings the best of Oceans Calling to Mexico. All packages include luxury resort accommodations, access to the custom oceanfront concert area, round-trip airport transportation, unlimited drinks, all-inclusive culinary offerings, daily pool parties, late-night performances, 24-hour room service, private white sand beaches, artist-curated activities, guided yoga sessions, complimentary Wi-Fi, and so much more.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit OceansCallingSecondWave.com.

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Jerry Cantrell will release a new solo album this fall, titled I Want Blood, set to drop on October 18th. I Want Blood features contributions from Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Robert Trujillo of Metallica, Mike Bordin of Faith No More and others.

Cantrell said in a press release: “This record is a serious piece of work. It’s a m*therf**ker. It’s hard, no doubt, and completely unlike Brighten. And that’s what you want, to end up in a different place. There’s a confidence to this album. I think it’s some of my best songwriting and playing, and certainly some of my best singing.”

Ahead of the release of I Want Blood, Cantrell dropped its first single, “Vilified,” out now.  Said Cantrell of the track: “‘Vilified’” travels a lot of places in just four and a half minutes. It’s got a ferocity and really aggressive vibe to it.”

Cantrell is scheduled to hit the road with Bush on July 26, touring North America for seven weeks. The trek will make stops in cities like Chicago, Nashville, Boston, Toronto and many more, concluding on Sept. 15 in Los Angeles.

Pre-order I Want Blood – here.
Check out the official visualizer for ‘Vilified’ – here.

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The 1993 recording of 10,000 Maniacs’ MTV Unplugged session is being released on vinyl for the first time. Rhino will reissue 10,000 Maniacs’ live album, MTV Unplugged (Expanded Edition) on September 6th, featuring newly remastered sound and bonus tracks.

Originally released in October 1993, MTV Unplugged became 10,000 Maniacs’ most commercially successful album and has been certified triple platinum. It spent 45 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 13, and included the band’s hit version of Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen’s “Because The Night.”

The reissued album will be available on CD and for the first time on vinyl, as well as a special cobalt blue vinyl edition offered exclusively at select retailers. The upcoming reissue includes three tracks from the MTV Unplugged session that were not included in the original release. On those songs, the band is joined by David Byrne of Talking Heads for covers of Iris DeMent’s “Let The Mystery Be,” Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” and Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s “Dallas.”

10,000 Maniacs had four consecutive platinum and multi-platinum albums in the 1990s, including the live album from their memorable appearance on MTV Unplugged. That performance features some of the band’s best-loved songs and marked the final recording with lead singer Natalie Merchant before she embarked on her solo career.

In addition to reissuing the live album on CD and vinyl, 10,000 Maniacs are also heading out on limited tour dates this year. The tour kicks off on August 9 in Chamblee, Georgia. The band will play three shows that month, with another on August 10 in Suwanee, Georgia, and the last on August 19 in Chautauqua, New York. n September 21 they head to Pelham, New York. Then, on October 25 and 26, they will play in Nashua and Laconia, New Hampshire, respectively. Finally, heading into November, the band is going to California—Solana Beach on November 20, Monterey on November 21, Modesto on November 22, and concluding in Livermore on November 23.

To preorder 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged (Expanded Edition), head HERE.

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Classic concerts from Black Sabbath and Eric Clapton are coming out this fall on 4K Ultra High Definition. For the first time, Mercury Studios will unveil the 4K UHD releases of Black Sabbath The End and Eric Clapton Slowhand at 70 – Live at the Royal Albert Hall on September 13, 2024.

Black Sabbath The End is a recording of the band’s February 4, 2017, farewell show in their hometown of Birmingham, England. The concert was originally released November 17, 2017, on DVD and Blu-ray, and captured the farewell show at the Genting Arena in Black Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham with founding members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler together, performing such Sabbath classics as “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” “Paranoid” and more. The 4K UHD includes the bonus feature The Angelic Sessions, an in-studio look at the band playing a selection of their favorite songs not played on tour. These intimate live sessions at Angelic Studios were recorded in the days after their final live performance, and mark the band’s final studio recordings.

Clapton’s release, Slowhand at 70-Live At The Royal Albert Hall, was previously released on multiple formats including DVD and Blu-ray on November 13, 2015.  It was recorded on May 21, 2015, during Clapton’s 70th birthday celebration tour, as part of a seven-night stand at the iconic London venue, which included Clapton’s 200th show there (fifty years after his first performance there with The Yardbirds). This special landmark release includes career defining tracks like Cocaine, I Shot The Sheriff, Layla, Wonderful Tonight, Crossroads, Tears In Heaven, Hoochie Coochie Man and more, as well as a bonus performance of “Little Queen of Spades.”  Pre-order Eric Clapton Slowhand at 70 – Live at the Royal Albert Hall: HERE.

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Francis Ford Coppola, the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt and Arturo Sandoval were among those revealed as the 47th Kennedy Center honorees.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts named rock icons Grateful Dead, acclaimed singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt and legendary jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval among this year’s honorees, who will receive the 47th Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements. The Apollo Theater will also be recognized during the December ceremony, which will take place on Dec. 8th and later air on CBS on Dec. 23.

Coppola is known for his work on The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, and he also produces wine and runs the literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story. Bonnie Raitt has been awarded 13 Grammy awards and has made a name for herself as a social activist, while Arturo Sandoval received President Obama’s Presidential Medal of Freedom among numerous other awards.  The Grateful Dead has already been recognized with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions.

Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein shared in a statement: “The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes artists who have made an extraordinary impact on the cultural life of our nation and continue to have an immeasurable influence on new generations.”  Kennedy Center president Deborah F. Rutter added: “Our honorees this year have each played an invaluable, pioneering role in developing American culture. Not with one act of art but with their decades-long devotion to pushing creative boundaries. In December, we are thrilled to pay special tribute to New York City’s renowned Apollo Theater on its 90th anniversary. Throughout its history, The Apollo has guided us and the world forward by discovering and nurturing raw talent, molding a unique cultural identity that defines American culture still today.”

Surviving Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, 84, Mickey Hart, 80, Bill Kreutzmann, 78, and Bob Weir, 76, wrote in a collective statement: “It goes without saying that the Kennedy Center Honors represents the highest of reaches for artistic achievement. To be recognized alongside the artists who have in the past received this honor is beyond humbling. The Grateful Dead has always been about community, creativity, and exploration in music and presentation. We’ve always felt that the music we make embodies and imparts something beyond the notes and phrases being played — and that is something we are privileged to share with all who are drawn to what we do — so it also must be said that our music belongs as much to our fans, the Dead Heads, as it does to us. This honor, then, is as much theirs as ours.” Acknowledging their almost 60-year journey, the musicians also said that they’re “beyond grateful for this recognition .. Thank you, Kennedy Center, and to all the folks who had a hand in bringing us here, for this incredible honor.”

Coppola, 85, said in a statement: “I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to collaborate with great artists and wonderful people throughout my career, and I have never stopped learning. There is no greater honor than to be included along with those who inspired me, who I looked up to, and who gave me encouragement when times were dim. I am grateful to the Kennedy Center, my beloved colleagues, to those who equate beauty and truth, and to all the children of the world.”

Raitt, 74, wrote in a statement: “I am deeply honored and thrilled to have been chosen to receive one of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. I have long been an admirer of the awards and have been so blessed to be able to participate in several shows honoring others. There is no higher level of esteem nor as delightful a celebration, and I want to extend my sincere thanks to all who have chosen me to receive this honor. I look forward to the upcoming ceremony and festivities, which I know will be one of my life’s peak experiences.”

The 47th Kennedy Center Honors will take place at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington D.C. on Sunday, Dec. 8, and will later broadcast on CBS on Dec. 23. The ceremony will also stream on Paramount+.

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