Search Results for: Set It off

Los Angeles – U2 has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide and won 14 Grammy Awards during the course of its 26-year career, so you would think that there would be a level of ease that comes with a new release. Not so, says the Irish band’s longtime manager Paul McGuinness. “There is absolutely no resting on our laurels,” he tells Billboard. “I say to people we have to break the band every time we put out a record.” And this is with an album that McGuinness expects to debut at No. 1 in “32 or 33 countries.” “How… Read more »

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Eminem made his voice heard for the first time at the ballot box. The 32-year-old rapper voted by absentee ballot in Tuesday’s presidential election and had a bodyguard drop it off, township clerk Dennis Tomlinson said. “This guy (the bodyguard) was huge. I’d hate to run into him in a dark alley late at night,” Tomlinson told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens. No word on who Eminem voted for. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, he said it would be his first time voting. He was highly critical of President Bush but had not… Read more »

Bad Religion bassist Jay Bentley is generally a pretty easy-going guy. Interviewing him is usually like sitting through a comedy routine where any and all taboos are duly mocked. On this occasion, though, Bentley isn’t so laidback – and you can hardly blame him. He’s consumed by the problems within America’s political climate. Fearing the ever-looming November 2 U.S. Presidential Election date (which takes place the day Bad Religion play in Montreal), Bentley doesn’t really want to talk about anything else. “My job right now isn’t to play music,” he grunts. “It’s to get a new president in office. Half… Read more »

Right about now, we’re thinking 50 Cent would have rather been in da club than on da stage. The chart-topping hip-hopster cut short his set at Britain’s Reading Festival over the weekend after getting booed and pelted with plastic bottles by a hostile audience just minutes after he began performing. Accompanied by his G-Unit crew, 50 Cent hadn’t even taken the stage at the legendary U.K. music bash on Sunday evening when the cranky crowd of 55,000 began yelling insults at the former crack peddler and hurling plastic cups. Things got even worse when the lights came up on 50… Read more »

The hundreds of Phish fans who were turned away from the band’s farewell concerts earlier this month have been given an apology and the promise of a free gift. “The last thing any of us wanted in the band’s final hour was to leave some of our most dedicated fans feeling angry and disillusioned,” Phish manager John Paluska says in a statement on the band’s Web site. An estimated 65,000 fans attended the Aug. 14-15 festival. Many others were turned away because of muddy conditions. Heavy rains turned the farm fields in Coventry and grounds of the Newport State Airport… Read more »

The Van Halen reunion is looking to be one of the biggest tours of the summer. It marks the first time in almost a decade that Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar have graced the same stage. “It just felt right,” drummer Alex Van Halen says. “Sammy and I got together, and it was like we hadn’t missed a beat. The moment we hit the studio and started making music, that was it. Making music is what is the center of this band – that and the friendship.” The tour, which kicks off Friday in… Read more »

The Dirrty girl’s summer tour is a wash. Christina Aguilera has canceled all upcoming performances on the advice of her doctor, due to a set of stripped pipes sustained in the studio. Medical types advised the “Beautiful” singer to rest and give her voice time to recover-and, apparently, words can keep her down. “I am extremely disappointed to have to cancel this tour,” Aguilera said in a statement. “I was looking forward to being on the road again and spending time with my fans.” The 29-date North American tour was set to kick off May 13 in Auburn, Washington with… Read more »

The long expected blues album from veteran rock act Aerosmith will finally arrive later this month. “Honkin’ on Bobo,” due March 30 via Columbia, finds the band paying homage to its influences as it covers a host of blues classics. The 12-track set also includes one new Aerosmith song, “The Grind.” “We’re not making an album for blues purists, we’re not making an album to educate people in the blues, we’re not making an album to try and copy Muddy Waters,” guitarist Joe Perry told Billboard.com last year. “What we’re doing is taking songs that when we heard them made… Read more »

Bad Religion, the Vandals, Good Charlotte, Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards, and NOFX are among the more than 50 acts set for the 10th anniversary edition of the Vans Warped Tour. The trek, which will begin June 25 in Houston, will also feature New Found Glory, Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Yellowcard, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, Simple Plan, Bouncing Souls, and Coheed & Cambria. Other acts set to appear for at least a portion of the tour include the Alkaline Trio, Anti-Flag, Atmosphere, Avenged Sevenfold, Billy Talent, IMA Robot, Jackson, Lillix and the Sounds. Beginning Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. ET,… Read more »

A long-anticipated partnership with Pepsi that Apple hopes will help raise the profile of its iTunes Music store is launching during the Super Bowl on Sunday. ITunes already dominates the still-fledgling online music industry. Pepsi will run a commercial featuring 16 teenagers who have been sued by the RIAA for music piracy to promote its giveaway of 100 million free downloads from the iTunes Music store on Pepsi bottle caps. But in a coup for what has been one of the lower-profile competitors in the digital music space, MusicMatch announced that is has signed a partnership deal with Coca-Cola and… Read more »