Search Results for: decade

Tickets for former Beatle Paul McCartney’s first American tour in a decade sparked a stampede among fans on Saturday, selling out by telephone and Internet within 30 minutes of going on sale. A spokesman for the British performer said fans snapped up all 75,000 tickets for the first five shows on the “Driving USA” tour of the United States and Canada. “Maccamania is here again,” a spokesman for the American promoters, Clearchannel, said. “We knew the gigs would be hot but this demand is boiling.” The 15,000 tickets for McCartney’s show in Toronto, the first to go on sale, sold… Read more »

Will U2 find what it’s looking for on Wednesday, when it competes for eight Grammy Awards at the music industry’s biggest bash of the year? Or will the Irish rock quartet be rattled by folk musicians, soulful R&B divas and tireless troubadour Bob Dylan? Nothing is ever certain about the Grammys, whose industry voters frequently stun music fans with oddball choices, including last year’s album of the year prize to semi-retired jazz-rock recluses Steely Dan. In the past few years the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, which organizes the event, has tried to improve the awards’ image by… Read more »

The Eagles, Billy Joel, No Doubt, the Dixie Chicks, Eddie Vedder and others are playing a series of benefit concerts the night before Wednesday’s Grammy Awards for a unique cause: each other. The four Los Angeles concerts Tuesday, to benefit the Recording Artists Coalition, represent a shot across the bow of the recording industry from the people whose work it markets. The artists are demanding new relations with record labels, including fairer contracts and more oversight of accounting practices. “It’s time that the artistic community grows up,” said singer Don Henley, who urged artists not to ignore the business of… Read more »

“Rocket Man” Elton John rued on Wednesday the thrust for instant success among undistinguished and indistinguishable modern pre-fabricated pop bands. “It is like packets of cereal. There are too many of them, and too many of them are just average and mediocre,” he told BBC television in an interview filmed during his current tour in the United States. “It is just fodder. It doesn’t sound. It has no distinguishing marks. A lot of it you can’t tell one from the other. There is too much of it, just too much of it,” the high-spending flamboyant rock legend lamented. The 54-year-old… Read more »

For what was supposed to be a valentine to Bono (“Bahn-o”), there sure were a lot of references to Bono (“Bone-o”) Thursday night. First, on the red carpet leading into the new Kodak Theatre, Evan and Jaron joked that they thought the inaugural “Love Rocks” concert was honoring the late Sonny Bono. Then, R.E.M. carried on the joke by bringing out Cher during their four-song set to duet with singer Michael Stipe on “I Got You Babe,” after which Cher said, “I’ve never done that song without my Bono, so that was for you, Bono.” Finally, when accepting his Heart… Read more »

Viacom yesterday reported results for the full year and fourth quarter ended December 31, 2001. For 2001, Viacom reported a 16 percent increase in revenues to $23.22 billion, but also reported a net loss of $224 million, or a loss of $.13 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2001, including a net loss of $43 million, or a loss of $.02 per share, for the fourth quarter. Viacom recorded full year 2001 pro forma revenues of $23.20 billion and pro forma EBITDA of $5.07 billion, compared with pro forma revenues of $23.09 billion and pro forma EBITDA of… Read more »

The lineup of musical acts at this year’s Super Bowl is so long that you might think the football game was the sideshow. The National Football League says it will be the most entertainment-packed Super Bowl ever, with performances by U2, PaulMcCartney, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Marc Anthony and others – not just on Super Bowl Sunday, but throughout the weekend. Part of the reason for the celebrity overflow is a patriotic theme after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which caused the Super Bowl to be pushed back a week. “With the events of September 11th, we’ve redefined and… Read more »

If Fu Manchu were hoping to find a few friendly faces when unveiling new material Tuesday night at the Troubadour, the stoner rock outfit was undoubtedly stoked by the warm welcome it found. By the time the band hit the stage at 11 p.m. to kick off its U.S. tour, the club was packed and the crowd was by all indications “into it,” if otherwise meditatively subdued in their devotion. Those in attendance, including former Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, were clearly devotees of the Fu, nodding their heads along to the band’s low-end celebrations of surfing, skating, B-movies… Read more »

If you’ve always thought Britney Spears was ahead of her time, here’s your chance to take a backwards glance at the pop princess as she would have appeared at the height of the doo-wop explosion, the ’60s beach-blanket blitz and the psychedelic Flower Power era. Britney Spears will reprise her role as Pepsi pitchwoman in commercial breaks during Sunday’s Super Bowl, according to a spokesperson for the soft-drink company. Spears will perform her renditions of Pepsi jingles past and present in “Now and Then,” a 90-second spot that revisits the company’s ad themes of the past five decades, including the… Read more »

The Stone Pony, a mecca for fans of Jersey shore rock ‘n’ roll, appears to have survived a brush with destruction, officials said on Thursday. The dilapidated nightclub, a musical home to such legends as Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith, will be incorporated into a tentative plan to help revitalize the decayed beachfront of Asbury Park, New Jersey, they said. Original plans called for the Stone Pony – the best-known place to catch an impromptu Springsteen appearance – to be demolished or moved, but a rollicking campaign by devoted patrons ensued to preserve the squat, grimy building now sitting amid… Read more »