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Los Angeles – In a dismal year for the touring industry, with ticket prices soaring and seats going unsold, music fans in North America partied like it was 1989 as Prince and Madonna topped the concert box office. According to freshly tabulated estimates provided by concert trade publication Pollstar, Prince sold $87.4 million in tickets in 2004, while Madonna earned $79.5 million. Prince also worked a bit harder for his payday, playing 96 shows, compared with 39 for Madonna. Canadian pop singer Celine Dion actually topped Madonna by about $900,000, but her haul came exclusively from 154 dates performed at… Read more »

Las Vegas – Maroon 5’s members cannot wait to begin work on the follow-up to their multi-platinum debut, “Songs About Jane,” but guitarist James Valentine told Billboard.com, “We just can’t beat the life out of this record yet.” Since its early 2003 release, “Jane” (J Records) has sold 2.9 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and spawned the hit singles “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved.” “As long as there are opportunities to go out and play, we’ll do that,” Valentine said. “But we’re tremendously antsy to get in the studio. We’ll be in there… Read more »

Las Vegas – With a No. 1 debut for its current album “American Idiot,” and now Tuesday’s news of six Grammy nominations, Green Day has found itself back in the spotlight. But if the punk-rock trio has its way, its Reprise album may yet fuel a crossover into an entirely new medium. “We’re definitely working on a film based on the album,” bassist Mike Dirnt told Billboard.com ahead of the group’s performance on Wednesday’s Billboard Music Awards. “I mean, the story is already there. But to some degree, it will depend on who ends up doing the writing as to… Read more »

Five years after an ugly divorce, the original lineup of 1980s hair-metal legends Mötley Crüe are reuniting for a world tour. The first date of the Red, White & Crüe Tour… Better Live Than Dead is February 17 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and will be followed by dates in South America and Europe. Singer Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee, bassist Nikki Sixx and guitarist Mick Mars, arriving together in a hearse, announced the reunion Monday night in Los Angeles, marking their first tour together since Lee left the group in 1999. A 37-song retrospective, Red, White & Crüe, will hit… Read more »

Los Angeles – The raucous rulers of the sex-and- drugs-fueled nightlife on L.A.’s Sunset Strip have returned to their old stomping grounds. All four original members of Motley Crue, the glam-metal gods who’ve sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and who paved the way for other seminal rock acts, have reunited for the first time in six years, announcing a new world tour – VH1 & VH1 Classic Present “Motley Crue: Red White & Crue Tour 2005… Better Live Than Dead,” – and giving their fans a live taste of it. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, December 11th… Read more »

Los Angeles – Nearly 45 years after Stevie Wonder’s live harmonica workout “Fingertips, Pt. 2” topped the charts, the soul visionary’s musical charm still enthralls. From preteen wunderkind to adult visionary, his musical evolution embodies a “What’s next?” curiosity that still burns brightly as fans anticipate his first new Motown album in 10 years, which he hopes will come out in April. “Hopefully, that little boy will always stay in me,” Wonder said in a recent interview with Billboard. “The part of me that’s still eager to discover; who welcomes new, unbroken ground. When that ground is being broken, there’s… Read more »

So much for that “Ebony and Ivory” stuff. At least as far as Stevie Wonder and Eminem go. Speaking to Billboard magazine, Wonder comes to the defense of old Motown roster mate Michael Jackson, saying he was “disappointed” Em mocked Jackson’s child-molestation allegations in the rapper’s video for “Just Lose It.” “Kicking someone when he’s down is not a good thing,” Wonder tells Billboard. “I have much respect for his work…[b]ut I was disappointed that he would let himself go to such a level. “He has succeeded on the backs of people predominantly in that lower pay bracket, people of… Read more »

Anyone who visited their Web site and thought that Hearts That Hate were the next big thing out of the emo scene is about to get a reality check from MC Lars. The fictitious band has a starring role in “Signing Emo,” the second single off Lars’ Laptop EP. The song, a send-up of the bandwagon-jumping that goes on in the music industry, finds a 40-year-old, overweight and out-of-touch A&R exec named Marty feeling pressure from his boss to ink an emo band – any emo band – to the label because the boss’ daughter likes Dashboard Confessional. Just before… Read more »

On the heels of her Oscar victory earlier this year, singer Annie Lennox recently wrapped up the Sacred Love tour, with Sting. Critics and music fans across the country were treated to dazzling performances each and every night by the incomparable musician and her band. Lennox projected a vast range of emotion, complexity, and power with every note. Lennox’s set lists spanned her entire career, from her first hits with Eurythmics through her latest, multi-platinum release, Bare, which earned her another Grammy Nomination. Lennox also gave the fans a treat during Sting’s set as she joined her tour-mate on stage… Read more »

New York – San Diego veteran rockers, Unwritten Law return to the limelight with Here’s To The Mourning, the band’s long-awaited, new studio album which is scheduled for release on Lava Records February, 2005. Considered by many to be one of the founding fathers of the Southern California punk/skate scene, Unwritten Law continue to push the envelope while maintaining their credibility as one of the most successful bands to break out of the late 90’s SoCal arena. The band’s new album is undoubtedly one of the most highly anticipated, pure rock n’ roll records to be released in the New… Read more »