Archive for December 16th, 2009
The Rolling Stones, U2 and Madonna Named Top Touring Acts of Decade
December 16th, 2009
Photo: Getty
The Rolling Stones were the most successful live band of the decade as the rockers’ 264 concerts over the past 10 years grossed over $869 million, good enough for Number One atop Billboard’s Top Touring Acts of the 2000s list. Only three artists surpassed the $800 million mark for the decade and are now able to brag to friends that they grossed more than most countries’ yearly gross national product: the Stones, U2 ...
Tour Tracker: Dawes & Cory Chisel, Alicia Keys and Puscifer
December 16th, 2009
Dawes and Cory Chisel, a pair of Breaking artists, have announced a joint tour for 2010. Plus, Alicia Keys maps out her first The Element of Freedom concerts and Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer project promises multimedia, cabaret-style shows. Full dates for all three treks, after the jump.
Dawes & Cory Chisel
Feb. 5 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place
Feb. 8 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Feb. 9 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
Feb. 12 – ...
New Music Report: Surfer Blood
December 16th, 2009
Photographs by Ian Witlen
The debut album from West Palm Beach-based ’90s throwback rockers Surfer Blood blends Weezer hooks and Pavement slacker jams with distorted guitars and post-punk choruses. Rolling Stone assistant editor Kevin O’Donnell notes the group is young enough to have been in diapers with indie rock exploded in the 1990s, but you’d never know that from listening to Astro Coast, which was cut in a Florida college dorm room. Standout track “Swim” mixes ...
Britney Spears’ “3 ” Video Reappears as a Director’s Cut
December 16th, 2009
Considering it was a racy song about threesomes, Britney Spears fans were mostly disappointed when the relatively tame video for “3″ was unveiled in late October. Director Diane Martel has apparently heard your pleas, as a new Director’s Cut of “3″ leaked out yesterday. The new version doesn’t sport any new scenes of ménages or anything that would get the post-Lambert AMAs viewers complaining to the FCC. Instead this cut offers up a slightly more ...
Stephen Colbert Joins Alicia Keys For Suburban Take on “Empire State of Mind”
December 16th, 2009
“I only have one beef with ["Empire State of Mind"]. There’s not enough about the suburbs in it,” Stephen Colbert told Alicia Keys when The Element of Freedom singer guested on last night’s episode of The Colbert Report. Rather than wait patiently for “Empire State of Mind III” to give credit to the outlying New York areas, Colbert joined Keys during her performance of “Empire” to rap and pay tribute to the upper middle class ...
Breaking: Orianthi
December 16th, 2009
Who: The leather-jacket-clad blonde shredding beside Michael Jackson in This Is It is the Australian guitarist and singer Orianthi Panagaris. The 24-year-old started getting buzz when footage from rehearsals leaked following Jackson’s death in June, but she got her first big break Down Under when she opened for Steve Vai in 2000.
Sounds Like: Orianthi’s Howard Benson-produced major-label debut Believe features Kelly Clarkson-style pop-rockers like first single “According to You” alongside riff-fests like her instrumental ...
On the Charts: Chris Brown’s “Graffiti” Settles for Seventh as Boyle Continues Reign
December 16th, 2009
Photo: Boyd/Michael Ochs Archive/GettyThe Big News: Chris Brown tweeted that retailers were trying to “blackball” Graffiti, but his new album managed to just barely pass the 100K mark, selling 102,000 copies and entering the Billboard 200 at Number Seven. The LP is Brown’s first since he pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend Rihanna, and as evidence of how the public regards him following the incident, Graffiti sold just over a third of the 294,000 copies ...
Stone Temple Pilots “Almost Finished” With New Album
December 16th, 2009
Photo: Shearer/WireImage
Stone Temple Pilots are “almost finished” with their first album of new music since 2001’s Shangri-La Dee Da, frontman Scott Weiland told Spinner. “There will probably be 11 songs on the record and we have nine completed already. Then you have to have B sides for Japan, the U.K. and the rest of Europe, so we’ll probably record 14 songs total,” Weiland said. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Stone Temple Pilots canceled their remaining ...
Michael Jackson Estate’s Co-Executors Seek Payment
December 16th, 2009
Photo: Diamond/WireImage
The two administrators of Michael Jackson’s estate have filed paperwork seeking five percent of its earnings since the King of Pop’s death on June 25th. According to the AP, John Branca and John McClain, the two men named as co-executors of Jackson’s 2002 will, have not received any payments for handling the Jackson estate despite brokering deals for This Is It and other merchandising agreements. Given that the Jackson estate has grossed reportedly ...
News Ticker: Broken Bells, Pavement, Miles Davis, Comcast
December 16th, 2009
In September, RS reported on the birth of Broken Bells — the collaboration between Danger Mouse and the Shins’ James Mercer. The duo have now confirmed their debut album will be released on March 9th, Pitchfork reports. Starting December 21st, first single “The High Road” will be available on the band’s Website.
Pavement and Big Boi are booked to headline Norway’s Oya Festival, which will be held August 10-14th, 2010, according to NME.
The House of ...