Drummer and founding member of Mr. Big, Pat Torpey, passed away Wednesday, February 7th at the age of 64 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Family, band and management request privacy at this very difficult time. Services are pending.
Mr. Big (Torpey, Eric Martin, Billy Sheehan, and Paul Gilbert) released their ninth original studio album, Defying Gravity on July 21st.
Mr. Big, formed in 1988, produced numerous hit songs that ranged across a wide array of rock genres – be it ballads, heavy metal, or blues rock. Their hits included Alive and Kicking, Just Take My Heart and the chart-topping ballad, To Be With You“(Billboard Hot 100 #1 single in 15 countries for weeks in 1991, propelling the band the band to huge international success and multi-Platinum record sales).
Iconic guitarist Michael Schenker spoke about the time he was asked to audition for The Rolling Stones (see the video below).
Schenker was reportedly approached shortly after he arrived in London to join UFO in 1973.
In the clip, Schenker reveals how he took a call on his landlady’s telephone two months after joining UFO, and was asked if he’d be interested in trying out for the Stones. After speaking to older brother and Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker in Germany, he decided not to return the call.
Schenker explains his reasoning, and reveals that the man who eventually got the Rolling Stones job, former Faces man Ronnie Wood, is actually a big Michael Schenker fan.
Michael Schenker Fest’s new album, Resurrection, will be released on March 2nd. Schenker is joined in the line-up by drummer Ted McKenna, bassist Chris Glen and guitarist Steve Mann. Singers Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet, Robin McAuley and Doogie White are also involved in the project. The album can pre-ordered at Amazon.
03/06/2018 The Fillmore – Silver Springs, MD
03/07/2018 Carnegie Music Hall – Munhall, PA
03/09/2018 Berklee Performance Center – Boston, MA
03/10/2018 Irving Plaza – New York, NY
03/11/2018 Theatre of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
03/12/2018 Club Soda – Montreal, QC CANADA
03/14/2018 Royal Oak Music Theatre – Detroit, MI
03/16/2018 Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH
03/17/2018 Concord Music Hall – Chicago, IL
03/18/2018 Pabst Theater – Milwaukee, WI
03/19/2018 Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN
03/22/2018 Neptune – Theatre Seattle, WA
03/24/2018 Events Center – San Jose, CA
03/25/2018 The Grove – Anaheim, CA
03/26/2018 Marquee Theatre – Tempe, AZ
03/27/2018 House of Blues – Las Vegas, NV
03/29/2018 Cervantes Ballroom – Denver, CO
03/31/2018 Vibes Event Center – San Antonio, TX
Guitarist George Lynch told Eddie, on his Sirius/XM radio show, that former Lynch Mob singer Robert Mason, will be joining the band for “selective dates” following the recent departure of frontman Oni Logan.
He says [via blabbermouth.net, “[Robert is] doing the Monsters Of Rock cruise with us, and there’s an ’80s In The Park festival we’re doing in a couple weeks, along with a few others. But we’re not sure how deeply he’s going to be involved in Lynch Mob, if it’s anything that’s going to stick. His primary band, obviously, is Warrant, and we recognize that and respect that. I’m not trying to steal him out of Warrant or anything like that. That’s his home. But we have history, and it’s a wonderful fit. Him and Myles Kennedy are in that world — I mean, where do you go from there when you sing like that? I mean, it’s just incredible. It’s fascinating to me to work with a guy like that, that has that kind of pipes and that sort of consistency and can basically just do anything that he wants, it seems like. He’s a vocal contortionist.”
George also revealed that drummer Scot Coogan is back in the band “I played with Scot off and on in various projects over the years, and he was in Lynch Mob a number of variations, most recently up to a few years ago,” the guitarist said. “Scot’s wonderful. He brings so much to the table…”
Rounding out the rest of the band, Lynch says, [Bassist] Sean [McNabb]’s still here…We’ve got a lot of history too. He was in Lynch Mob as well in the early 2000s. It’s just this kind of revolving-door thing. [Laughs]”
Regarding former singer, One Logan, Lynch stated, “We have tremendous respect for each other on the musical level, and I’ll just leave it there and wish him well. I’m sure he’s going to do fine. He’s one of the great ones. Maybe he hasn’t been recognized like I feel he should be. To me, he’s a modern-day Paul Rodgers…”
Lynch Mob’s latest record, The Brotherhood, was released last September through Rat Pak Records.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy®-winning singer and songwriter Ozzy Osbourne earlier today (February 6th) revealed details about his forthcoming No More Tour 2 a reference to his 1992 No More Tours trek. The announcement by the legendary musical icon about the North American dates–with his longtime collaborators Zakk Wylde (Guitar), Blasko (Bass), Tommy Clufetos (Drums) and Adam Wakeman (Keyboards)–was made to international media in attendance at his Los Angeles home.
The initial North American dates produced by Live Nation kick off August 30th in Allentown, PA and conclude October 13th in Las Vegas, NV with a Thursday, October 11th stop at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles; Ozzy will be joined by Stone Sour for this leg of the tour. Tickets for these shows go on sale to the general public starting Saturday, February 17 at 10:00 AM (local time) at LiveNation.com and through the Live Nation app. Citi® is the official presale credit card of the tour. As such, Citi® cardmembers will have access to purchase presale tickets beginning Wednesday, February 14th at 10:00 AM (local time) until Friday, February 16 at 10:00 PM (local time) through Citi’s Private Pass® program. For complete presale details visit citiprivatepass.com.
Prior to the full North American run, Ozzy will officially launch the No More Tour 2 in Mexico in May, before heading to South America for solo shows in three countries. Next up, a six-week European leg of headlining solo dates and festival performances that’s set to begin Friday, June 1st in Moscow, Russia.
“I’ve been extremely blessed to have had two successful music careers,” Osbourne says. “I’m looking at this final tour as being a huge celebration for my fans and anyone who has enjoyed my music over the past five decades.”
On his upcoming farewell world tour, produced by Live Nation, Osbourne will celebrate more than five decades as a performer (both as a solo artist and as lead singer of Black Sabbath which formed in 1968). This tour, expected to take Ozzy around the world with dates into 2020, will mark the end of global touring for the legendary artist, though he will continue to perform select live shows in the future. Throughout his career, Ozzy has sold more than 100 million records.
Want to hear more about the tour from the Prince of Darkness himself? Ozzy has partnered with Ticketmaster to spread the word about the tour with a new message on the Ticketmaster app for the Google Assistant on phones, speakers like Google Home and other compatible devices. Fans can trigger the app by saying, “Hey Google, talk to Ticketmaster,” which will offer special messages from the Prince of Darkness himself. Fans will then be invited by Sharon Osbourne to hear details about Ozzy’s upcoming Live Nation tour dates. This new marketing tool expands the ways for Ozzy’s millions of fans to find out about his tour and provides a fun, first of its kind experience.
For the tour, Ozzy has teamed with the Love, Hope, Strength Foundation At Love Hope Strength (LHS), their mission is to save lives, one concert at a time. We, along with Love Hope Strength, believe that all people deserve quality cancer care, a marrow donor if needed, and most importantly, hope. Founded by cancer survivors, LHS leverages the power of music to expand the marrow registry through THEIR “Get on the List” campaign. At LHS, they believe in offering real hope to people currently living with cancer.
Ozzy’s North American tour dates:
April:
27 Jacksonville, FL Welcome to Rockville
29 Fort Lauderdale, FL FortRock
August:
30 Allentown, PA PPL Center
September:
1 Syracuse, NY Lakeview Amphitheater
4 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
6 Boston, MA Xfinity Center
8 Wantagh, NY Jones Beach Amphitheatre
10 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
12 Camden, NJ BB&T Pavilion
14 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
16 Cuyahoga Falls OH Blossom Music Center
19 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Center
21 Tinley Park, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
23 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
26 Dallas, TX Starplex Pavilion
28 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
30 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheater
October:
2 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
4 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
6 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
9 Chula Vista, CA Mattress Firm Amphitheatre
11 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl
13 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
Ozzy’s overseas tour dates:
May:
5 Mexico Heaven & Hell Festival
8 Santiago, Chile Pista Atletica
11 Buenos Aires, Argentina Geba
13 São Paulo, Brazil Allianz Parque
16 Curitiba, Brazil Pedreira Paulo Leminski
18 Belo Horizonte, Brazil Esplanada Do Mineirao
20 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Apoteose
June:
1 Moscow, Russia Olympiisky
3 St. Petersburg, Russia Ice Palace (Ledovi Dvorets)
6 Finland Rockfest
8 Solvesborg, Sweden* Sweden Rock Festival
10 Donington, UK* Download Festival
13 Prague, Czech Republic* Prague Rocks Festival, Airport Letnany
15 Paris, France* Download Festival
17 Italy* Firenze Rocks Festival
20 Halden, Norway* Tons of Rock Festival
22 Copenhagen, Denmark* Copenhell Festival
24 Dessel, Belgium* Graspop Metal Meeting
26 Krakow, Poland* Impact Festival
28 Oberhausen, Germany* König-Pilsner Arena
30 Madrid, Spain* Download Festival
July:
2 Lisbon, Portugal Altice Arena
5 Barcelona, Spain Rock Fest Barcelona
8 Tel Aviv, IsraLive Park
*Produced by Live Nation
**US festival appearances
Music fans wanting a little variety with their summer tour package will get that very thing with the Poison…Nothin’ But A Good Time 2018 tour. Iconic rock band Poison, with all original members, will be joined by Cheap Trick on its trek across the U.S. this summer.
Produced by Live Nation, tickets for various cities will go on sale starting Friday, February 9th and Saturday, February 10th. Each band will be offering their own exclusive VIP packages and meet & greet opportunities beginning February 6 at 12pm local time. Poison will be offering direct-to-fan access to the best seats in the house via their own exclusive pre-sales at poisonofficial.com for access to exclusive content, ticket pre-sales and VIP packages. VIP Packages for Cheap Trick will be available for all dates, details for which can be found at cheaptrick.com. Pop Evil will also be offering VIP meet & greets at popevilvip.com. For more information about the Nothin’ But A Good Time 2018 tour, please visit livenation.com.
The bands are fired up to make the journey across the U.S. together. Bret Michaels, Poison lead singer and noted philanthropist says, “The all original Poison is headlining again this summer. It’s going to be a mega concert and party combined. We will be playing all the hits and bringing high energy rock and roll good times. I promise this will be awesome. My friends Cheap Trick and Pop Evil will be joining us as well as some special guests on select dates. Again, I know all the bands with all the hits will be giving 1000%. Over the last years, Poison has got to co-headline with some great bands: Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Kiss, Lynyrd Skynyrd, to name a few, but I promise again, C.C., Bobby, Rikki and myself together will bring Nothing But A Good Time!”
“Poison is a just great American Rock and Roll Band,” declares Bob Roux, President of U.S. Concerts, Live Nation. “Along with Cheap Trick, this show is going to be Nothing But A Good Time – The Full Tilt Party of the Summer. Poison and Cheap Trick always deliver the goods.”
Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick(lead guitar) proclaims, “Another Poison/Cheap Trick Tour!!! It’s always been FUN with these guys!”
While Pop Evil singer Leigh Kakaty concludes, “This summer is going to be an exciting one for Pop Evil, that’s for sure! What a fantastic opportunity to bring our live show across the country on the big stage with such legends like Poison and Cheap Trick.”
Check out the Poison…Nothin’ But A Good Time 2018 tour at any of the following stops.
5/18 Irvine, CA Five Points Amphitheatre
*5/19 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
*5/20 Reno, NV Grand Sierra Resort
5/22 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
5/23 Denver, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
5/25 Kansas City, KS Sprint Center
5/26 St. Louis, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
5/31 Nashville, TN Ascend Amphitheatre
*6/2 Dallas, TX Toyota Pavilion at Irving Music Factory
*6/3 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
*6/5 Atlanta, GA Verizon Amphitheatre
6/7 Indianapolis, IN Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
*6/8 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
*6/9 Chicago, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
*6/10 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
*6/12 Cleveland, OH Blossom Music Center
6/13 Syracuse, NY Lakeview Amphitheatre
6/14 Hartford, CT The Xfinity Theatre
6/15 Gilford, NH Bank of NH Pavilion
*6/17 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
6/19 Toronto, ONT. The Budweiser Stage
*6/21 Wantagh, NY Northwell Health at Jones Beach
6/22 Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
*6/23 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
6/24 Allentown, PA PPL Center
Today, multi-platinum hard rock band, Five Finger Death Punch, are excited to announce that they will be getting back on the road this Spring for select North American co-headlining dates with past tour mates Shinedown to surround their performances at some of the biggest U.S. Spring festivals including Carolina Rebellion and Welcome To Rockville. The bands are bringing along a very special support package: modern rock powerhouse Starset who will showcase songs from their latest release, Vessels and newcomers Bad Wolves who are currently dominating the rock and metal charts around the globe with their cover of The Cranberries’ Zombie which was released in memory of Dolores O’Riordan who was supposed to record guest vocals on the song the very day of her tragic passing. Proceeds will go to her three children.
5FDP and Shinedown are reuniting for this exclusive, short run for the first time since co-headlining their massive North American arena tour in Fall 2016. The shows will begin May 6th in Nashville, TN. VIP pre-sales begin today at 11am est and local pre-sales on Thursday, February 8th at 10am local time (Feb. 15th at 10am local time for Birmingham and Lexington shows). Ticketmaster presale runs from 10am-10pm local time on Thursday, February 8th. The general ticket on-sale will kick off this Friday, February 9(February 16 at 10am local time for Birmingham and Lexington shows). Watch an exclusive tour preview below. or more information and VIP offerings, go to fivefingerdeathpunch.com
See below for full tour routing.
Late 2017, 5FDP released their greatest hits album, A Decade Of Destruction, with two new tracks Trouble and Gone Away (their own rendition of The Offspring’s 1997 hit single). Both tracks garnered much critical acclaim and great success, as latest single Gone Away received over 10 million streams since its debut on December 1st and over 10 million video views in less than a month. Check out the video below.
Gone Away is already #25 on the Active Rock chart and climbing steadily. In addition, the first single from the collection, Trouble racked up over 2 million streams worldwide in just a few weeks making it the band’s biggest streaming debut for a lead track.
A Decade Of Destruction is available for purchase through Amazon and iTunes. The album is also available to stream via Apple Music and Spotify.
5FDP rounded out 2017 by celebrating two new RIAA platinum certifications for their 2011 album American Capitalist, and 2013’s The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell, Vol. 1. War Is The Answer, the band’s 2009 album, and their hit single Bad Company were previously certified platinum in 2016 and 2013, respectively. The band has amassed a total of over 2 billion streams worldwide to date.
5FDP’s seventh full length album is anticipated to be released this coming Spring – watch out for more announcements coming soon!
Previously Announced 5FDP Festival Dates
4/20/18 – KUPD’s UFEST – Tempe, AZ
4/21/18 – Las Rageous – Las Vegas, NV
4/27/18 – Welcome To Rockville – Jacksonville, FL
4/28/18 – Fort Rock Fest – Sunrise, FL
5/5/18 – Carolina Rebellion – Concord, NC
Upcoming 5FDP / Shinedown US Tour Dates
5/6/18 – Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
5/8/18 – Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY **
5/10/18 – BOK Center – Tulsa, OK
5/11/18 – Westfair Amphitheatre – Council Bluffs, IA
5/12/18 – Eagles Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI *
5/14/18 – Salem Civic Center – Salem, VA
5/16/18 – Legacy Arena – Birmingham, AL **
5/17/18 – Ford Center- Evansville, IN
5/18/18 – Mark of the Quad – Moline, IL
5/20/18 – Alerus Center – Grand Forks, ND
5/30/18 – Casper Events Center – Casper, WY *
* – 5fdp & Bad Wolves only ** General Onsale Feb 16th
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 revealed details about his forthcoming No More Tour 2 a reference to his 1992 ... )
