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Hey Vancouver Beatles fans: start saving your pennies (again). Paul McCartney announced today that he will return within easy driving range for a show at Seattle's Safeco Field on July 19.
McCartney just added the date to his Out There world tour. When he played B.C. Place last November during his On the Run tour he wowed the crowd with a 38-song setlist that was jam-packed with Beatles classics.
The first time I saw Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band in concert was back in '76, when he was backing up Blue Oyster Cult at the PNE Gardens. That was just a month after he'd released his soon-to-be-huge album, Night Moves.
Mind you, it was also just six months after B.O.C. had released Agents of Fortune, which featured a little ditty called "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". Needless to say, I was pretty psyched about both acts.
Wishbone Ash cofounder Andy Powell brought his current version of the '70s prog-rock band to Venue last night, and Vancouver's 45-and-over crowd was gleefully transported back to the heyday of flared jeans, eight-tracks, lemon gin--and a deathless double-album called Argus.
The lineup of singer-guitarist Powell, guitarist Muddy Manninen, bassist Bob Skeat, and drummer Joseph Crabtree performed that classic 1972 LP in its entirety, the twin-guitar harmonies of tracks like "Sometime World", "The King Will Come", and "Warrior" bringing nostalgia-induced smiles all 'round.
"Here I am, on the road again. There I am, up on the stage. Here I go, playin' star again. There I go, turn the page."
It looks like the lyrics to Bob Seger's deathless 1973 tune about the unforgiving life on the road may have deeper meaning these days than his hardcore fans would care to admit.
According to a quote posted on canoe.ca recently, the 67-year-old rocker may be getting ready to "Turn the Page" on touring.
"I'm definitely nearing the end," said Seger from his studio in southern Michigan. "I can't see myself doing this when I'm 70 and I'm going to be 68 in May.
It's a gloomy day for metal fans, as former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr--who has been suffering from Multiple Sclerosis for many years--died in his sleep last night.
Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979, after a stint in Samson, which also featured Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson on its first three albums. Burr played on Iron Maiden's self-titled debut of 1980, 1981's Killers, and the '82 breakthrough The Number of the Beast.
That means he was the guy slamming the skins on such iconic headbanger classics as "Wrathchild", "Running Free", and "Run to the Hills".
A couple of weeks ago Ear of Newt reported that Aussie earbusters AC/DC were coming out with their own brand of beer. Well, now another legendary metal act, Iron Maiden, has stepped into the swiggin' ring with its own wobbly pop: Trooper Ale.
Named after one of the band's rockingest tunes, the "premium" ale with an alcohol content of 4.7% will be made by Robinson Brewery and available in the U.K. and other territories starting this May.
Thirty years ago today--on March 10, 1983--the Blasters played the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. Maybe you were there?
The group--then composed of singer-guitarist Phil Alvin, his younger brother Dave Alvin on lead guitar, pianist Gene Taylor, bassist John Bazz, and drummer Bill Bateman--was in its prime, still riding high on the rockabilly craze that the Stray Cats had helped revive a couple of years earlier.
Blues-rocker David Gogo opened for the legendary B.B. King in his hometown of Nanaimo last Tuesday (March 5).
Since we're tweetin' buddies (follow him at @DavidGogoBlues) I asked Dave-O if he wanted to shoot me a little write-up about himself and the master.
Here's what he sent:
When I first started playing blues music professionally I was told that the genre had a high floor but a low ceiling. Meaning that there would always be blues bars and some festivals to keep you working, but you're never going to be selling out arenas. This seemed fine with me. Over the years the ceiling has sometimes been raised higher and sometimes it got low. Really fucking low.
"I just heard about Alvin Lee's passing," tweeted Slash. "He was the 1st badass, super fast lead guitarist I remember hearing as a kid. legend. RIP. iii]; )' ".
Tonight, many Canadian music fans are grieving today's loss of Stompin' Tom Connors, and justifiably so. He's about as close as you'll get to a true-blue Canuck treasure.
But another artist left us in the past 24 hours, and folks who grew up loving bluesy rock in the sixties and seventies must be missing Alvin Lee pretty bad right about now.
