Florence & The Machine have announced a string of US tour dates.
The 'No Light, No Light' hitmakers insist the shows will not be "extravagant," opting instead to focus on the strength of the music during the 16 concerts.
Singer Florence Welch said: "In a way, it's not going to be too big a production; we've done a lot of quite extravagant stuff, and that's been amazing, but for this tour, it's definitely going to be about showcasing the music.
"The songs are going to be the most important thing. It will be heavily based on the music ... no bells and whistles just yet, we're going to try and keep it quite pure."
Opening act for the tour will be former Test Icicles and Lightspeed Champion singer Dev Hynes, who is currently recording as Blood Orange and Florence to have him on board.
She added to MTV News: "It's going to be so fun, I can't wait. I used to be his backing singer in Lightspeed Champion, he took me on tour with him for one date, in Manchester. He was one of the first members of Florence and the Machine, he used to play guitar with me at all my first gigs.
"Even though he was doing his own stuff, he used to come and play guitar for me. We'd be in these weird matching outfits, T-shirts and lumberjack trousers, doing Iggy Pop covers and I would play the drums, Green Day covers [too]. We covered the whole of 'Nimrod'."
Dates for Florence and the Machine's spring tour:
14/4 - Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara
15/4 - Coachella, Indio
17/4 - Grand Sierra Resort, Reno
18/4 Mondavi Center at UC Davis, David
20/4 - Comerica Theatre, Phoenix
21/04 - The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas
22/04 - Coachella, Indio
27/04 - MHennepin Theatre, Minneapolis
28/04 - Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee
29/04 - Peabody Opera House, St. Louis
01/05 - Palladium Ballroom, Dallas
02/05 - Verizon Wireless Theatre, Houston
03/05 - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, New Orleans
08/05 - Radio City Music Hall, New York
11/05 - Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville
12/05 - Borgata Event Center, Atlantic City
After a brief arctic slumber your Lords and Masters GWAR will be returning to the road this Spring on the second leg of their "Return of the World Maggot Tour."
The tour kicks off with a special tribute show for fallen band mate and friend Cory Smoot, AKA Flattus Maximus, in Richmond, VA, at The National Theater of Friday, March 16th. All proceeds from the Richmond show will benefit the "Smoot Family Fund," which has been established to help support Cory's widow and their unborn child. Support on this run will come from fellow Richmond metallers Municipal Waste and California's Ghoul. Legacy of Disorder will join the tour on March 20th in Boston and the tour will run through April 11th in Fort Collins, CO.
Tickets for fan club members go on sale tomorrow, January 25th, and tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, January 27th and Saturday, January 28th.
Personal slave to Oderus and Slave Pit spokesman Dave Brockie had this to say:
"All the years of doing GWAR could never have prepared us for what we have been through, and I want to thank the metal community and the extended GWAR family for all of your support. Finishing that last tour was the hardest thing we have ever had to do, and we still have about half of the country left to hit. We will continue as a four-piece, with the special tribute to Flattus at the end of the show, in order to give our fans a chance to say goodbye to our fallen Scumdog brother in true GWAR fashion-covered in blood and rocking the fuck out! After this tour is over we can start looking to the future and begin to put this tragedy behind us. But for now we are still in 'Hail Flattus' mode!"
DON'T MISS GWAR ON TOUR 3/16: Richmond, VA @ The National 3/17: Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls 3/18: Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom 3/20: Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theater 3/21: So. Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground 3/22: Syracuse, NY @ Westcott Theater 3/23: Toledo, OH @ The Omni 3/24: Lexington, KY @ Buster's Billiards and Backroom 3/25: Joliet, IL @ Mojoes 3/26: Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater 3/27: Des Moines, IA @ People's Court 3/28: Tulsa, OK @ Cain's Ballroom 3/30: Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theater 3/31: Boulder, CO @ Fox Theater 4/1: Grand Junction, CO @ Mesa Theater & Club 4/2: Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theater 4/3: San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues 4/4: Ventura, CA @ Majestic Ventura Theater 4/5: Chico, CA @ Senator Theater 4/6: San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom 4/7: Reno, NV @ Knitting Factory 4/9: Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock Café 4/10: Magna, UT @ The Great Salt Air 4/11: Ft. Collins, CO @ Aggie Theater There are still a couple of weeks worth of shows TBA, so if you don't see your city, don't flip your shit!
Soul-singing legend Etta James passed away, CNN reported today.
The singer - who was the voice behind songs like "At Last" and "Something's Got A Hold On Me," was 73 years old.
James was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010 and also suffered from dementia and hepatitis C. She died at a hospital in Riverside, California.
"Etta James is unmanageable, and I'm the closest thing she's ever had to a manager," friend and manager Lupe De Leon said, noting the quote was in admiration.
The songwriter first hit the charts in 1955 as a teenager with the song "The Wallflower (Roll With Me, Henry). She signed to Chess Records in 1960, before fading in the middle of the decade. The singer reemerged in 1967 after struggles with addicition with what CNN called "a more hard-edged, soulful sound."
Remember Etta James by watching a performance of one of her best-known songs, "At Last," above.
LL Cool J is "thrilled" to be hosting the Grammy Awards.
The rapper-turned-actor will be the first person to front the annual US awards show since 2005, and calls the opportunity a "dream come true."
He said: "I'm thrilled to be part of music's biggest night. I will always have fond memories of my first Grammys Awards and to now be hosting the Grammy show, in the company of so many other incredible artists, is a dream come true."
'NCIS: Los Angeles' actor LL has hosted sister show 'The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! - Countdown To Music's Biggest Night' since it was introduced in 2008.
Confirmed to perform at the awards on February 12 are Nicki Minaj, Foo Fighters,Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Jason Aldean and Bruno Mars.
Nominations in the Grammy awards are led by Adele, who has six, including three in the major categories: Album of the Year; Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Upon hearing of her nominations last year, she posted on her blog: "Thank you so much to the academy for nominating this record for 6 Grammys!!! This has been the best year as it is but to end 2011 with this incredible achievement and honor is beyond anything I can express (sic)."
The 2005 Grammy Awards were hosted by Queen Latifah, and other previous presenters have included Jon Stewart, Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
The Killers' forthcoming album will contain "more of a rock 'n' roll element."
The 'Somebody Told Me' rockers are set to release a new record later this year and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. insists "there will be some curveballs" on the follow-up to 2008's 'Day & Age.'
He said: "There's definitely more of a rock'n'roll element than last time. It's intrinsic to the band.
"It's the lifeblood of the band. The last record was sort of great in a lot of ways in that we just experimented, and we didn't take it lightly by any means, but we did things in a different way. This one's just four dudes making music."
The group - who are also made up of singer Brandon Flowers, guitarist Dave Keuning and bassist Mark Stoermer - are in no rush to put out their next record - expected for later this year - because they have "a lot" of material to choose from.
Ronnie added to NME magazine: "It's hard to tell exactly which way it's going, because it's not done yet, but I can already tell it's not very similar to our last one.
"We've got a lot of stuff to choose from now, so we're taking our time to make sure we get it right.
"Who knows what it'll sound like? The main thing is, we just want it to be great."
Iron Maiden are releasing a live album of their The Final Frontier World Tour, called 'En Vivo!'
The album was recorded in Santiago, Chile, in April 2011 as part of the Round The World In 66 Days leg of the heavy metal group's world tour and bass player Steve Harris explained they picked that particular show to capture the passion of their South American fans.
He said: "For The Final Frontier Tour it was really important to me that we filmed in South America as we're always so overwhelmed by the fans' reaction when we go to that part of the world and I wanted to reflect that.
"After much consideration we chose the Santiago show as we felt it was one of our best performances of the entire Tour."
The show also featured a new version of the band's mascot Eddie - a large zombie character who comes on stage with the band as part of every show - which the band had shipped over to South America especially.
Steve added: "He wasn't due to make his appearance until our European leg of the tour later in 2011, but we managed to transport him across the sea in a special huge container just in time. He really has to be seen to be believed!"
A special edition of the album will be accompanied by a DVD, 'Behind the Beast' which will gives a behind the scenes documentary of what the mechanisms of on Iron Maiden tour are behind the scenes.
'En Vivo!' will be released on March 26.
Trent Reznor is excited about the challenge of writing Nine Inch Nails music again.
The musician retired the band from live performance in 2009 so he could concentrate on other projects but is resurrecting it this year and looks forward to shaping it towards who he is as a person right now.
He said: "I'm going to be writing for Nine Inch Nails this year. I don't have any particular goal in mind other than... My voice as a songwriter feels like it needs to speak up or at least work out a little bit to not atrophy. I think I have something to say that feels unique to who I am right now, and that's when it tells me it's time to do something.
"At the moment it's going to live in the Nine Inch Nails column, for a few reasons. I enjoy the challenge of moving that kind of brand forward, that identity, shaping it to who I am now instead of who I was a few years ago when I last left off. But it's all kind of hypothetical right now. When I sit down with a notebook and a little mini-recorder is when my bluff will be called, and then it might not happen at all."
Trent won a Golden Globe for the soundtrack to 'The Social Network' last year and although he didn't win this year for 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' he says it was wonderful to be "noticed" by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
He told Billboard: "This score felt a lot more kind of woven into the picture. I don't think it's the kind of score you leave humming the love theme from '...Dragon Tattoo' or anything. We purposely went in to make the type of score that disappeared into the frames and felt like a part of the set...but not announcing itself as 'Look how flashy this is!' We were really aiming for something that was more in the woodwork and were very pleased with how it came out and, again, are so astonished and so flattered it's getting noticed."
Axl Rose has been serving jury duty.
The Guns N' Roses frontman - real name William Bruce Bailey - took part in a civil trial in Santa Monica, California for four days on the legal process until Tuesday.
Commenting on the short-lived job, Axl told People.com: "It was relatively painless. I was fortunate that everyone in the courthouse and jurors were all really great, plus I got to see daylight from a different prospect."
The 49-year-old rocker will be pleased to have got the work finished, as his bandmate DJ Ashba recently revealed the group were working hard on a follow-up to their last album 'Chinese Democracy'.
He said: "What I can say is making a new album absolutely is our main priority. And I cannot wait to get working on it.
"Axl has tons and tons of stuff recorded as it is. I mean, he sits there in his hotel room and he'll play me hours of stuff. And I've written over ten songs - I think 12 songs now - for him that he really likes."
However, the band does not have a set date for the release of their new LP.
He added: "I can't give anybody a definite date, because I'm not gonna give anybody false hope.
"But it's absolutely everybody's goal to get out an album within a reasonable amount of time."
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