Weekly Music Roundup
News and notes from the week in music.
Josh Homme: Never Too Sick To Fight - When Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has a 102 degree fever on show day, he plays the damned show come hell or high water. Picture rocking your ass off for two plus hours on three straight nights with that kind of a fever... hard to imagine, right? Well, now picture some punk brat throwing bottles and shit at you during that third show, as you're pouring your heart and soul into a blistering performance on the verge of passing out. That's what Homme faced last Friday in Oslo, Norway, and the James Dean of rock n' roll dealt with the situation accordingly. We'd get a soapy mouthwash if we told you what he said while taking the kid to task, but you can watch the video here:
http://www.antiquiet.com/features/videos/2008/06/josh-homme-is-never-too-sick-to-fight/
The 2008 Lollapalooza lineup has been announced, and it's...well, it's pretty damned amazing. Running from Friday, Aug. 1st through Sunday, Aug. 3rd, the legendary and ever-evolving festival includes appearances from Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West, the Raconteurs, The Black Keys, Lupe Fiasco, Battles, Mark Ronson and many, many more. View the full lineup here: http://www.lollapalooza.com/schedule2008/day1.asp
Speaking of festivals, Bonnaroo 2008 was a smashing success last weekend, with Metallica delivering a brutal, wildly enthusiastic set (but no new songs) and Pearl Jam turning in an unforgettable, high-energy 2 hour-plus show full of b-sides and rarities (such as a jaw-dropping, better-than-the-original take on The Who's Reign O'er Me) while reinterpreting a few sacred and seldom-seen gems in the process (W.M.A., Who You Are, Hard to Imagine). There was one exception to the fun, however, and that would be resident diva Kanye West. He arrived onstage at around 4:30 am, more than two hours after he was scheduled to go on. Fans who had resisted the call of their nightcap bowls and sleeping bags were understandably pissed when headliner Kanye, offering no apology, delivered a half-assed performance and didn't even finish his own show. What's worse is that musicians on other stages were forced to cut their sets short hours before Kanye arrived, because he didn't want any competition while performing. D-o-u-c-h-e.
Costume-rock tongue-mutant pimp of all trades Gene Simmons has trashed former Kiss bandmates and dress-up playpals Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. He's ruled out a third reunion tour, simply because the other guys aren't fit enough to cut it live. He told Britain's Mojo magazine, "Ace and Peter just can't do it... We tried three times to make it work with those guys in the band. But last time I checked, this was not a babysitting business." What's that sound? Oh that.. that's just the sound of nobody caring at all.
Linkin Revolver? Velvet Park? Not gonna happen, says Chester Bennington. Rumors have been swirling that, somehow, the Linkin Park frontman has been tapped to replace junkie peacock Scott Weiland as the new voice of Velvet Revolver. In an interview with low-rent rock mag Kerrang!, Chester said "I think the rumour that I was going to join Velvet Revolver started because Slash asked me if I'd come play a show with them in Vegas right around the time that Scott left the band. Timing-wise, it didn't work out for me, though. Maybe people assumed that invitation meant I was joining the band."
"If I wasn't in Linkin Park anymore and I didn't know Scott, though, I'd say yes," he says. "Who wouldn't? The music is great and it would be a really cool opportunity." Evidently, there is a God. That was a close one.
Lil Wayne actually has something worth bragging about now - the cocaine enthusiast's latest album, The Carter III, has sold a staggering 1 million copies in its first week.
Drug-addled Brit siren Amy Winehouse collapsed and was hospitalized Monday for... ah, nevermind. Same story as the forty other times she's made headlines, and will likely remain so until she OD's and drowns in her own vomit. Stay tuned.
