As mentioned, Justin Timberlake is releasing The 20/20 Experience, his first album since 2006's FutureSex/LoveSounds, on March 19 via RCA. You've already seen the music video and some live performances of the first single, "Suit & Tie," which features Jay-Z, and heard the second single, "Mirrors." But if you need a refresher, both of those songs and the album's tracklist are below. That's the cover art above.

JT also just announced that he'll be supporting the album with a tour with Jay-Z, who in addition to guesting on "Suit & Tie," has performed it with him at all of JT's one-offs this year. That tour is a huge stadium tour dubbed the "Legends of the Summer" tour and it hits NYC on July 19 at Yankee Stadium. All dates are listed below. All shows go on sale February 28, except the Yankee Stadium date, for which ticket info has not been announced yet. More specific info on tickets and presales is HERE.

Justin will be in NYC sooner than that though, to host and be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on March 9 and appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from March 11 to 15. Maybe we'll get another one of those random one-offs to warm up for Yankee Stadium while he's here?

A list of all dates, song stream, video, and album tracklist below...

Continue reading "Justin Timberlake announces tour w/ Jay-Z (Yankee Stadium included), appearing on SNL and 'Fallon'"

photos by Greg Cristman

Roger Waters projected his message stadium-wide, literally, when he brought his new production of "The Wall" to Yankee Stadium on Friday, starting a two-night stand. A white-brick wall, which is both an ideal video screen in concert and the central metaphor of the rock opera he wrote for the 1979 album by Pink Floyd (with additional music by the band's guitarist, David Gilmour), spanned the stadium and towered 40 feet high.

The message Mr. Waters hammered home -- with images including animated regiments of goose-stepping hammers on the march -- was distrust of power and authority in many forms: parents, schools, celebrities, corporations, countries, ideologies. Throughout intermission (as elegiac music played), and at points during the concert, the names and faces of people killed by wars, terrorism and government actions were shown on the wall. Quotations from George Orwell, Franz Kafka and Dwight D. Eisenhower also appeared on it. At one point, animated bombers dropped corporate logos and religious symbols; "Run Like Hell" included a WikiLeaks video from an American helicopter firing on Iraqi journalists. Early in the concert, Mr. Waters decried "all the victims of state terror all over the world," and preached that giving governments, police and soldiers too much power was "a very steep and slippery slope to tyranny. [NY Times]

The shows were part of an ongoing tour, which also hits Philly this week.

More pictures, a video, and setlist (aka the Wall, in order, with an intermission between the two records) from night one, below.

Continue reading "Roger Waters erected 'The Wall' @ Yankee Stadium (twice) -- (night one pics, video, setlist)"

photos by Joe McCabe

Ben Gibbard @ Beacon Theater - 4/29/12

NYC showed Ben Gibbard and his band Death Cab For Cutie much love during a recent three night run at Beacon Theater. Ben did not return that love in a recent article about baseball stadiums in Rolling Stone. Ben said:

PNC Park is by far the most beautiful park in all of baseball. The place feels so intimate and old-fashioned in all the best ways. I love the design of their out-of-town scoreboard. The views of downtown Pittsburgh and the bridges across the Allegheny River at night are spectacular. You can also buy a gigantic bucket of hot wings there that will stop your heart. The new Yankee stadium is by far the worst I've been to. It might look like the old one from the outside, but inside it's more like a gaudy, Long Island shopping mall than a ballpark. A classic example of what happens when people have too much money and very little taste. Plus, it tends to be full of Yankees fans.

We already posted timely pictures of nights one and two of Death Cab's three-night run (along with news of their continued tour that hits NJ next time). Here is a set of pictures we've been saving, from the third and final night at Beacon with Youth Lagoon. More of them below...

Continue reading "Ben Gibbard disses Yankee Stadium, played 3 nights @ Beacon Theater with Youth Lagoon (here's the last set of pics)"

"I was really surprised. I didn't know anything about it. I wasn't happy about it," Madonna told Seacrest of M.I.A.'s flipped bird.

"I understand it's punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy and positivity, it seemed negative. It's such a teenager...irrelevant thing to do," she continued. "What was the point? It was just out of place."

Onsale to General Public
Start: Tue, 02/21/12 10:00 AM EST

Icon Lifetime Legacy Member Presale
Start: Tue, 02/14/12 10:00 AM EST
End: Thu, 02/16/12 05:00 PM EST

Icon Live Pass Member Presale
Start: Tue, 02/14/12 11:00 AM EST
End: Thu, 02/16/12 05:00 PM EST

Icon Live Pass Access Bundle
Start: Tue, 02/14/12 12:00 PM EST
End: Thu, 02/16/12 05:00 PM EST

Citi® Cardmember Preferred Tickets
Start: Tue, 02/21/12 10:00 AM EST
End: Thu, 08/16/12 10:00 PM EDT

Continue reading "Madonna adds 2nd Yankee Stadium show; "M.I.A." discusses middle finger on SNL (that Zooey Deschanel hosted)"

She just played Lucas Oil Stadium, and now it's been announced that, like Metallica before her, Madonna will perform at the new Yankee Stadium on Sept 6th. Yankees.com peeps will get access to a presale. The general public ticket on-sale will begin on Monday, February 13 at 10:00 a.m. Tickets are on Ticketmaster.

The show is one of a zillion dates Madonna just announced. They're all listed below.

Meanwhile, as previously mentioned, tickets to see Roger Waters' 2nd show at Yankee Stadium went on AmEx presale Sunday, and are now also on "NYY Presale" (New York Yankees presale I assume). Check HERE for full ticket-on-sale schedule for this show.

Madonna tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Madonna playing Yankee Stadium (and many other tour dates); Roger Waters tix on pre-sale"

As mentioned, Roger Waters added a 2nd Yankee Stadium show. Here are when tickets go on sale:

Onsale to General Public
Start: Sat, 02/11/12 10:00 AM EST

American Express Presale
Start: Sun, 02/05/12 10:00 AM EST
End: Fri, 02/10/12 10:00 PM EST

NYY Presale
Start: Tue, 02/07/12 09:00 AM EST
End: Fri, 02/10/12 10:00 PM EST

Live Nation Presale
Start: Thu, 02/09/12 11:00 AM EST
End: Fri, 02/10/12 10:00 PM EST

Roger says:

We're thrilled to announce that due to an overwhelming response to the July 6 New York City date at Yankee Stadium, a second The Wall Live show has been added for July 7, 2012.

The RogerWaters.com presale for this show is set to begin on Sunday, February 5. If you'd like to participate, please log into your RogerWaters.com account and update your list of cities. If you don't yet have an account, click here to create one now.

Currently on AmEx presale, tickets for the Roger Waters: The Wall Live at Yankee Stadium go on public sale on Monday, 1/30, at 10am.

Tickets are on sale now for the pre-party hang at BB King's ("We will be showing "Dark Side Of Oz" on the big screen and have live music and food and drink specials.)"

We're posting some select news stories today,
but please help us in supporting the fight against internet censorship.

The press release reads:

Roger Waters, the co-founder and principal songwriter of the archetypal progressive band Pink Floyd, has announced the return of the historic production of "The Wall" to North America in 2012. His aural and visual masterpiece of alienation and transformation will be performed in-its-entirety featuring a full band and state-of-the-art production. "The Wall" live has played more than 120 shows around the world for more than 1.6 million fans making it one of the most successful tours of 2010 and 2011. Roger Waters will return to New York, bringing the historic production to New York's Bronx landmark, Yankee Stadium, on Friday, July 6. Tickets for "The Wall" 2012 at Yankee Stadium go on sale on Monday, January 30th at 10AM on LiveNation.com.

[As previously announced] The 2012 tour will begin on May 1st in Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center making a 36 show trek throughout North America, including several outdoor stadium performances with state of the art modifications transforming the arena production into magnificent outdoor events. The tour, promoted by Live Nation, includes stadium stops in San Francisco at AT&T Park on May 11th, Vancouver at BC Place on May 26th, Chicago's Wrigley Field on June 8th, Toronto at Rogers Centre on June 23rd and Philadelphia at the Citizens Bank Park on July 14th.

"Thirty years ago when I wrote 'The Wall,' I was a frightened young man," Waters recalls. "In the intervening years it occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with its concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns: Nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, whatever! All these issues and 'isms are driven by the same fears that drove my young life."
...
In addition to Roger Waters (lead vocals, bass), "The Wall" live touring ensemble includes: Snowy White (Guitar), Dave Kilminster (Guitar), GE Smith (Guitar & Bass), Jon Carin (Keyboards), Harry Waters (Hammond Organ), Graham Broad (Drums), Robbie Wyckoff (Vocals), Jon Joyce, Pat Lennon, Mark Lennon and Kipp Lennon (Backing Vocals).

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

The concert, or the tour, or the notion, is called the Big Four, and it needs an asterisk. Long ago one of the four became much bigger than the rest.

In alphabetical order, Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer -- who all played at Yankee Stadium in a thorough and memorable seven-hour concert on Wednesday night -- were the most popular bands of mid-1980s thrash-metal. (Some would prefer a Big Five, and include Testament or Exodus.) Thrash was a powerful mutt: it ran at hardcore-punk speeds and wedged hyper-articulate firebomb guitar solos into small spaces...

[Metallica's] set list was almost identical to what the band played in Indio. It started with the old ("Creeping Death"), moving to the new ("All Nightmare Long") and a we've-earned-it instrumental section ("Orion"), then the hits and landmarks ("One," "Master of Puppets") and back to the old again ("Seek and Destroy"). And it was a proper retrospective, with songs fast and slow and medium, compassionate and merciless.

The last set also included a song involving members of all four bands. Cleverly it was a version of Motorhead's "Overkill," a song that keeps stopping and starting up again. Each time it reanimated, a different drummer took over: Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Dave Lombardo of Slayer, Charlie Benante of Anthrax; the guitarists traded off too.
[New York Times]

Continue reading "pics of Metallica @ Yankee Stadium (The biggest of the Four)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Slayer / Anthrax

Right from the start, when Anthrax hit the stage for its very early 4 p.m. slot, the collective goal of artists and audience alike seemed to be to peel the paint off the walls with violent volume and loosen the bolts that held the joint together, with the bounce of dance moves.

Of the opening three acts before Metallica took the stage at 9 p.m., Anthrax was the outfit that owned The Bronx.
Over the course of an hour, the quintet wowed the fans with cornerstones of their songbook such as "Indians," "Thrashing Mad" and "I Am The Law."

Megadeth was the second band to play and was the least successful act on the bill. Lead singer Dave Mustaine told the house he had just had neck surgery earlier in the week, adding "I shouldn't even be here." He was right.

Slayer was the heaviest band on the bill. Their set was pure brute force. The shred guitar solos were impossibly fast, and the drumming made thunder sound tame...[NY Post]

Continue reading "Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax @ Yankee Stadium (Big 4 pics)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Rocks Off hosted a boat cruise to the Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax). The pictures from the actual concert are coming shortly, but here are some taken on the high seas (the Hudson River) on the way there. They continue below...

Continue reading "pics from the boat ride to Big 4 @ Yankee Stadium"

Metal megashow The Big 4 hits Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, 9/14. Anthrax fans with jobs (which they probably have if they were able to afford a ticket to this show), may not be happy to find out that the set times for the weekday gig are as follows...

DOORS: 2:00PM
ANTHRAX: 4:00PM
MEGADETH: 5:30PM
SLAYER: 7:00PM
METALLICA: 8:35PM

Anthrax recently made an appearance on Jimmy Fallon to help promote their new album. The video and more Anthrax tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Big 4 hits Yankee Stadium Wednesday (set times)"

photos by Dana (Distortion) Yavin, review by Andrew Sacher

Paul McCartney played his second of two shows at Yankee Stadium Saturday night (7/16). Like the first night, the 35+ song set was Beatles-heavy. Unlike the first night, Billy Joel showed up and performed "I Saw Her Standing There" with Paul during the first encore on Saturday. A set of pictures from Saturday are in this post. Both setslists are also below.

Twentysomething Andrew Sacher was there on Friday, seeing Paul live for the first time. Here is his review...

--

Paul McCartney made his Yankee Stadium debut on Friday (7/15). HIs set, as noted, was majority Beatles songs with a number of Wings songs, some solo cuts and the Fireman track, 'Sing the Changes." To put it bluntly, The Beatles are the band that I (and many, many others) have probably heard more times than any other band in history. Hearing Beatles songs, while always great, is not nearly a rare occurrence. But as Paul and his band performed their material, I couldn't stop thinking this is the guy who wrote these songs. As someone who never really thought about going to see Paul McCartney live before these shows were announced, the whole thing was actually surreal.

Before Paul went into "All My Loving," he said, "Here's an old one you might remember," and as soon as the song took off, video clips of The Beatles in their early days showed up on the screen behind the stage. Seeing those clips in contrast to where Paul is at now, standing before them in real life at age 69, made the experience even more staggering. And on top of that, Paul hasn't aged a bit. Nothing about the show was dated at all. Paul's voice and musicianship were totally intact, his band was excellent, and the clips/images/visuals screening on the stage's backdrop were widely appealing. The sound at Yankee Stadium was also amazing, and Paul had no problem delivering to the extremely large venue.

Though almost every song in the set was written by Paul, he also paid tribute to his late Beatle-bandmates John and George. He brought out a ukulele for one song and told a story about how George Harrison had a period where he was really into ukuleles. During that period, Paul went to George's house and said, "I've learned one of your songs on ukulele, do you want to play it with me?" Then Paul proceeded to play us the song on his ukulele, which ended up being one of Harrison's Abbey Road contributions, "Something." About halfway through the song, he was joined by the rest of his band for a rendition closer to the Beatles original.

Paul prefaced the song "Here Today" by telling the crowd that sometimes in life you want to apologize to someone but before you do, you realize it's too late. He said that the song is written about a conversation between him and John Lennon that they never got to have. This was actually my first time hearing the song, but the story behind it and the song's lyrics left an immediate impact on me. Paul then paid even more tribute to John later in the set when he took the joint McCartney/Lennon track "A Day in the Life" directly into Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance."

The medley of those two tracks began what largely appeared as the 'end of the set.' While most shows I go to save a single or an epic track to end the [pre-encore] set, sometimes even two, Paul McCartney and his band end their shows with four climactic performances. In "A Day in the Life"'s psychedelic crescendo, smoke filled the stage and the images on screen swirled into trippy visuals before abruptly clearing up as Paul's peppy piano-led offering to the song kicked in. Once the upbeat Paul McCartney found his way upstairs and had a smoke, and somebody spoke and he went into a dream, the visuals kicked back in, and after soaking that up, Paul and his band drifted into "all we are saying is 'give peace a chance.'"

They calmed things down for a bit with the captivating "Let It Be," which reached the same level of grandiosity by the song's end. That was followed by the best Wings track of the night, "Live and Let Die." The song started off soft as usual, and as soon as the heavy orchestral break exploded, flames shot up in front of the stage, which were joined by fireworks once the drums kicked in. Paul McCartney and his band then ended the set with the crowd sing-along "Hey Jude."

The band returned for two encores, both consisting entirely of Beatles material. Paul began the second encore with the most recorded song in history, "Yesterday." He was accompanied by no more than his own acoustic guitar and his keyboard player (who had some of the most realistic instrument replication I've ever heard) taking care of George Martin's string arrangements. After mesmerizing the entire audience with the song, the rest of the band walked on stage to kick things up to a way harder level with "Helter Skelter." The show then ended with a chunk of Abbey Road's b-side medley; "Golden Slumbers"/"Carry That Weight"/"The End," which Paul recently started doing in place of ending his sets with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"/"The End."

Both setlists and more pictures from Saturday night, below...

Continue reading "Paul McCartney played 2 nights Yankee Stadium (pics, review, setlists & Billy Joel)"

"Paul McCartney comment at Yankee Stadium: "Who's this guy Derek Jeter? I heard he has more hits then me!"" - SteveMarinucci

Paul McCartney @ Yankee Stadium - 7/15/2011 (Sean McMann)

Paul McCartney played his first of two shows at Yankee Stadium Friday night (7/15). He does it again tonight. More about both shows is coming later, but it's worth nothing that Paul played "The Night Before" for the first time ever on Friday. Video of that and the full setlist below...

Continue reading "Paul McCartney played Yankee Stadium (night 1 setlist)"

Paul McCartney @ Citi Field in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

"In response to overwhelming popular demand for tickets to Paul McCartney's July 15 Yankee Stadium debut, a second date has been confirmed for Saturday, July 16." Tickets go on sale at 11:40.

Paul's Classic Solo Recordings McCartney & McCartney II Are Out Now.

The latest releases in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, personally supervised by Paul . All orders receive a download of the McCartney album, plus all bonus audio and film content that ships with that package.

Buy both McCartney & McCartney II for a special price. Each McCartney Edition below allows you to also purchase the McCartney II album at the same time and receive a discount along with an instant download of the track Maybe I'm Amazed.

Check out the setlists from Paul's June 9th and 10th Las Vegas shows, and a brand new video for his previously unreleased song "Blue Sway" (released now on the bonus audio disc of the special edition of McCartney II), below...

Continue reading "Paul McCartney played Vegas, made a video, released reissues (Yankee Stadium tickets on sale)"

Paul McCartney @ Citi Field in 2009 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Press release:

PAUL McCARTNEY RETURNS TO NEW YORK CITY
YANKEE STADIUM DEBUT CONFIRMED FOR JULY 15
General On-Sale This Monday 11 a.m. June 13

Paul McCartney has confirmed the date and venue of his return to New York City: July 15 at Yankee Stadium.

McCartney's historic first ever appearance at the storied Yankee Stadium will kick off his new 2011 On The Run tour, and marks nearly two years to the day since his legendary July 17, 18 & 21, 2009 concerts, immortalized on the Grammy-winning gold-certified Good Evening New York City CD/DVD.

McCartney's Yankee Stadium debut can safely be predicted to feature some nearly three hours of the world's best loved and most known music, with hits, deep cuts and surprises spanning his unrivalled career, from The Beatles, Wings, solo material and The Fireman's critically acclaimed album Electric Arguments.

As on his Live 2009 tour and Up and Coming's 2010 run, McCartney will be backed by the combo the LAS VEGAS SUN called "his best band since, well, the Beatles": Paul "Wix" Wickens (keyboards, guitar, percussion, harmonica, backing vocals), Rusty Anderson (guitar, backing vocals), Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums, backing vocals) and Brian Ray (guitar, bass, backing vocals).

Paul's last NYC show was actually an intimate affair for Sirius-XM at the Apollo

Paul plays a show this Friday night, 6/10, at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"The Big 4" doesn't happen at Yankee Stadium until September.

Tickets go on general sale at 10am for the Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax show happening at Yankee Stadium.

by BBG

They hit the west coast last weekend, and now "The Big 4" will make the journey east for their second show together in The Bx. Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax will play Yankee Stadium on September 14th. According to Metallica's site, "tickets go on sale Friday, May 6 at 10:00 AM via www.ticketmaster.com. Met Club members should log in for more information about a special pre-sale starting on Wednesday, May 4. Yankees season ticket holders will have their own pre-sale, also on May 4, starting at noon."

Hopefully by the time the NYC show rolls aroundm Slayer will have founding member Jeff Hanneman back in the fold, though he did made a brief appearance in Indio last weekend...

Slayer hit the stage and even the sun appeared slightly scared as it sank behind the mountains. They were the hardest and most relentless band of the day. Dave Lombardo's double bass drums were thunderous, not so much supporting but propelling the music as Kerry King delivered frequent guitar-shredding solos...They played a new song "America" (sp?) that fit right alongside the classics. As he has been since February, Gary Holt of Exodus sat in for guitarist Jeff Hanneman who is suffering from necrotizing fasciitis in his arm. To the crowd's great delight, Hanneman appeared and played during the last two songs of the set, "South of Heaven" and "Angel of Death". -[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Continue reading "Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax (The Big 4) playing Yankee Stadium! (played Indio, CA)"

by BBG

"Yankee Stadium was #EPIC last night. Performances by JayZ,Drake,Kanye West,Eminem,G-Unit,Dr.Dre,Nicki Minaj,B.O.B & Eminem all on one stage!" -ThisIsChi_JEG

"Apparently a Coldplay concert broke out in the middle of Jay-Z's Yankee Stadium set last night. Can safely say no one saw that coming." -BarthDoesThings

"I've been trying to find a word to explain the Jay-Z/Eminem Yankee Stadium show.. I got it.. WOW!!!!!" -DJCK_BROOKLYN

Jay-Z & Chris Martin on stage @ Yankee Stadium

Jay-Z and Eminem tore down Yankee Stadium last night (9/13), the first of TWO shows that the pair of MCs will play in the Bronx. And there were guests... Kanye was present. Chris Martin of Coldplay dropped in. Beyonce had her say. Dr Dre was there. 50 Cent too. Not to mention Drake, Nicky Minaj, D12, B.O.B, Swizz Beatz, Lloyd Banks, and many others.

"The concert lasted well past midnight, and a few thousand in the crowd started to make their way to the exits while Jay-Z was still rapping to beat the after-concert rush. But most stayed behind, sensing what Jay-Z told them. ''This is historic: They ain't never gonna be another night like tonight.''

Well, maybe one more night -- the pair has another show at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday." [NY Times]

The madness continues tonight (9/14) at Yankee Stadium. A bunch of videos and both setlists (with guests listed) from last night, below...

Continue reading "Jay-Z & Eminem & lots of special guests played Yankee Stadium (night 1 videos & setlists)"

"Just hours after presale tickets for Eminem and Jay-Z's "Home And Home" tour went on sale today (June 24), another show has been added in Detroit at Comerica Park on Friday, September 2 and in New York at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, September 14. Tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow, Friday, June 25, 2010" [Billboard]

Continue reading "Jay-Z & Eminem add 2nd shows in NYC & Detroit "

Tickets for the September 13th Jay-Z/Eminem show at the new Yankee Stadium go on presales @ 10am. I say "presales" because the list of them is rocawear, roc4life, jay-z, venue, live nation, radio, and Yankees.com registered users. PASSWORD = NYYJAYZ for one of the presales, and also try "tickets" for the Live Nation presale.

Jay-Z @ Bonnaroo 2010 (ladymelisande)

Tickets for the JAY-Z and Eminem concert on September 13 at Yankee Stadium will go on sale on June 25 at 10:00 a.m. online at Ticketmaster, phone at (800) 745-3000, via Ticketmaster TTY at (800) 943-4327 and at select area Ticketmaster outlets.

It will be the second of a home-and-home series of shows for New York City-native JAY-Z and Detroit-area-native Eminem, as the pair will also perform at Detroit's Comerica Park on September 2.

Jay-Z was one of the headliners of Bonnaroo over the weekend. NPR isn't streaming his set, but they do have Nas & Damian Marley, and you can watch some high quality Jay-Z Bonnaroo videos below...

Continue reading "Jay-Z played Bonnaroo, Yankee Stadium tix on sale 6/25"

Jay-Z @ Coachella (more by Rachel Carr)

Jay-Z and Eminem appeared at last night's Yankees game in Detroit (we destroyed them) to announce co-headlining NYC & Detroit shows. They'll be in Comerica Park on September 2nd and Yankee Stadium on September 13th. The show will be the first concert in the new Yankees stadium. Ticket info TBA. A video of the pair on ESPN announcing the shows, and one from the first time Jay-Z performed at the stadium, is below...

Continue reading "Jay-Z & Eminem playing Yankees Stadium & Comerica Park"