Band of Horses in Toronto in 2010 (more)

As you may have heard, Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon walked off stage at their show in Dallas, TX on Friday (7/29) after saying he was going to go backstage, vomit, and return for three more songs.

"While KoL's fans stood in the dead heat, precious Caleb was carried off to his all-white dressing room where slaves hand fed him Evian ice cubes and fanned him with swan feathers while spritzing his face with 60º Perrier from a crystal bottle." [Dlisted]

Caleb never returned and Jared Followill then told the crowd, "I don't know what to say. It's not our fault. It's Caleb. He can't play." Jared then tweeted, "Dallas, I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am. There are internal sicknesses & problems that have needed to be addressed. No words." Jared again tweeted, admitting, "I love our fans so much. I know you guys aren't stupid. I can't lie. There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade." The band continued to cancel their next two shows, both Saturday (7/30) and Sunday (7/31). Since canceling those dates, the band have gone on to cancel the rest of their entire tour, which was with Band of Horses.

A message on KoL's website reads:

We are so sorry to say Kings of Leon are canceling their entire US tour due to Caleb Followill suffering from vocal issues and exhaustion. The band is devastated, but in order to give their fans the shows they deserve, they need to take this break. Unfortunately, the US dates cannot be rescheduled due to the band's international tour schedule. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. Tickets purchased online or via phones will be automatically refunded. The band will resume touring in Canada at the Rogers Center in Vancouver, BC, on September 28th. That show was originally schedule for September 14th.

The cancelled shows include Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on August 10 and PNC Bank Arts Center on August 17. According to Ticketmaster/Livenation, any tickets purchased by Ticketmaster Charge-By-Phone or Ticketmaster.com will be automatically credited back to the card used to order them. All tickets purchased at the box office or a Ticketmaster Ticket Center must be returned to the point of purchase to receive a refund.

Nathan Followill confirmed it's just a break and not a breakup, when he tweeted "Bummed about the tour not happening. So sorry 4 all the fans. We just need some rest. Thanks 4 understanding. WE ARE NOT BREAKING UP!" Despite the fact that the band reports the tour was cancelled so Caleb could rest his voice, US Weekly reports that a source tells them his bandmates are urging him to go to rehab. The source says Caleb "drinks like a fish."

Fortunately, Band of Horses are working on scheduling some club dates to make up for the cancelled tour. They wrote on their facebook:

Hey there Friends Of BoH! First off, we're sorry for the lag on updating everyone. We're thrilled by all the support you're showing us, and have been working behind the scenes to do everything we can to come see you. Unfortunately, we won't be able to hit up all of the places we'd planned on visiting with Kings of Leon. BUT!!! We're happy to announce that we're going to play SOME SHOWS!!!
We're playing FT. LAUDERDALE AND CHARLOTTE THIS WEEK! Details are below. We're working on adding more, and will have another update very soon.
We would like to thank Kings Of Leon for the opportunity to play the shows we did, and wish them all the best.
p.s. We're hoping to provide a special treat to the fans coming out to these new dates. Stay tuned and thank you!
Love, BoH

The new dates include a show at Hammerstein Ballroom on August 10 (which is at least way better than Jones Beach). Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Friday (8/5) at noon.

BoH also wants you to help them pick their setlists for the new shows. Because they had planned on playing shorter sets of their more popular songs on the Kings of Leon tour, they now have time to play some of their lesser known cuts. Check out the list of songs to choose from and more details on how to submit your choices at their facebook.

Video of Caleb speaking throughout the Dallas show and ending with Jared's apology, and Band of Horses dates below...

Continue reading "Kings of Leon cancel tour, Band of Horses book club dates"

'New York City concert was hotter than a whore in heat! So amazing!' - Perez Hilton

'Ida Maria appeared to be drunk and phoning it in' in DC, Sep 12 (Francis Chung)

"So, you'd assume that the self-proclaimed "queen of all media" would have been tweeting the crap out of Ida Maria walking off stage at her Boston show on Monday night. Perhaps a few scathing blog posts on his 20-million-hits-per-day web site and maybe some speculation -- totally unwarranted and without any actual, factual reporting -- that drugs and/or alcohol are to blame for the rising star's troubled performance.

But, no. Not one word was uttered, tweeted, typed or mentioned on any of the multiple social-networking sites to which Perez Hilton regularly contributes and certainly nothing on his astronomically famous web site, PerezHilton.com.

The gossip blogger and frenemy to the stars, has recently been toting his "Perez Presents" tour all over the internet, giving him even further bragging rights (in the past, Perez has taken credit for the successes of Lady GaGa and Mika) for "discovering" new talents Ladyhawke, FrankMusik, Eric Hutchinson, Sliimy, Semi Precious Weapons, and Ida Maria.

Despite the fact that most, if not all of the artists have been touring their home countries -- most artists are from overseas -- for the past year, and anyone who reads any sort of music news would know some of their names, Perez continues to promote his gig as a musical experience worth the $30plus price tag, because it will expose you to a whole "new" world or music.

I'd beg to differ. And I'm sure the mere 250 people who attended the event at the House of Blues [in Boston on Monday, September 14th] would agree, especially once co-headliner Ida Maria had a melt-down during song one-and-a-half, rendering her unable to perform the rest of her set.

The Norwegian rocker seemed less-than-impressed by the dwindling crowd as she took the stage (the three-story music venue can hold more than 2,400 people). She pouted her way through her first tune, refusing to sing the last two lines on the song, and opting, instead, to have a pow-wow with her guitarist, who pleaded with her to continue the performance under hushed mics.

As she led into her second song, the singer put down her own guitar and stood facing the audience folding her arms with an un-entertained, unenthusiastic, "I could care less" look written all over her face, before storming off mid-song leaving her band clueless. After a brief period of confusion, the stage managers reeled out a screen from which the audience could watch music videos. Already angry concert goers booed as Kanye graced the screen. Management were quick to replace his video with Janet, Madonna and of course, Taylor Swift.

Later, Maria would return from her fit back stage to apologize in broken English..." [Boston Daily Free Press]

That interesting, but somewhat unsympathetic article, fails to mention that Ida was crying, and that when she returned, she emotionally finished "Keep Me Warm" before apologizing "in broken English" and then finally leaving the stage for the last time. Video of the incident below.

Two nights earlier at the DC show, things weren't much better...

Continue reading "Ida Maria was drunk in DC, had a meltdown in Boston (video), was replaced by Kat DeLuna @ Perez Hilton show in NYC "

DOWNLOAD: WAVVES - So Bored (MP3)

WAVVES is playing playing BooYa! (thumbs down) (pmceldow)

Pitchfork: Do you feel like you've been depicted unfairly?

Nathan Williams (WAVVES): I watched the video, and all I can talk about is what I've watched from the video because I don't really remember playing. So I can't really defend myself. I'm sure it was a disaster show, but I don't know. I don't really care. In the end, that sort of stuff is out of control. I did what I did, and people kind of love to watch you fall. I feel like that is part of it as well. But in the end, it's not so upsetting as it is crazy to me that it turned into such a huge deal. [In] this day and age where information and video can be transferred so quickly on the internet, people can write about it right away, and it all just happens so fast. People have instant access to it, so there's not escaping it.

Pitchfork: Did you ever consider doing Wavves as something where you just recorded and didn't play live?

NW: In the beginning, that's all it was. And everything happened so fast. Ryan came out to play drums a month before I started touring, or a month before we started touring. And then until the day of Barcelona, we were just touring nonstop. So we practiced for three weeks, me and Ryan, and then we went on tour nonstop, so there was never really any time for me to like transfer the songs from recordings to how they would pan out live. And I still haven't had the chance to do that. It was just kind of: "OK, this is how the songs go. Let's just go play them and have fun." And that's when it was the most fun. It just got kind of... I don't know what it got.

Tickets are still on sale for the show WAVVES has coming up at Bowery Ballroom. A new official video, along with some meltdown videos, below...

Continue reading "Nathan WAVVES discusses meltdown, releases new video"

WAVVES was supposed to be touring Europe until the end of June, but hasn't played a show since The Great Spanish Meltdown of 2009, and, as you can see above, doesn't plan on playing another one until July in NYC!

wavves in sumi and watercolor on bristol (danyellsaysyes)

"But things declined quickly from there, as between songs, Nathan began ineptly mocking the crowd ("Ooooooh, I'm on ecstasy!"), going off at length about his preference for California over Spain, and eventually telling them the festival was "one of the coolest things we've been part of in a while," dripping with sarcasm. Finally, fed up with Nathan's petulant behavior, Ryan ran out from behind his drumkit and poured a full cup of beer over Nathan's head. The act would be met with their most enthusiastic applause of the evening." [Pitchfork]

WAVVES has US shows in NYC & Chicago coming up.