Happy Monday! I saw pictures from some of my pals’ shows at Download. First off, THE SUN WAS OUT! Whoa! That’s rare! Secondly, looked to be one of the largest Downloads on record. Congrats to all. NME reported Linkin Park performed its 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory, in its entirety for the first time ever during the band’s headlining appearance at England’s Download Festival on Saturday night (Jun 14th). Before the set, the band ran a video explaining why they were performing the record in full, with co-frontman Mike Shinoda explaining the show would be a rarity. The rest of the 25-song set drew from the band’s entire career and included three songs from the new album The Hunting Party….Congrats to Three Days Grace, whose “Painkiller” hit the number one slot of the rock radio charts. It was the band’s 12th single to reach that height. The band is currently recording their new album with Gavin Brown producing up in Toronto. Neil Sanderson sent me an email thanking hardDrive for our support. So nice to be appreciated!….Pulse Of Radio reports Foo Fighters have agreed to play a show in Richmond, VA after local fans launched a campaign to get the band to come to the city by selling 1,400 tickets at $50 a pop — before they even knew if the group would agree to the gig. The Foos acknowledged and agreed to the crowdfunded performance with a message posted Friday night (Jun 13th on Twitter which read, “See you soon…let’s have a good time.” Drummer Taylor Hawkins told us a while back that there’s something about a smaller show that you don’t get at an arena gig: “There’s such a different feeling you get when you play something like that, as opposed to playing the sort of, you know, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in front of, you know, 15,000 people. I mean, that’s a big, giant thing, you know, and that’s a big, over-the-top show. But when they’re right there in your face, you can’t get that in front of 20,000 people.” According to Rolling Stone, the campaign was launched in March by Andrew Goldin, a freelance creative director and copywriter, who sought to bring the band back to his hometown for their first show in Richmond since 1998 Goldin and three fellow organizers set their goal of selling 1,400 tickets at $50 each in order to convince the band to return. Donors’ credit cards would only be charged if the show sold out, and the contributions would be returned if the band didn’t agree to play. As of Saturday, the campaign had raised $70,026, surpassing its goal of $70,000. Two local businesses, Brown’s Volkswagon and Sugar Shack Donuts, each donated $5,000 to the campaign and plan to give away all their tickets. The venue and date for the show have not yet been determined. Foo Fighters have yet to announce tour plans for their eighth studio album, which will be released this fall. The making of the album is being chronicled in a new HBO documentary series called Sonic Highways. The series will follow the band to eight iconic studios in different parts of the country, documenting the region’s musical history as well as the making of the record…Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has confirmed drummer Mike Byrne has left the band after playing on 2009’s Teargarden By Kaleidyscope and 2012’s Oceania. It was recently revealed Corgan recruited Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee to play drums for nine songs on the band’s upcoming album Monuments To An Elegy. Interesting….Was just seeing a story on Blabbermouth about the next Black Veil Brides record! It will be produced by Bob Rock (Metallica), who has encouraged the band to write their material all together and prepare it before heading into the studio. Frontman Andy Biersack said about the new album, “More than anything, even before we found out that Bob was interested in doing it, we wanted to make a return to the darker, heavier material — in tone at least. We touched on that with the first record, but weren’t as mature songwriters back then; I don’t think we’ve ever truly executed the sound we’ve wanted to have as a band. We’ve always evolved, and I’ve always been excited about everything we’ve done, but this was something all of us have wanted to do.” Meanwhile the new Black Veil Brides album is set for an Oct 28th release…..And finally today, the radio industry mourns the passing of a legend. Casey Kasem- the voice behind the iconic American Top 40 syndicated radio show. It was the grandaddy of many programs on the air today and Casey inspired hundreds of radio dj’s and musicians alike. He ended his radio show each week with this saying, “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.” Great advice. (Interesting note: American Top 40 debuted July 4th, 1970. hardDrive with Lou Brutus signed on July 4th, 1996.)