The Mighty Metallica has scheduled their second to the last concert for 2016 in Los Angeles. Thursday, Dec 15th, the band is set to perform at the Henry Fonda Theater and proceeds will go to a local food bank.
If you would like to join Metallica and you’re a Fifth Member, click here to enter to win an opportunity to purchase up to two tickets per member in a special presale that begins on Friday, Dec 9th at 9:00 AM PST for one hour only. Fifth Member tickets will be specially priced at $25 each and all proceeds from the sale of tickets to this show will be donated to Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Winners will be e-mailed a personal code by 5 PM PST today, Dec 8th, along with more details about how to purchase tickets to the exclusive one-of-a-kind show. You must be chosen as a winner in the contest to participate in the presale.
If you’re not a Fifth Member (or you missed out on winning a presale code), you’ll still have a chance to purchase up to two tickets per person on Friday, Dec 9th at 11:00 AM PST at AXS.com for a price of $100 each, again with all proceeds donated to Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Collection bins will be also available at the door, so we encourage you to support those less fortunate by bringing canned goods or other non-perishable food. Good on the boys!
In other ‘Tallica news, The Pulse Of Radio says frontman James Hetfield revealed the band is frustrated with the current state of ticket scalping — or the more legitimate “secondary market” sales — and would like to see more action taken to curb it. Speaking with CTV News, Hetfield remarked, “There’s always going to be someone who has an agenda. They’re going to scoop up as many as they can. Technology can help for sure. It’s hard to believe something more can’t be done.”
Hetfield added in a reference to ticket resellers, “There’s legal scalping out there too, which is frustrating. ‘Hey, wow, we just sold 10,000 tickets — and where did they go? To one place? Interesting.’”
Hetfield said about the problem, “We’re aware of it and doing what we can. At the end of the day, the fans get screwed and we get screwed. It shouldn’t happen. I would just say, ‘Fans, beware. Be smart about it.‘”
Hetfield told us a while back that the business side of touring has gotten harder for the acts too: “For some reason, touring is really difficult, and that was the answer to, you know, ‘everyone just download, you’ll make your money on tour!’ And now, well, guess what, you don’t. Groups are gonna, they have to join together as packages to go out, and it’s a struggle, and I’m really grateful that I’m not a band starting out right now. It’d be very difficult.”
Metallica plans to tour extensively behind the new disc starting in early 2017.
Meanwhile, Lars Ulrich did a lengthy interview with Canada’s CBC Radio One arts & culture show, “Q.” According to Blabbermouth, who transcribed part of the interview, Lars spoke about the issue of drummers and health, particularly after Rush admitted the Canadian rock trio’s retirement from the road has happened, in large part, because of drummer Neil Peart‘s tendonitis and diminishing physical abilities.
“When people ask me to look into the crystal ball into the future: ‘What do you think? Are you still gonna be playing…?’” Lars said (see video above, BTW: nice beard, Lars!). “It’s the great, big unanswered question. Mentally, creatively, spiritually, aesthetically, we’ll go for another hundred years [and] we’re fine. Physically, obviously, it’s the big question.
“I was at [the epic classic-rock summit] Desert Trip [in Indio, California with a lineup that included The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Bob Dylan and THE WHO], and there were these six acts on, and they were great, but there was one thing I did spot was the of the… And they’re all apparently in their 70s; I didn’t fact-check that, but that’s what I was told. There was only one of the six acts that had the O.G. drummer. The other five acts had a drummer, like, in the 20s and the 30s, so that should tell you something, right? So only Charlie [Watts of The Rolling Stones] was there, and he’s fabulous. I’ve seen The Stones [something like] fifty times in the last couple of decades; they’re great. But like Neil [Peart] was saying [Editor’s note: Lars is referring to a recent comment from Peart where the Rush drummer said his ‘style of drumming is largely an athletic undertaking’], what he does is a little bit different. It’s a little more in the jazz… A lot of jazz drummers, like Elvin Jones and Max Roach and Tony Williams, all these guys were still playing up in their 70s and 80s.”
Dang, they beat me to it. Billboard reports Disturbed frontman David Draiman said in a new interview with Billboard.com it’s “strange” to be competing against Beyonce in the Best Rock Performance category at this year’s Grammy Awards. Disturbed is nominated for its live performance of “The Sound Of Silence,” while Beyonce is up for her track “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” which features Jack White.
Draiman remarked, “I have mad respect for all the artists in this category, including and especially Jack White. Is it strange (to be up against Beyonce)? I think the reason you asked the question is because it is. It definitely stands out — like, one of these things is not like the other, you know? But what are you going to do?”
The other nominees in the category include Twenty One Pilots for “Heathens,” David Bowie for the title track from his Blackstar album and Alabama Shakes for a live rendition of their song “Joe.”
Draiman added the relative lack of rock categories at the Grammys, as compared to the pop, rap and country genres, is what has led to such a varied group of nominees. He explained, “If you look at every other genre, there are so many categories and sub-categories. For rock, this is all we’ve got, so everything ends up being jammed into these four categories.”
He added, “Is it diverse? Absolutely. It’s too diverse! When you can have, with all due respect, a Beyonce and a Disturbed in the same category, something has gone wrong. Not taking anything away from her whatsoever, we’re just very different from each other.”
Draiman told us a while back that he wasn’t even sure where his band fit into the modern metal scene: “I don’t know that the metal that we were spawned from really exists anymore. Bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Black Sabbath, none of the bands which are called metal, or which are really referred to nowadays as metalcore, are really anything like these bands. So I don’t even know that we fit in what is called metal today.”
“The Sound Of Silence,” a cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic, appears on Disturbed’s 2015 album Immortalized — although their Grammy nomination is for the band’s performance of the song on Conan. Disturbed’s last Grammy nomination was in 2009, when it was up in the now-retired Best Hard Rock Performance category for “Inside The Fire.”
We have seen the line-ups for the U.S. spring time festivals, now the king and queen of the Euro festivals, Download UK & Download Paris, have revealed their partial line ups. Looks pretty darn exciting if you ask me! More bands will be revealed in the coming days for sure! I am so happy to see Of Mice & Men are listed to perform at the UK show!
Since Five Finger Death Punch is on these bills, I went over to their Facebook page and found this cool video interview and tour of guitarist Jason Hook’s home in a episode of Kilpop, hosted by one of my favorite rock radio chicks, Carlota. Check it out!
And I also see the Maximus Festivals in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sao Paulo, Brazil are also starting to reveal their line ups. Five Finger Death Punch, Linkin Park and Prophets of Rage are headlining those dates. More international festivals to be announced soon. I was sorry to see HEAVY MTL, the annual hard rock and metal fest in Montreal is taking a break this year. Promoters say they will return bigger and better in 2018.
If you see Corey Taylor, wish him a very Happy 43rd. And RIP to our beloved “Dimebag” Darrell Lance Abbott, whose life was tragically taken from us on this day in 2004. The other victims of the shooting by a crazed fan at the Al Rosa Villa in Columbus, OH were fan Nathan Bray, Damageplan crew member Jeff “Mayhem” Thompson and club employee Erin A. Halk. Still impossible to believe you are no longer a force to be reckoned with on this mortal coil. (Read more about that fateful day on RollingStone.com.) Man, I need a black tooth grin now just thinking about it. 🙁
Gotta dash. Have a great day!