OZZY & SABBATH: Highest-Grossing Charity Concert of All Time
Back to the Beginning, the all-day heavy metal festival this past July 5th that was capped off with the alleged last-ever performances by both Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, raised more than $200 million for three charities, making it the highest-grossing charity concert of all time according to Billboard, which has kept track of such events. 40,000 fans packed Villa Park soccer stadium in Sabbath's hometown of Birmingham, England, while a reported 5.8 million watched online.
While the final amount for each charity has yet to be announced, the money will be distributed equally to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Acorn Children’s Hospice and Cure Parkinson’s. Each charity also raised additional funds by raffling off memorabilia and tickets to the show, and through individual contributions from fans as they streamed the show.
Billboard states, "While impossible to fact-check so soon after the event... reports from Billboard and other media outlets have relied on figures provided by people affiliated with these concerts, as promoters are not required to publish the total funds raised or how much is deducted to cover expenses..."
So, if the Back to the Beginning numbers are accurate, then this past January's FireAid moves to number-two with more than $100-million followed by:
3) Live Aid (July 13th, 1985 in London and Philadelphia) - roughly $170-million
4) Farm Aid (music industry’s longest-running charity concert, launched in 1985) - more than $80-million
5) Hope for Haiti Now telethon (January 22nd, 2010) - more than $57-million
6) George Harrison and Ravi Shankar's Concert for Bangladesh (two shows on August 1st, 1971 at New York's Madison Square Garden) - estimated $12-million
7) One Love Manchester (Ariana Grande‘s all-star benefit concert held for the victims of the May 22nd, 2017 terror attack after her show at the Manchester Arena) - $12-million
LIVE AID: Slightly Ironic 40th Anniversary Celebration
Bob Geldof and his Live Aid co-producer Midge Ure of Ultravox marked the 40th anniversary of the global concert by attending a performance on London's West End of Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical, which chronicles the moments leading up to the historic event. Joining them for the curtain call was Brian May, who addressed the audience before Geldof led a singalong of "Happy Birthday."“If you’re watching this on Instagram or whatever, support this production because this is not just a musical. This is the continuation of a project for humanity.” Geldof and Ure then sang Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” the fundraising all-star single they wrote, which served as the catalyst for Live Aid. During the verse, "There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas," Geldof sang "because there never [BLEEPING] is."
And in a post on Instagram, May commented on the show, "Go see the musical ... and take your kids! You might need to pre-explain the 'F'-word to them if they're very young! But words are just words, right? And actions speak louder ... right? We need a kinder, more forgiving world .... OK?! GREAT JOB you guys - long may you run at the Shaftesbury Theatre."
KISS: You Wanted the Best, You'll Get it Again
KISS will be releasing a 50th anniversary edition of their breakthrough album, Alive! Eddie Kramer, who produced, engineered and mixed the 1975 album, says he recently spent 46 days mixing the tapes for this new collection. "Fortunately, they found all the bloody tapes. And so we spent all this time restoring them, transferring them, and then I mixed every single show that actually contributed to the final one, plus all the rehearsals that Gene [Simmons] and Paul [Stanley] said, 'We gotta record in the afternoon,' which they did, thank God, because we were able to capture some fantastic performances. But what you hear is that those guys were serious about getting this record out and making it sound fantastic." Kramer also mixed the album in Dolby Atmos. Universal has yet to announce a release date, but it is expected to be out in time for KISSmas.
Last year, in an interview with Guitar World, Kramer said capturing KISS live had its challenges.
"It was hard because they were always jumping around, and we had to do a bunch of work on the album after the fact (overdubbing), but that's how it was. The band may deny it, but the fact remains that on Alive!, we had to fix a bunch of stuff... "So, while it's not totally 'live,' it's a great creation of the live sound of KISS from that time. There were just bits we had to fix for obvious reasons, like the guys being on stage in six-inch boots, bombs going off and rockets and flames shooting to God knows where. It takes a lot of work to keep in time and tune while jumping up and down. They can do it now, but in those days, not so much." And last month, during an appearance on the Broken Record podcast, Paul Stanley said, "Alive! really captured the essence of the live experience. Now, that couldn't have happened without us going in the studio and enhancing it and surrounding you with people… Live albums were boring for four hours. You didn't even know they were live until the end of the song where you heard some clapping. But for KISS, we wanted an album that immersed you in the experience, which means being surrounded by people, which means bombs going off that are deafening, which means fixing any mistakes or a broken string. Snobs or purists may have looked down their nose at that idea, but the truth is that album is still considered, if not the greatest, one of the greatest live album ever. Not because everything was live, but because it captured the live experience."
Alive! contains performances from four shows in the spring and summer of 1975:
·May 16th - Cobo Arena in Detroit
·June 21st - Cleveland Music Hall in Cleveland
·July 20th - RKO Orpheum Theater in Davenport, Iowa
·July 23rd - Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, New Jersey
Despite selling over nine-million copies worldwide, the RIAA has only certified it for 500,000 copies sold in the U.S. It has not been re-certified since December 4th, 1975, three months after its release on September 10th. SoundScan figures from 2007 add another 258,000 in U.S. sales between 1991 and 2006, making it the band's fourth best selling pre-1991 album.
TOM PETTY: Darken the Hall
Following last year's deluxe reissue of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' fifth album, 1982's
Long After Dark, comes an exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame of artifacts associated with it and the tour in support of it. On display now in the Museum’s Main Exhibit Hall are studio notes, handwritten lyrics, Petty’s acoustic guitar used during that time, the music video script for "You Got Lucky," cassette tapes from a 1982 tour stop in Edinburgh, Scotland, backstage passes, tickets stubs and more. And the film made during the album's tour, Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party, will be shown at Hall later this year. Long After Dark produced two Petty standards -- "You Got Lucky" and "Change of Heart." Petty and the Heartbreakers were
inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002 by Jakob Dylan, the son of Petty's Traveling Wilburys bandmate Bob Dylan.
GENESIS: The Lamb Will Finally Stop Lying Down
After being pushed back twice, the 50th anniversary edition of the 1974 Genesis album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, will now be released on September 26th. Mixed at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios outside Bath, England, he says, "It was an interesting experience to be back again inside the world we built 50 years ago for The Lamb… [Engineer] Bob
[Mackenzie] did a brilliant job bringing it into Dolby Atmos and it was good to be back in the mixing chairs with [keyboardist] Tony [Banks]. It brought back many good memories of being in a band. We were still wearing our ‘More Me’ T-shirts, however, we have both matured enough to (very) occasionally ask for ‘Less Me’ – which would never have happened 50 years ago."
And Banks adds, “Great to have a chance to work with my old friend on something from our youth, and relive some of the moments we had when recording these pieces. [It] still sounds fresh to me!" The Lamb was Gabriel's last album with the band he co-founded before Phil Collins took over on vocals.
BEATLES, BONO & ELTON: Emmy Nods
Films on The Beatles, Bono and Elton John have been nominated for technical Emmy Awards.
·The Beatles ’64 - Outstanding Sound Editing For a Nonfiction or Reality Program and Outstanding Sound Mixing For a Nonfiction Program
·Bono: Stories of Surrender and An Evening With Elton John & Brandi Carlile - Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork For a Special
·2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony - Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For a Special and Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork For a Special
·Sly Stone doc, Sly Lives! (Aka The Burden of Black Genius - Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special
·Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh - Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for The Residence on Netflix
Bruce Springsteen’s Road Diary wasn’t nominated, which means he has to continuing waiting for his first Emmy, which would make him an EGOT recipient as he’s won 20 Grammys, an Oscar and an honorary Tony Award. The 77th Emmy Awards will be held on September 14th live on CBS.
Matt Cameron Denies He's Retired Following Exit From Pearl Jam
Matt Cameron is denying that he's officially retired after parting ways with Pearl Jam last week. Taking to social media, the musician gave an update on his career saying "thank you for the kind words of support, and for the record I'm still an active musician."Cameron joined Pearl Jam in 1998 and served as the drummer for their albums from 2000's "Binaural" until2024's "Dark Matter."He hasn't publicly shared any details regarding his decision to step away from Pearl Jam.
The Cult Announces Fall North American Tour
The Cult are returning to North America for a fall tour. The short trek starts October 9th in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and visit cities like Boston, Washington DC and more before wrapping up October 30th in Los Angeles. Electronic act Patriarchy will open the shows. Tickets go on sale this Friday; visit the band's website thecult.us for ticket information. Check out the dates and cities for their North American run below.
·October 9 - Niagara Falls, ON - OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino
·October 11 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
·October 14 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
·October 15 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
·October 17 - Charlotte, NC - Ovens Auditorium
·October 18 - Atlanta, GA - Cobb Energy Center
·October 20 - Ft. Worth, TX - Will Rogers Auditorium
·October 21 - San Antonio, TX - Majestic Theatre
·October 24 - Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl
·October 25 - San Diego, CA - The Sound
·October 27 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield
·October 30 - Los Angeles, CA - Shrine Auditorium
Fyre Festival Sells Brand For $245K
Fyre Festival is selling the rights to the brand for 245-thousand dollars. The sale took place on eBay Tuesday, including its IP, brand trademarks and social media assets. Billed in 2017 as a luxury outdoor music festival in the Bahamas, the event became notorious for its tents and pre-packaged sandwiches instead of the lavish villas and meals promised, and was canceled. Blink-182 was originally listed as a headlining act, but pulled out.Festival organizer Billy McFarland pleaded guilty to wire fraud and other related crimes from the event in 2018, serving almost four years in prison.
King Crimson Manager Downplays New Album Speculation
Speculation about a new King Crimson album may be "somewhat premature." Those are the words of King Crimson manager David Singleton. Singer and guitarist Jakko Jakszyk said in a recent interview with Goldmine "As we speak, we're doing a King Crimson studio album," although he didn't go into any specifics. In a statement titled "New Album Rumors," Singleton confirmed that "recordings have taken place" but he isn't confirming a new album. Singleton said "Whether it is an album, whether it sees the light of day, whether it is something else is unknown."
IN OTHER NEWS
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford has been miniaturized to six-inches as part of McFarlane’s "Music Maniacs" action figure series. Designed with up to 12 points of articulation for posing and play with a microphone and base, it will be out later this year. You can pre-order it at McFarlane.com.
Sammy Hagar is teasing another residency -- presumably again in Las Vegas. In a post wishing his bandmate Joe Satriani a happy 69th birthday (July 15th) he writes, "Can’t wait for the next residency announcement sssshhhhh." Hagar and his Best of All Worlds Band, with Satriani, Michael Anthony and Kenny Aronoff, did a nine-show residency this past April and May.
Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones will debut a classical piece written for opera performer Dame Sarah Connolly on January 8th at Wigmore Hall in London. A year ago, Jones said, “I’ve got four poems from some American poets and some British poets… They have to be related to each other slightly, these poems. And they are, there is a common theme.”
Peter Frampton has added another leg to his Let’s Do It Again! tour – October 17th in New Orleans through November 2nd in Hollywood, Florida with seven cities in between: San Antonio, Texas; Grand Prairie, Texas; Tulsa; Memphis; Atlanta; and two more in Florida – St. Augustine and Clearwater.
Styx, through their Rock to the Rescue foundation, have donated $10,000 to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country to help the victims of the July 4th flash floods. They are also donating a portion of the proceeds from sales of their new album, Circling From Above, on their website and at their shows.