Live Entertainment Blog

Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, and Josh Homme will be touring as Them Crooked Vultures this spring playing dates in both April and May before heading overseas to to tour. The band played Saturday Night Live in February with Josh Homme on guitar, Jones on bass, and Grohl on drums. Their self titled debut, Them Crooked Vultures, has recieved praise from rock critics and is popular with fans of all three bands the members are normally associated with: Foo Fighers, Led Zepplin, and Queens of the Stone Age. Grohl has been talking in the press about the band recording a second album soon, but affirms that he will return to the Foo Fighters before long. Tracks like “New Fang” and “Mind Eraser, No Chaser” have become favorites in the media from the band’s first album. You can still find Them Crooked Vultures tickets online right now, but with the three big names attached to the band don’t waste any time.

Famed rock band, Stone Temple Pilots, put out some of the best alternative rock albums in the 1990’s. The band spent most of the 2000’s on hiatus, but has reunited to record a new album and tour the country. The band earned great reviews playing at South By Southwest this year to a small crowd of die-hard fans. Lead singer Scott Weiland spent five years with Velvet Revolver, but from all reports is happy to be back with STP. Bassist Robert DeLeo called the album “a great STP record… a really cohesive record with songs that are going to be lasting”. The band will be finishing up their tour this May in Camden, NJ before heading overseas and touring throughout Europe in June. This could be a big year for STP fans.

In a press release announcing Conan O’Brien’s 30 city tour, the unemployed late night T.V. host made remark about either he had to start doing something or start helping out around the house. The show will feature many staff members from Conan’s television show including side kick Andy Richter and the Max Weinberg 7. Conan tickets can still be bought, but are selling like crazy. All the profits from the nationwide tour will be going to the tour’s 40-person staff. Don’t feel bad for Conan as he settled with NBC for $33 million and is in no need of cash for the time being. The show is expected to be a night of music and comedy and with Conan’s celebrity status, who knows will show up. You can basically peg Will Ferrel to make an appearance on the tour at some point. Ferrel sang “Freebird” on the last Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien dressed in 70’s apparel and made out with his pregnant wife during guitar solos. Conan’s Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour should have his fans laughing once again starting April 12th.

Nick Cannon and Perez Hilton have already dubbed Justin Bieber to the break out star of 2010 as the teenage sensation has been scoring hit singles and causing riots of teeny-boppers at shopping malls. The 15-year-old Canadian pop star was discovered on YouTube and former-teen idol Usher quickly helped him get a record deal. Bieber has worked with some of the biggest names in music producing his first record My World that has now gone platinum in both the United States in Canada. His upcoming March 2010 release My World 2.0 should be one of the year’s biggest sellers with its single “Baby” already #25 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The teen idol is planning a huge tour for this year as Justin Bieber tickets will be some of the hardest to find anywhere. Watch out Miley Cyrus there’s a new boy in town!

 Spoon continues to be one of most critically acclaimed rock bands in today’s music scene as their 2010 release, Transference, has already earned praise from rock press. Transference is the most recent record in a long line of great albums Spoon has released since their formation in 1993 in Austin, TX. If you want a good introduction to the band order their Austin City Limits performance as it’s one of the best episodes of the PBS program I’ve seen. Songwriter Britt Daniel has a knack for writing songs that have a great uniqueness about them while maintaining their pop sensibilities. Band mates Eric Harvey, Rob Pope, and Jim Eno always seem to create the right blend of rhythm and melody to serve Daniel’s tunes. After long being one of music most under-appreciated bands their 2007 release, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, broke Billboard’s Top 10 and hitting the #1 spot on the Indie charts. All signs point to “Transference” being just another step forward into spotlight for Spoon as the band keeps putting out great music.

The Canadian band Nickelback has been getting better for a long time and they are more popular than ever before. You might even know their music from the radio. Their album Dark Horse reached #1 on the charts for quite awhile. And they are among the best alternative bands on the circuit right now and rank right up there with the Beatles as one of the biggest foreign bands ever in the US. I was able to find where you can get Nickelback tickets for their current tour. It’s expected to be their most popular tours yet, with great songs like I’d Come for You, Never Gonna Be Alone and others most likely on tap. But don’t worry; all your favorite songs are certain to be on the playlist too! Get some tickets and enjoy the show!

The new Nick Jonas performances are going quite well. This is a show that is much more entertaining than many people had anticipated. There have been some big changes in the world of the Jonas Brothers of late. This is a singer of the top caliber who can really bring some of the best music to life and he’s proving it with The Administration. Many of the songs are his own and just didn’t fit the model of the Jonas Brothers. They will be able to put some of the best music forwards when they return to the stage in a few more months. The Administration experiment is just going to be a quick trial run. But they are impressing critics of many different shades and they tell us that the new tour is great because they can see the musician evolving in some very significant and exciting ways. Hopefully Jonas will continue to improve and his solo plans work out well.

One of the big bands of the grunge rock movement, Soundgarden, seems to be planning to get back together after over 13 years apart. It’s not clear if this will be a long-term reunion or just a little nostalgia fest. I suppose it depends on how it turns out in the concert ticket sales. But it’s a lot of fun for those of us who followed them back in the 90s because we’ll get to hear their great songs live once again and from the actual musicians. Maybe they’ll even put out some new music for the first time since back then. The band seems absolutely ready and excited to do these performances, though they’ve all been in music much of the intervening time. They’ve been working for other bands like Pearl Jam and other big names. It’ll be fantastic to see them together again after all these years!

If you thought they’d done everything, you were wrong. The Addams Family has become a musical now! It’s a little bit hard to imagine what the Addams would possibly sing about, don’t worry. Remember, the cartoons and the show were comedies and it’s always a lot of fun to watch them again. With Nathan Lane, Carolee Carmello and several other great performers in the cast, this looks to be one of this year’s highlights. For the moment, the show will be performed in Chicago as a tryout to the upcoming Broadway run. This gives them a chance to workshop it and it will also give you the chance to see them at a lower cost and you can, in fact, be part of the process of developing the show into a strong piece.

Mariah Carey is returning to the tour! It’s been awhile since we saw her in concert, but it’s going to be amazing. Over the last year or two, the only big news that we heard about her was her feuds with other performers, most notably with Eminem. We will, however, be excited to see her perform her newest songs onstage starting just next week. The tour runs through the end of February, though other dates could be announced at anytime! Are you excited to see her in action? Hurry and pick up your Mariah Carey tickets, because I’m very sure that these are going to be some of the most popular concerts at the beginning of the year. No matter if you want to see her in New York, DC, Chicago, or any other major city, and minor cities too, you will get to experience your favorite performer in action!