Music News Net

THE POLICE Final Concert - Review, Set List - Aug 7, 2008 NYC

  The world renowned rock band, THE POLICE, wrapped up their final concert August 7, 2008 at NYC's Madison Square Garden.  They ended one of rock n roll's most successful reigns and reunions with a tribute to other famous rock trios, and with an assist from some real cops and some goofiness. Will we see a dvd of this show, hopefully.  But at least they filmed the Buenos Aires gig on this, their final tour for video release.  This NYC show, their 150th gig of their comeback tour that started fouteen months ago was sold-out and fittingly, a benefit for WNET and WLIW, two New York area public tv stations.  It's was great way for the band to thank the NYC area.  Bassist/vocalist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and percussionist Stewart Copeland added some welcomed "end of the road" silliness;

Bruce Springsteen & E-Street Band July 27 Concert Report- Back in the USA !!!

    REPORTS are in from last night's Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, Giant Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ show and everyone was wowed.  Just one week after finishing a two-month European tour, Springsteen and band are back in the USA and kicked off a homecoming stand last night in New Jersey.  It was the first of three shows at Giants Stadium, they're also appearing tonite and thursday (last night was also the first US outdoor show of the tour).  Last night's performance brought The Boss's total of dates in Meadowlands venues to an amazing 64, with two more coming this week!  Springsteen and his E Street Band rocked through a 30-song set, playing several classic tunes, including the opening song "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out." They also jammed out favorites like "Badlands," "Born to Run," "Dancin' in the Dark," and more recent hits like "The Rising."  Most agree, it was the best ever. The Boss was in great form, rocking until 11:50PM. 

COLDPLAY Turns Superstar on This Tour

    Coldplay kicked off its North American tour to promote Viva la Vida (buy a copy here) in Los Angeles, CA last night and return to the Forum this evening.  At last night's show, frontman Chris Martin arrived with full rock & roll swagger and sex-bomb appeal that comes with a #1 cd and #1 single!  Luckilly, they didn’t shy away from playing some of their biggest crowd-pleasers early in the night, and the crowd went wild for it, erupting at the opening notes of familiar songs.

Dr John Live at the Hollywood Bowl

     The 30th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival opened last night and legendary New Orleans singer, Dr John was a hit at the Hollywood Bowl. On the road promoting his excellent new cd, City That Care Forget, the doc was the one guy who mixed a party atmosphere with the serious.

Richard Ginell reports: The good Doctor is still fuming about the treatment that his  beloved hometown of New Orleans continues to receive from the Bush  administration in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; he has channeled his  sorrow into an EP, "Sippiana Herricane," and his rage into a  new  CD, "City That Care Forgot."  He rolled out some of the new  songs in his early evening set -- "Dream Warrior"  being one of the  best -- namechecking Dick Cheney and Hallliburton along the way,  mentioning Billie Holiday and her song "Strange Fruit."

The full Variety concert review is here.

Kanye West Keeps Crowd Waiting at Bonnaroo Music Festival

     It was a wild weekend at the Tennessee music festival, Bonnaroo thanks to rap star Kanye West. West's scheduled performance early Sunday was delayed for nearly two hours and didn't get started until about 4:25 a.m. While the sleepy thousands in the audience waited, a message on the jumbotrons told them that West's show would be delayed until 3:15 a.m., and when that didn't happen, that he would start at 3:30. But, West didn't hit the stage until 4:25 a.m!  The fans were irate, chanting quasi-obscenities and pelting the stage with glow sticks.

A festival spokesman said the delay was a due to the removal of the elaborate set used by Pearl Jam, who were a huge hit at the event.  Pearl Jam had gone an hour past their schedule, and the crew had to set a new stage for West. West's spectacular galactic-themed concert featured an interplanetary landscape and a spaceship. Still, better planning would have prevented such a lengthy delay.

The festival, which boasted more than 150 acts spread out over four days, was otherwise very punctual. The West delay was all the worse because of the festival's already very late schedule, and many campers lost energy before the his concert and returned to he campgrounds. Midway through his performance, the morning light showed that the crowd had dwindled significantly.

There was no comment from West on the ruckus.

Beck Surprise LA Show

     As is his tradition prior to the release of his new albums, Beck played a secret show last night at the Echo in Los Angeles. In addition to a set list full of his greatest hits (no “Loser” though), Beck also used the evening to show off five songs from his hopefully-released-any-day-now album Modern Guilt, including the album’s title track, which you can watch in the video clip from Blip-tv, here.