Roger Waters Added To "Love For Levon"

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd has been added to an already all-star lineup for the “Love For Levon” concert in East Rutherford, NJ at IZOD Center on October 3rd. Ticket proceeds for the unbelievably stacked benefit show will be used to help save The Band’s late drummer, Levon Helm, barn and studio, home to many famous midnight rambles. The Band previously performed with Roger Waters at The Wall – Live in Berlin back in 1990, playing with Sinéad O’Connor, a concert said to have drawn over 300,000 people. The show’s lineup includes John Mayer, Greg Allman, Warren Haynes, Bruce Hornsby, My Morning Jacket, Lucinda Williams, Eric Church, Robert Randolph, Dierks Bentley, Marc Cohn, Patty Griffin, Ray LaMontagne, Joe Walsh, and more. The Levon Helm Band will be performing as well.

Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitarist Clarifies Comment: Confederate Flag Will Fly Onstage

guitarist and founding member Gary Rossington has clarified comments he made on a recent CNN interview, and now states that the band will display the Confederate flag at their shows ‘every night.’

Rossington spoke in the original interview about the negative associations made with the flag over the years, including its adoption by such hate organizations as the Ku Klux Klan. The guitarist added that such associations had caused the band to disassociate themselves from the flag, which had been a large part of their visual image over the years.
Some fans were quite vocal in their opposition to this change on various message boards, with some stating that the flag is a symbol of Southern pride. In a poll featured on our original story, 51% of readers stated that they did not agree with this decision.
Rossington has since posted a message at the band’s website to clarify his and the band’s position. It reads:by chad childers

I wanted to clarify the discussion of the Confederate Flag in our recent CNN interview. Myself, the past members and the present members (that are from the South), are all extremely proud of our heritage and being from the South. We know what the Dixie flag represents and its heritage; the Civil War was fought over States rights. 
We still utilize the Confederate (Rebel) flag on stage every night in our shows, we are and always will be a Southern American Rock band, first and foremost. We also utilize the state flag of Alabama and the American flag as well, ‘cause at the end of the day, we are all Americans. I only stated my opinion that the confederate flag, at times, was unfairly being used as a symbol by various hate groups, which is something that we don’t support the flag being used for. The Confederate flag means something more to us, Heritage not Hate

Green Day Frontman Unleashes Profanity Tirade at iHeartRadio Fest

we present Billie Joe Armstrong‘s f-bomb filled tirade at the Las Vegas-based iHeartRadio Music Festival.
The group played a seven-song set, but the final track ‘Basket Case’ was cut short when Armstrong noticed a clock that was telling them how much time was left in their performance. Apparently, the group had their set cut short so that pop star Usher could have more time, and it didn’t sit well with the singer.
In mid-lyric, Armstrong belted to the audience, “I wanna play a new song. F— this s—. Gimme a f—in’ break, one minute left. One minute f—in’ left. You’re gonna give me one minute?! Look at that f—in’ sign right there, one minute! Let me tell you something … I’ve been around since f—in’ 1988 and you’re gonna give me one f—in’ minute?! You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
The singer added, “I’m not Justin f—in’ Bieber you mother—–ers! You’ve gotta be f—in’ joking. It’s a f—in’ joke. I’ve got one minute, one minute left, oh now I’ve got nothing left.”
He then proceeded to show his anger at the loss of time by smashing his guitar furiously against the stage and flipping off the officials keeping time, before telling the crowd, “God f—ing love you all.”
Before the ending, audiences were treated to six and a half quick songs, as Green Day played such favorites as ‘American Idiot,’ ‘Holiday,’ ‘Longview,’ and ‘St. Jimmy’ as well as the new songs ‘It’s F— Time’ and ‘Oh, Love’ before the shortened finale of ‘Basket Case.’by: chad childers

Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx Reflects On Tour With Kiss

All-around renaissance man, Nikki Sixx.
After praising his road crew for getting the show back on the road after a gear bus accident trashed some of their stage, Sixx talked about the inspiration he’s gotten from his touring partners, the reaction to the band’s unconventionally new released single ‘Sex,’ and what would happen if Kiss and Motley Crue were to raid each other’s catalogs.
For more on Sixx’s Twitter rant against Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine and what lies ahead for his band Sixx: A.M, click on the button below to read Loudwire’s portion of the interview.

So the tour got back on track pretty quickly (after the crash), huh?

We’re really lucky that no one was playing the next night in Detroit. I know the Shinedown guys came down and hung out and they had a show tonight there. So there was a hole between our show and their show. If they still would have been there, we would have had to reschedule — which would have been really difficult — but everything worked out. Kiss’s and Motley Crue’s (road crews) worked together just perfect.
The comradery between the bands is really high, and the crew. If it wasn’t for that it could have been a real disaster because that entire truck was carrying both of our gear. We hired the same carrying company so everything was super easy. (Still), if it hadn’t been for everyone working so hard, they wouldn’t have been able to put the stuff back together because some of this stuff, I’ve never seen anything like it. When the truck flipped, it basically popped like a pimple and all the gear went out the top — the semi went over the top of a lot of the gear. So these huge bars of steel pulled all the pyro and mounted it into the rafters and stuff. That stuff was snapped like a toothpick.

You say the comradery with Kiss is good, that’s good to hear. Do you still get a friendly competitive vibe (when you perform together)?

Nikki: I mean, I’ve talked with this about Paul Stanley. We’re backstage, we’re hanging, we’re talking about everything and anything under the sun. Then we go to get ready. When we get on that stage, man, it’s all or nothing. It’s been that way since day one. It doesn’t matter who we’re on tour with. For Motley Crue, we have to give 150% and I know for sure the guys in Kiss, they’re the same way. So are we in competition with each other? Not really as much as we’re in competition with ourselves to keep pushing ourselves. Now when you have a band like Kiss playing with you, you can’t f— around and I know it’s the same for them. You know, we’re going out there and giving everything. It’s not like you have a slacker playing right after you or right before you so I think that’s like really healthy. We really didn’t discuss, as in a friendly competition, but I know that it’s there.

Inspiration, that’s a better word. But you explained it perfectly…

Definitely, you know it’s great, because I’ll be like, “Hey dude that one part of your show, I loved that” and they’ll say the same thing for us. It’s just such a nice feeling to have after all these years. We’ve seen every version of touring with bands and most of the time it’s really good, especially (with) the pros. You know, we did the co-headline with Aerosmith, with Ozzy, it was the same thing, like we just go up there and blow the audience away.

The new song ‘Sex’ is pretty cool, have you been happy with the reaction to it?

Yeah. It’s really interesting, it reminds me of when were kids. We would be playing the Whiskey-a-Go-Go and we (would have just written) this song called ‘Looks That Kill’ and (we go to) play it and people would be like “Dude! That song’s insane!” That’s the kind of thing that inspires us to write more songs. It didn’t get lost in the clutter, (instead we had) direct communication with fans. What we’d do in the future, I don’t know.
We’re going to make music. First thing you do is you write it, you record it, then you have it, then what do you do with it? Do we release EPs? Do we release albums? Do we release two songs a week? We don’t know yet and that’s kind of exciting, it’s kind of interesting to be in that place and not be going, “Well here’s the release date, the full 10 songs have to be mixed and mastered by this date.” We don’t necessarily know exactly what we’re going to do. I mean, we like what we’re doing right now, it feels good. It feels organic. We like that we have this body of work that we can pick from to play live. The band’s probably getting along better than maybe ever.

You’re known for doing things in unconventional ways. Were you happy with the reaction to your recent Vegas residency?

We just heard Guns N’ Roses is going to take a shot at the Vegas residency thing and I heard someone else, I can’t remember who… but it’s kind of cool that before we went in there, all we heard was “You’re going to fail,” “You’re going to tarnish your image,” “No one’s going to show up.” And, you know, we sold the whole thing out and everybody was really happy. We felt like, “Wow we’re kind of lucky to be the first hard rock / heavy metal band to ever go into Vegas. To see other bands going in there is really cool, because I think it’s a good opportunity. I think you have to be the right band. I think you can’t just go in there and play songs. You gotta put on more of a show, but it is a really cool thing.

So are there plans to do it again?

I guess at this point, you know, we did it and we knew we were going to do this tour. There’s a bunch of options on the table for some other opportunities and then we can make a record. So that’s kind of down the road, I’m not saying no, but we haven’t (confirmed it), it’s not on the calendar yet.

Okay last question — it’s quick and it’s a two-parter. If Motley Crue were going to cover a Kiss song, which one would it be?

Man, I tell ya, I love that song ‘War Machine,’ off of ‘Creatures of the Night.’ That would be pretty badass.

That would be good. Now, flip it around. Which one would you like to see them do of yours?

Which would they do it justice for? Um, let me think. You know, I think they can do a pretty badass version of ‘Shout at the Devil.’

I’d like to see Gene do ‘Louder than Hell‘ sometime…by: Matthew Wilkening

There you go! I can see that. That actually makes the most sense.

Vince Neil Joins Tribute Band

Vince Neil provided a memory for a tribute band that they’ll likely never forget. The vocalist headed out after the band’s performance Thursday night (Sept. 13) to catch a show from Crued, a Motley Crue tribute band, and ended up joining them onstage.
The band had been chosen for Neil’s official after-party following the Kiss-Crue date at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre, and the singer hobbled  up onstage to join in on ‘Smokin’ in the Boys Room’ and ‘Wild Side.’
Crued stated to Blabbermouth after the show, “Last night was the s—, man! Vince Neil, broken foot and all, came on stage to perform two songs with Crued, and he said we rocked and we’re a tribute who does it right and he had a great f—ing time! The club was packed, the show was awesome!!! Thank you, gods of rock and roll!”
The group’s bio states that they pay attention to detail, seeking to mirror both the costumes and backdrops straight from each of the band’s albums and tours.by chad childers

Diet Blamed for Eddie Van Halen’s Medical Issues

According to the National Enquirer, the Van Halen guitarist’s recently reported emergency surgery was complicated because of some painful-sounding (and rather frightening) side effects he suffered after embarking on the Master Cleanse diet.
As Radar reports, the program “temporarily replaces food with a liquid consisting of water, fresh lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper” — a concoction that apparently didn’t sit well with Eddie’s gullet. According to the Enquirer’s sources, Eddie’s “abdominal region was a disaster area” and the diet “touched off an explosion in his intestines.”
The Enquirer went on to quote a doctor (who, we hasten to add, did not treat Van Halen) as saying, “The stress of fad diets increases pressure on the colon, and if the person has diverticulitis there may be leakage from the bowel into the abdomen.”
As previously reported, Van Halen spent three weeks in the hospital following his surgery for diverticulitis, and he’s expected to take up to six months to fully recover. Here’s hoping he watches his diet while he recuperates.by jeff giles