Category: genre rock

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Iron Maiden Kindly Request You ‘Severely Limit’ Cell Phone Usage During Their Upcoming Tour

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As Iron Maiden ready themselves to climb aboard Ed Force One and launch their Run for Your Lives World Tour, manager Rod Smallwood has asked fans to put their phones away.

The veteran British heavy metal outfit will launch their upcoming tour in Budapest, Hungary on May 27, with the shows also kicking off their 50th anniversary celebrations. With the massive milestone in their back pocket, and the tour also set to see the debut of drummer Simon Dawson, there’s a lot worth documenting.

However, Smallwood has taken to the band’s website to share a post titled “Put away your phones and get ready to Run For Your Lives!” in which he urges fans to experience the shows “in the moment” rather than on smaller screens at a later date.

“We really want fans to enjoy the shows first hand, rather than on their small screens,” Smallwood wrote. “The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are on stage looking out at rows of phones, but also for other concertgoers. 

“We feel that the passion and involvement of our fans at shows really makes them special, but the phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting especially to the band. I hope fans understand this and will be sensible in severely limiting the use of their phone cameras out of respect for the band and their fellow fans.”

Iron Maiden aren’t the first band to ask fans to put their phones back in their pockets. In 2015, Jack White shared a verbal plea for no phones during his Lazaretto tour, and by the time The Raconteurs toured in 2019, attendees were told to put their devices in locked Yondr pouches.

“We think you’ll enjoy looking up from your gadgets for a little while and experience music and our shared love of it in person,” a note from the band read at the time.

Other acts, such as Tool, have also employed a similar approach, requesting phones stay off their phones until their final performance. Guitarist Adam Jones explained in 2022 that while part of the reason was due to the loss of connection between band and fan, another factor was the limited technological know-how of some concertgoers.

“I think one of the problems is you get a lot of lights because people don’t know how to use their cameras correctly, which makes it very blinding onstage,” Jones explained.

As Smallwood added on Iron Maiden’s website, much of the urging for fans to stow their phones comes out of a plea for respect, for both the larger experience and the band themselves.

“We would very much like you to be ‘in the moment’ instead and be fully actively involved to enjoy each and every one of these classic songs in the spirit and manner they were first played,” he adds. “This show isn’t just a celebration of our music; it is, as you will see, also about our years of art, of Eddie and of the many, many worlds of Maiden we have created for you.”

“So please respect the band, respect the other fans and have the time of your lives as you join your Maiden family by singing your heart out, rather than getting your phone out!! It’s really not a lot to ask is it?”

The upcoming Run for Your Lives World Tour will be Iron Maiden’s first performances since wrapping their The Future Past Tour in São Paulo, Brazil in December. That tour was the last to feature drummer Nicko McBrain, who announced his “decision to take a step back from the grind of the extensive touring lifestyle.”

After Reported ICE Raids at His Nashville Bar, Kid Rock Says He Supports Deportations ‘No Matter Where They Are’

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After reports last week of ICE raids at Kid Rock‘s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse in Nashville, the rocker took to social media to respond to the story and double down on his support for President Trump’s deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Responding to a Daily Mail US post on X about how his Nashville bar was the “next target for Trump’s sweeping ICE raids,” Rock started by taking issue with the story using his name for “click bait.”

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“Clearly I do not have anything to do with day to day operations at my Honky Tonk – but it’s good click bait, I get it,” Rock wrote on X. “That being said I 100% support getting illegal criminals out of our country no matter where they are. I also like President Trump want to speed up the process of getting GREAT immigrants into our country – LEGALLY! It’s that simple folks. But the below is not a juicy enough headline to get clicks and views.. in this day and age the truth often is not.”

Last week, The Tennessean reported that the New Orleans field office for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) had announced a weeklong operation that resulted in the arrest of nearly 200 immigrants in Nashville. On May 14, The Nashville Scene reported that the kitchens at Kid Rock’s Honky Tonk and other bars co-owned by Nashville businessman Steve Smith had closed early to avoid ICE raids.

Kid Rock has been one of Trump’s most vocal supporters over both of his terms as U.S. president, most recently joining him in the Oval Office on March 31 for the signing of an executive order that aims to crack down on scalpers who illegally obtain high-priced concert tickets for resale. During the signing, Rock thanked the president for the order, adding that it’s a first step in stopping bots that “get all the good tickets for your favorite shows they want to go to, and they relist them, sometimes for a 400 to 500% markup.”

Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse opened on Broadway in Nashville back in October 2018.

Bruce Springsteen Calls Out ‘Unfit President’ Trump Again, Says Elected Reps ‘Utterly Failed to Protect the American People’

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Bruce Springsteen resumed denouncing Donald Trump from the stage of his Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour Saturday night (May 17) in Manchester, England.

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The Los Angeles Times reports the Boss didn’t back down from his stance on Trump this weekend, after the U.S. president called Springsteen “highly overrated,” “dumb as a rock” and a “dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!)” in a post on Truth Social. The rant was Trump’s reaction to the musician calling out the president’s “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration” at his tour opener earlier in the week.

“Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy, and they’re too important to ignore,” Springsteen said to the crowd in a three-minute speech on Manchester’s Co-op Live stage on Saturday, as heard in a video posted by the L.A. Times.

“In my home, they’re persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. That’s happening now,” Springsteen said, echoing what he’d spoken about at his May 14 show. “In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. That’s happening now. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”

Springsteen continued, “They are removing residents off American streets without due process of law and deploying them to foreign detention centers as prisoners. That’s happening now. The majority of our elected representatives have utterly failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government. They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American.”

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On a note of optimism that quoted novelist and civil rights activist James Baldwin, he added, “The America I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its many faults, it’s a great country with a great people, and we will survive this moment. Well, I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, ‘In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.’”

On Friday, after Springsteen had shared similar thoughts from the stage, Trump responded on Truth Social, writing: “I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country. Sleepy Joe didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is ‘dumb as a rock,’ and couldn’t see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare. Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

The “Born in the U.S.A.” singer, who’s performing across the U.K., France, Spain, Germany and Italy from now through early July, endorsed Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Fans Choose Sleep Token’s ‘Even in Arcadia’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music

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Sleep Token‘s new album Even in Arcadia tops this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (May 9) on Billboard, choosing the cryptic English group’s latest LP — their first with major label RCA Records — as their favorite new music release of the past week.

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In a week brimming with fresh offerings, Sleep Token rose to the top; their 10-track collection brought in more than 61% of the vote. Voters chose Even in Arcadia over new releases from artists including ROSÉ, Kid Cudi, Miley Cyrus, Kali Uchis, Halsey & Amy Lee, PinkPantheress and Maren Morris.

Sleep Token built up to the May 9 release of Even in Arcadia with “Emergence,” which sprung to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart and broke into the Hot 100, marking Sleep Token’s first entry on the all-genre chart. Two more Hot Hard Rock No. 1s followed suit: “Caramel” and “Damocles.” (On the May 10-dated Hot Hard Rock Songs ranking, “Damocles” sits at No. 1, “Caramel” at No. 2 and “Emergence” at No. 3.)

Though Even in Arcadia is Sleep Token’s fourth studio album, it’s the first to see a release through RCA.

“Before we could approach the rollout plans for Even In Arcadia, it was critical to me that everyone who would be tied to the project deeply understood and respected the profound and expansive world the band created to surround its artistry long before this record,” RCA vp of marketing Aaron Stern told Billboard in April. “Sleep Token set a best-in-class standard for how an artist can cultivate an audience of fans that sincerely immerse themselves in the music and surrounding visual identity.”

Among the new music trailing behind Even in Arcadia on this week’s poll are songs from ROSÉ (“Messy,” with 25% of the vote), Kid Cudi (“Neverland,” with 4% of the vote) and Miley Cyrus (“More to Lose,” with 3% of the vote).

See the final results of this week’s poll below.

Arcade Fire Performs New Songs ‘Pink Elephant’ and ‘Year of the Snake’ on ‘SNL’: Watch

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Arcade Fire returned to Saturday Night Live on May 10 to perform new songs from their upcoming album.

The Canadian quintet — led by frontman Win Butler and his wife, Régine Chassagne — took the stage at Studio 8H ahead of their forthcoming seventh studio album, Pink Elephant.

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Arcade Fire opened their set with the album’s title track and closed with the new single “Year of the Snake.”

Pink Elephant will mark the band’s first album since 2022’s We, which reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and climbed to the summit of the Top Rock Albums chart.

The forthcoming 10-track album was recorded at Butler and Chassagne’s Good News Recording Studio in New Orleans and is set for release this spring through Columbia Records. Described as a “cinematic, mystical punk” effort, the album promises a sonic odyssey exploring themes of light and darkness, inner beauty, and the “perception of the individual.”

The release also marks Arcade Fire’s first since multiple former fans accused Butler of sexual misconduct in 2022. The frontman denied that any of the encounters were nonconsensual, but issued an apology “to anyone who I have hurt with my behavior.”

The SNL appearance was the band’s first major television performance since the allegations came to light.

Saturday’s episode marked Arcade Fire’s sixth appearance on the long-running NBC sketch comedy show. They made their SNL debut in 2007 during an episode hosted by Rainn Wilson. In 2010, they returned alongside host Scarlett Johansson, followed by a 2013 performance during Tina Fey’s episode. In 2012, they served as Mick Jagger’s backing band. The group returned again in 2018 with Bill Hader and most recently appeared in 2022 during an episode hosted by Benedict Cumberbatch.

SNL will close out its milestone 50th season on May 17, with Johansson returning as host and Bad Bunny as the musical guest.

Watch Arcade Fire’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.