FOO FIGHTERS:
Foo Fighters have announced that they’ll be playing three shows in England and Scotland this September, following the unfortunate cancellation of their UK arena dates, as well as stepping down as Glastonbury headliners in June.
The US rockers were forced to bail out on their European tour last month, following Dave Grohl’s stage antics, which saw him sustain a broken leg during a Gothenburg gig.
To make up for the missed dates, the band have confirmed they will be playing two nights at the Milton Keynes Bowl on September 5th and 6th. Iggy Pop of The Stooges and solo success is set to support on both dates.
They will also play Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on September 8th, with Royal Blood opening before Dave Grohl & co. play for their Scottish fans.
Anyone who had a ticket for the Wembley Stadium shows will be offered tickets to the Milton Keynes show before the tickets go on general sale on July 17th.
THE WHO:
The Who, in a strange turn of events, have revealed that they replaced Prince at their headline slot at Glastonbury, and that their Sunday night set was “sabotaged.”
The two assertions came from a blog post on The Who’s official website, supposedly written by a long-standing crew member of the band. “Not many know that we were a last-minute addition to the show, replacing Prince who decided not to come this year.” Just substitutes for another guy, then?
Michael Eavis may well have wished he could keep his grasp on the maverick multi-instrumentalist, as the replacements’ set was self-professedly “one of the very worst the band had ever played,” according to Pete Townshend.
Perhaps their less than perfect performance can be attributed to the alleged disruption of the band’s audio gear and instruments. “As we began to prepare our coming changeover, we found someone had sabotaged the carefully-tested audio connections for much of our gear,” says the blog.
With a great deal of scepticism following the announcement of the veteran rockers as the festival’s third and final headliners, many critics will have been proved right with an underwhelming performance on the whole. These somewhat desperate revelations about The Who’s Glastonbury performance further add to a bitter and less than graceful exit for the band famed for wanting to die before they got old.
JOHNNY MARR:
Following in his former song-writing partner’s footsteps, Johnny Marr is set to release his own autobiography in the autumn of 2016. The memoir, says Marr, is set to cover all aspects of his musical career, from Morrissey to Modest Mouse, The The to The Cribs.
The ex-Smiths guitarist has taken a “break” from song-writing and performing in order to focus on the recollections that he says will be written in “the way I talk”.
Likely a tad more sincere than the giant riddle that was Morrissey’s 2013 ‘penguin classic’ autobiography, JM’s effort will hopefully delve into the period between 1982 and 1987, an area that was conveniently breezed over by Moz as not so important in the grand scheme of things.
Marr continued, “The important thing is that the people who like what I do still like me the same once they know everything. I take writing seriously, but I also want it to be entertaining, because I don’t want to be too self-important or pompous.”
THE LIBERTINES:
A mini documentary starring The Libertines has supposedly been leaked today. Shot in Thailand during the recording of their upcoming release, ‘Anthems for Doomed Youth,’ the video was swiftly removed after being uploaded sometime on the 13th.
The 35 minute piece entitled ‘Vacation’ was likely shot by long-time collaborator Roger Sargent, and takes a similar form to the feature-length release ‘There are no Innocent Bystanders’, which documented the band during their one-off reunion in 2010.
With a handful of new songs featured in the video including ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and re-recorded classics like ‘Bucket Shop’, it is certainly not to be missed, and its official release can be expected within the coming months.
MAC DEMARCO:
Mac DeMarco hosted a BBQ for fans on the Wednesday of last week, coinciding with the release of his new, nine track instrumental album, “Some Other Ones”.
Perhaps at short-notice, Mac let followers know about the New York back-garden shindig on an Instagram post which read:
“#TOMORROW I’m having a #BBQ at 153 Morgan ave in #brooklyn #penis. We’re selling #4daypassesforthenycshowinaugust. Bring a food bank donation and I will #makeyouafuckinghotdog. #chillngrill. I’m going to be playing a bunch of #unreleasedmusicofmine over my #carstereofucker #peaceonearth. BBQ STARTS AT 1 PM”
With a liberal application of hashtags and a touch of class that is scarce within the industry today, the coolest man in music just keeps getting cooler.
Words by George Birch