Bruce Springsteen & Jon Bon Jovi Do 'Born To Run'

Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi joined forces on 12-12-12 during the concert for Sandy relief. The duo did "Born To Run" and it was pretty epic.

The New Black Veil Brides Song 'In The End' Is Amazing

Have you heard the new Black Veil Brides single "In the End" yet? Basically, it is amazing and so is the support video. The single is from the forthcoming album Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones. The new album is due Jan. 7. I've already placed my pre-order. Can't wait!

Tommy Lee Posts Snippet of New Song

As you know, Tommy Lee is big in to electronic music, among other genres. A few hours ago, he posted a snippet of a new song he's working on called "Where Am We" and he listed it as funk. I have no idea if this is for an upcoming solo album of if Tommy was just bored and wanted to record something new, but here you go:

ShipRocked Celebrates Record-Breaking Attendance

ShipRocked--the ultimate rock music cruise vacation--wrapped its fourth year with record-breaking “full ship” attendance of nearly 2,500 guests from all 50 U.S. states and 20 additional countries onboard the MSC Poesia cruise ship from November 27-December 1. Guests enjoyed unforgettable performances from 18 bands including Godsmack, Korn and Five Finger Death Punch during the 4-day trip out of Ft. Lauderdale, which visited Key West, FL and Nassau, Bahamas, and featured onboard music, parties, and themed events.

Plans are already underway for the next ShipRocked cruise, with a pre-sale for returning guests beginning soon. For more information, sign up for the ShipRocked mailing list at www.GetShipRocked.com, and visit www.facebook.com/GetShipRocked and www.twitter.com/ShipRocked.

The lineup for ShipRocked 2012--Fueled by Monster Energy and also sponsored by General Snus--included Godsmack,Korn, and Five Finger Death Punch, along with P.O.D.,Sevendust, Filter, Fuel, 10 Years, Pop Evil, Lit, Helmet, In This Moment, Geoff Tate, The Halo Method, Gilby Clarke, The Letter Black, comedian Big Jay Oakerson, Pianotarium, and Andy Wood & The Amalgam. Performances were held on the large outdoor Monster Energy Deck Stage, in the luxurious Carlo Felice Theater and the more intimate Zebra and Pigalle Lounges.

For the fourth year in a row, the ShipRocked held an onboard charity auction benefitting Cancer Sucks (www.cancersucks.com), a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding innovative medical research and finding a cure for cancer. This year, the auction--which featured items including one-of-a-kind rock memorabilia from current and past ShipRocked bands--raised an unprecedented $70,000.

The media raved about their experiences on ShipRocked. Liz Ramanand of Loudwire.com (December 3, 2012) called ShipRocked “the most hard-rocking adventure at sea.” She continued, “The coolest cruise of the year kicked off with an acoustic set by none other than Godsmack. The gig sounded impeccable…the very raw and intimate setting was truly captivating – Godsmack, outside, at night, performing acoustically, on a ship, how could things get any better?” Describing the diverse performance settings on the ship, Liz noted, “Carlo Felice Theater is an elegant venue on the ship that holds a little over 1,000 people with a lovely purple décor and comfortable seats – Five Finger Death Punch ripped it to shreds. Their rabid fans had the ship rocking, literally, as they bounced through FFDP anthems which could be heard throughout the 15 decks of the boat.”

M3 Rock Festival Dates Announced

M3 Rock Festival is slated for May 3 and 4 in Columbia, Maryland. Band lineup comes in January. Consider this your official heads up!

Nickelback in Australia --- Live Review

Photo by Christian GrausHaving been front row for a Nickelback show in Houston earlier this year, I was very excited to hear they were coming to Australia, and keen for both my kids (big fans) to get to see them.  It was my son's first ever concert, so I was happy that it would be a 'big' show.

First I went with my daughter to see both Sydney shows.  We stood for the second show, and got pretty much to the front, without really queuing for long.  My son and I then saw them in Melbourne.  The shows were basically the same, so my review will be for the combined effect of all three.

The opening band was weird - two brothers, lead guitar and drums.  I've never seen a rock band with no bass guitar, let alone for such a band to be given such a big audience.  They might have been OK with a bass player, as it was, they were a weird sounding novelty act.

Nickelback started the show with "This Means War."  I immediately noticed the lack of pyro compared to the US show.  I had not expected them to bring all the effects they used in the US, but was surprised that the moving side wings of the stage did not get a look in.  The one-two punch of that and "Something in Your Mouth" (especially with the excellent light show for the second song) was a great start to the show. They alternate "Bottoms Up" and "Never Again" for the third song, the only difference in the show when they play two nights in a row in the same place.  Apart from that, the rock songs were "Animals," "Figured You Out" and "Burn It to the Ground."  That's five songs out of eighteen, the rest being ballads.  I personally think that Nickelback are very similar to Def Leppard, except the rock songs rock harder, and some of the ballads are actually really good.  However, while I note that most of the audience was middle aged women and bored looking men, I did feel that the lack of pyro and other effects really showed me why some people don't like these guys much.  They have a killer set of rock songs with a few ballads that they could easily put together, but because they play so many ballads live, without any pyro, the show lost momentum quickly and was quite boring in places.  I certainly felt bad that I'd told my son his first ever rock show would have lots of explosions and there was not one, not even at the end of the last song.  I still enjoyed it, and I really like some of the slower songs they did ("Gotta Be Somebody, "When We Stand Together," "Lullaby"), but some more rock would certainly have made it a lot better than it was, or failing that, a bit of pyro would have lifted the proceedings. 

The next day, because we had concert shirts on, we met a lot of people who told us how awesome they thought it was, so I suspect that their perspective was very different to mine (my having seen how much better it could have been), and so long as the local fans don't know any better, I guess there's no reason for them to change it, but I would love it if next time Australia got something a bit closer to the show I saw in the US.
 

Vince Neil Swings and Misses

I'm on vacation right now, so the posts you've been reading this past week were pre-loaded. I am in paradise, so checking my email isn't exactly high on the priority list - but I try to glance at it once a night. Anyway, a good friend shot me an alert about Vince Neil. The alert was enough for me to stop my Hawaiian anniversary vacation and rush to a computer.

You see, Vince Neil attempted to slug a fan last Friday. Apparently the whole exchange was on TMZ as well. Anyway, some guy ticked Vince off and expletives were shouted and then Vince tried to punch the guy and he missed. Watch.