BLACK SABBATH Announce A Not So Massive North American Tour!

BLACK SABBATH have announced four summer shows in North America in support of the release of their NEW album, '13', due out June 11.

Tickets for the Live Nation-produced tour will go on sale Saturday, April 20 at LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster.com.  The dates include stops in Holmdel, NJ (NY-area), Los Angeles, Seattle and Toronto, ON. Tickets for these shows go on sale Saturday, April 20. Beginning today, fans can click here or visit http://bit.ly/Sabbath_RSVP to RSVP for early access to presale tickets available Thursday, April 18. VIP Packages are also available at VIPNation.com.

In addition, in advance of the release of '13', the album’s first single “God Is Dead?” will debut across Clear Channel Media and Entertainment’s more than 40 Active Rock and Mainstream Rock radio stations nationwide on Thursday, April 18 at 3:00 PM (ET)/12 Noon (PT). Produced by Rick Rubin (seven-time Grammy winner, two of those as Producer of the Year), 13 features the original BLACK SABBATH: OZZY OSBOURNE, TONY IOMMI and GEEZER BUTLER.

Here are the tour dates:

- Sun, 8-4: Holmdel, NJ at PNC Bank Arts Center 
- Wed, 8-14: Toronto, ON at Air Canada Centre 
- Sat, 8-24: Seattle, WA at Gorge Amphitheatre 
- Tue, 9-3: Los Angeles, CA at Los Angeles Sports Arena
 
Other Upcoming BLACK SABBATH tour dates:

- Apr 20: Auckland Vector Arena, New Zealand
- Apr 22: Auckland Vector Arena, New Zealand
- Apr 25: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Australia
- Apr 27: Sydney All Phones Arena, Australia
- Apr 28: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, Australia
- May 1: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, Australia
- May 4: Perth Arena, Australia
- May 12: Ozzfest, Tokyo Makahari Messe, Japan

Nov. 20 - Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland
Nov. 22 - Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
Nov. 24 - Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway
Nov. 26 - Forum, Denmark, Copenhagen
Nov. 28 - Ziggo Dome, Holland, Amsterdam
Nov. 30 - Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Germany
Dec. 02 - Bercy, Paris, France
Dec. 05 - Fiera Arena, Milan, Italy
Dec. 07 - 02 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic
Dec. 10 - 02 Arena, London, UK
Dec. 12 - Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Ireland
Dec. 14 - Arena, Sheffield, UK
Dec. 16 - Hydro, Glasgow, UK
Dec. 18 - Arena, Manchester, UK
Dec. 20 - LG Arena, Birmingham, UK 

Be the first to get information about the new Black Sabbath album: http://bitly.com/BlackSabbathMailingList.

Related links:
BLACK SABBATH's Official Website

Are Members Of BLACK SABBATH & QUEEN Collaborating On A NEW Project?

According to the UK's Birmingham Mail, BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi and QUEEN's Brian May will be recording an album together. Talk about legend meets legend.

The collaboration was born when May went to visit Iommi when he was diagnosed with cancer (read more HERE).

"When I was first ill, Brian May came to visit me at my house in Lapworth," commented Iommi. "I played him some of my stuff, rock riffs that I'd never quite got round to developing, or decided not to use. He said I ought to do something with them.

"It's early days yet, and all my attention in on SABBATH for the foreseeable future, but we may well find some way of working together on them, and making them available in some shape or form.

"One of the ideas we had is that we could make the riffs available, get fans to use them in songs of their own, and see what they come up with. That way they'd effectively be recording with Brian and myself."

"I heard some of the hours of unreleased guitar jams Tony has on tapes and hard drives. I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them", said May.

"The idea was to put all these riffs out in some form so that people could build their own songs from them. You could make your own music with Tony Iommi on guitar! How great is that!"

As previously announced, BLACK SABBATH will be releasing their comeback record entitled '13' on June 10 via Vertigo (album artwork & details HERE). Yesterday (April 12), the band made an announcement regarding the premiere of a NEW song out of '13'. Read on...

"Black Sabbath will perform a new song from '13' on the season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. It will air Wednesday, May 15th on CBS. No word if they are also behind the crime..."

In anticipation of the most anticipated album of year, SABBATH will be touring Europe this November and December. Here are the confirmed tour dates:

Nov. 20 - Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland
Nov. 22 - Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
Nov. 24 - Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway
Nov. 26 - Forum, Denmark, Copenhagen
Nov. 28 - Ziggo Dome, Holland, Amsterdam
Nov. 30 - Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Germany
Dec. 02 - Bercy, Paris, France
Dec. 05 - Fiera Arena, Milan, Italy
Dec. 07 - 02 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic
Dec. 10 - 02 Arena, London, UK
Dec. 12 - Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Ireland
Dec. 14 - Arena, Sheffield, UK
Dec. 16 - Hydro, Glasgow, UK
Dec. 18 - Arena, Manchester, UK
Dec. 20 - LG Arena, Birmingham, UK 

Other Upcoming BLACK SABBATH tour dates:

- Apr 20: Auckland Vector Arena, New Zealand
- Apr 22: Auckland Vector Arena, New Zealand
- Apr 25: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Australia
- Apr 27: Sydney All Phones Arena, Australia
- Apr 28: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, Australia
- May 1: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, Australia
- May 4: Perth Arena, Australia
- May 12: Ozzfest, Tokyo Makahari Messe, Japan
 
Be the first to get information about the new Black Sabbath album: http://bitly.com/BlackSabbathMailingList.

Related links:
BLACK SABBATH's Official Website

QUEEN: Full Details For "Live At Wembley Stadium" 2DVD 25th Anniversary Edition!

According to Bravewords, on March 12th, Eagle Rock Entertainment will issue the 2DVD and Digital Video release of "QUEEN - Live At Wembley Stadium". A NEW edition of the 25th Anniversary DVD of Queen’s legendary 1986 concerts, the 2 disc set comes with previously unreleased footage and brand NEW bonus features.

Over one remarkable summer weekend, on Friday, July 11th and Saturday, July 12th 1986, Queen performed two sell-out shows at Wembley, concerts which have been widely acknowledged as two of the most incredible Rock events ever staged. Now, both the Friday and Saturday night concerts can be seen in their entirety on the Anniversary edition DVD, highlighting that no two Queen shows were ever the same. The driving rain of the Friday night show presented its own challenges but failed to dampen the mood or the music, presenting Freddie Mercury with some perfect opportunities to amuse the crowd. The sun shone on Saturday, making it a magical summer’s evening, as the band showcased everything that made Queen brilliant live.

“The Wembley concerts in 1986 were the pinnacle for us” says Brian May. “We were at our height band-wise, and Freddie had developed this phenomenal way of dealing with stadium audiences. Being back home in London playing two sell-out nights was such a big, big occasion for us. None of us realized that this would be almost the last time we played together…”

The DVD footage has been restored for the Anniversary edition and the sound has also been remastered with a brand NEW stereo mix and 5.1 sound. Extras on the DVD include The Magic Tour, a short feature containing brand new interviews with Brian May and Roger Taylor filmed in 2011. They reflect back on what was to be their final tour with their familiar intelligence, honesty and brilliant wit and humor. They explain in depth how they would approach planning their concerts and they also reflect on the poignancy of the shows which were to become among the last few performances with Freddie.

Queen’s 1986 Magic Tour had been their most successful to date. Regenerated and reinvigorated by their triumph at Live Aid almost exactly a year earlier, the band were on a 26-date tour of the UK and Europe and after a month out of the country returned home to London to play two defining concerts at the ‘place of champions’, Wembley Stadium. These were to be Queen’s biggest stage, their biggest lighting rig, the biggest screen that not only Queen had performed with, but also that Wembley Stadium had ever seen. For director Gavin Taylor, filming it involved the unprecedented use of no less than 15 cameras and a helicopter to capture the aerial shots. For Freddie it was the start of one very long party. Friends were flown in from New York and ferried from his London home to Wembley in special coaches. It was one of the proudest days of his life.

The Saturday show saw a previous wet day turn into one of the sunniest of the year. “It was a perfect day,” says director Taylor. And the Wembley roar went up as Brian, Roger, John and Freddie arrived on stage to the synthesized opening chords on One Vision.

“Wembley Stadium was such a special place,” says Roger. “Having played it as part of Live Aid and to come back and play it again was such a blast.”

It’s perhaps no surprise that Queen’s hit musical, "We Will Rock You", sees the show’s heroes end up at Wembley Stadium, ‘the place of living rock’ for the storming finale where the roots of Rock are rediscovered and the rebellious bohemians find their way to recreating the music of the Mighty Queen.

Towards the end of Queen’s performance on the DVD, Freddie Mercury addresses the audience: “There’ve been some rumors we’re splitting. They’re talking through their *****,” Freddie says. “We’ll be together forever.”

“And in a way,” says Brian, “I guess we were. We might not have been a touring band much longer, but we were together as a band right until the end.”

“I don’t think anyone expected the Magic tour to be the band’s last dates; things had gone so well and we were already planning the next one,” says Gerry Stickells, Queen’s tour manager. “There was no sense of anything coming to an end”.

But as things turned out, Queen only ever played 2 further UK concerts, in Manchester on July 16 and that final concert at Knebworth on August 9.

But if ever a reminder was needed of why Queen earned themselves the mantle of best stadium rock group in history, then you only have to turn to this DVD to see Queen live, uncut, and at their ferocious, majestic, best.

Content:

Disc One - Live At Wembley Stadium, Saturday, July 12th, 1986:

'One Vision'
'Tie Your Mother Down'
'In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited'
'Seven Seas Of Rhye'
'Tear It Up'
'A Kind Of Magic'
'Under Pressure'
'Another One Bites The Dust'
'Who Wants To Live Forever'
'I Want To Break Free'
'Impromptu'
'Brighton Rock Solo'
'Now I’m Here'
'Love Of My Life'
'Is This The World We Created'
'(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care'
'Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)'
'Tutti Frutti'
'Gimme Some Lovin’' *
'Bohemian Rhapsody'
'Hammer To Fall'
'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'
'Big Spender' *
'Radio Ga Ga'
'We Will Rock You'
'Friends Will Be Friends'
'We Are The Champions'
'God Save The Queen'

* Saturday, July 12th, 1986 concert only

Disc Two - Live At Wembley Stadium, Friday, July 11th, 1986

Bonus Features:
- The Magic Tour - approx 12min feature containing new interview filmed with Brian and Roger in 2011.
- The Wembley Weekend - approx 25min feature where Brian and Roger describe what went into these legendary concerts filmed in 2003.
- Rehearsal - Secretly filmed footage from the bands rehearsal for the Magic Tour.



Related links:
Queen's official site

QUEEN's Brian May Named PETA's Person Of The Year!

According to NME.com, QUEEN's Brian May has been named animal welfare charity PETA UK's Person of the Year for his efforts to help stop the culling of badgers. May's group "Save Me" formed Team Badger alongside PETA and various other animal welfare groups.

PETA's Mimi Bekhechi said of May: "In his fight to save Britain's badgers, Brian May never backed down: he spread his message of compassion for animals through everything he said, wrote and even wore until the world sat up and paid attention. His tenacity and boldness are an inspiration to kind people everywhere."

Badgers are currently under threat after farmers in England were given a license to shoot them in a bid to reduce tuberculosis in cattle for the first time in Gloucestershire.

"The disease comes from cows, it doesn't come from badgers," May has explained. "It's a very unfair situation. Badgers have been the scapegoat for years and years and farmers have been killing badgers for many, many years now."

He added: "All the scientific evidence that's been done – 11,000 badgers were killed in the ISG [Independent Scientific Group]'s experiment... and their conclusion was that killing badgers cannot meaningfully contribute to the problem of bovine TB in cattle. It's completely unequivocal."

The government hopes the licenses and that the death of an estimated 100,000 badgers will help curb the scourge of TB in cattle, which led to 26,000 cows being slaughtered in 2011.

May is not the first musical star to receive PETA's honour. Morrissey was named PETA UK's Person of the Year in 2011.

Congratulations to Brian May, helping animals is badass!

Related links:
PETA 
Brian May

Little Kids Pay Tribute To QUEEN A La WAYNE'S WORLD

So last night, QUEENS' Brian May and Roger Taylor, took over national TV on that show called "American Idol" (you might have heard of it). The legendary musicians were joined by some of the contestants of the show and performed the following songs:

The Show Must Go On 
Fat Bottomed Girls 
 Crazy Little Thing Called Love 
Bohemian Rhapsody

Speaking of "Bohemian Rhapsody", check out this kids paying homage to QUEENS' anthemic song a la WAYNE'S WORLD!





Related links:
QUEEN's Official Site