Happy Friday Radicals! Here’s what’s up in music news this morning:
Foo Fighters, Metallica and the reunited surviving members of Soundgarden were among the artists that performed Wednesday night January 16th at the Chris Cornell tribute concert at the Forum in Los Angeles, California. The five-hour, 42-song “I Am The Highway: A Tribute To Chris Cornell” event also featured artists such as Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, Tim McIlrath of Rise Against, Taylor Momsen from The Pretty Reckless, Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, The Melvins, Black Sabbath‘s Geezer Butler, Ryan Adams, Miley Cyrus, Brandi Carlile, Adam Levine, Chris Stapleton and Ziggy Marley, along with members of Cornell’s bands Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple Of The Dog.
The Melvins opened the evening with a three-song set that included a cover of Soundgarden’s “Spoonman,” while Foo Fighters ran through Soundgarden’s “No Attention,” plus two songs previously covered by Soundgarden, Devo‘s “Girl U Want” and Cheech And Chong‘s “Earache My Eye,” before closing the set with their own “Everlong.”
Homme played a solo rendition of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage” while Adam Levine and Pearl Jam‘s Stone Gossard joined forces on “Seasons,” the song Cornell recorded for the Singlessoundtrack.
Cyrus sang “Two Drink Minimum,” before two of the surviving members of Audioslave — guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk — played a five-song set with a rotating lineup of guest singers that included Farrell on “Cochise,” Juliette Lewis on “Be Yourself,” McIlrath on “Set It Off,” Carlile on “Like A Stone” and Dave Grohl on “Show Me How To Live.”
Introduced by comedian Jack Black, Metallica opened its four-song set with a cover of Soundgarden’s “All Your Lies”, followed by two of its own classic tracks, “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and “Master Of Puppets,” before closing with Soundgarden’s “Head Injury.”
Chris’s 14-year-old daughter Toni received a standing ovation after performing a cover of Bob Marley‘s “Redemption Song” while standing in front of a picture of her father.
Cornell’s widow, Vicky, took to the stage to pay tribute to her husband, saying, “We all know how music can change us, but Chris did something more extraordinary — he changed music and paved the way for so many from Seattle to across the globe. And that legacy, and his influence, will live for generations to come . . . Simply put, to me, and because of all of you, Chris lives on, a music immortal whose passion for helping others is more alive today than ever.”
The show climaxed with the three surviving members of Soundgarden joined by a rotating selection of singers and musicians, including Taylor Momsen, Marcus Durant, Taylor Hawkins, Buzz Osborne and others, for a run through eight of their songs, including “Rusty Cage,” “Flower,” “Outshined” and “Black Hole Sun.”
Beartooth has shared a new music video for the song “You Never Know,” the third single to be released from the band’s latest album, Disease. Frontman Caleb Shomo remarked, “‘You Never Know‘ is about the mental state you’re in during a panic attack. It’s truly indescribable unless you’ve been through it. This video is our attempt at depicting that feeling. We also threw in some kick ass hogs. What more do ya need for a music video?”
The title track from Disease is currently Number Eight on the rock radio airplay chart. The album was released last September and follows up 2016’s Aggressive, which featured the breakthrough singles “Hated” and “Sick Of Me.”
Shomo described Disease itself as the hardest Beartooth album to make so far, telling Kerrang! magazine, “This was hands down the most difficult record I’ve ever made — it’s the most depression and anxiety-fueled album I’ve ever made. It was a really, really hard thing to get through. Emotionally, I mean, good Lord! By the end, I was in a really f**king bad place. It was tough to fight through.”
Beartooth is currently finishing up a European tour, but expect the group to hit the road in the U.S. again sooner rather than later.
Only 350 @BlackSabbath fans can attend exclusive @westsidebid event on 9 Feb in Birmingham when this ‘heavy metal bench’ will be presented to band members. Full story/ticket details: https://t.co/armCWgoScc @tonyiommi @OzzyOsbourne @geezerbutler @billwarddrums @homeofmetaluk pic.twitter.com/eGzRX12FBK
— Westside BID (@westsidebid) January 15, 2019
Black Sabbath will be honored in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England next month, with the unveiling of a stainless steel bench on a bridge crossing Broad Street. News of the project first came to light last year, and it’s now been confirmed that it’ll be revealed to the public at a ceremony on February 9th.
The bench will feature images of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward and the bridge on which it’s being placed is being renamed Black Sabbath Bridge on Broad Street. Iommi, Butler and Ward are all expected to attend the bench’s dedication.
In addition, it’s been confirmed that Ward will also be awarded his own star on the city’s Walk Of Stars that same day. Ward is the last of the four original Sabbath members to get a star there.
Iommi spoke a while back about the respect that Sabbath earned over the years: “For a while, nobody would take us seriously. But as we went on, the more we carried on, the more we proved, the more we stayed there, you know? And I think we got the respect from that.”
Black Sabbath played the last two shows of the band’s nearly 50-year career in Birmingham almost two years ago, in February 2017. Ozzy is currently doing his last major world tour as a solo artist.
Finally, we’d like to wish a Happy Birthday to Korn‘s Jonathan Davis and The used guitarist Quinn Allman! Have a great weekend!
