Good morning Radicals! This morning’s music news is brief, but big:
Foo Fighters main man Dave Grohl has spoken with Kerrang! magazine about the band’s upcoming 10th studio LP, saying, “We just finished another f**king record, and I’m so f**king proud of it. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever done.”
Grohl added, “I’m f**king excited for people to hear it and I can’t wait to jump on that f**king stage to play it. There are choruses on this record that 50 f**king thousand people are gonna sing, and it’s gonna bring everyone’s f**king hearts together in that moment. And that’s what it’s all about.”
Grohl told us a while back that the most important thing is keeping the human element in music: “The most important thing is that there’s a human element to what you’re doing. With digital technology, it became a lot easier to manipulate these performances. I think what that does is it really takes a lot of personality out of music, you know. Like John Lennon didn’t really sing perfectly in key and John Bonham didn’t really play perfectly in time, but they just — it felt great.”
The new album will follow up 2017’s Concrete And Gold and will be part of Foo Fighters’ 25th anniversary celebration. The band will kick off a tour next month that takes them along the same route the Foos played on their first trek back in 1995. The band will also headline D.C. Jam in the nation’s capital on July 4th — 25 years to the day that the Foos’ self-titled debut album came out.
Ozzy Osbourne has shared the music video for “Ordinary Man,” the title track from his new studio album that also features Elton John on piano and vocals. In the clip, Ozzy sits in front of a screen watching clips and looking at photos from his early days with Black Sabbath to headlining venues around the world as a solo artist. The video takes the Prince of Darkness through good times and bad, ending on happy images of his wife Sharon and his children.
Ozzy told us his family has always been along for the ride during his crazy career: “They’ve never known anything else. They’ve all been born into the lifestyle. It’s not like I was a fireman yesterday, picked up a guitar today, and I got a hit record, you know. To me, it’s normal for me to come home insane, you know.”
Ordinary Man is Ozzy’s first solo studio album in a decade, and features guest appearances by Slash, Post Malone and Tom Morello in addition to Elton. Ozzy’s band on the record consisted of Duff McKagan on bass, Chad Smith on drums and producer Andrew Watt on guitar.
The singer recently postponed all his 2020 tour dates after revealing that he’s been diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s disease. He previously scrapped all touring activities in 2019 while recovering from spine surgery and other illnesses.
The spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the concert and festival business. Following intense speculation, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival has now been officially postponed, along with its sister country music event, Stagecoach.
Coachella, which was set to take place in Indio, California, on the weekends of April 10th and April 17th, will now be held on the weekends of October 9th and October 16th. There’s no word yet on whether the lineup, which was supposed to include a headlining performance from Rage Against The Machine, will remain intact.
California has confirmed over 167 coronavirus cases and two deaths as of Tuesday, March 10th. Riverside County, which includes the small town of Indio where Coachella takes place, has declared a public health emergency and announced a total of six cases of COVID-19 at press time.
All Coachella tickets will be honored on the new dates, and ticket holders unable to attend in the fall will be given information on how to obtain a refund.
Meanwhile, following the cancellation of the South By Southwest and Ultra Music festivals in Austin and Miami respectively, both events have notified attendees that they will not be offering refunds to those who have already purchased badges.
In an email sent out last week, SxSW organizers said, “2020 registrants can opt to defer their registration to 2021, 2022, or 2023,” with details to come in the following days. The email added, “You don’t need to take immediate action regarding your 2020 registration. It will remain in our system for future opportunities that will be available to you.” No mention was made of refunds. Ultra Music sent out a similar notice, saying that all tickets would be honored at “either the 2021 or 2022 Ultra Miami event, at your option.”
In other news, Guns N’ Roses have canceled a March 18th concert in San Jose, Costa Rica due to concerns about the virus. Nine people in Costa Rica are confirmed to have the virus, with another 34 suspected of possibly being infected.
In addition, this Saturday’s, March 14th Planned Parenthood benefit at Manhattan’s Town Hall, featuring a partial Hole reunion of Courtney Love & Melissa Auf der Maur, has been postponed “in light of current public health concerns.” Tickets will be honored once the event is rescheduled, and refunds are also available.
Other acts who have canceled tours here and abroad include Pearl Jam, Green Day and Slipknot, while speculation continues at press time that California’s Coachella Festival could be moved or postponed.
Finally, today is the birthday of the late, great Vinnie Paul Abbott. Crank up some Pantera, Damageplan or Hellyeah today, in his honor
