“Guitar Hero: Van Halen” Reportedly On the Way
Van Halen are rumored to be the next band to get its own Guitar Hero game, Joystiq.com is reporting. The group would be the third with a specifically branded Guitar Hero title, following Aerosmith and Metallica, whose version is set for release on March 29th.
According to Joystiq, GH: VH will feature many of the band’s greatest hits (”Jump,” “Panama,” “Hot for Teacher”), plus recordings by Weezer, Tenacious D and Judas Priest.
While Activision wouldn’t comment on the game, the potential of a Van Halen Guitar Hero is already generating hundreds of questions. Will new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen appear in the game instead of Michael Anthony? Will the game feature playable versions David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone, and if it’s just Roth does that mean his polygonal doppelganger will sing Hagar’s “Right Now?” Also, will Diamond Dave’s virtual dressing room ensure that he has enough room to practice his digital martial arts? We must know.
Of course, it comes as little surprise that rumors of a Van Halen Guitar Hero leaked out just days after their competitor Rock Band revealed more details about their own game dedicated to another pretty popular quartet. As Rock Daily reported last week, The Beatles: Rock Band will hit stores September 9th and feature career-spanning tracks from the Fab Four’s Please, Please Me through Abbey Road. Clearly the Guitar Hero makers had to plot a course of action to compete with Rock Band’s mega-release for the holiday sales, and they’re hoping the allure of blasting through “Eruption” and “Hot for Teacher” will ensure two video games are under the tree come Christmas.
New Releases, March 10: Kelly Clarkson, Madeleine Peyroux, Taylor Hicks, Chris Cornell, Sarah Brightman and more
Kelly Clarkson "All I Ever Wanted" (Sony)
The first "American Idol" champ, who won the title back in 2002, returns with her fourth studio set, "All I Ever Wanted," which follows 2007's "My December."
The first single from the new disc is "My Life Would Suck Without You," which was released in mid-January and went on to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Clarkson, who recently finished up another round of co-headlining dates with Reba McEntire on their "2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour," will support "All I Ever Wanted" with a summer headlining run that is scheduled to begin June 11 in Orem, UT.
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Madeleine Peyroux "Bare Bones" (Rounder)
The jazz-influenced vocalist/guitarist is back with her third album in four years. Her previous record, 2006's "Half the Perfect World," garnered Peyroux her highest-ever chart position, reaching No. 33 on The Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top Jazz Albums chart.
The new set marks the first time that Peyroux--a singer championed for her cover versions of other artists' works--has taken songwriting credit on all tracks. Producer Larry Klein, whose resume includes efforts with Shawn Colvin and Joni Mitchell, was at the controls for "Bare Bones."
Peyroux is currently backing the new album with a spring tour that is doubling as a fundraiser for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The month-long outing concludes with an April 4 date in Austin, TX.
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Taylor Hicks "The Distance" (Modern Whomp)
Another "American Idol" winner, who took top prize during the reality TV show's fifth season in 2006, is also ready to drop a new release. "The Distance," the singer's sophomore studio set, follows 2006's "Taylor Hicks."
Having released his eponymous major-label debut on Arista, Hicks is taking the indie route with "The Distance," which is being put out on the artist's own Modern Whomp Records. The set was produced by Simon Climie, who has worked with such big-name acts as Eric Clapton, Faith Hill and Carlos Santana.
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Chris Cornell "Scream" (Interscope)
The former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman focuses on his solo career with the release of "Scream," his third solo offering to date. The set's first single is its title track.
The new record teams the Grammy-winning rocker with famed hip-hop producer Timbaland, who reportedly brought an R&B flavor to Cornell's typical hard-rock stylings.
Cornell will showcase "Scream" during a North American trek that is set to kick off March 28 in Dallas and run through a May 3 date in Los Angeles.
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Sarah Brightman "Symphony: Live in Vienna" (Manhattan)
The mega-popular classical/pop/Broadway soprano unleashes a new live set. The CD/DVD combo documents a performance in Vienna during the star's tour in support of her 2008 release "Symphony."
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More new releases:
Ballas Hough Band, "Ballas Hough Band" (Hollywood)
Rocco Deluca and Burden, "Mercy" (Republic)
Dope, "No Regrets" (Koch)
The Dream, "Love vs Money" (Def Jam)
J. Holiday, "Round 2" (Capitol)
Ronnie Milsap, "Then Sings My Soul" (Starsong)
New Found Glory, "Not Without a Fight" (Epitaph)
Elvis Presley, "I Believe: The Gospel Masters" (Sony)
The Rippingtons, "Modern Art" (Peak)
Rod Stewart, "Unplugged...and Seated: Collector's Edition" (Rhino)
Bernie Taupin, "He Who Rides the Tiger" (American Beat)
Armin Van Buuren, "Imagine: The Remixes" (Ultra)
Various artists, "Amore Infinito: Songs inspired by the Poetry of John Paul II - Karol Wojtyla" (Deutsche Grammophone)
Various artists, "Punk Goes Pop: Vol. 2" (Fearless)
U2 announces two Cdn. tour dates
U2 is scheduled to play two Canadian dates - in Toronto and Vancouver - on its 2009 fall tour of North America.
It will be announced today that the veteran Irish rockers will perform at Toronto's Rogers Centre on Sept. 16 and at Vancouver's B.C. Place on Oct. 28, as part of their 2009/2010 tour of stadiums throughout the world.
Other Canadian stops are a possibility for either fall 2009 or summer/fall 2010.
Arthur Fogel, the CEO global touring and chairman of global music at Live Nation, revealed these details and more to Sun Media in advance of today's global announcement by U2.
Fogel said the "U2 360 Degree Tour," as it will be called, begins June 30 in Barcelona, Spain, at Noucamp Stadium and will play throughout Europe until the third week of August, before beginning the North American leg on Sept. 12 at Soldier Field Stadium in Chicago.
The opening act for the Toronto show will be Snow Patrol, and Black Eyed Peas will open in Vancouver. Rotating opening acts in Europe will include Snow Patrol, Glasvegas, Elbow, and The Kaiser Chiefs.
Tickets, $30, $55, $95 and $250, will go on sale this coming weekend for the European shows, and at the end of March for the North American shows. Multiple shows in some cities are possible.
"My philosophy has always been tiered pricing," Fogel said. "Given the (economic realities) in our world, I think it's more important than ever. So what we're going to do is we're going to have 10,000 tickets for every show at $30, the GA price on the (floor for standing only) is $55, and then most of the tickets are in the $95 range and then maybe 10 percent of the house at $250."
Forgel says he is confident that when U2 tickets go on sale, there will not be a repeat of the Bruce Springsteen mess in January, when anxious buyers who went to Ticketmaster were incorrectly told shows were sold out already, and then were redirected to other sites where tickets were priced much higher, including Ticketmaster's own TicketsNow.
Springsteen and his camp expressed their outrage publicly.
"I think it's abundantly clear that whatever happened on that Springsteen fiasco ... that Ticketmaster's sensitivity has heightened dramatically to managing the process, to not allow that to happen," said Fogel. "The reality is that generally how tickets end up on the secondary market, like StubHub and all these sites, is people sell them. It's people selling to people. Whatever happened on Springsteen, I don't know. Suffice to say I'm absolutely confident that the system will in no way be feeding the secondary market. Individuals, like if somebody buys four tickets and decides they want to resell two of them, I don't see anyway humanly possible to stop that. It's certainly not something that we're endorsing or facilitating."
Fogel said the 2009 portion of U2's tour will wrap up at the end of October before resuming in the summer/fall of 2010 in Europe and North America again, and hopefully South America.
U2 released No Line On The Horizon on March 3, and celebrated with a week-long residency on David Letterman that wrapped up last Friday night.
They also performed their first single, Get On Your Boots, on both the Brit Awards and the Grammys.
Fogel said the band had been rehearsing leading up to those promotional TV appearances but will really get down to work somewhere in Europe later this month or early in May for their world tour.