The Killers Kill

We'll cut right to it.........................

The Killers new album "Day and Age" may not only be their best album, but it may also be one of the best of all of 2008.

Here's track-by-track coverage:

Losing Touch
A rousing Bowie-like groove driven by honking saxophones and ping-ponging keyboards that kicks things into high gear. Brandon Flowers' voice is smooth and full as he intones "You made your home/ and you made your way back home/ like a roving vagabond, I'm losing touch." Dave Keuning makes his presence felt with a soaring guitar lead.

Human
A gentle, phased, clicky guitar riff opens this gorgeous nod to the gentle side of '80s new wave. "Cut the cord/ are we human/ my sign is virtual/and my hands are cold/ are we human, or are we dancer?" Flowers asks in a plaintive, melancholy manner. Then the song gallops off into a Cure-meets-U2 arena shaker.

Spaceman
Shades of Queen grace this piston-pumping, fast-paced rocker. A perfect driving song - big drums, big hooks, and a wall of sound.

Joy Ride
The best Bryan Ferry song that Bryan Ferry never wrote. A sensuous, funky beat punctuated by Stones-like sax, biting guitars that tear through the choruses and a melody that hooks you on the first listen. The middle-eight is breathtaking. In fact, the entire band seems to grow more energized as the song progresses. Fun stuff.

A Dustland Fairytale
After a delicate keyboard intro, Brandon Flowers' vocals are appropriately fragile. But as the song swells, with jabbing cellos that seque into a double-time rage, he opens both his heart and his throat. This is a large-canvas narrative with a sound to back it up. Flowers' literary chops are developing in an exciting way.

This Is Your Life
African tribal chanting and harpsichord are strange musical bedfellows, but they spin a magical web on this spacey yet thumping track. Dave Keuning's echo-laden guitar combines with Flowers' barbiturate voice for an overall effect that is spellbinding.

I Can't Stay
A delicious Caribbean beat propels this stunner that features sax, harp and a gently strummed acoustic guitar. A song to sit back and drift away to until a dramatic middle-eight makes you bolt upright and go, "Wow!" Steel drums ride the song out in smashing style.

Neon Tiger
With little fanfare, this mid-tempo grinder gets going and doesn't let up. The instrumentation is perhaps the sparest we've heard yet from The Killers, but the middle section is a marvel of dramatic intensity.

The World We Live In
Melodrama that isn't overwrought or cloying is tricky to pull off. But Flowers' heavily affected, double-tracked voice is a thing of strange beauty here. He's developed into a world-class vocalist, full of passion and searching for the kind of truths that only the finest singer-songwriters can. Although the band provides gutsy support, Flowers owns this untamed monster.

Goodnight, Travel Well
Just as U2 concluded their arguable masterpiece, Achtung Baby!, with a descent into darkness on Love Is Blindness, here too, The Killers bring the curtain down with a seven-minute ride into a nocturnal dreamland. Forlorn and ominous, Flowers sings, "The universe is standing still/and there's nothing I can say/ there's nothing we can do now…nothing we can do now." Get ready for a crushing crescendo in which he's on the floor, begging "Stay!/ don't leave me/ the stars can't wait for you!" Drummer Ronnie Vannucci lets loose with a flurry of crashing cymbals that'll leave you breathless and wondering, it is still night or have we reached the dawn?

Before they head off for a huge Euro-tour in early February, the boys will be showcasing all their latest material at these venues:

1/17 Denver, CO Magness Arena
1/19 Minneapolis, MN Northrop Auditorium
1/20 Chicago, IL UIC Pavilion
1/22 Ypsilanti, MI EMU Convocation Ctr.
1/23 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
1/25 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Arena
1/26 Boston, MA Agganis Arena at Boston University
1/28 Fairfax, VA Patriot Center
1/29 North Myrtle Beach, SC House Of Blues
1/30 Atlanta, GA Boisfeuillet Jones Civic Center
1/31 Nashville, TN Grand Ole Opry House
2/2 Houston, TX Verizon Wireless Theater
2/3 Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center
2/4 Grand Prairie, TX Nokia Theatre At Grand Prairie

Meet and greet the band and see the show from the unique perspective of backstage. Visit BackstagePassDirect for complete details.

Cheech and Chong Light Up America - Member Review

This just in from BPD member BackFromIraq:

Cheech and Chong were un-effing-believable.

Shelby Chong opened the show. She was damn funny and got things started nicely with her sex, drugs and Cheech and Chong jokes.

Cheech wanders across the stage looking trim and healthy and we're off into Up In Smoke. The Led Zeppelin joint, now updated with some ky jelly is a CLASSIC!! From there we're off into Mexican in Space, Let's Make A Dope Deal, Bob and Margaret, Blind Melon, Red and Earache My eye with Alice Bowie, Ralph and Herbie, Old Man In The Park and the great sing-along of Born In East LA with a little Beaners mixed in and the finale of the Up In Smoke theme song.

Periodic smiles from Cheech Marin, as he quickly and seamlessly regressed back into each of his classic characters, melted the crowd's collective heart. Cheech literally had us crying with laughter throughout the show. He is a deeply important modern media figure for my wife's Latino community. One can only imagine what will take place between him and his increasing Latino audience particularly in certain other venues. Cheech masterfully cements a sheer connection with his audience and there is an electricity that forms quickly between him and those who watch his performances.

Tommy Chong was golden in every sense of the word. His sincerity, his unbridled authenticity and his strong and refreshing sense of social critical purpose, provoked tender and at times, socially angry emotions in the audience, which he masterfully channeled for them into deep belly laughs. What a powerful formula Tommy, linking the lightly psychedelic and profound emotional attachment of the audiences' collective memory of Cheech and Chong, with a gentle expanding of their social and political consciousness.

From backstage, it was easy to see that everyone was having a good time. Do I have to say how great it was to meet them?

There's a lot of water under the bridges of those two, yet there were times when the chemistry between Cheech and Chong seemed as strong as ever.

The tour schedule for early 2009 shapes up like this:

1/2/2009 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
1/3/2009 Verona, NY Turning Stone Casino Event Center
1/3/2009 Verona, NY Turning Stone Resort & Casino
1/8/2009 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
1/9/2009 Dallas, TX Majestic Theatre
1/15/2009 Mescalero, NM Inn Of The Mountain Gods
1/16/2009 Omaha, NE Omaha Civic Music Hall
1/17/2009 Kansas City, MO Kansas City Music Hall
1/18/2009 Saint Louis, MO The Pageant
1/23/2009 Grand Ronde, OR Spirit Mountain Casino
1/24/2009 Spokane, WA INB Performing Arts Center
1/25/2009 Sacramento, CA Memorial Auditorium
1/29/2009 Cincinnati, OH Taft Theatre
1/30/2009 Cleveland, OH PlayhouseSquare
1/31/2009 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
2/5/2009 Elizabeth, IN Horseshoe Southern Indiana
2/6/2009 Bossier City, LA Horseshoe Casino & Hotel / Riverdome
2/7/2009 Tunica, MS Horseshoe Casino
2/20/2009 Milwaukee, WI Potawatomi Bingo Casino
2/21/2009 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
2/22/2009 Green Bay, WI Oneida Bingo & Casino
2/26/2009 Lemoore, CA Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino
2/27/2009 Shelton, WA Little Creek Casino
2/28/2009 Santa Rosa, CA Wells Fargo Center For The Arts
3/6/2009 Pittsburgh, PA Benedum Center
3/7/2009 Reading, PA Sovereign Perf. Arts Center

This is history in the making and you could see it all from backstage. For complete info, visit BackstagePass Direct.

Celine Dion: Still at it

Back in April, we wrote that Celine was touring like crazy. Well, that hasn't changed.

Experience Celine's exceptional talent like never before. See her on tour supporting her Greatest Hits double disc, 'My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection'. Featuring a new version of "My Love", this collection also unveils a brand new song entitled, "There Comes A Time".

So many of these tracks from the album are featured on the tour:

Disc 1

1. Where Does My Heart Beat Now
2. Beauty And The Beast (Duet with Peabo Bryson)
3. If You Asked Me To
4. Love Can Move Mountains
5. My Love (Live Version)
6. The Power Of Love
7. (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman
8. Because You Loved Me (Theme from ‘Up Close and Personal’)
9. The Power Of The Dream (As performed at the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games)
10. It's All Coming Back To Me Now
11. All By Myself
12. Pour que tu m'aimes encore
13. Tell Him (Duet with Barbra Streisand)

Disc 2

1. My Heart Will Go On (Love theme from ‘Titanic’)
2. To Love You More
3. River Deep, Mountain High
4. I'm Your Angel (Duet with R Kelly)
5. The Prayer (Duet with Andrea Bocelli)
6. That's The Way It Is
7. A New Day Has Come
8. I'm Alive
9. I Drove All Night
10. Taking Chances
11. There Comes A Time
12. Dance With My Father
13. I Knew I Loved You

Concerts in early '09 include:

1/5/2009 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
1/7/2009 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
1/9/2009 Houston, TX Toyota Center
1/10/2009 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena
1/13/2009 Nashville, TN Sommet Center
1/15/2009 Birmingham, AL BJCC Arena
1/17/2009 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
1/20/2009 Raleigh, NC RBC Center
1/23/2009 Miami, FL AmericanAirlines Arena
1/28/2009 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
1/30/2009 Sunrise, FL BankAtlantic Center
2/2/2009 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
2/4/2009 Saint Louis, MO Scottrade Center
2/5/2009 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
2/20/2009 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion At San Jose
2/22/2009 Salt Lake City, UT EnergySolutions Arena
2/24/2009 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
2/26/2009 Omaha, NE Qwest Center Omaha


Fans just can't get enough of Celine Dion. See her show from backstage and you'll know why.

Backstagepassdirect.com has all the information.

Lyle Lovett and John Hyatt acoustic tour

The multiple-Grammy-winning Lyle Lovett kicks off his 2009 tour calendar Jan. 14 in Beaver Creek, CO, before heading back on the road with the legendary John Hiatt beginning Feb. 5 in Pittsburgh, PA. The pair has confirmed a slate of 11 cities together. Details are included below.

Lovett's 13th album, "It's Not Big It's Large," was released last August, reaching No. 18 on The Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the Top Country Albums chart. The 12-track set features Lovett's signature Large Band and covers everything from country to blues, to folk, jazz and gospel. A deluxe version of the album including a DVD with studio footage is also available. A few song samples are streaming at the performer's MySpace page.

"Its Not Big It's Large" follows Lovett's Lost Highway Records debut, "My Baby Don't Tolerate," which surfaced in 2003. That set marked his first collection of original material since 1996's "Road to Ensenada."

Hiatt is touring behind his latest studio set, "Same Old Man," which was released in May.

01/14/09 Beaver Creek, CO Vilar Center For The Arts
02/05/09 Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Music Hall
02/06/09 Philadelphia, PA Kimmel Center For The Perf. Arts
02/08/09 Morristown, NJ The Community Theatre At Mayo Center For The Performing Arts
02/09/09 Englewood, NJ Bergen Performing Arts Ctr.
02/10/09 Morgantown, WV Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre
02/12/09 Nashville, TN Schermerhorn Symphony Center
02/14/09 Danville, KY Norton Center
02/15/09 Bloomington, IN Buskirk-Chumley Theater
02/18/09 Joliet, IL Rialto Square Theatre
02/19/09 Cincinnati, OH Aronoff Center For The Arts
02/21/09 Midland, TX Midland Center

Don't forget, all passes are first-come, first-served. So don't delay. Order yours today and hang out with Lyle and John. Visit BackstagePassDirect.

Member Review: Bob Dylan

BPD member RoyBoy wrote:

For years, Dylan has been known to keep to himself during shows, often only speaking between songs in order to introduce his band members. But on this special night, Dylan spoke.

"I was born in 1941," he said in his scratchy voice. "That was the year they bombed Pearl Harbor. I've been living in darkness ever since."

He turned back to his keyboard and led the band in an almost unrecognizable rendition of "Blowin' in the Wind." Dylan opted to keep his voice low and sparse throughout most of his set, as he half-sang, half-coughed the words into the microphone, but at the end of "Blowin' in the Wind" he strained his voice to hit the high register of the original melody and held onto the words in the chorus as long as he could. When his voice couldn't bear any more, he picked up his harmonica and practically skipped to the center of the stage. Dylan was in to it, and it only served to further ignite the fired-up crowd.

As the sold-out audience rose to its feet, Dylan and his bandmates lined up at the front of the stage to take a bow. In his tight tuxedo pants and white wide-brimmed hat, Dylan danced around like a marionette doll, waving his pointer fingers in the air like guns. It was surprisingly charismatic and endearing moment, and it had the whole room roaring.

The set list:

Cat's in the Well
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Summer Days
This Wheel's on Fire
Tangled Up in Blue
Masters of War
Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
John Brown
Beyond the Horizon
Highway 61 Revisited
Shooting Star (with Dylan on guitar -- another rarity)
It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Under the Red Sky
Thunder on the Mountain
Ain't Talkin'

Encore:
Like a Rolling Stone
Blowin' in the Wind

As unbelievable as this will sound, I arrived late and almost didn't get to meet Dylan at all. Am I stupid or what?

I did get to watch the show from backstage and that was a real hoot. Dylan apparently had someplace to be after the show, so I pretty much only got to shake his hand and tell him how much he meant to me before he was whisked away.

That'll have to be good enough for this idiot!

Don't be an idiot..............Join BackstagePassDirect today and experience what so many other satisfied members like RoyBoy experience.

Get Attracted to Metallica's Death Magnet

Death Magnetic may very well be Metallica's best album in 17 years. The bashing and hammering is reminiscent of their late-80s insanity, making Rick Rubin a perfect fit for the proceedings.

The first conspicuous thing about the record is that the songs are lengthy and colossal. There are two tracks over the eight-minute-mark and all of them exceed five minutes. And for the first time since …And Justice For All, there’s an instrumental cut.

A heartbeat starts things off unhurriedly on “That Was Just Your Life,” a haunting song with a nice slow guitar build and an ear-splitting preface that explodes in about six different directions to formulate a proper thrash stunner. Lars Ulrich keeps a feverish velocity and James Hetfield’s vocals tear through it. The breathless pace is a solid warning of what is to come.

“The End of the Line” continues the Metallica song structure that coats the album, launching an extended introduction that leads into a weighty jam of Kirk Hammett and Hetfield guitars. It has a great “live” feel, as though the track was cut in one take with illimitable energy prevailing over the proceedings. Watch for Hammett’s searing solo, too.

Robert Trujillo’s bass accentuates the deafening intro to “Broken, Beat, & Scarred.” The tune’s riff is the showstopper as it cuts through the air like a blade through tissue and gives the song another rhythm above Ulrich’s clattering milieu. Heavy as it is, it’s actually strangely funky and harmonious too. And Hetfield’s “What don’t kill ya make ya more strong” lyrics make the whole thing kind of…optimistic?

“The Day That Never Comes” is the first single from Death Magnetic and begins with a beautiful pair of guitars articulating something miraculous over a foundation that hearkens back to the band’s best days. Many people have said that the song is evocative of “One.” It is certainly a dazzling track and features one hell of a beguiling chorus and a deadly solo.

Bass takes the lead again on “All Nightmare Long,” a crunching piece that frightens and excites all at once. The thrash riffing and low rumble carries through to Hetfield’s grunts. And then the song really takes off, going into Guitar Hero territory with maddening riffs worthy of legend. It is truly one of Death Magnetic’s most magnificent cuts.

“Cyanide” is a rousing track with melodious undercurrents and a breakneck pace, with Ulrich cheerfully pounding away on the snare behind the wall of sound.

Piano and strings break the din at the start of “The Unforgiven III,” a song that winds in symphonic care and explodes with passion. Hetfield’s vocals are marvellous and he glides over the polished guitars with precision and ache, guiding the cut through its tempo changes with his imperfect singing style.

“The Judas Kiss” roars to life with a lattice of classical guitar and balls-to-the-wall rumbling, as the introduction cranks into high gear and revs through eight minutes of remorseless immensity.

The instrumental “Suicide & Redemption” is a seamlessly-composed track that lets Trujillo take over for moments at a time. The riffs are faultless and the almost-10-minute journey is fucking epic. The tempo changes, the slick production, and the astronomical percussion are mind-shatteringly amazing.

The shortest tune on the album finishes off Death Magnetic in rapid-fire style. “My Apocalypse” is a livid song that blasts away full-tempo for five minutes without stopping for a piss break. It’s the perfect closer to an incredible thrash metal record from the masters.

It’s safe to say that Metallica is back. They'll be touring the U.S. through Feb 1 when when they then take off for an extended tour of Europe. So, catch'em while you can at these venues in '09:

1/12/2009 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
1/13/2009 Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena
1/15/2009 Washington, DC Verizon Center
1/17/2009 Philadelphia, PA The Wachovia Center
1/18/2009 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
1/26/2009 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
1/27/2009 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
1/29/2009 Uniondale, NY Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
1/31/2009 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
2/1/2009 Newark, NJ Prudential Center

Don't forget, all passes are first-come, first-served. So don't delay. Order yours today and get up close to Metallica. Visit BackstagePassDirect.

Member Review: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Sweet Steph sent this to us:

Let me begin by just saying how awesome being backstage was. The show is completely different from back there. I can't thank BPD enough.

Everybody from Tom himself to Mike Campbell to Benmont Tench to the crew were all super friendly. If that wasn't enough, there was the added bonus of meeting rock icon Steve Winwood who was opening the show. Ohmigod!!!

Early on in the gig, Tom uttered words rarely heard at his shows: “You probably don’t know this next one.” The band then launched into the super obscure 1999 Europe-only B side “Sweet William.” The bluesy, organ-heavy number was a clear indication this wasn’t going to be the typical nothing-but-the-hits Petty show he’s done on recent tours. With no new album to support, Petty was free to drag out the gems.

This doesn’t mean he avoided his massive arsenal of hits. The show began with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of “You Wreck Me,” “Last Dance With Mary Jane,” “I Won’t Back Down,” “Even The Losers” and “Free Fallin’.” Nearly anyone else would save a song like the latter — which is so tailor made for arenas even the beer guys and ushers were singing along — but Petty has such a huge stable of war horses he could bust it out early with no problem. Rarities soon followed, such as the Traveling Wilburys’ “End of the Line,” which featured a few Heartbreakers subbing in for Petty’s absent bandmates and the Full Moon Fever track “A Face in the Crowd.”

The Heartbreakers are one of the greatest backing bands out there. Any song is immeasurably enhanced by their playing, particularly from Mike on guitar and Benmont on keyboards. It’s no wonder they get so much session work when Petty is off the road.

The night wrapped up with the hit parade of “Learning to Fly,” “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” “Refugee” and the inevitable encore of “American Girl.” He’s probably played that song at every concert for over 30 years, but he still does it with intense passion and it still can make an arena full of drunk middle-aged white people jump up and down like nothing short of “Born to Run.”

Petty still insists that the days of long tours are coming to an end. This is a song he's also been playing for quite some time now; we'll see.

Here's the entire set list:

1. “You Wreck Me”
2. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”
3. “I Won’t Back Down”
4. “Even the Losers”
5. “Free Falling”
6. “Cabin Down Below”
7. “Sweet William”
8. “End of the Line”
9. “Can’t Find My Way Home”
10. “Gimme Some Loving”
11. “Saving Grace”
12. “Face in the Crowd”
13. “Honey Bee”
14. “You Don’t Know How It Feels”
15. “Learning to Fly”
16. “Don’t Come Around Here No More”
17. “Refugee”

Encore:

1. “Runnin’ Down a Dream”
2. “Mystic Eyes”
3. “American Girl”

Join BackstagePassDirect today and experience what so many other satisfied members like Sweet Steph experience.

Neil Young Still Rockin'

Neil Young is one of rock and roll’s greatest songwriters and performers. In a career that extends back to his mid-Sixties roots as a coffeehouse folkie in his native Canada, this principled and unpredictable maverick has pursued an often winding course across the rock and roll landscape. He’s been a cult hero, a chart-topping rock star, and all things in-between, remaining true to his restless muse all the while. At various times, Young has delved into folk, country, garage-rock and grunge. His biggest album, Harvest (1972) , apotheosized the laid-back singer/songwriter genre he helped invent. By contrast, Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Young’s second-best seller, was a loud, brawling masterpiece whose title track, an homage to Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, contained the oft-quoted line “Better to burn out than it is to rust.”

Several of his more modest-selling titles - for example, Tonight’s the Night, Comes a Time and Trans - contain some of his most trenchant performances. It is typical of Young that he followed his most polished and popular album, Harvest, with one of his most raw and uncommercial, Time Fades Away. While he’s avoided sticking to one style for very long, the unifying factors throughout Young’s peripatetic musical journey have been his unmistakable voice, his raw and expressive guitar playing, and his consummate songwriting skill.

Passes are still available to members for these shows:

Sun 12/07/08 Auburn Hills, MI The Palace at Auburn Hills
Tue 12/09/08 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
Fri 12/12/08 Philadelphia, PA The Wachovia Spectrum
Sat 12/13/08 Worcester, MA DCU Center
Mon 12/15/08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Arena
Tue 12/16/08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Arena

Don't forget, all passes are first-come, first-served. So don't delay. Order yours today and get up close and personal with a true legend. Visit BackstagePassDirect.

Member Review: Jack Johnson

BPD member Stella Rose wrote:

Everything that you see about Jack Johnson when he is onstage is the same in the back. When I was introduced to him, he greeted me warmly and sat with me asking questions about myself and the music that I liked. Then, he took me around and introduced me to his crew. I couldn't believe that all of this was going on when he was due onstage in fifteen minutes. Talk about laid back!

Johnson opened with “Do You Remember” from In Between Dreams, and, like the clapping crowd, remained upbeat through the entire night. One thing about Jack Johnson: he could be singing an upbeat melody or a slow, heart felt love song, and he always looks and sounds the same - standing there in the middle of the stage with a guitar (or a ukulele, which he used for “Breakdown”) slightly swaying and smiling. On stage he sounds just as good as when he’s in the studio, which makes for a more than pleasant listening experience, even if the tempo never seems to change. Even his latest album, Sleep Through the Static, which a lot of the night’s set list was from, has alot of similarities to his first album, Brushfire Fairytales.

Jack frequently digressed about some of his environmental causes, or simply applauded the fact that the stage was littered with clothes thrown up from the front rows (“We appreciate the nakedness and the clothes'). The highlight of the show was when pianist Zach Gill joined Jack on stage to play that end of the night, sing along, Bob Dylan/Band classic, “I Shall be Released.”

For his encore he came back with Gill and finished properly, unleashing his two love songs that have now become staples at every wedding: “Angel”, from Sleep Through the Static, and “Better Together”, from In Between Dreams. Oddly enough he also squeezed in a song about loving Jesus that sounded like it came directly from Bible camp. If it was anybody else but Jack I’d have to accuse them of trying to brainwash the audience, but given the fact that he donates one percent of all his revenue to charity and the concert was used as a platform to raise money for and awareness of environmental causes, you can only love the guy for being so positive.

And just so I don't forget, props to BackstagePassDirect for making this all happen for me. I will never forget it.

Join BackstagePassDirect today and experience what so many other satisfied members like Stella Rose experience.