Several New Announcements

Officially tagged as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, RodeoHouston is an annual multi-day event which always tries to mix up the genres, although leaning heavily towards country.

Here’s the lineup w/dates for 2013:

Feb. 25 – Toby Keith
Feb. 26 – Gary Allan
Feb. 27 – Alan Jackson
Feb. 28 – Zac Brown Band
March 1 – Mary J. Blige
March 2 – Brantley Gilbert
March 3 – Demi Lovato
March 3 – Austin Mahone
March 4 – Styx
March 5 – Lady Antebellum
March 6 – Dierks Bentley

Backstage passes are available for single-day only.

We also have confirmed four dates for the "tag team" of The Black Keys and The Flaming Lips.

Those dates are:

April 28 – Kansas City, Mo., Sprint Center    
April 30 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Consol Energy Center    
May 2 – Atlanta, Ga., Aaron’s Amphitheatre At Lakewood    
May 3 – Nashville, Tenn., Bridgestone Arena

Lastly, Green Day has re-set some dates that were supposed to begin this month but were postponed. Here are the new ones:

March 28 – Rosemont, Ill., Allstate Arena
March 29 – Moline, Ill., I Wireless Center
March 31 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Consol Energy Center
April 1 – Rochester, N.Y., Blue Cross Arena
April 3 – Philadelphia, Pa., The Liacouras Center
April 4 – Fairfax, Va., Patriot Center
April 6 – Uncasville, Conn., Mohegan Sun Arena
April 7 – Brooklyn, N.Y., Barclays Center
April 9 – Providence, R.I., Dunkin' Donuts Center

If you ant to get backstage and meet your favorite artists and bands, BackstagePassDirect is your one stop source. Why not become a member today?

Green Day: Uno, Dos, Tre

In support of 3 upcoming albums, Green Day will be touring the US beginning in late November.

Release dates for the 3 offerings are as follows: Green Day ¡Uno! hits Sept. 25; Green Day ¡Dos! Nov. 13 and Green Day ¡Tré! Jan. 15. So the first two releases will be out before the tour starts up.

Here are the tour dates and venues:

Nov. 26 – Seattle, Wash., Paramount Theatre
Nov. 27 – Kennewick, Wash., Toyota Center - Tri Cities
Nov. 29 – Salem, Ore., Salem Armory Auditorium
Dec. 1 – Sacramento, Calif., Memorial Auditorium
Dec. 2 – Reno, Nev., Grand Sierra Resort Theatre
Dec. 4 – Santa Cruz, Calif., Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium
Dec. 10 – Tempe, Ariz., The Marquee
Jan. 7 – Green Bay, Wis., Resch Center
Jan. 8 – Rosemont, Ill., Allstate Arena
Jan. 10 – Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Mohegan Sun Arena At Casey Plaza
Jan. 11 – University Park, Pa., Bryce Jordan Center
Jan. 13 – Rochester, N.Y., Blue Cross Arena
Jan. 14 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Consol Energy Center
Jan. 16 – Brooklyn, N.Y., Barclays Center
Jan. 18 – Manchester, N.H., Verizon Wireless Arena
Jan. 19 – Uncasville, Conn., Mohegan Sun Arena
Jan. 21 – Fairfax, Va., Patriot Center
Jan. 22 – Philadelphia, Pa., The Liacouras Center
Jan. 24 – Providence, R.I., Dunkin’ Donuts Center
Jan. 25 – Portland, Maine, Cumberland Co. Civic Center
Jan. 30 – Cleveland, Ohio, Wolstein Ctr. / Cleveland St. Univ.
Feb. 1 – Moline, Ill., I Wireless Center
Feb. 2 – Madison, Wis., Alliant Energy Center Mem. Coliseum
Feb. 4 – Omaha, Neb., CenturyLink Center Omaha
Feb. 6 – Broomfield, Colo., 1stBank Center
Feb. 8 – Las Vegas, Nev., MGM Grand Garden Arena

Request your backstage passes today!

Member Review: Green Day

Australian ex-pat and BPD member Nott Yet writes: 

No concert is utterly perfect but if you want a benchmark for today's rock shows, look no further than Green Day.

The California punk rock band didn't disappoint and made fans feel they got their money's worth and more with a spectacular non-stop marathon of favorites.

Still touring behind 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day brought out all the stops - and pyrotechnics galore - when not bringing a bunch of fans onstage to dance, sing lead or be saved by the preacher/singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong.

Now a six-piece touring outfit, the band kicked off the roughly three-dozen song set list with the new album's title track as the small but manic Armstrong got the crowd up and pumped.

The biggest challenge often is keeping that energy high, yet fans never sat down the rest of the night, hopping around to When I Come Around, belting out Know Your Enemy or the ballad Boulevard Of Broken Dreams which Armstrong let them take lead on.

As they wewre walking onstage, BJA looked back at me, winked, and said "We're going to play all f------ night long". By the time they rounded out the 150+ minute main set, that statement was fact.
   
Still full of jokes and sophomoric hijinx, Armstrong, drummer Tre Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt tore through the older material with the same youthful abandon circa their Dookie breakthrough in 1994. The album was represented with Basket Case, Burnout, She and When I Come Around that had the age-spanning audience hopping. These were eclipsed by Longview when Armstrong brought out a fan from the audience to sing the entire song. Despite destroying his belt in the process, the guy delivered the goods and left with Armstrong's guitar as a thank you.

Despite smashing a guitar into the steps leading to Cool's drum kit at one point, Armstrong was having a lot of fun, bringing up a 9-year-old during East Jesus Nowhere and having him collapse on stage like a televangelist with his congregation. Asking the boy's name - Sawyer - Armstrong grinned before riffing some of Rush's Tom Sawyer.

Overall, Green Day mixed the old with the new quite well, nailing an old-school middle portion featuring Nice Guys Finish Last, the hillbilly-tinged Dominated Love Slave (with Cool and Armstrong switching spots for) and J.A.R. These seemed to complement the newer nuggets like St. Jimmy, the lengthy Jesus Of Suburbia and the foot-stomping American Idiot.

While a slight lull in the proceedings took place during a medley of the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction, Monty Python's Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life and The Beatles' Hey Jude, Green Day hit the homestretch looking no worse for wear on 21 Guns and Minority. And by the time the group bid good riddance to the faithful, most probably felt they just ran a marathon.

Setlist:

1. Song of the Century
2. 21st Century Breakdown
3. Know Your Enemy
4. East Jesus Nowhere (feat. Tom Sawyer Guitar Riff)
5. Holiday
6. ¡Viva la Gloria!
7. Give Me Novacaine
8. Letterbomb
9. Are We The Waiting
10. St. Jimmy
11. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
12. Nice Guys Finish Last
13. F.O.D.
14. Burnout
15. Dominated Love Slave
16. J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)
17. Paper Lanterns
18. 2000 Light Years Away
19. Hitchin' A Ride
20. When I Come Around
21. Iron Man/Eye of the Tiger/Sweet Child O' Mine/Fly By Night/Highway To Hell/Ain't Talkin' Bout Love Medley
22. Brain Stew
23. Jaded
24. Longview
25. Basket Case
26. She
27. King For A Day
28. Satisfaction/Hey Jude/Shout
29. 21 Guns
30. Minority

Encore:

31. American Idiot
32. Jesus Of Suburbia

Encore 2:

33. Last Night on Earth
34. Wake Me Up When September Ends
35. Good Riddance

Happy that they didn't make you too tired to write, Nott Yet. 


Wanna hang with yur faves? Join BackstagePassDirect today.

Green Day Summer Tour

Green Day has begun rolling out dates for a North American summer amphitheater tour as the band continues to support last spring's Grammy-winning "21st Century Breakdown."

The trek, featuring special guests AFI, gets underway Aug. 3 and wraps up on Sep 2. The US tour follows on the heels of Green Day's European outing, which will include stops in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, England.

Green Day--singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool--released "21st Century Breakdown" last May, which represented the group's first new studio effort in five years. The album debuted in the top spot on The Billboard 200 and the set took home Best Rock Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards ceremony in January.

More dates may be added. Here's the agenda so far:

August 2010
3 - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center
5 - Darien Center, NY - Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
9 - Alpharetta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
11 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
12 - Hartford, CT - Comcast Theater
14 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
16 - Mansfield, MA - Comcast Center
23 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theater
26 - Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center
28 - Englewood, CO - Comfort Dental Amphitheater
30 - Phoenix, AZ - Cricket Wireless Pavilion
31 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

September 2010
2 - Chula Vista, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre

Passes will awarded beginning in June to BPD member "early birds". So don't delay.

It's still just $49 for a full year's membership with unlimited pass requests. For more, visit us.

Member Review: Green Day

Hey..............All4-1 here.

When lead singer/guitarist/rock preacher Billie Joe Armstrong told me backstage that their new shows were like revivals, I really wasn't sure I knew what the hell he meant. But as soon as they hit the stage, it became clear that Green Day has taken a cue from The Boss when it comes to playing arenas.

With Armstrong speaking about saving people - and placing his hand on a young boy's noggin onstage to drive that home during East Jesus Nowhere - the band's huge two-hour gig had plenty of Springsteeen-esque, revival-like moments.

But I doubt Springsteen and the E Street Band would let fans play guitar or take over lead vocals, something Armstrong, drummer Tre Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt (as well as three supporting musicians) were only too eager to do.

Touring behind 21st Century Breakdown, a big, beefy and challenging follow-up to 2004's equally pleasing American Idiot, Green Day opened the show with the title track off the new album, getting fans up and clapping. Following the strong, winding, Who-tinged opener, the band went into Know Your Enemy as Armstrong took a youngster from the crowd or "god's children" as he dubbed the concert goers.

After blowing a kiss to the audience loudly singing, Armstrong and crew delved into Holiday and the tight, polished new track The Static Age which shone. "It's been like half a f------ decade," Armstrong said of the band's break between albums and tours.

Yet the break has only resulted in Green Day's new material being a far stylistic cry over angst-riddled earlier numbers such as The Grouch. The gear-changing Before The Lobotomy was perfect example of this with its various twists and turns.

That's not to say that the group ignored the early stuff, basically breaking the show into sections of American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown efforts along with a run of nuggets off 1994's Dookie such as She and Basket Case. But the fan participation onstage and off was consistent, with a girl singing a portion of Are We The Waiting and two fans getting their chance during Longview.

The constant interaction between Armstrong and fans was over-the-top a few times, including him signing an autograph during Hitchin' A Ride as he belted parts of the tune from his knees.

With that special arena rock feel apparent, Green Day opted for a medley of sorts during the quirky King For A Day with snippets of Earth Angel and Shout as Armstrong got a bit cheeky in showing his ass. It came off okay despite saxophonist Jason Freese delivering a good solo dressed in a vintage Michael Jackson circa Beat It ensemble with the appropriate dance steps.

Green Day returned in the encore with American Idiot and Jesus Of Suburbia, the latter a difficult tune with lots of guitar work. Armstrong let a fan in the crowd do the work for him which he nailed quite well.

And while that could've capped off the night perfectly - a night where When I Come Around and Wake Me Up When September Ends were not even considered -- Green Day played one last track before bidding the audience good riddance, most of whom left having the time of their lives.

This is my second BPD show; you guys are just so for real. $150 to be backstage is really a gimme. Thanks again.

And to think that August and September haven't even arrived yet. It's not too late: join BackstagePassDirect today.