Added 04/12/2008 by ronni

Fleetwood Mac tour dates announced

Legendary supergroup Fleetwood Mac will be embarking on their first US concert tour in five years on March 1st at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena.

The tour promoted by Live Nation will include all the Macs’ many greatest hits from over the course of one of rock's most enduring and influential bands of our time.

"We love our band and think the title of the tour "UNLEASHED" perfectly describes how we all feel when we get on stage together - especially in 2009. We’re so happy to get back out on the road, perform everyone's favorite songs and see our fans,” said the band in a joint statement.

The first 16 dates of the historic ‘UNLEASHED’ tour will include stops in New York, Boston, Washington and Montreal.

Fleetwood Mac, the multi-Grammy award winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees will continue the ‘UNLEASHED’ tour throughout the Spring and Summer.
Additional dates to be announced shortly.

Added 03/12/2008 by briggs

Initiatives To Strengthen Spanish Live Biz

Two live music initiatives for small venues have kicked off to help new talent and strengthen the live music circuit, in both the Spanish capital Madrid and the country as a whole.

The moves come amid the general financial crisis, an anti-live venue posture by some local authorities, plus the closure in the past month of several key Madrid venues following the widely publicised death of an 18-year-old youth following his violent ejection from a well-known city center discotheque.

Three bouncers have been in detention since and could face murder charges. The city council says the well-known discotheque, like many city venues, did not have correct licences to play music or operate as 'after-hour' venues.

Starting yesterday Dec. 2 until Dec. 21, Madrid will hold 19 concerts in 19 different venues of up to 300-capacity. It is for an event called “Alternativas En Concierto,” where emerging artists will support better-known stars, several with gold discs under their belts. In general, the well-known stars began their careers playing in the venues featured in Alternativas.

The initiative has been organised by Madrid's 45-venue La Noche En Vivo, the AiE artists and interpreters association, the Agedi collecting society, and financed in part by the Madrid regional government.

At the same time, Spain's national association of concert halls, Acces, and its French counterpart, La Fédurok, will be meeting at a festival in Rennes in Brittany, France, between Dec. 4-6 to develop an accord they signed late October at the 20th Mercat de la Musica Viva in Vic, near Barcelona.

The accord is aimed at sharing experiences to strengthen live music and venues, and bringing awareness of their cultural and business value to local and regional administrations.

La Noche En Vivo VP Angel Viejo, who has run Madrid's Galileo Galilei club for the past 26 years, recalls that in 1985 the city had some 112 small venues. But he says the 45 existing members stage some 10,000 concerts per year.

"This is the breeding ground for future artists, and we have organized ‘Alternativas’ so that young people become more involved in the venues, and local authorities start supporting live music," says Viejo. "Sometimes it seems as if the city council prefers to close the venues rather than have them open".

The regional Madrid government, however, which controls the province of Madrid, is supporting “Alternativas” with financial backing.

Acces met with La Fédurok in Vic in late October to agree to work closely in the future to encourage small-venue live music either side of their common border.

Acces communication director Armando Ruah says Acces is interested in learning from the La Fédurok's experience, as "France is one of the pioneer countries in defence of its popular music and the recognition of its own culture.”

The Vic meeting included representatives of both the Spanish and French culture ministries, Marta Cureses of the Spanish ministry and André Caillot of the French ministry. Also in attendance were regional live music associations from Catalonia (Asacc), Galicia (Clubtura), Andalucia (Cosa), Basque Country (Kultura Live), and Castilla y León (Old Castile).

According to Billboard

Added 02/12/2008 by ronni

Indian Live Earth event cancelled

The Live Earth concert scheduled to take place in Mumbai on 7 December has been called off in the wake of last week's terror attacks.

Bon Jovi and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters were among the stars scheduled to appear at the event, intended to raise awareness of climate change.

"We will continue to work for solutions to the climate crisis for the good of the people of India," said organisers.

"But for now, our thoughts are with the victims of this terrible attack."

The concert was to have followed the simultaneous Live Earth events that took place in Sydney, Tokyo, Hamburg, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, New Jersey and London in 2007.

The concerts were the brainchild of founder Kevin Wall and former US vice President Al Gore, who said they were "stunned and saddened" by recent events.

'Welcomed and safe'

They and Dr R K Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said they had "always felt very welcomed and safe" in the Indian city.

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas were among the other stars set to appear at the event.

Organisers have said their prayers are "with the bereaved, with the people of Mumbai and with everyone in India".

Events in South East Asia also saw the cancellation of another concert due to be held in Bangkok over the weekend.

The Bangkok 100 Rock Festival, scheduled for 29 and 30 November in the Thai city, was to have featured appearances by Manic Street Preachers, Ash and US band Hoobastank.

The announcement follows demonstrations at Bangkok's international and domestic airports that have forced the cancellation of many flights.

According to BBC