Woodstock Was a 'Nightmare'

Legend expected to sell out 8,000-seat venue

(NEWSER) - Decades after making his name with Vietnam-era antiwar songs, Bob Dylan is set to perform in Vietnam for the first time, the AP reports. He’ll play in an 8,000-seat university stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, and planners expect the show to sell out. “Bob Dylan is a very important legend of music and we think it's important that Vietnamese people, particularly the younger generation, are exposed to his legacy,” says a promoter. (Dylan also recently snagged his first China gigs .) More»

Playful 60s love/music comedy is more party than plot

(NEWSER) - Critics agree that the soundtrack of Pirate Radio can't be beat, and the top-notch cast is a joy. So when it comes to the shaky plot and pacing, some can turn a blind eye:

• "There’s no denying the comic energy of the cast," Peter Travers writes in Rolling Stone. "Couple that with blasts of Brit rock from the Beatles and the Stones to Dusty Springfield and David Bowie, and the ship is unsinkable."

Frontman shows up at Joe Perry concert to set record straight

(NEWSER) - Reports of Steven Tyler’s solo career have been greatly exaggerated. The Aerosmith frontman made a surprise appearance at last night’s Joe Perry Project concert in New York, assuring fans he was not leaving Aerosmith. He told fellow band member Perry, who earlier Tweeted that the band would look for a new singer, “Joe Perry, you are a man of many colors. But I, motherfucker, am the rainbow,” Rolling Stone reports. More»

Big-name acts, up-and-comers see modest rise in attendance

(NEWSER) - Concert tours remained surprisingly strong this year despite the weak economy, with slightly more people heading out to see their favorite acts than in 2008. Gross revenue held steady at $1 billion for the period from May 1 to Sept. 1, matching earnings a year earlier. Big-name acts like Kenny Chesney, the Dave Matthews Band, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, and Coldplay all enjoyed strong tours. More»

They're reuniting, but listen before you groan

(NEWSER) - Creed is back—the once ubiquitous (and “ubiquitously loathed”) rock group is releasing a new album later this month and going on tour. But “if your impulse on hearing that it has reunited is to groan, stifle it long enough to locate a copy of Creed's 2004 Greatest Hits collection,” writes Jonah Weiner for Slate. “It's a fantastic baker's dozen of first-rate schlock-rock, courtesy of one of the most underrated and unfairly maligned groups in pop history.” More»