Steely Dan, R.E.M., Timbaland, Hillary Lindsey and Dean Pitchford get into Songwriters Hall of Fame
NEW YORK — Steely Dan, R.E.M., Timbaland, Hillary Lindsey and Dean Pitchford will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an incoming class of musicians who have scaled the heights of country, classic rock, pop, hip-hop and alt-rock. Steely Dan — co-founded by Donald Fagan and the late Walter...
Lionel Richie, Earth, Wind & Fire coming to Pittsburgh this summerVideo
It’s been almost 40 years since Pittsburgh music fans could go all night long with Lionel Richie. That’ll be resolved June 16, when the multiple Grammy winner brings his Sing a Song All Night Long tour to PPG Paints Arena, accompanied by Earth, Wind & Fire. Richie last played Pittsburgh...
From Green Day’s ‘Dookie’ to Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Ready to Die,’ these albums turn 30 in 2024
ANAHEIM, Calif. — There was something special going on in 1994. It was a year of numerous noteworthy debut album releases and mainstream breakthrough records for several acts. This period in time was particularly huge for Southern California acts. Garden Grove punk outfit the Offspring and Los Angeles punks NOFX...
Pittsburghers, punk fans celebrate Erik Bauer’s book documenting 25 years of shows
The crowd that packed a Point Breeze bookshop Friday to celebrate a book release by Pittsburgh-bred photographer Erik Bauer could’ve been pulled right out of a 1981 punk show at Oakland’s now-shuttered Electric Banana. Or cheering on The Bats, a local post-punk outfit led in May ‘84 by Pulitzer Prize-winning...
Music streams hit 4 trillion in 2023. Country and global acts — and Taylor Swift — fueled the growth
LOS ANGELES — Listened to more music last year? You’re not alone. The global music industry surpassed 4 trillion streams in 2023, a new single-year record, Luminate’s 2023 Year-End Report found. Global streams were also up 34% from last year, reflective of an increasingly international music marketplace. Stateside, three genres...
Review: Zakk Sabbath shows Black Sabbath’s 50-year-old songs have plenty of life in Roxian concertVideo
All but one of the Black Sabbath songs that roared through the air Tuesday night were written more than 50 years ago. But they certainly didn’t sound dated in Zakk Sabbath’s jam-packed concert in their stop at the Roxian Theatre in McKees Rocks on the Doomed Forever Forever Doomed tour....
Actor/musician Creed Bratton on his new album, his time in the Grass Roots … and a reboot of ‘The Office’?Video
Creed Bratton doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as an actor or a musician. “I believe you just do what you are,” Bratton said in a recent Zoom call with TribLive. “You find the thing that makes you, that fills you up with light, that thing that fills you up with...
Former gang leader charged in killing of Tupac Shakur is allowed $750K bail and house arrest
LAS VEGAS — A judge set bail Tuesday at $750,000 for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur in 1996 and said he can serve house arrest with electronic monitoring ahead of his trial in June. Court-appointed attorneys for Duane “Keffe...
Irish singer Sinead O’Connor died from natural causes, coroner says
LONDON — Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor died from “natural causes” in July, a coroner said Tuesday. London’s Metropolitan Police had said the singer’s death was not considered suspicious after she was found unresponsive at a home in southeast London on July 26. O’Connor was 56. The Southwark Coroner’s Court confirmed...
Paris names a street after David Bowie celebrating music icon’s legacy
PARIS — Paris immortalized late British music icon David Bowie by naming a street after him in the city’s southeast on what would have been his 77th birthday on Monday. The inauguration of rue David-Bowie was first announced in 2020 by Jérôme Coumet, mayor of the 13th arrondissement. Bowie died...
Third Eye Blind bringing Summer Gods tour to Star LakeVideo
Third Eye Blind will be back in the Pittsburgh area later this summer for the fourth installment of their Summer Gods tour. The veteran 1990s alternative rockers will play the Pavilion at Star Lake on July 9, joined by Yellowcard and Arizona. Third Eye Blind dominated radio in the late...
Pittsburgh Symphony musicians perform at Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Musicians from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed as part of a presentation on musical inspiration Thursday evening at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg. The program explored the ways composers draw inspiration from folk tunes to the American experience, and how it shaped the landscape of 20th and...
After star turn in ‘Mean Girls’ movie, will Reneé Rapp finally put her acting aside?Video
Reneé Rapp had a pretty extraordinary 2023, starting last January with a sold-out concert for 2,300 fans of her pop music at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in London and ending in December with her being named one of the Associated Press’ five “breakthrough entertainers of the year.” And 2024...
Yale University’s Spizzwinks (?) to perform in Oakland, Fox Chapel
They hail from all over the world and gathered in a Monroeville living room on Wednesday night. Representing four continents, their voices blended as they rehearsed songs in Pittsburgh — a city the vast majority of them have never visited. Traveling the globe is one of the beautiful aspects of...
Rage Against the Machine drummer says band won’t play live againVideo
Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk dashed the hopes of all of the fans who were optimistic the band would make its long waited return to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2024. “I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new tour...
Story of the Year guitarist Ryan Phillips on 20 years of ‘Page Avenue,’ new album ‘Tear Me to Pieces’Video
Story of the Year guitarist Ryan Phillips is a huge fan of bands playing full albums out on tour, having seen quite a few over the years. ”One of my favorite bands in the entire world, the Deftones, I’ve seen shows where they do ‘White Pony’ or ‘Adrenaline,’ ‘Around the...
Former Tamburitzans host ensemble’s show at Gateway High School
Four years of performing with the Duquesne University Tamburitzans wasn’t quite enough for Frank Bozicevic. So after he graduated, he remained involved the multicultural song-and-dance ensemble by driving its tour bus. Along the way, he and one of the members at the time started dating, and eventually they married. Today,...
Zakk Sabbath, Creed Bratton, Three Dog Night among January’s top Pittsburgh concerts
An alum of “The Office” with a deep musical background, a veteran heavy-metal guitarist and a long-running rock band known for its three-part harmonies will be in Pittsburgh in January. Here’s a look at the most notable shows coming to the area this month: Top shows Jan. 9: Zakk Sabbath,...
Heat exhaustion killed Taylor Swift fan attending Rio concert, forensics report says
RIO DE JANEIRO — Heat exhaustion is the cause of death of a Brazilian fan who attended a concert of singer Taylor Swift in November, a forensics report obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday shows. Ana Clara Benevides, 23, passed out during Swift’s second song in the Nov. 17...
From novices to experienced musicians, Western Pa.’s open stages offer chance to shine in the spotlight
When Riley Galloway gets up to sing at the weekly acoustic open stage at Yellow Bridge Brewing in Delmont, you’d never know that she’s been playing in public for only a few months. The 16-year-old Irwin resident’s voice fills the space with the confidence of someone who has been performing...
The rapper Ye, who has a long history of making antisemitic comments, issues an apology in Hebrew
The rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has a long history of making antisemitic comments, apologized to the Jewish community in an Instagram post written in Hebrew on Tuesday. “I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions,” Ye wrote. “It...
Taylor Swift, Pink, Ed Sheeran among Pittsburgh’s biggest concerts in 2023
Taylor Swift broke attendance records with two shows this summer at Acrisure Stadium — and that doesn’t even include the tens of thousands of ticket-less fans who partied along outside the stadium. Swift’s pair of mega-shows were the highlight of Pittsburgh’s 2023 concert schedule, which also drew stadium shows from...
State, federal legislators look to keep AM radio a standard, free feature in vehicles
In recent years, some car manufacturers, including Ford, Tesla and Volkswagen, have quietly proposed removing AM radio from some vehicles. Members of the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters think it’s the tip of a subscription-based iceberg and are hoping recent bipartisan federal legislation can stop it in its tracks. “The best...
Federal court revives lawsuit against Nirvana over 1991 ‘Nevermind’ naked baby album cover
LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court on Thursday revived a child sexual exploitation lawsuit filed by the man who appeared naked as a 4-month-old on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 album “Nevermind.” Spencer Elden’s lawsuit against the grunge rock group alleges that he has suffered “permanent harm” as the...
Book Review: The Velvet Underground’s story and afterlife told in oral history ‘Loaded’
Before they became synonymous with downtown cool, the Velvet Underground played a multi-band bill at a suburban New Jersey high school in 1965. Parents and kids in the crowd were repelled by the “screeching urge of sound” from Lou Reed and his bandmates, a local reviewer wrote, and retreated in...
