Elvis Costello: Last News

Green Day have celebrated the 33rd anniversary of their debut album ’39/Smooth’ with a never-before-seen video and photos.The pop-punk icons shared an Instagram post that featured old throwbacks of the line-up that consisted of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Durnt and original drummer John Kiffmeyer.They also unveiled a video of them performing the LP’s track ‘Paper Lantern’ in a backyard in their home city of Oakland, California, a couple of weeks before the album’s release.A post shared by Green Day (@greenday)’39/Smooth’ was released on April 13, 1990 via Lookout! Records. It was later reissued in 1991 under the title ‘1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour’s, which included their earlier EPs ‘1,000 Hours’ and ‘Slappy’.Fans took to the comments section to celebrate the anniversary of the “bloody great album”.

Summerfest’s truly staggering 2023 lineup made up of over 100 of the biggest artists in country, rock, R&B, hip-hop and EDM.Taking place over three weekends in Milwaukee, WI, just a few of the top spots on the bill this year belong to major headliners like Eric Church, Zac Brown Band, Zach Bryan, Dave Matthews Band and James Taylor with Sheryl Crow.They’ll be joined by heavy hitters like Earth Wind and Fire, The Avett Brothers, Odesza, Imagine Dragons and Elvis Costello.Heck, even a few surprise groups from yesterday like A Flock of Seagulls, Smokey Robinson, Three 6 Mafia, Cypress Hill and Vanilla Fudge will be on hand to celebrate the annual festival’s 55th anniversary.Plus, 38 Special, Spin Doctors, Styx, Smash Mouth and Wang Chung too. Sorry — we couldn’t help ourselves.

After telling all nearly 22 years ago, Bebe Buell wants to set the record straight. The former model and rock star muse, who went on to become a momager to daughter Liv Tyler, first co-wrote a memoir titled "Rebel Heart" in 2001. But this time, the 69-year-old was eager to share her story on her terms.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic What the world needs now is Burt, sweet Burt, and there’s a bereft feeling to be had in knowing we won’t be getting any more of the haunting, mind-twisting melodies that characterized the composer’s work over a period of more than six decades of sumptuous pop. But Burt Bacharach left a gift behind — something he actually held the finished product of in his hands, before he died Feb. 8 at age 94: “The Songs of Bacharach & Costello,” a deluxe boxed set of the material he worked on with Elvis Costello from the mid-’90s on up till nearly the present day. As anthologized by Costello with Steve Berkowitz (who also helps assemble Bob Dylan’s “Bootleg Series” sets), the new collection is a worthy testament to a true maestro who was doing some of the best work of his life in his final decades.

Madonna, Guns N’ Roses, Duran Duran, B-52s, Bruce Springsteen and many, many more.In fact, over 100 more.You wouldn’t believe it but A Flock of Seagulls, Rick Springfield, Slick Rick, Kenny G and Billy Idol are all performing live over the next few months as well.With that being said, it doesn’t matter if singling along to “Like A Virgin,” “Welcome to the Jungle” or “Born In The U.S.A.” sends you back — we’ve got ‘something for everyone.Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of 107 rock, pop, hard rock, alternative rock, new wave, R&B, hip-hop, jazz, folk, country, punk and Latin concert options to choose from.Plus, if you scroll to the bottom we have the ultimate ’80s-tastic festival.So, if you want to re-live your Gen X glory days or catch your favorite group live for the first time, here’s who you have to see and everything you need to know about each and every tour from opening acts to tour dates to how to get tickets.Now, fire up the time machine (and grab your shoulder pads, leg warmers, and gold lamé leotards while you’re at it) — we’re going back to the ’80s.Runs March 2 through Dec. 10(co-headlining w/ Stevie Nicks on select dates as part of ‘Two Icons, One Night’ Tour)Runs March 10 through Nov. 10(co-headlining w/ Billy Joel on select dates as part of ‘Two Icons, One Night’ Tour)Runs March 10 through Nov. 10Runs April 16 through May 8Featuring Toto on select datesRuns March 1 through May 19Runs March 1 through April 8Runs March 1 through June 24Featuring John MayerRuns May 4 through July 16Runs April 27 through June 30Featuring Loverboy on select datesRuns March 24 through Sept. 30Runs March 30 through Sept. 3Featuring Iggy Pop, The Strokes, St. Vincent, Mars Volta, The Roots and moreRuns March 29 through July

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It used to be that it was considered a Herculean feat if artists dug into their back catalogs to recreate two, three or even four classic albums in their entirety for a run of back-to-back concerts. Now, Elvis Costello has pulled off something to make even a stunt like that seem like the stuff of slackers. His 10-night stand at New York’s Gramercy Theatre was billed as “100 Songs and More,” with the artist laying out 10 unique songs he would be playing each night, just as a starting point. By the time the run wrapped up with one final three-hour show Wednesday night, the emphasis was on the …and more, with Costello actually having played exactly 250 songs over the course of the Feb. 9-22 residency (not counting interpolations), with only a handful of those breaking his vow to have no repeats between shows.

Elvis Costello has shared what the late Burt Bacharach was like to work with in the studio.The pair met in 1989 while working at the same recording studio, and continued working together for almost three decades.Costello was discussing working on their 1998 joint album ‘Painted From Memory’ in an interview with The Times and said that Bacharach was “very considerate, but he won’t let anything get in the way of the music, and all the geniality and elegance on the surface of the songs hides the power at the heart of them”.He continued: “Once he gets the shape of a melody he won’t negotiate. ‘Could I get a triplet, so I can use it against this three-syllable word?’ – ‘No, you can’t.’ After a while, the sheer rigour of his approach makes you fall into line.”Such “chance encounters” like he and Bacharach had, Costello said, don’t happen today because most artists work and collaborate remotely.

The music community has been paying tribute to Burt Bacharach, who has died aged 94. A representative confirmed to media that the legendary music-maker died on Wednesday at home in LA of natural causes.Born in Kansas City, Bacharach studied music at universities and schools in Montreal, New York and California.

The celebration of the best in Latin music is upon us with the Latin Grammys 2022 and new performers have been added to the gala set to take place in Las Vegas.

Green Day have come good on their teaser from earlier this week, revealing an expansive deluxe edition of their fifth album, ‘Nimrod’ – dubbed ‘Nimrod XXV’ – alongside a previously unreleased demo from its recording sessions.The drop comes exactly 25 years since the band released ‘Nimrod’ – the follow-up to 1995’s ‘Insomniac’ (for which Green Day also released a quarter-centennial edition) first hit shelves on October 14, 1997. It spawned four singles: ‘Hitchin’ A Ride’, ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’, ‘Redundant’ and ‘Nice Guys Finished Last’.The original album sported 18 tracks (tying it with 2009’s ‘21st Century Breakdown’ as Green Day’s longest), but a Japanese edition featured a bonus song called ‘Desensitized’, while an Australian version also featured the demos ‘Suffocate’, ‘Do Da Da’ and ‘You Lied’.

When actor and singer Rita Wilson was a young girl, she and her Greek mother would bond over listening to songs on the radio, especially ’70s singer-songwriters.

Jeff Bridges and Helen Mirren have been listed as just two of the names who will be reading chapters on the audiobook edition of Bob Dylan‘s forthcoming essay collection.The book, The Philosophy of Modern Song, contains over 60 essays written by Dylan about songs by artists such as Stephen Foster, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams and Nina Simone. It is set for release on November 1.Sissy Spacek, Oscar Isaac and Steve Buscemi will also be reading essays written by Dylan.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The question is no longer just what Bob Dylan will have to say about Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up” or the Clash’s “London Calling” when he writes about them in his new book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song.” Now we can wonder how Helen Mirren or Renée Zellweger will sound giving voice to Dylan’s prose as they read those chapters, respectively, in the audiobook version, which, like the hardback, arrives Nov. 1. Variety previously reported the titles of the historical songs Dylan has written essays about for the tome, followed by the the names of the actors enlisted to read individual chapters for the audiobook, but those two lists hadn’t been paired up till now. A look at the list below, being revealed for the first time today, shows that all of the stars involved have been given multiple assignments, including Jeff Bridges, Oscar Isaac, Rita Moreno, Jeffrey Wright, Sissy Spacek, John Goodman, Alfre Woodard and Steve Buscemi as well as Mirren and Zellweger.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The list of narrators for the audiobook version of Bob Dylan’s upcoming book has come to light, and it reads like a who’s who of Oscar contenders from the past few decades, along with the author himself doing some of the reading. The lineup of voice talent reading chapters from “The Philosophy of Modern Song” aloud includes Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Oscar Isaac, Helen Mirren, Rita Moreno, Sissy Spacek, Alfre Woodard, Jeffrey Wright and Renée Zellweger. This lineup of all-star Dylan surrogates has yet to be officially announced. It was first published by the U.K. magazine Uncut; Variety has confirmed the list.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It’s practically unheard of for artists in the rock realm to publicly announce their setlists before shows have even gone on sale, but Elvis Costello has taken things a step or two beyond that. In announcing a 10-night stand he’ll be doing in New York City in February, Costello said he would be performing at least 200 unique songs over the run, and revealed partial setlists containing 10 of the 20-plus numbers he plans to perform each night, touching on every famous or obscure part of his career. The 10 shows will take place over a two-week period Feb. 9-22, 2023, at Manhattan’s intimate Gramercy Theatre. Tickets go on sale for Citi card members today and to the general public on Friday. A 10-night pass is being offered on top of tickets for the individual shows.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Nick Lowe and Shakespeare were wrong, about having to be cruel to be kind. A tour stop Tuesday in Anaheim that had Lowe supporting headliner Elvis Costello as an opening act before eventually joining him for three climactic duets was kindly and 100% cruelty-free, reuniting the two former studio workmates in a fashion that made it seem as if no 40-year intervals had passed at all, except for the incidental actually-getting-better factors. (You’re not getting older, you’re getting Basher, etc.) Not that the show at the City National Grove of Anaheim — one of several SoCal appearances this week by Costello, with and without Lowe in tow — needed its crowning dream-teaminess to come up aces. Costello’s current sets with the Imposters represent the best example rock ‘n’ roll has at the moment of a vast catalog of classic material played with improvisational vigor by one of the great bands the medium has known, augmented by fresh material that can stand proudly alongside the vintage. “Indoor Fireworks” was one of the quieter songs performed Tuesday, but it’s an apt description of what’s occurring on this can’t-miss outing (with apologies to the shed stops where the group pyro happens outdoors).

Elvis Costello has unveiled details of a huge 10-night residency in New York next year.Costello revealed the plans for the residency while on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon and said the gigs would feature a changing setlist.“I’m gonna play a 10-night stand in New York City next February,” Costello explained on the show.“But here’s the thing – I’m going to print a list of 10 songs a night that’s gonna give you a clue to what the night’s gonna be like. And the other 10 songs that I might play are a secret.”He went on to say that fans will “never hear the same song twice” and that the setlists would add up to “200 songs [played] over 10 nights.”He also revealed that for fans wanting to go to all 10 nights of the residency, a “special price” would be set.The residency will take place at Gramercy Theatre in February 2023.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticBilly Joe Shaver, one of the figureheads of the “outlaw country” movement that came out of Texas and flourished in the 1970s, is the subject of a forthcoming tribute album that sees some of the top names in country and Americana saluting the late legend, including Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Nathaniel Rateliff, Rodney Crowell and Margo Price. The project, “Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver,” comes out on New West Nov.

who quit the regular show, Pointless, earlier this year, sees four teams of contestants — this time, it was celebrity broadcasters Arielle Free, Toby Anstis, Sonny Jay, Josie D'Arby, Neev Spencer, Colin Murray, Elis James and John Robins — try to come up with obscure answers that no-one else from the show's 100 anonymous panellists could think of. The team with the least number of points, wins. In this celebrity special, the broadcasters are playing to win a jackpot of money for charity.

The Pogues bassist Darryl Hunt had died at the age of 72.Hunt, who joined the band in 1986, died in London yesterday (August 8).The Pogues wrote on Twitter that they were “saddened beyond words” to share the news. No information about the cause of his death has been shared publicly.The band posted a black-and-white photo of Hunt holding a guitar case, paying tribute by quoting the lyrics of their song ‘Love You Till the End’ (written by Hunt) with: “I know you want to hear me catch my breath/ I love you till the end.”We are saddened beyond words.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon has some new co-hosts.