New videos posted on Rockgig

This time around we are celebrating the rock music of our youth - not the Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath of the 70's, but the classic, old school, British metal from our formative years

The videos are down there on the left side of the site (scroll down under the Review Archive) - but just in case you're reading this in the future and we've changed them.. here's what we had on offer :

UFO - Doctor Doctor - Live in 1976 with Michael Schenker on guitar

Saxon - 747 (Strangers in the night) - Live 1983 note the spandex and dodgy 'Tash combination

Gillan - Restless - live on Tiswas 1981 with Janick Gers on guitar. We could have chosen loads of Gillan but this one has the gorgeous Sally James on it too !

Iron Maiden - Running Free - on Top of the Pops 1980 with Paul Di'Anno on vocals

Judas Priest - Living After Midnight - Live 1982

Whitesnake - Don't break My Heart Again - 1981  Moody, Marsden, Murray, Lord, Paice and Coverdale -THE definitive Whitesnake line-up (ok we'll include Cozy Powell in there too)

Motorhead - Bomber - Live at their 1985 Birthday party.

Joe Satriani confirms new album "Black Swans & Wormhole Wizards"

Joe Satriani, one of rock music’s most renowned electric guitarists, (and a reader of this very website!) has announced details of his highly anticipated 14th studio album: "Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards". The album will be released in the UK on Monday October 4th by Epic records and dovetails Satch’s autumn 2010 UK tour, which kicks off on October 17th at the Manchester Apollo.

Satriani asked his Twitter followers "What should my new CD be called? Fill in the blank: Joe Satriani and ........"  ..looks like he decided on a different title after all!

On the new album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, Satriani’s classic sound is accompanied by a surprisingly rich new texture.  The first single "Light Years Away" is destined to be a hit, alongside several other high energy offerings, like “Wormhole Wizards” and “Premonition.”

Satriani joined with former Van Halen front man Sammy Hagar, former bassist Michael Anthony, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith, to form one of our all time favourite bands, Chickenfoot. After a highly successful world tour, their self-titled debut album was certified gold in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America with over half a million sales.

Over the last two decades, Joe Satriani has traveled the world, playing to sold-out crowds as both a headliner and as founder of the all-star “G3” guitar extravaganza. As one of the world’s most renowned instrumental artists  Of his many solo albums, two have gone platinum and four others went gold, with 15 Grammy nominations between them.

The UK release of Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards dovetails Joe Satriani’s autumn 2010 UK tour, tickets for all UK shows are on sale now and available from the national credit card hotline 0844 888 9991 or can be booked online at www.ticketline.co.uk.

JOE SATRIANI - UK TOUR DATES
SUNDAY OCTOBER 17TH – MANCHESTER APOLLO
MONDAY OCTOBER 18TH – BRISTOL COLSTON HALL
TUESDAY 19TH OCTOBER – LONDON HMV HAMMERSMITH APOLLO
THURSDAY 21ST OCTOBER – NEWCASTLE CITY HALL
FRIDAY 22ND OCTOBER – GLASGOW CLYDE AUDITORIUM
SATURDAY 23RD OCTOBER – BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL

Europe's album nominated at Classic Rock 'Roll of Honour' Awards

Classic Rock Magazine has revealed the nominations for their annual awards bash – The Classic Rock 'Roll Of Honour' Awards which takes place on Wednesday 10 November at London’s Roundhouse, hosted by Alice Cooper.

For the first time in the awards’ history the show will also feature live performances from Cheap Trick and Alter Bridge.

Six of the categories on the night, including Album of the Year, for which Europe's Last Look At Eden has been included in the list of initial nominations, will be decided by the public vote (see the categories to vote for by visiting the following link -http://awards2010.classicrockmagazine.com/index.php).

There will be a number of special achievement awards on the night, with the winners to be revealed over the coming months.


The Album of the Year category is a very impressive list, just proving that some of the Old Guard in rock music can still produce the goods, with brilliant new albums from Cheap Trick (their strongest album for some time), Slash, Iron Maiden, Ratt, Foreigner, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Scorpions. Regular readers will know that here at Rockgig we were mightily impressed with a certain Swedish band's new album, obviously we don't want to influence your vote, but here's a clue to one of our favourites...

Rock music fans are being asked to cast their votes for Best Album of the Year from the following list of initial nominations -

Album Of The Year:

Europe - Last Look At Eden
Cheap Trick – The Latest
Bigelf – Cheat The Gallows
Slash – Slash
Kiss – Sonic Boom
Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg
Iron Maiden – The Final Frontier
Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue
Lynyrd Skynyrd – God & Guns
Gaslight Anthem – American Slang
The Scorpions – Sting In The Tail
Ratt – Infestation
Foreigner – Can’t Slow Down
Black Crowes – Before The Frost…
Steve Hackett – Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth

Cast your vote for the Album of the Year here -

http://awards2010.classicrockmagazine.com/index.php

Free Download of "One Last Soul" from Black Country Communion

Go to the Black Country Communion website (or click here) and download One Last Soul from the new album from Black Country Communion featuring Joe Bonamassa and Glenn Hughes.  Enter the code OLS2010 at the checkout to get it completely free !

(Photo credit: © Robert Knight)

VIP tickets now available for Steve Lukather gigs

To coincide with the October 11th release of Steve Lukather's new album "All's Well That Ends Well", Steve Lukather is offering fans a chance to buy exclusive V.I.P. tickets to his November UK tour. The dates include London O2 Academy (Nov 18), The Robin 2 in Wolverhampton (Nov 19) and The Brook in Southampton (Nov 20).

There are 25 V.I.P. tickets up for grabs for each concert. The package includes a 30-minute meet and greet, a V.I.P. pass for early entry to the concert, a signed limited edition digibook album, autographed tour poster, exclusive tour T-shirt, and an opportunity to watch the sound check.

To order the V.I.P. tickets please visit - www.mascotrecords.com/luke/vipticketsshop.htm

Listen to the début album from "The Union"

THE UNION is a new band formed by LUKE MORLEY, formerly the guitarist for legendary UK rock band THUNDER and ex WINTERVILLE vocalist/guitarist PETER SHOULDER

LUKE MORLEYwas lead guitarist, chief songwriter and producer for THUNDER from the band’s inception in 1989 until their split in 2009.

PETER SHOULDER was the vocalist and songwriter of WINTERVILLE. He is one of only three British artists (the other two being Eric Clapton and Peter Green) to win a W.C. Handy Blues Foundation award, presented in Memphis in 2006 for co-writing the American Blues Song of the Year.

Their début album comes out in a few weeks but you can hear it on Rockgig, right here, right now... and if you like it.. then click the link to order it!

Europe Announce UK Tour for early 2011

Europe have announced their new Balls N’ Banners UK Tour 2011.  Hot off their knockout performances at this year’s iTunes Festival in London, and the Sonisphere Festival, Sweden’s biggest hard rock band will undertake a nationwide UK tour in February 2011 (their first since 2010’s Last Look At Eden tour).

Tickets are on sale now and are priced £17.50, with the exception of London (£18).

The tour follows last year’s critically acclaimed new studio album “Last Look At Eden” which features the singles “New Love In Town” and the majestic title track. Our man ME raved about the album (just here) saying that this album put "Europe back up in the position they deserve as one of the world's premier melodic rock bands." Classic Rock Magazine last year rated “Last Look At Eden” as one of the best hard rock albums of 2009, citing Europe as "One of the few bands around still making consistently thrilling rock records". Metal Hammer Magazine praised Europe for their outstanding live shows – “Europe’s show pulls together all ages and tastes for a feel-good finale that smells like total victory.”

Best known for their 1986 smash anthem “The Final Countdown,” the Swedish rockers received unanimous praise for their heavier, bluesy metal sound, and recently performed at festivals around the globe during the summer of 2010, including the UK’s own iTunes and Sonisphere Festivals.

Europe vocalist Joey Tempest believes that it is the strength of the band’s last album that is responsible for their current success – “You can’t make this stuff up! Our latest CD “Last Look At Eden” has really turned things around for us."

Tempest continues "You have to remember… We're just five punks who grew up in the suburbs of Stockholm listening to British rock. Now here we are playing the iTunes festival and Sonisphere... It's absolutely mind-blowing"

"We're gonna bring something very special when we return to the U.K in February 2011, we're having the time of our lives right now and the audience will experience a Europe-camp that's ON FIRE!”

You can check out the Europe news stories at their media blog - http://europethebandmedia.blogspot.com/

You can download an EP of Europe live at the iTunes festival in London earlier this year by going to http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/itunes-festival-london-2010/id384927667

Photo Credit for colour photographs - © Denis O'Regan.  

Photo Credit for b&w group photograph – © Fredrik Etoall

(Click on the photos to see them in all their glory ! )

Europe's Balls 'N' Banners UK Tour starts February 17th 2011.  Ticket Hotline excluding Manchester: 0844 477 2000, Manchester Tickets: 0161 832 1111.  Book online -www.ticketweb.co.uk, www.ticketline.co.uk.  Dates include - Glasgow 02 ABC (Feb 17), Birmingham O2 Academy (Feb 18), London 02 Shepherd's Bush Empire (Feb 19), Oxford O2 Academy (Feb 21), BournemouthO2 Academy (Feb 22), Bristol O2 Academy (Feb 23), Manchester Academy 2 (Feb 25), Leeds O2 Academy (Feb 26), Newcastle O2 Academy (Feb 27). Further info: www.europetheband.com.

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Black Country Communion - Bonamassa & Hughes solo tours

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We're all getting very excited at Rockgig about the forthcoming album from Black Country Communion - the group that combines the legendary talents of Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian.


We hope to have a review prior to it's release on September 20th - but until then you can take it as gospel that it's going to be an almighty album and you can pre-order it from Amazon for well under a tenner by clicking this link at the end of this post.


To get you  salivating about this even more,  Bonamassa and Hughes have both announced solo UK tours.


Joe Bonamassa's UK tour is :

• Folkstone Leas Cliff Hall(Oct 9th)
• Cambridge Corn Exchange (Oct 10)
•  Bridlington Spa (Oct 11),
• Ipswich Regent Theatre (Oct 13)
• Bristol Colston Hall (Oct 14)
• Manchester Apollo (Oct 15)
• Newcastle City Hall (Oct 17)
• Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (Oct 18)
• Leicester De Montfort Hall (Oct 19)

  24 Hour Box Office: 0871 230 1101, www.seetickets.com, www.thegigcartel.com

Not to be outdone by his new band-mate, Glenn Hughes starts his nationwide autumn UK tour on September 23^rd. Ticket Hotline: 0871 230 1101.  Book Online: www.seetickets.com, www.thegigcartel.com.

• Manchester Academy 3 (Sept 23)
• Holmfirth Picturedome (Sept 24)
• O2 ABC Glasgow (Sept 25)
• Gateshead Sage (Sept 27)
• Wolverhampton Robin (Sept 28)
• Nottingham Rescue Rooms (Sept 29)
• Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre (Oct 1)
• Falmouth Pavilion (Oct 2)
• Cardiff Millennium Music Hall (Oct 3)
• London O2 Academy Islington (Oct 5)
• Reading Sub 89 (Oct 6)
• Leamington Spa Assembly (Oct 7)
• Belfast Spring & Airbrake (Oct 9)
• Bristol The Fleece (Oct 12)
• Southampton The Brook (Oct 13).

Black Country Communion's début album is released by Mascot records on Monday September 20th. For further information, visit the official website www.bccommunion.com. 


For a free download (for a limited time) on the track "One Last Soul" from the album, click here and enter promo code OLS2010 



Photo Credits : 
Black Country Communion : Robert Knight
Joe Bonamassa - (C) Christie Goodwin
Glenn Hughes - (C) John Rahim

New Album and European tour from Steve Lukather

Guitarist, vocalist, composer, producer and arranger, Steve Lukather is set to release his new solo album All’s Well That Ends Well on Monday 11th October 2010.

This new album from the founding member of Toto, is laden with extraordinary guitar playing performed across some of the best and most emotional songs of Steve’s career. Fee Waybill of the Tubes is featured on backing vocals and contributes to some of the co-song writing with CJ Vanston and Lukather

Track Listing:

1. Darkness In My World                              Running time 47:21
2. On My Way Home
3. Can't Look Back                                       Album will be released in 3 versions:
4. Don't Say It's Over                                    M 7308 1 Vinyl
5. Flash In The Pan                                        M 7308 2 Jewel case CD
6. Watching The World                                  M 7322 2 Limited Edition CD 
7. You'll Remember
8. Brodie's
9. Tumescent

“I’m very excited because I have some great new music,” says Lukather. “I am trying for a personal best and working very hard on all aspects of music.  It’s a journey that’s for sure.”

For over 30 years Lukather has been known as one of the founding members of the multi million selling band ‘Toto’. He has played on hundreds of albums with the biggest stars and music legends including Van Halen, Whitney Houston, Alice Cooper, George Benson, Rod Stewart and even played guitar on Michael Jackson’s multi-million selling milestone album ‘Thriller’.

Along with several Grammy Awards over the years, in April 2010 he received the international Eddy Christiani Award for 33 years of guitar mastership.

To coincide with the release of the album, Steve will embark on a European tour in November that will take in concerts in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland and England. The concerts will showcase classics from his all his solo albums, Toto, plus tracks from his new album.

2010 UK Tour Dates

Doors open at 7pm

Agency & CC Bookings subject to a fee

Thursday 18th November 2010 

o2 Islington Academy London

Tickets: £25 / Box Office: 0844 477 2000 / www.o2academyislington.co.uk

N1 Centre, 16 Parkfield Street,

London, N1 0PS

Friday 19th November 2010

The Robin 2 Bilston

Tickets: £23/£25 / Box Office: 01902 401211 / www.therobin.co.uk

20-28 Mount Pleasant, Bilston,

Wolverhampton WV14 7LJ

Saturday 20th November 2010

The Brook Southampton

Tickets: £23/£25 / Box Office: 023 80555366 / www.the-brook.com  

The Brook, 466 Portswood Road,

Southampton, SO7 3SD

www.stevelukather.net / www.mascot-provogue.com