Has Lollapalooza’s line up been leaked?!?!? Is the Red tour all Taylor Swift hoped and dreamed it would be? And what are Kate Nash‘s favorite cities to play in the world? All this in today’s Last Lap.
Billie Joe Armstrong Says He’s “Getting Better Everyday,” Green Day Are Ready To Resume Touring
Green Day‘s most ambitious 2012 came to a screeching halt last fall when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong melted-down onstage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. A screed loaded heavy with f-bombs about Justin Bieber and one guitar smashed later, he was checked into rehab. Soon thereafter the band announced that they were cancelling and postponing all the remainder of their tour in order to give Armstrong the time he needs. Now they seem determined to begin this new year on a bright note nonetheless, with news that Armstrong doing better and with the reveal of those aforementioned rescheduled tour dates.
“We want to thank everyone for hanging with us for the last few months,” the band writes in a note posted to their website on New Years Eve. And then, for the first time since his breakdown, Armstrong chimed to personally thank fans, friends and family for support. “I’m getting better everyday,” he writes. The re-booted tour begins again in Chicago in March and will wind through North America and Europe. Tickets for shows that had been postponed will be honored at the new dates. As Armstrong himself says: “So now, without further ado, the show must go on.”
Check out the rescheduled dates behind the jump:
Stream Green Day’s “Epic” Trilogy Finale ¡Tré!
And last but not least comes ¡Tré!, the final installment of Green Day‘s ambitious three-album run that’s already given us greats like the big-bikes-and-fake-blood fueled video for “Kill The DJ” and this vintage Green Day-y MTV VMA performance. These last twelve songs — now streaming in full thanks to iHeartRadio — are, by Billie Joe Armstrong‘s own description, “epic” and meant for “cleaning up the mess.” But “cleaning up the mess” in the most punk-y fun manner, of course, because nothing here is a drag.
Watch Green Day “Scare The Sh*t Out Of Themselves” In ¡Quatro! Documentary Sneak Peek
Their numbering system might be slightly off, but bear with us: Before ¡Trés!, the final installment in Green Day‘s ambitious ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Trés! trilogy drops on December 15th, comes ¡Quatro!, a documentary about their recording process that premieres tonight on VH1. And before we get ¡Quatro!, we get these sneak peeks.
Before embarking on this ambitions run, Green Day returned their act back to the intimate clubs and small venues they technically outgrew decades ago. “Playing clubs is really important to us because it just keeps us energized,” Billie Joe Armstrong explains of the shows that helped them shake of any dust and work out the kinks after so many years of performing together. “We needed to scare the sh*t out of ourselves a little bit.”
Green Day Catch A Break In New “Stray Heart” Video, You Can Now Stream ¡Dos!
Green Day have not let Billy Joe Armstrong’s recovery be more than a tiny kink their ambitious year-end plans. Save for a few postponed tour dates, they have gone ahead with the release of ¡Uno! in September and ¡Dos! just yesterday, as well as a barrage of music videos. The boys have clocked lots and lots of studio hours for these mostly performance-centric clips, but this new one for ¡Dos!’s “Stray Heart” finally lets them catch a break by leaving them out altogether. Instead of Billy Joe or Mike Dirnt, we get a Green Day (and vinyl) fan whose heart has literally strayed, leaving behind a gaping hole and a distressed girlfriend. It’s pretty cute — the animated organ-gone-rogue, particularly so! — and befitting of the sort of whimsy-punk song, which is probably the album’s most playful. Read more…
Postponed Tour Dates Won’t Stop Green Day From Making Music Videos And Releasing Albums
Unfortunately for fans, Green Day have begun scrapping and postponing tour dates so that Billie Joe Armstrong can continue to get the help he needs. All remaining 2012 dates have been cancelled, and the band is currently working to reschedule postponed 2013 dates. They aren’t letting Armstrong’s recovery slow them down otherwise, though: Rather, the band has opted to move up the release date for ¡Tre! to December 15th, just in time for those last minute holiday shoppers. “We feel bad we have to delay our tour, so to make up for it we want to give our fans the music earlier than we had planned,” Tre Cool explained. “If we couldn’t be there to play it for you live, the least we could do was give you the next best thing.”
Also for while we wait, they’ve dropped another treat: a brand-new clip for “The Forgotten,” their contribution to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 soundtrack. The video inter-cuts grainy footage of the guys in the studio with new (and teasing! Because, OMG look at how big Bella’s baby is!) footage from the final entry in the Twilight series. The song, also featured on ¡Tre!, is a big ballad that’s complete with a string section that’s reminiscent of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” and somberness that feels appropriate given the band’s recent struggles. “Don’t look away from the arms of a bad dream,” Armstrong sings. “Don’t look away from the arms of love.”
The full Breaking Dawn – Part 2 soundtrack is out November 13, and also features Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding, Feist and Christina Perri.
Tuned In: Alanis Morissette Covers “Basket Case” For Bilie Joe Armstrong On Jimmy Kimmel Live
Alanis Morissette filled in for Green Day on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, after they were forced to cancel their scheduled appearance after the weekend’s incidents. Although she could have used the time to do something off of her new album Havoc And Bright Lights, Morrissette opted instead to pay tribute to the great pop-punk band by performing an intriguing cover of Green Day’s 1994 classic, “Basket Case,” and by dedicating it to the currently struggling Billie Joe Armstrong.
Only a woman who has boasted about wearing her sweater backwards and inside out, as Morissette does in “All I Really Want,” can turn an agitated pop punk classic case into a piano and guitar ballad and make it sound so natural. Like Green Day in angst but not much more, she sang “I am one of those melodramatic fools/ neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it” like the line was written for her. So odd as the job may have been, she made for a great Green Day. And then when she was done, she very sweetly said “We love you Billie Joe.” Indeed.
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong Seeking Treatment After iHeartRadio Meltdown
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong is seeking treatment for substance abuse after a public meltdown at this weekend’s iHeartRadio Music Festival. Armstrong stormed off stage after the band was given the signal to wrap up their set in four minutes during the Vegas concert on Friday. Armstrong then declared he’s not “f–king Justin Bieber” and smashed his guitar.
“Green Day would like everyone to know that their set was not cut short by Clear Channel and to apologize to those they offended at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas,” the band’s rep announced Sunday. “The band regretfully must postpone some of their upcoming promotional appearances.”
[Photo: Getty Images]
P!NK and Gwen Stefani Perform “I’m Just A Girl,” One Of Many Surprises At iHeartRadio Music Festival
How does one even begin to recap a concert that lasted five and a half hours and featured 10 of the biggest names in music today? The second annual iHeartRadio Music Festival kicked off it’s two-day extravaganza yesterday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and fans weren’t disappointed. Usher, Rihanna, Green Day, No Doubt, and P!NK were just a few of the artist who brought hits, both old and new, to the stage.
The first major surprise of the night belonged to No Doubt.
When we heard from a few insiders that No Doubt would open the show with a little help from our friend and Storytellers subject P!NK, we had no idea how our wildest dream would actually come true. Would P!NK fly through the arena on her magic scarves and join Gwen and the crew for a revamped version of “Don’t Speak” or would she simple walk out on stage during the chorus of “Spiderwebs?” Neither one of those things happened. P!NK actually didn’t join No Doubt until midway through their set.
Billie Joe Armstrong Smashes Guitar, Declares He’s Not “F–king Justin Bieber” At The iHeartRadio Music Festival
We don’t know what happened before Green Day took the stage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival last night, but whatever it was sure put Billie Joe Armstrong in a mood. From the moment he spoke his first words into the mic, Billie Joe was in full rock star mode.
Billie Joe greeted the audience with, “Get your f–king lazy a–es in the air!” And they listened like obedient little rockers overcome with the intoxicating air of a band that is just as influential today as they were when they first started a couple of decades ago (more on that later). The crowd was dancing, singing, and playing along with Billie’s I-don’t-give-a-f–k attitude. Nearly every other word he spoke was a certain expletive that begins with an “f” and rhymes with “duck”. There wasn’t a person in the arena who didn’t feel sorry for the poor guy manning the dump button. The MGM Grand Garden Arena was electrified.
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