June 2022 News

by Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY | Photy by Kevin Mazur, Getty Images for Live Nation




WASHINGTON - Shortly after finishing a boisterous set of party-vibe rock anthems, Poison frontman Bret Michaels grinned as he expressed his feelings about the first few dates of The Stadium Tour.

"The fans are having a great time and we're having a great time," he said in his small "quick change" tent backstage, his red bandana soaked with sweat and his spirit still high from bouncing around the Nationals Park stage. "I'm letting everything hang out."

He paused and laughed: "Wait, check that. I'm giving 1,000%. It's nice to survive and thrive. The expectations (for this tour) were high and it's exceeded my expectations."

Three years of planning and two years delayed because of COVID-19, The Stadium Tour showcases the titans of '80s-era hard rock. Poison is the sandwich act on this massive rock circus that erupted last week in Atlanta and will crisscross the country until wrapping in Las Vegas in September. Los Angeles-bred Classless Act kick-starts the six-hours of music, followed by the ageless JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, Poison and headliners Motley Crue and Def Leppard, who flip-flop closing slots each show.

Wednesday's D.C. production in front of about 40,000 fans also marked the second of the first four dates disrupted by rain and lightning.

At the close of their stomp-along smash "Pour Some Sugar On Me," Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott informed the audience that incoming bad weather necessitated a hasty end to their visually dazzling performance ("Pyromania" stingers "Rock of Ages" and "Photograph" remained).

by Bryan Rolli




JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS heated up an already-sun-kissed crowd at Atlanta's Truist Park on the first night of the long-awaited Stadium Tour, a lineup which also featured Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Poison.

Jett began her set with "Victim of Circumstance," the high-octane album cut from her 1981 LP I Love Rock 'n Roll. From there, she launched into "Cherry Bomb," one of two songs in the set from her years in the RUNAWAYS.

Other performance highlights included some of Jett's famous covers, including renditions of "Light of Day" (Bruce Springsteen), "Everyday People" (Sly & the Family Stone) and "Crimson & Clover" (Tommy James & the Shondells).

You can see Jett's full set list below.

The Stadium Tour has been a long time coming. Originally scheduled for summer 2020, the trek was postponed first to 2021, and ultimately to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the interim, Jett released her first-ever acoustic album, Changeup, featuring new renditions of several of her most popular songs. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer only delivered one unplugged song during her set -- "(I'm Gonna) Run Away" -- and admitted it felt a little strange to perform acoustically.

Jett also recently made headlines by trading barbs with Ted Nugent, who criticized her inclusion on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 100 greatest guitarists (a list that has since been updated more than once). When asked about Nugent's complaints, Jett told NME, "Well, that's just typical - it's what I've dealt with my whole life, being written off. Ted Nugent has to live with being Ted Nugent. He has to be in that body, so that's punishment enough."

Jett, meanwhile, will get to reap the benefits of the Stadium Tour for the rest of the summer. The trek will traverse North America before wrapping on Sept. 9 in Las Vegas.

JOAN JETT, 6/16/22, Truist Park in Atlanta
1. "Victim of Circumstance"
2. "Cherry Bomb"
3. "Light of Day"
4. "You Drive Me Wild"
5. "Everyday People"
6. "Fake Friends"
7. "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)"
8. "I Love Rock 'n' Roll"
9. "Crimson & Clover"
10. "(I'm Gonna) Run Away"
11. "Bad Reputation"
12. "I Hate Myself for Loving You"

by Sarah Grant




Sept. 27 event follows a similarly star-studded tribute on Sept. 3 in London.

Hours after unveiling the star-packed lineup for a Taylor Hawkins tribute concert on Sept. 3 at London's Wembley Stadium, Foo Fighters have revealed the guest artists for a second Hawkins celebration on Sept. 27 at the KIA Forum in Los Angeles. Tickets for both shows go on sale Friday (June 17) at 9 a.m. local time.

Many of the same London performers will be on hand in Los Angeles, including Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor, Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme and The Police's Stewart Copeland. Exclusive to the L.A. tribute are Alanis Morissette, with whom Hawkins worked during her massive Jagged Little Pill tour, Miley Cyrus, JOAN JETT, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Rage Against The Machine's Brad Wilk.

Additional guests will be announced soon. The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts will benefit charities in both the U.S. and the U.K., chosen by the Hawkins family. Beneficiaries and further details are forthcoming.

The concerts will cover the full spectrum of Hawkins' musical career, from the Foos to his solo work with projects like The Coattail Riders. They will also be the first time the surviving Foo Fighters members have played publicly since Hawkins' sudden March 25 death in Colombia.

by Gil Kaufman




"My question is this: When will SeaWorld end its sordid breeding program?" Jett said at the virtual meeting.

JOAN JETT attended SeaWorld's virtual annual shareholders meeting on Monday (June 13) to take the amusement park's leaders to task on behalf of animal rights non-profit PETA over what the organization calls SeaWorld's "sordid breeding program."

"SeaWorld has caused public outrage by continuing to forcibly breed bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales in order to create generations of animals who then suffer in cramped tanks, deprived of any semblance of a natural life," Jett said to the SeaWorld board about the park's captive breeding program.

"In the park's breeding program, unwilling female dolphins are taken from the water and sometimes even drugged so they can't fight back while SeaWorld staff thrust tubes filled with semen into their uteruses," she continued. "Some must endure this process repeatedly, only for their babies to die or be taken away and shipped off to other marine prisons. We can all agree that sexually abusing dolphins and whales who must carry out their forced pregnancies is disrespectful to these forms of intelligent life, heedless of these wonderful animals' rights, and just plain wrong. My question is this: When will SeaWorld end its sordid breeding program?"

In a statement shared with Billboard, SeaWorld said that it's "more important now than ever to educate the public about marine animals" and to have "healthy populations in accredited and certified zoological settings" such as their own. "Having a zoological program allows us to be one of the foremost experts in marine mammal research, rescue, and rehabilitation. Over its history, SeaWorld has come to the aid of more than 40,000 marine animals in the wild who have been injured or stranded," the organization continued. "The knowledge gained in our zoological setting helps researchers, scientists and veterinarians to conserve these majestic animals in the wild. Marine animals are receiving the highest standard of care from our team of world-renowned veterinarians, zoologists and other animal care specialists."

According to PETA, forced impregnation is not the only "misery" these sensitive animals face at the marine mammal parks. "In nature, these intelligent animals would be swimming dozens of miles a day with their family pods, exploring their vast ocean home, and maintaining close relationships within their dynamic social structures," the organization's press release noted. PETA's release also claims that "approximately 140 dolphins are packed together into just seven small tanks, where they suffer from the stress of years of intensive confinement." The animal welfare group alleges that dolphins have no way to escape from one another, resulting in fights and injuries.

PETA has long lambasted SeaWorld for its treatment of marine animals, and Jett joins a number of other acts who've taken SeaWorld to task in the past over its breeding and animal training programs, including P!nk, Steve Aoki and Noah Cyrus.

by Ken Kelley




Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison and JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS will finally embark on one of the year's most highly anticipated tours this summer.

The Stadium Tour was originally set to launch in the summer of 2020, then postponed to 2021 and again to 2022. The trek will now begin in Atlanta on June 16 and wrap up in Las Vegas on Sept. 9, with new, additional show dates having been added to the schedule.

In one corner of the ring, we have Motley Crue, the band that famously swore off touring in a highly publicized press event at the outset of 2014 before destroying its "Cessation of Touring Agreement" shortly before this upcoming jaunt was announced in 2019.

In the opposite corner is Def Leppard, one of the most durable bands on the touring circuit. To their left is Poison, whose penchant for dirty talk and fallen angels still resonates with audiences today. And last but certainly not least, we see Jett, a former Runaway-done-good whose career has spanned more than four decades. But how do the four acts stack up against one another? We take a look at a Tale of the Tape below.

CURRENT LINEUP

Motley Crue: Vince Neil (vocals), Nikki Sixx (bass, vocals), Mick Mars (guitar), Tommy Lee (drums)
Def Leppard: Joe Elliott (vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, vocals), Vivian Campbell (guitar), Rick Savage (bass), Rick Allen (drums)
Poison: Bret Michaels (vocals), C.C. DeVille (guitar), Bobby Dall (bass), Rikki Rockett (drums)
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS: JOAN JETT (vocals, guitar), DOUGIE NEEDLES (guitar), Hal B. Selzer (bass), Michael McDermott (drums)

FORMED/HOMETOWN