Today's Day in Rock Stories

Guns N' Roses And Former Guitarist Didn't 'Quit Pretty' 2017 In Review

"Before you were born - there he is - 1973, in New York City, this guy and I and two other guys put together a band we never saw onstage - let's hear it for Ace Frehley," Simmons told the crowd as he welcomed the rocker to the stage. "He still looks great, goddamn it, doesn't he?" as Frehley began the intro to "Parasite," from KISS' second album, 1974's "Hotter Than Hell."

Alongside Simmons solo touring lineup, the pair then delivered "Cold Gin" from the band's self-titled 1974 debut and "Shock Me" from 1977's "Love Gun", before inviting dozens of fans on stage for the finale of KISS' signature song, "Rock And Roll All Nite."

The rocker was wandering across the stage during a performance of the "Hardwired�To Self-Destruct" track, "Now That We're Dead", when he walked into a newly-opened hole in the stage floor from where one of four rectangular percussion tables would soon appear during the song.

Metallica's crew members quickly assisted Hetfield's return to center stage as the guitarist barely missed a beat after appearing slightly shaken in the moment. "Is everybody ok?" Hefield asked the crowd after the tune. "Yes, I'm ok. My ego, not so much. But we're fine. Hurt my feelings, maybe, a little bit."

The first of two gigs in Amsterdam - the second is set for September 6 - follow the launch of the European leg of the group's WorldWired tour in Copenhagen, Denmark on September 2.

After chants of "Bruce!" echoed through the arena, McCartney and Springsteen performed the Beatles' classic "I Saw Her Standing There" not once, but twice.

"Are you guys ready to rock?" McCartney asked the crowd as Springsteen and Van Zandt strapped on their guitars. The Boss was all smiles and he bowed down to McCartney before they started the song. They played the tune twice because, even though first go-through rocked, well, he wanted to do it again. And at his shows, he's the boss.

"Steven Tyler is seeking immediate care and has been advised by his doctors that he cannot travel or perform at this time," said the Boston band in a statement. "Therefore, the last four shows of the South American tour will be canceled.

"Steven is expected to make a full recovery. With proper rest and treatment he will be back on his feet soon rocking the world." The affected dates include stops scheduled over the next two weeks in Curitiba, Brazil (Sep 27); Santiago, Chile (Sep 30); Rosario, Argentina (Oct 3); and, Monterrey, Mexico (Oct 7).

"To everybody in South America....Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Mexico... I'm very sorry and feel like I've let you down," says Tyler. "I won't be able to continue the last four shows of this tour. I flew back to the US on doctor's orders last night after the show in S�o Paulo. Please not to worry... I am not in a life threatening condition, but I need to deal with this right away, and get some rest and medical care immediately in order to sustain and maintain my future performances.

The wild revelation came when Manson was talking to Consequence of Sound about a recent line of $195 Justin Bieber T-shirts that were just old Marilyn Manson shirts with Bieber's name tacked onto the back.

"He was [already] wearing the shirt that had his name on my shirt, and he said to me, 'I made you relevant again,'" Manson revealed, adding that Bieber was proud to say the shirts were his idea. "Bad mistake to say to me," snarled Manson.

"The next day I told him I'd be at his soundcheck at Staples Center to do 'Beautiful People,'" Manson added, never intending to actually appear or perform with Bieber. But the self-proclaimed Antichrist Superstar said that the pop star believed Manson would show "because he was that stupid."

Manson was much happier to reveal he took all of the profits from the T-shirts, explaining that "They didn't even fight, they were just like, 'yea, we already know, we did wrong, so here's the money.'"

The band issued a statement on September 11 regarding the passing and cancellations, saying that they "want to thank all their fans for their support and understanding at this time," while adding, "Steve Howe and family ask for their privacy to be respected during this difficult time."

Blackmore recently said that he would be open to a special reunion with the band but added that he didn't "believe Deep Purple would be interested." It turns out that he was correct.

Frontman Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice were asked about the possibility during a SiriusXM Town Hall show (via Classic Rock) and Gillian said, "I get on great with Ritchie these days, but I don't think Ritchie's playing great these days. And for that reason mostly, I don't think it would work."

Glover also said, "I don't think he approves of me very much because of the remixes and remasters that I did of the older albums. That's what I've heard anyway." He added, "You can never say never, but I would doubt it very much."

Paice felt that the band currently has the perfect lineup. "I enjoy going on stage every night knowing that I'm with my four friends. That wasn't always the case - and I wouldn't want to go back to that again.

"It's just the way the man is. He's a man of great emotions. He works it out in black and white. there's no grey areas to Ritchie. 'I will' or 'I won't.' 'I like it' or 'I don't like it.' Sometimes your band members suffer from that.

Vocalist Tod Howarth and bassist John Regan joined Frehley to perform "Rock Soliders" from Frehley's Comet's 1987 self-titled debut, and the 1974 KISS classic, "Cold Gin", as the final two tunes in Frehley's main set before the guitarist returned for an encore.

The pair were members of Frehley's first solo project after leaving KISS in 1982, appearing on both the debut and 1988's "Second Sighting" leases. The reunion took place by chance as Howarth and Regan's current band, Four By Fate, were also performing at the Poughkeepsie venue on a three-band bill headlined by Frehley. Four By Fate - which also includes guitarist Pat Gasperini and ex-Skid Row drummer Rob Affuso - released their album debut, "Relentless", last year.

"As you will know we had to very reluctantly cancel and/or postpone the Phil Rudd Band shows scheduled in the UK between 14th and 21st September 2017," announced Rudd on his social media sites. "It is now with deep regret the we are forced to cancel and/or postpone the remaining shows booked in from 22nd September and 6th November 2017.

"Unforeseen last-minute circumstances and key logistical and technical issues have resulted in having to take this much regrettable action that no one could foresee or want.

"Phil remains in good health and circumstances beyond his control have taken place for which we duly apologise for any & all inconvenience caused to promoters, agent and most of all the fans."

"I want to make a commitment that I will talk to someone before I hurt myself, when I'm feeling depressed or sad or going through a hard week or month or year," Draven says in the clip. 'And I want to challenge you to do the same, to help yourself, not hurt yourself."

The 22-song set featured three tunes the band haven't played in years, including the first appearance of "Play With Fire" since 1990, the "Goats Head Soup" track "Dancing With Mr. D" was last performed in 1973, and "Under My Thumb" won the fan song vote after last being heard in 2006.

The Stones opened their first show in almost a year with 1968's "Sympathy For The Devil", and played "Just Your Fool" and "Ride 'Em On Down" from 2016's blues covers record, "Blue & Lonesome", early in the evening.

Keith Richards took his usual lead role mid-set by delivering "Slipping Away" and "Happy" before the show kicked into overdrive with a string of iconic tunes - "Midnight Rambler", "Miss You", "Street Fighting Man", "Start Me Up" and "Brown Sugar" - and the main set wrapped up with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

"In honor of Eruption being recorded 40 years ago today," Wolfgang tweeted on September 9th along with the visual, "here's me playing it on the guitar it was recorded on."

The bassist can be seen performing the tune on Eddie Van Halen's original red, white and black-striped Frankenstein (aka "Frankenstrat") guitar, which was used to record the tune on September 8, 1977 for inclusion on Van Halen's 1978 self-titled debut album.

A regular staple of Eddie's live guitar solos dating back to his band's club days on the California circuit, "Eruption" introduced the rocker's use of "two-handed tapping" as a regular part of his sound while expanding the musical vocabulary of the instrument on a mainstream basis moving forward.

While the history of "tapping" on instruments dates back centuries in a variety of musical genres, Van Halen says he stumbled onto it when watching Led Zeppelin perform in Los Angeles in 1971.

"I was watching Jimmy Page going [sings hammering guitar lick], like that, with one hand, in 'Heartbreaker'," Eddie told Rolling Stone in 2008. "I thought, 'I can play like that, and you wouldn't know if I was using this finger [points to left hand] or this one' [points to right hand]. But you just kind of move it around, and it's like, 'You got one big hand there, buddy. That's a hell of a spread!'"

Eddie and Van Halen have been on an extended break following the end of a 2015 North American tour in support of "Tokyo Dome Live In Concert."

The guitarist was noticeably absent from Steely Dan's appearances at the Classic West and Classic East music festivals in July, with co-founder Donald Fagen later telling Billboard that "Walter's recovering from a procedure and hopefully he'll be fine very soon."

"Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967," wrote Fagen in a tribute he shared online Sunday. "We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.

"We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues."

"Walter had a very rough childhood - I'll spare you the details," Fagen continued. "Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people's hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby's singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter.

"His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.

"When it comes to someone like Chris Cornell or Chester (Bennington), you know--depression is a disease," Grohl said, having dealt with the loss of Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain to suicide in 1994.

"Everybody kind of goes through it their own way�The hardest part is when you lose a friend; I just always immediately think of their families and bandmates. Going through something like suicide is a long road. Chris was such a beautiful guy, man. He was the sweetest person He was so talented and so much to offer that it was a real shock to hear that he had gone."

"We're going to play something we've never played before," Axl Rose told the crowd about halfway through the evening. "It might not be your thing, but we're just trying to pay a tribute to someone. It's not what you think," before the group delivered a faithful version of Campbell's 1968 hit, "Wichita Lineman."

"For Glen," added Rose after finishing the tune by the legendary country musician, who passed away on August 8 at the age of 81 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Later in the show, Guns N' Roses took another left turn from their standard setlist with a cover of James Brown's 1964 smash, "I Got You (I Feel Good)."

Five years later, a judge has decided to stay the pending charges because bringing those parties to trial had taken too long--violating defendants' rights to a speedy trial. The staying of the case means the charges are not currently moving forward.

"This case was a complex case that required more time than other cases in the system," Judge Ann Nelson ruled, according to CBC news. "After allowing for all of the exceptional circumstances that were in play, this case still will have taken too long to complete."

Canadian artist Caribou tweeted: "(As someone who was standing behind this stage when it collapsed and would have been on it an hour later�) This is complete bulls-."