Today's Day in Rock Stories

Def Leppard and Journey Announce North American Arena Tour

The band's Not In This Lifetime reunion run is now among the top five biggest-selling concert tours in music history, according to Billboard. The trio of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan topped the $475 million mark in gross sales at the end of 2017 to place fourth on the all-time tour list, moving ahead of the fifth-place Roger Waters at $459 million but behind the top three: U2's 360 degree stadium tour (2009-2011) sits at No. 1 with $736 million, followed by The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang trek at $558 million (2005-2007), and Coldplay's 2016-2017 shows at $523 million.

Perry and his makeshift band - including members of Stone Temple Pilots, Extreme's Gary Cherone, Robin Zander of Cheap Trick and vocalists Terry Reid and David Johansen - were joined by special guests Slash, Johnny Depp and former Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson for an 18-song set of Aerosmith classics, covers and tracks from Perry's latest solo effort, which will be available January 19.

The evening opened with Cherone handling Perry's "Let The Music Do The Talking" and a pair of Aerosmith classics ("Toys In The Attic" and "Pandora's Box") before the guitarist stepped up to the mic for his 2005 track, "Shakin' The Cage."

Judas Priest will launch a spring North American tour in support of their 18th album in Wilkes Barre, PA on March 13. The metal icons were one of 19 nominees under consideration for entry into the 2018 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame; despite being one of five acts that earned support on the Rock Hall fan ballot, the group failed to make the final cut with their first nomination.

Frontman Rob Halford was informed of the band's failure to make the cut for the Class of 2018 by the group's management the day before the inductees were revealed, and he recently shared the rejection letter that Priest received from Rock Hall President/CEO Greg Harris during an interview with 100.7 KSLX in Phoenix, AZ

"Thank you for embracing your nomination for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame," Halford quotes Harris in the letter. "While you didn't garner enough votes for induction this year, you were part of a very select group of Hall Of Fame nominees. Artists are frequently on the ballot multiple times before they are inducted. For example, Black Sabbath were nominated eight times before their induction, Patti Smith seven times, Solomon Burke nine times, and both the Beastie Boys and The Yardbirds were on the ballot three times before their respective inductions.

Dead & Company will perform two sets of music each night. Each set will draw from the Grateful Dead's lengthy catalog of songs. Tickets for the tour go on sale January 26 at 10 a.m. through Live Nation. Complete tour dates below.

Set for release on April 13, the album is described in a press release as "a poignant and oftentimes furious contemplation on aging that explores the passing of time and all things loud.

With styles that cross the gamut of musical genres, the album possesses the edgy rawness and Rock God sensibility that was always shared by Derek and his fellow former [Spinal Tap] band members, Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins."

The album was the group's fourth studio effort and featured the mid-80s through mid 90s lineup of Keith Morris, Greg Hetson, Zander Schloss and Keith Clark.

"It's a look inside a band and touring as well as the journey you take to make it," explained singer Dustin 'Duddy B" Bushnell in a press statement. "We're not b�-ing about anything, but you're on the road and you miss your family. We all started doing this a while ago. None of us were married at the time. None of us had kids. Now it's all different."

Nina Simone was only 25 years old in 1958 when she entered Beltone Studios in midtown Manhattan for a one-day recording session for her debut album, Little Girl Blue, on Bethlehem Records. The 14 songs she recorded that day reveal just how well developed Simone's sound - her powerhouse vocals, her classically-trained piano-playing, her inventive, genre-blind arrangements, and her dynamic personality - already was. Bethlehem, a small and financially faltering jazz label, picked 11 tracks for Little Girl Blue. This unheralded debut yielded Simone's biggest hit, a cover of the Gershwins' "Porgy (I Loves You, Porgy)," as well as her last one, "My Baby Just Cares for Me," which charted in 1987 after being used in a TV commercial.

Now, O'Riordan's boyfriend has released a heartfelt statement (via People). Ole Koretsky played with the late singer in the alt-rock band D.A.R.K. and posted his message on the group's website.

"My friend, partner, and the love of my life is gone," Koretsky wrote. "My heart is broken and it is beyond repair. Dolores is beautiful. Her art is beautiful. Her family is beautiful. The energy she continues to radiate is undeniable. I am lost. I miss her so much. I will continue to stumble around this planet for some time knowing well there's no real place for me here now."

'The Promise" - Chris Cornell: Written for the 2017 film (by the same name) about the Armenian genocide, this song was released just two months before Cornell's tragic passing in May 2017. All its proceeds were donated to the International Rescue Committee, an organization that provides humanitarian efforts to those affected by conflict and disaster. The emotional song earned him his 15th nomination and could earn him a posthumous GRAMMY.

'Run" - Foo Fighters: This year's nominations (for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song, both for 'Run" ) have brought the Foos' total number of nominations up to a casual 27. Speaking of, the band casually surprise-released 'Run" back in June, giving fans a heavy first taste of what was to come on the highly anticipated album Concrete and Gold.

The band, which exploded into the mainstream with their 1996 album Hot, sold over three million albums between then and the turn of the millennium. They continued touring before going on hiatus in 2010. In 2016, Mathus reformed the group, with a new line-up, stating, "It's not a reunion, it's a revival" and they're now ready to unleash their new album.

Rather than replicating the epic, polished studio arrangement that is features on the album, the band maximized guitar sections and leaned into a funky, SoCal vibe.

This new single is called "The Fogger," which is actually the name we call our drummer Danny Carey. As we approached the final stages of our debut album we got to talking about how Danny should have his own "Moby Dick" (no pun intended) on our album and really let him rip a solo on a ridiculous level, which he was stoked on. We set about recording a two-minute multi time signature solo which we intended to have Dom Lewis (who does all our orchestration out at Hans Zimmer's place) add that would be a standalone piece that featured D.C.'s crazy drumming with epic score.
Around the same time Jimmy Hayward had written a charging song in three for the next record and shown it to both Doctor and Danny. Doctor exclaimed that he felt like the song should be about the Fogger character and tell the tale of his karmic vengeance against those who abuse the creatures of the ocean by tearing the faces from their heads, just like Danny does with his ripping drumming. As it took hold, we all got into the idea and started tracking it in earnest while Doctor figured out the lyrics.

By the time we tracked and arranged it, we would up with a song that both reflects our feeling when we listen to Danny rip the faces from our skulls while we play with him and what we know he does to the audience as well as one that metaphorically represents what his character does to those who dare desecrate our beloved ocean. He's the karmic death bringer to all who dare misuse the ocean and it's beautiful creatures. You're left with a song that has not only ripping arrangements around soaring guitars and heavy solos but a massive breakdown featuring huge time shifts and Danny doing a completely blistering heavy drum solo befitting such a heavy dude.

"You have to put yourself in this environment that's vulnerable and just f***ing go off in the moment," says Carey, stressing how it's improvisation - which struggles to exist in more quantized or regimented performances - that's key to musical enlightenment.

"Most of the Tool stuff is pretty composed, so doing a song like The Fogger on this debut was neat," continues Carey.

"I'm pretty proud of the solo and I can sit back and say how glad I am it got tracked. I guess the hard part is if we go multi-platinum and loads of people end up listening to us, I will have to learn it for everyone. You sell that many copies, you owe it to the people!"