Last Friday (9/25) Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal kicked off their 30th Anniversary Tour with a deliberately small warm-up show at Krakatoa in Mérignac, France, just outside Bordeaux.
The 1,445-capacity room had only reopened to the public two weeks earlier after completing a major two-year renovation. The upgrades increased the main room by nearly 250 people, installed balconies, and created an intimate new club that can accommodate 258 partygoers.
For a band who has basically done it all in their 45 years in heavy metal, Metallica was faced with something new: performing at the Sphere, Las Vegas' ultimate music venue.
And even though they are a band that seems to like to take on new challenges, drummer Lars Ulrich was frank this summer when he told NME the quartet weren't walking into their residency with cockiness.
U2 went back to where it all started Friday (9/25), taking over the yard at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Clontarf, Dublin, for a surprise set in front of about 1,000 students and staff.
Fifty years ago, 14-year-old Larry Mullen Jr. pinned a handwritten notice to the school board that read “DRUMMER SEEKS MUSICIANS TO FORM A BAND,” Bono, David Evans and Adam Clayton eventually answered the call.
What was it about October that throughout rock history such great music was dropped in this magical month? From the Boss to the Pistols, from Taylor to Dire Straits, October has delivered way more treats than tricks.
October 1 — U2, The Unforgettable Fire (1984, Island Records). U2 loosened its grip on straightforward arena rock and let Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois lead the band toward something hazier and more adventurous. “Pride (In the Name of Love)” became the anthem, but the album’s atmosphere is what makes it special.
