The Foo Fighters just launched their first tour since the passing of their drummer - Taylor Hawkins - and during their headlining gig at the Boston Calling festival - the band paid tribute to him by bringing out his son Shane ... 

“How about we do a song with one of my favorite drummers in the world? Would you guys please welcome Shane Hawkins,” Grohl told the crowd before the band — after some extensive tinkering on the drum set — launched into Foo Fighters’ “I’ll Stick Around.”

“We’ve been in this band so long, we really are a family,” Dave Grohl said during the set. “And our families are with us tonight, because we need to do this together.”

The Cure are on their first  North American tour since 2016 and while their setlists have been heavy on the hits, Robert Smith & co. have  been slipping in some surprises along the way.  This week - at the Hollywood Bowl -  the band  debuted a ’90s outtake called “Another Happy Birthday,” which has only existed in instrumental demo form before this.

In an old MTV News interview with Smith from 1997, he mentioned “Another Happy Birthday” and said it was “unlike anything the Cure have done before” and that “it’s not a verse-chorus-verse type of song, but more fluid.”

The ever feuding Gallagher brothers were back in the news this week  British tabloid The Sun published a report saying that an Oasis reunion was in the works, with the brothers Gallagher planning to get back together for a four-night run of concerts in 2025. Not long after that report came out, Noel Gallagher was asked about the possibility of a reunion  and was quick to debunk the rumor - 

“Well, I put it out there. [Liam] won’t call… I mean, he should call me, because he’s like, he’s forever going on about it,” he said. “You’d have thought by now, he’d have some kind of plan…” 

“He doesn’t have to speak to me. He won’t speak to me, he’s a coward,” Noel continued. “So he should get some of his people, his agent, to call my people and say, ‘Look, this is what we’re thinking.’ And then we’ll have a conversation about it. Until then, he’s being a little bit disingenuous.”

Liam - not one to be outdone - replied via Twitter: 

“I don’t wish AIDS on people I turn up and play the MUSIC for the people of MANCHESTER who have just had a terror attack while you sit on your dingy sipping champagne and you got the audacity to call me a COWARD sit down you ???? end” 

And in the replies, he went in deeper: “Exactly soon as the witch ????‍?? has took HALF hell be the 1 doing the calling” and when someone responded that the reunion was dead in the water, Liam said: “Reunion he hates oasis fans he’s full of shit” and emphasized the same message in another reply: “He’s full of shit he HATES oasis fans doesn’t mind them buying his records.”

So how does The 1975 fit into this feud? A few months ago, the band’s singer Matty Healy said that the Gallagher brothers should “stop marding” and get back together.  When asked about the comments in a SPIN interview, Noel  responsed: “Oh, that fucking slack-jawed fuckwit. What did he say?” Upon learning what Healy said, Noel continues: “He would never be able to imagine [Oasis remaining broken up]. He needs to go over how shit his band is and split up.”

I for one think the Gallagher marding is more entertaining than an Oasis reunion

At last summer's Newport Folk Festival, Joni Mitchell stunned attendees when she returned to the stage for the first time in 20 years and now we have learned the 13 song set will be featured on a new  Brandi Carlile produced live album - At Newport, due out July 28.  

The album includes linear notes from rock journalist Cameron Crowe, who said - 

“Mitchell emerged from the side of the stage, swaying smoothly, in fine summer-style with beret and sunglasses. Her good-natured mood instantly set the tone. This performance would be an intimate gathering of friends, not unlike the Joni Jams she’d been hosting in her own living room over the last few years of recovery ... Smiling broadly, Mitchell made her surprise appearance, taking her on-stage seat alongside Carlile. Within minutes, the news had rocketed around the globe. Mitchell was back, sparkling with enthusiasm, delivering a tender and passionate set of 13 songs, ending with a joyful sing-along of ‘The Circle Game' ...” 

Pretenders have announced their first new album in three years -  Relentless.   The album isn't out until September 1 but this week they released lead single “Let the Sun Come In” - stream it below 

Hynde stated of the album’s title in a press release - 

“I enjoy seeing the various meanings and origins of a word .. And I liked the definition: ‘showing no abatement of intensity.’ So when it came to an album title, it seemed fitting. You know… to keep doing it. I think anyone in a band is constantly questioning if they should keep going. It starts as a youthful pursuit and eventually, it makes you wonder, why am I doing this? It’s the life of the artist. You never retire. You become relentless.”

On the album's closing track “I Think About You Daily” which includes a string section arranged and conducted by Radiohead and the Smile’s Jonny Greenwood - Hynde said - 

“I met Jonny a couple of times and we’re obviously big fans of him because he’s done some incredible music over the years.  I saw him at the Phantom Thread premiere where the film was running on screen with a live orchestra playing. And we spoke afterward and he expressed an interest in doing something one day. I was thrilled and very surprised. So when we had the idea of getting strings on ‘I Think About You Daily,’ he was first choice. Legend!”

Relentless:

01 Losing My Sense of Taste
02 A Love
03 Domestic Silence
04 The Copa
05 Promise of Love
06 Merry Widow
07 Let the Sun Come In
08 Look Away
09 Your House Is on Fire
10 Just Let It Go
11 Vainglorious
12 I Think About You Daily

Lyrics to The White Stripes’ impressive song catalog are getting the book treatment this year, via The White Stripes Complete Lyrics due out in October  from Third Man Books.  Check out a preview HERE

Jack White’s words to his catalog with drummer Meg White will be presented with photos, alternate versions, and rough drafts, along with essays from Hanif Abdurraqib, Caroline Randall Williams, and Ben Blackwell.