Live Maroon 5

Aug. 17, 2005

Maroon 5 are prepping to release a live album on both CD and DVD format, as filmed by Russell Thomas, who has previously worked with Coldplay and Bjork. The discs, titled Live at the Santa Barbara Bowl, are set for release next month, and will include a brand-new Maroon 5 song that the band has dubbed “Wasted Years.” Also on the disc, the band will be heard performing their cover version of the Oasis track “Hello,” as well as plenty of their own Maroon 5 songs, including “Harder to Breathe,” “Sunday Morning,” “Tangled,” “She Will Be Loved,” “Secret,” and what has been perhaps Maroon 5’s biggest hit to date, “This Love”...

Music and video games are teaming up in a big way for the upcoming 2005 Nintendo Fusion Tour, which is set to hit the road on September 28 in Detroit on its way to 40 other U.S. dates, which will keep the tour on the road until late November. Each venue on the tour will, of course, include plenty of videogame stations, where fans can try out new Nintendo products like the new Zelda game and the upcoming GameBoy Micro. Headlining bands for the tour include Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, Panic! At The Disco, Boys’ Night Out, and The Starting Line; and, during the tour, Nintendo will be holding an exclusive sweepstakes to win a limited edition GameBoy Micro with the Nintendo Fusion Tour brand. Additional stops for the tour will include Columbus OH (9/29), Chicago (9/30), Dallas TX (10/22), Los Angeles (10/27), Minneapolis MN (11/12), and Grand Rapids MI (11/17) - even more dates are expected to be announced soon...

Eclectic singer-songwriter Nellie McKay is set to return to the charts in the fall with her second album, Pretty Little Head, which is due out on October 18 on Columbia Records. The disc will include a whopping 23 new songs, including a collaboration with Cyndi Lauper on the song “Beecharmer” - other songs will include “Columbia Is Bleeding” and “The Big One.” In other Nellie McKay news, she’s also been tapped to play the role of Polly Peachum in a new Broadway version of “The Threepenny Opera,” which will open next spring, co-starring the likes of veteran actors Alan Cumming and Edie Falco...

And Coheed and Cambria are firing things up for a big emo-powered tour this fall, in conjunction with the release of their new album, the extensively-titled Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star V - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness. Revving their engines at the House of Blues in Atlantic City NJ on September 27, the tour is set to move on through Columbus OH (9/30), Chicago (10/1), Detroit (10/2) and Minneapolis MN (10/4) before wrapping in Los Angeles on October 16. Opening for Coheed and Cambria will be a trio of acts, namely prog rockers Dredg, Philly’s Mewithoutyou, and punkers the Blood Brothers. While you wait for the band to arrive in a city near you, you can keep an eye on your TV for their latest video, for their single “Welcome Home,” which the band recently completed and which is expected to start airing later this month...
MINI BUZZ:
Pearl Jam have tapped both Supersuckers and Sleater-Kinney to serve as supporting acts on their fall Canadian tour, which will make stops in London, Ontario and Toronto...
Coldplay’s Chris Martin has been named “The World’s Sexiest Male Vegetarian”
by PETA...
Sheryl Crow’s new as-yet-untitled album is now due out on September 27 on
A Records...
INXS have signed with Sony-BMG’s Epic label to release their first new album since 1997, which will be fronted by the winner of their reality TV show, “Rock Star INXS,” which the band is currently in the midst of utilizing to find a new lead singer...
Speaking of lead singers, former Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale is set to take his new band, Institute, on the road to help promote their debut album, Distory Yourself, which is due out this month; the band will make stops in Hot-lanta (8/19), Minneapolis (8/23), Chicago (8/24), and Boston (8/29)...
And Franz Ferdinand have retitled their upcoming second album; originally called simply Franz Ferdinand, the disc will now be dubbed You Could Have It So Much Better... With Franz Ferdinand - the CD will be out on October 4...

ON CD: Emery’s The Question... Violent Femmes’ BBC Live... Blindside’s The Great Depression... Pennywise’s The Fuse... Staind’s Chapter V... and Killer Queen: A Tribute To Queen... ON DVD: Cher: Live in Concert... Tino: Tino Vision... Jimi Hendrix - Deluxe Edition... and Soundstage: Chris Isaak... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves about this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!