The week in popular music
It was a huge week for news in the world of music. There were plenty of stories that deserved their own column. We saw the beginning and end of concert tours. A late-notice concert cancelation. The death of a legend. Plus an old new album. Let's get to the details:
Taylor Swift ended the first leg of her tour with six sold-out shows in Los Angeles. Besides bringing in millions of dollars to each city's economies, Swift donates to food banks that provide thousands of meals to people dealing with food insecurity. More artists can take a lesson about generosity from Taylor Swift.
Bruce Springsteen began the final leg of his tour with two sold-out shows at Wrigley Field, in Chicago. The Boss and The E-Street Band performed a high-energy, intense twenty-six-song, three-hour show with barely a break. The concerts received unanimous rave reviews with a few people telling me it was the greatest concert they ever attended. I don't know about that, but it was definitely a special night of rock and roll.
On the other end of the concert spectrum, on Saturday, Lionel Richie canceled a concert at Madison Square Garden one hour after it was scheduled to begin. His excuse was he was unable to fly into any local airport due to the weather in the area. This angered plenty of the concert-goers, many who besides paying for tickets, also got pricey hotels for a weekend in New York. The concert has been rescheduled for tonight, but that won't help the out-of-towners or others who had prior engagements. Oh, by the way, the weather in NYC at the time of the cancellation…not a drop of rain in the area.
Songwriter-guitarist Robbie Robertson died at age eighty after a year-long battle with prostate cancer. Robertson wrote the majority of The Band’s songs, including “The Weight”, “Up on Cripple Creek”, “The Shape I'm In” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” However, as much as he’s known for his music, his legacy is complicated due to his decades-long feud with his former bandmate Levon Helm, over songwriting credits and money. It's one of the sadder stories in music history. Both are now gone so all that is left is the music. That should be enough.
Over the weekend, a story broke that Tom Jones had died. It turned out it wasn't the Welsh singer, but another namesake. This Tom Jones was also in the music business. He was best known for writing the book and lyrics for the musical play “The Fantastiks.” He was ninety-five years old.
Friday, August 11 was the fiftieth anniversary of the start of hip-hop. It began with DJ Kool Herc playing around with two turntables at a party in the Bronx. The anniversary was celebrated with a concert at Yankee Stadium. Among the artists performing were Run-DMC, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Nas. DJ Kool Herc appeared onstage to accept an award.
Neil Young is known for recording music and then putting it aside for decades until he decides it’s time for it to see the light of day. He did it again when he released “Chrome Dreams”, last Friday. If you’re a fan of Young’s, you may have heard all these songs in a different form on other albums, but this was the original format for these tunes. Maybe Neil, who will be seventy-eight in November, is feeling his mortality and wants to get out all tunes while he still can. I guess he’s no different than the rest of us in that age range.
I told you it was a big week in music. What’s next?