By now you’ve heard about R.E.M.’s Mike Mills breaking the news of David Letterman’s retirement yesterday, but here’s the reason he was even there: Mills and former bandmate Peter Buck reunited on “The Late Show” to back Joseph Arthur’s performance of “Walk on the Wild Side.”
Bob Mould may be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Workbook at the moment, but he’s also looking ahead: Merge Records this week announced that it will release Mould’s 11th studio album, Beauty & Ruin, which “packs a staggering lifetime’s worth of emotion and experience into a 36-minute package.”
As promised, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart reunited as the Eurythmics to perform a Beatles cover — “The Fool on the Hill” off Magical Mystery Tour — on the “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles” television special that was taped last month and broadcast on CBS last night.
Last summer, the members of New Order — Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, as well as former bassist Peter Hook — and sleeve designer Peter Saville were interviewed by Swedish National Television for a 30-minute documentary on the story behind their iconic 1983 single “Blue Monday.”
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart will reunite once again as the Eurythmics to perform a yet-to-be-announced Beatles cover at “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles,” a television special that’s being taped on Jan. 27 in Los Angeles the day after the Grammy Awards.
Southern California punk giants Bad Religion dropped by TBS’ “Conan” show last night to spread some Yuletide cheer, ripping through their appropriately raucous take on the classic hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” off the band’s recently released holiday album, Christmas Songs.
Nearing the end of a December swing across the West Coast, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo brought his new band The Dust — featuring SY drummer Steve Shelley — to TBS’ “Conan” show last night to perform “Lecce, Leaving,” the opening track to the band’s 2013 album Last Night on Earth.
Mazzy Star dropped by “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” last night to promote its comeback album Seasons of Your Day with its first television performance in nearly two decades. The group, shrouded in darkness, performed lead single “California,” which you can watch here.
Johnny Marr made a return visit to “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” last night, performing “Generate! Generate!” off the new album for broadcast, but then treating the studio audience to a gorgeous, web-only performance of The Smiths’ classic “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.”
Hard to believe, but last night’s appearance by Nine Inch Nails on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was billed as the band’s first-ever network television performance. Trent Reznor and Co., in Los Angeles to play the Staples Center, performed a mini concert on Kimmel’s outdoor stage, with “All Time Low” getting aired on the show.
Johnny Marr is currently playing his second round of American dates in support of his new solo album The Messenger, and used the occasion to stop by “Conan” to perform one of the record’s tracks for the TBS late-night show. Check out the full clip of Mr. Marr playing “The Right Thing Right.”
Last week Jane’s Addiction received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of debut studio album Nothing’s Shocking, the band played a short set for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” part of which was aired on last night’s show and posted on the program’s YouTube channel.
The resurgent Pixies made their second TV appearance in a week last night, this time plugging in on the BBC’s “Later… with Jools Holland” to tear through new song “What Goes Boom” off the band’s just-released EP-1 in advance of tonight’s appearance at the iTunes Festival in London.
Elvis Costello and The Roots have been busy this week promoting their just-released new album Wise Up Ghost, performing in Brooklyn Monday night — where they covered The Specials’ classic “Ghost Town” — and appearing on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” aka ?uestlove and Co.’s day job, on Monday night.
The new Pixies lineup got its national television debut last night as the band appeared on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” in advance of its four-night run in New York City, performing new single “Bagboy” on air and then sticking around to play “Indie Cindy,” off the just released EP-1, as a web exclusive.
As advertised, Peter Hook was featured on Thursday night’s episode of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” where he sat in with The Roots, playing Joy Division and New Order classics — with Captain Kirk Douglas handling vocals — as the show went to and from commercial.
Peter Hook’s North American tour gets underway tonight in Boston — he’ll be performing New Order’s first two albums, 1981′s Movement and 1983′s Power, Corruptions & Lies, in their entirety each night — and the bassist is using the occasion to drop by “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” when the trek hits New York.
As frequent visitors to this site know, we like to revisit that classic staple of Sunday night TV, MTV’s “120 Minutes,” each Friday with our weekly 120 Minutes Rewind series. So it’s great to see our friend and fellow aficionado Chris Cummins going a step further, and hosting a live “120 Memories” event in Philadelphia.
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