This week, IA's music man brings you news of a frontman facing court, a "fatberg" fouling things up in WA and a fading star finding his metal for one last show. David Kowalski reports.
BLACK SABBATH OG'S REFORM TO PLAY FINAL GIG
All talk this week has been about the one-off reunion show of Black Sabbath's original lineup, which will take place on 5 July at Villa Park in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, UK.
The original lineup of vocalist John ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Terrence ‘Geezer’ Butler and drummer Bill Ward, have not been on stage together in 20 years. This full-day event will climax with the four original members jamming together alongside special guests. All proceeds go to Birmingham Children's Hospital, Acorn Children's Hospice and Cure Parkinson's.
Ticketmaster has again dropped down the charts in the eyes of ticket buyers, seemingly learning nothing from the Oasis dynamic-ticket-pricing-debacle. Prices started at GBP£197.50 (AU$391.59) and then inflated to as much as GBP£834 (AU$1,653.61) due to insane demand.
All tickets were sold out in 16 minutes and those waiting in the queue continued to do so for hours afterwards before being told they were out of luck.
The reunion gig is beginning to look like a one-day festival, with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello acting as music director. On the bill so far are: Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Gojira, Alice in Chains and Korn, plus an all-star band including Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Slash and Duff McKagan from Guns N' Roses, Lzzy Hale from Halestorm, Sammy Hagar and Wolfgang Van Halen, among others still to be announced.
Seventy-six-year-old Ozzy Osbourne has been struggling with Parkinson’s disease in the last few years and told listeners via his Sirius XM radio show that he won’t be playing the full set. He will most likely only do a few songs here and there.
Regardless, this is Osbourne's “full stop” – the gig that signals the end of his life as a musician – back where it all began, alongside the mates with whom he started.
By all accounts, it's shaping up to be a fitting send-off for the band that defined the sound of rock we know as "heavy metal".
I sure hope they release the entire thing on Blu-ray...
PLACEBO'S BRIAN MOLKO SUED FOR CALLING OUT ITALIAN PM
British band Placebo is no stranger to controversy — their music has always had a provocative edge. However, frontman Brian Molko's opinions have left him free-falling after the lead singer let rip on Italy's domestic politics at a gig in 2023.
Saving his choicest language for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Molko swore at her in Italian, calling her a racist and a fascist, among other unprintable things.
Molko has since been charged with defamation.
Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party are widely seen as being the most right-wing Government since Benito Mussolini's World War II mob, campaigning on a platform of immigration cuts and talk of scaling back LGBTQ+ rights.
Placebo's frontman now awaits a court hearing.
AUSTRALIAN IDOL'S AUTOTUNE ICKY MOMENT
It remains a shock to me that the banal reality TV singing program Australian Idol continues to exist.
But more surprising is that young Brisbane RnB singer Bony had the brass not to bother singing "live" for his audition. Rather, he sang through an audio filter called Autotune — which is generally used to correct the pitch of off-key singers while recording.
Autotune "use" has featured in hip-hop and R&B recordings ever since Cher released 'Believe' in 1998, where the plugin's settings were turned up to make her sound like a robot.
Given that Australian Idol is supposed to audition singers for their "natural" voices, isn’t this cheating? Surely, it goes against the spirit of the competition.
Judges Amy Shark and Marcia Hines weren’t having a bar of it (pun intended). But Kyle Sandilands went rogue and insisted Bony be added to the final 30 as a wildcard.
By all accounts, Bony sings alright without the technology, but what is the show without – OMG! (sigh) – epic drama.
"FATBERG" FORCES BRYAN ADAMS TO CANCEL CONCERT
Canadian rocker Bryan Adams was forced to cancel his show at the RAC Arena in Perth on 9 February as the venue was all but uninhabitable.
Apparently, the venue’s toilets and other water facilities were ruled out of action for the evening due to something Perth Water Corporation called a "fatberg", which is a huge congealment of fat, grease and rags that clog up the area's sewers, causing sewage to contaminate neighbouring properties.
Frontier Touring gave punters instant refunds, but it still sucked for fans who queued outside the venue for up to three hours, wondering when doors would open.
A few thousand disgruntled fans might have left without the performance they paid for, but at least they didn’t go home with a toxic infection!
CHELSEA BERMAN'S "SOBER" NEW MUSIC
Central Coast-based country music starlet Chelsea Berman is back with a piece of music that is as profound as it is gut-wrenching. Her new single 'Sober Now' is a heartfelt reflection on being with a partner who is self-destructive and hell-bent on destroying the one they love.
When I asked Berman if the song was based on lived experience, she told me it is “close to home”, but gave no other specific details.
It's a powerful and moving song, with a climactic ending.
Listen close. Bring tissues.
Until next time…
LISTEN TO THIS WEEK'S SPECIALLY CURATED PLAYLIST BELOW:
David Kowalski is a writer, musician, educator, sound engineer and podcaster. His podcasts 'The Sound and the Fury Podcast' and 'Audio Cumulus' can be heard exclusively HERE. You can follow David on Twitter/X @sound_fury_pod.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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