rob halford
The 50 Best Live Albums of the 1970s
The concert industry exploded in the 1970s, and the live album, a stopgap project once reserved for only the biggest artists, became a compulsory ritual and a pivotal moment for many artists. Live albums captured legendarily loud bands like The Who and The Ramones in their natural element. Once obscure regional acts like Bob Seger, KISS and Cheap Trick exploded into the mainstream with live albums. The Band, The Stooges, and Velvet Underground put their final gigs on vinyl. Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young (as his ongoing archive series shows), and Jackson Browne recorded entire sets of new songs onstage. The Grateful Dead released several official live albums (and continue to do so) that only made fans want to bootleg shows on their own more. With the 50th anniversary of a landmark live album, Th...
Leather Pants and Chicken Wings: The Real Stories Behind Live Aid
Take it from Rob Halford: It is difficult pulling leather chaps over sweaty legs. The Judas Priest frontman would learn that lesson anew when his band arrived at the since-demolished John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia to perform as part of Live Aid, which unfolded on two continents 35 years ago today. “It was an absolutely boiling, scorching, muggy day — I remember that,” Halford recalls of the ambitious, 16-hour-long benefit concert experienced globally by more than a billion people in over 140 countries. “As I was putting my leathers on, I was going, ‘Oh, here we go again … mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the midday sun.’” As Live Aid was happening, Halford — like all of the big-name musicians and actors who’d brave the Philly summer heat that sweltering day — knew that the fir...
Dave Grohl, Jack Black, and More Honor the Late Ronnie James Dio in Video
The late, great Ronnie James Dio would have turned 78 today (July 9). Though he wasn’t around to celebrate, his longtime pals did instead. In a video that was released by the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, a number of Dio’s peers and friends honored the late-singer in footage that was compiled from over the years. Dave Grohl remembered the singer as “one of the greatest singers of all time,” and cited seeing him perform on TV when he was “13 or 14 years old” as one of the reasons why he wanted to become a musician. “He would give all of his time, energy and love and attention to do good things,” he said. Jack Black agreed, saying that Dio was one of the greatest heavy metal singers of all time and that he “such a sweet, genuine dude.” Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler an...
