Rush Touring This Summer and A New 80s Metal Fest

I heard some great news today, at least for me that is. According to Melodicrock.com Rush will be touring this summer. It gets better. The band has been working on new songs and are about to go into the studio to work on 5 or 6 tracks for a new album and want to go out on about a 45 city tour that will last from June to October. The idea is to showcase some new tunes and pull some older songs out of the hat. Afterwards they will go back to the studio and finish the album and possibly release it in the spring of 2011. They will then follow it up with a more substantial tour of about 75 cities. Great news as perhaps I'll get to see them on consecutive years as long as they come within 4 or 5 hours of Tulsa. I've seen them 6 times in concert (should have been 9 but oh well) and this will be the icing on the cake.



In other news, as I mentioned in earlier posts the Scorpions are releasing their final album and will be touring the world for about 2 years before calling it quits. An article in the Tulsa World yesterday stated that the German metal band will be headlining the 3 day Rock 'n' America Festival on July 24th at the Zoo Amphitheater in Oklahoma City. That's less than a 2 hour drive for me but wait! It gets better. Headliners for the festival should also be Twisted Sister, Vince Neil (boring) and Ratt. Other bands mentioned are Warrant, Dokken, Great White, Sebastian Bach, Faster Pussycat (wish they were the old cat), Winger, Toxin(?), Bang Tango, Enuff Z'Nuff (never liked them), Firehouse, LA Guns and more.

Interestingly enough the Zoo Amphitheater website doesn't say anything about this but a friend said he had a message on his facebook page from them about this very event. Ever the cynic and aware of what today is, I decided to play detective and went to the Scorpions website and indeed they are listed as playing at this event. I also went to the webpages for Twisted Sister and Cinderella (who will be opening some dates for the Scorpions) and both bands have this event listed. So unless this is an April Fool's Day joke of immense proportions it looks like it's for real. More details to follow as they become available.

If you like 80s metal (and I do) like this then there you go. Since (C)rocklahoma sold out this year completely and booked a bunch on new rock and nu-metal bands (that all sound the same) it appeared that Oklahoma would be left out in the cold this year but now things are looking up. If you don't like this music well, do an old guy a favor and just go away and let me revel in my youth.