Smuggled drugs, a bicycle accident, and an onstage meltdown that played out for the whole crowd — this was the day the music died for these major rock tours.
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00:00Smuggled drugs, a bicycle accident, and an on-stage meltdown that played out for the
00:05whole crowd. This was the day the music died for these major rock tours.
00:10Foo Fighters was supposed to spend most of 2022 on tour, playing stadiums and festivals
00:14all over the world to celebrate their 27th anniversary as a band and induction into the
00:18Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The jaunt began in earnest, with shows in Mexico, Argentina,
00:23Paraguay, and Brazil.
00:24On March 25, 2022, Foo Fighters was booked to play in Bogota, Colombia, which was to
00:29be followed by an appearance at the Grammy Awards and a two-month respite. Tragically,
00:33on the day of the Bogota show, drummer Taylor Hawkins was found dead in his hotel room.
00:37Well, the music world and rock fans today are mourning the shocking death of Foo Fighters
00:43drummer Taylor Hawkins.
00:45An initial toxicology report from the Attorney General of Colombia's office cited 10 drugs
00:49in Hawkins' system at the time of his death, ranging from prescription antidepressants
00:53to opioids. Four days after the death of its 50-year-old drummer, Foo Fighters announced
00:58that it would immediately end its 2022 tour. The band remained on hiatus until May 2023,
01:03when it regrouped with a new drummer, John Preece.
01:07Since its formation in Boston in the early 70s, Aerosmith has sold 150 million albums
01:11and released multiple classic rock staples, all built on the guitar of Joe Perry and the
01:15quirky stage presence of lead singer Steven Tyler. But in 2023, after more than 50 years
01:20as an entity, Aerosmith announced that the end was near. They planned to go out with
01:24a bang, scheduling a tour consisting of 40 shows across North America, starting in early
01:28September and concluding in January 2024.
01:31But just three concerts into the Peace Out tour, Aerosmith announced some necessary reschedulings.
01:43Tyler had been experiencing vocal issues, and after initially just postponing six dates,
01:47the singer received a more complete and dire diagnosis, leading Aerosmith to temporarily
01:52call off its entire remaining slate of shows. Tyler had damaged his vocal cords and also
01:56endured a fracture in his larynx. He said in a band statement on Facebook,
02:00"...I am heartbroken to not be out there with Aerosmith. I promise we will be back as soon
02:05as we can."
02:06But the remaining concerts were never rescheduled. Tyler was still recovering from his substantial
02:10vocal injuries about a year later in August 2024, leading Aerosmith to call off the tour
02:15and call it a day as a band.
02:18Throughout its lengthy history, the members of Jane's Addiction have experienced a lot
02:21of internal tension that turned public. The group first decided to split up after a grueling
02:2613-month tour in 1990 and 91. The band reunited occasionally over the years, most recently
02:31mounting a 2024 tour.
02:33But at the Boston stop, singer Perry Farrell shoved and tried to punch guitarist Dave Navarro
02:37onstage. Bassist Eric Avery stepped in to force Farrell away while Navarro walked off
02:42the stage.
02:43That exit ended the song, show, and tour. Fifteen scheduled concerts wouldn't happen.
02:48Three-quarters of Jane's Addiction dropped the news on Instagram, saying,
02:51"...due to a continuing pattern of behavior and the mental health difficulties of our
02:54singer Perry Farrell, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to discontinue
02:59the current U.S. tour."
03:01In what would be the final 12 months of Elvis Presley's life, the king of rock and roll
03:05spent a lot of time on the road. Performing in large theaters and arenas, the throngs
03:09of fans eager to hear the bygone star of the 50s and 60s perform his now-old hits.
03:14He played shows throughout most of April, May, and June. And after a concert in Indianapolis
03:18on June 26, 1977, Presley headed home to Memphis for a break before embarking on another leg
03:23of his tour.
03:25On the morning of August 16, 1977, Presley went to the master bedroom in his Graceland
03:29estate to get some sleep before a flight scheduled for that night. Enduring bouts of insomnia
03:34and constipation, Presley left his bed around 9.30 a.m. and told fiancé Ginger Alden that
03:39he was heading into the bathroom. Alden found Presley dead in that room at about 2.30 p.m.
03:44Presley was 42 years old, and the rest of the tour was, not surprisingly, canceled.
03:50In the late 2000s and into the 2010s, the groovy, buzzy blues rock The Black Keys was
03:55everywhere. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney made a lot of noise for just two guys, and
04:00four straight albums earned them gold or multi-platinum awards from the RIAA. While
04:04songs like Lonely Boy, Gold on the Ceiling, and Fever scaled the Alternative Rock chart
04:09and soundtracked to dozens of commercials, movies, and TV shows.
04:12"...I just want to make something I'm proud of."
04:16As successful as they seemed, The Black Keys didn't seem able to transition that into a
04:20lot of demand as a live band. In April 2024, they unveiled the dates for a two-month International
04:26Players U.S. tour that would have them playing arenas in cities such as Dallas, Houston,
04:30and Los Angeles. But without much fanfare, the whole thing was canceled in late May due
04:34to extremely poor ticket sales. Just a few days later, The Black Keys fired its management
04:39team.
04:40Led Zeppelin was one of the biggest bands of the 70s. Electric blues-based heavy metal
04:45guitar licks from Jimmy Page and the soaring vocals of frontman Robert Plant helped the
04:49band pack arenas year after year and release some of the best-selling albums of all time.
04:54Following the release of the 1979 album In Through the Outdoor, Led Zeppelin planned
04:58to greet the 80s with the same passion it had executed in the 1970s. On September 11th,
05:031980, the group's label, Swan Song, issued a press release listing the 19 tour dates
05:08it would play in the United States and Canada on its The 1980s Part I Tour. That was all
05:13derailed by the tragic 1980 death of drummer John Bonham, who died while asleep after a
05:18day of heavy drinking. His death occurred two weeks after Led Zeppelin revealed its
05:22tour dates, and three weeks before the tour was set to get underway in Montreal. The surviving
05:26members of Led Zeppelin immediately canceled all engagements and, months later, broke up
05:31entirely.
05:33Forming in Manchester, England in 1976, Joy Division defined the post-punk sound. Songs
05:38about pain and disaffection sounded sparse and haunting to young Britons, particularly
05:42when performed in a hypnotic near-drone by frontman Ian Curtis. With a tight live sound
05:47and Curtis' free-form dancing, Joy Division built up a presence and reputation in the
05:50UK, tirelessly playing dozens of club shows between 1977 and 1980. By that point, the
05:57group had released two studio albums, and their popularity led to a big U.S. tour, set
06:00to kick off in New York City on May 19, 1980.
06:03But on May 18, 1980, one day before Joy Division was supposed to fly to the U.S., Curtis' body
06:08was found in his home. The singer, who'd long dealt with depression, died by suicide at
06:12the age of 23. The American tour didn't happen, and later that year, the surviving members
06:17of Joy Division formed a new band, the synth-pop outfit New Order.
06:21Buffalo Springfield hit it big in 1967 with a counterculture protest song for what it's
06:27worth. The band never scored another hit, and after its 1968 split, its members would
06:31go on to form huge bands like Poco and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The musicians in Buffalo
06:36Springfield stayed busy creatively and professionally for more than 40 years, but the band itself
06:40only reunited in 2010 to play the Bridge School Benefit, an annual event organized by Buffalo
06:45Springfield member Neil Young.
06:47He along with Richie Furet and Stephen Stills had such a good time together that they played
06:51a limited series of six small venue shows in California in the summer of 2011, capped
06:56with a spot at Bonnaroo. It wasn't long before Furet announced that a tour for later that
07:00year was in the works.
07:01We're looking at 30 days, so we're gonna go out and just play our hearts out.
07:08Well, that tour was then pushed to 2012 to give Young some time to clear out his schedule,
07:13which never happened. Around the same time that he reunited with Buffalo Springfield,
07:17Young also got back together with his longtime backing band, Crazy Horse. He quickly recorded
07:21two albums with that group, leaving the highly anticipated Buffalo Springfield tour permanently
07:25on hold.
07:26All these years later, there might still be something happening here, but what it is ain't
07:30exactly clear.
07:32Two groups are largely responsible for the rise of rap rock in the late 90s — the often
07:36humorous, more rap-oriented Beastie Boys and the deadly serious political Rage Against
07:41the Machine. With both bands experiencing career highs by 2000, they made plans to embark
07:45on a co-headlining tour, Rhyme & Reason 2000.
07:49Set to be the illest concert of the summer, the first shows were delayed following a bicycle
07:52accident involving Mike D of the Beastie Boys. While riding in New York after a rehearsal,
07:57he ran into a pothole and dislocated his shoulder so severely that he needed surgery, physical
08:01therapy, and at least a month of recuperation. Attempts to reschedule postponed shows proved
08:06difficult due to scheduling issues with the bands and some of the arenas that had agreed
08:09to host them. The tour was called off entirely in September 2000.
08:14While generally overshadowed by Paul McCartney's previous band, the Beatles, as well as his
08:18later solo career, Wings was still a major touring and recording act in the 70s. More
08:23properly known as Paul McCartney & Wings, the band was formed in 1971 by McCartney just
08:28months after the Beatles fell apart. Wings toured often in the mid-1970s, and in January
08:321980, it attempted to take its show to Japan for a whirlwind tour of 11 shows in 13 days.
08:38When McCartney arrived in Tokyo on January 16, 1980, his bags were searched by authorities,
08:43who found about eight ounces of marijuana — highly illegal in Japan.
08:47If convicted, he could be given a seven-year prison sentence.
08:52McCartney was arrested and detained in a Tokyo jail, and Wings had little choice but to call
08:56off all of the Japan gigs. McCartney was released after 10 days in custody, and in the end,
09:01Wings never played a single show of their Japan tour. The frontman also decided to not
09:05embark on a potential summer 1980 tour of U.S. venues, and in 1981, Wings ended forever.
09:11Motley Crue is a band that became known for partying and substance abuse during its 1980s
09:16payday. That all came to a breaking point on December 23, 1987, when bassist Nicky Sixx
09:21overdosed on heroin. He woke up in an ambulance after paramedics injected him with two adrenaline
09:26shots. That literally brought the musician back to life — he'd technically been dead
09:30for two minutes.
09:31After a check-in at a hospital, Sixx was released, but the media picked up and spread inaccurate
09:35reports that he'd died from the overdose. Sixx was in no shape to play concerts with
09:39his band, and so in January 1988, the U.K. office of Motley Crue's record label Warner
09:44Brothers issued a press release announcing that a heavily-publicized upcoming tour of
09:48the British Isles would not take place. Acting on executive decisions, the press agent blamed
09:53a blizzard in England leaving so much snow on the concert halls that they were afraid
09:56that the venue's roofs would collapse. Immediately, members of the media contacted Warner Brothers
10:00and called foul, not falling for what was a ruse to cover up Sixx's widely-reported
10:04health crisis. Either way, the concert was canned, and thousands of would-be concert-goers
10:09got left in the cold.