On This Day:
In 1974 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played The Troubadour in Los Angeles, California on a double bill with Roger McGuinn from The Byrds.
In 1987 David Bowie kicked off the North America portion of his Glass Spider tour in Philadelphia. The tour’s set, described at the time as “the largest touring set ever,” was designed to look like a giant spider. It was 60 feet high, 64 feet wide.
In 2002 Bruce Springsteen released his first record with the E Street Band since 1985, “The Rising.” It topped the charts in 7 countries.
In 2003 The Rolling Stones headlined a benefit concert for Toronto, Canada, to help the city recover in the wake of the SARS outbreak. AC/DC, Rush, and Justin Timberlake also performed.
Sun Records founder Sam Phillips died of respiratory failure in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 80. Phillips discovered Elvis Presley, and worked with Johnny Cash, Ike Turner, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis.
In 2004 Paul McCartney attended the graduation ceremony at the Liverpool Institute of the Performing Arts, which he helped establish in 1996. He presented The Bangles with the Companions Award for the successful master class the group conducted at the facility in March 2003, which was the best-attended session in the school’s history.
In 2006 Sebastian Bach stepped in to finish a Guns N’ Roses concert in London when band frontman Axl Rose became too ill to complete the show. Bach had played his own set earlier, opening for GNR.
In 2007 Ex-New Order bassist Peter Hook threatened to take legal action against former band mates Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris, who were claiming the band was still together but that Hook had left the group. Hook had been insisting for weeks that New Order had split up.
In 2008 Cheech & Chong announced plans for their “Light Up America…” tour with a press conference in West Hollywood. The trek marked a reunion for the comedy duo, who hadn’t hit the road together in more than 25 years.
In 2011 Blondie’s Clem Burke received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham, England. He was recognized for his skills as a drummer and his contributions to music, as well as for his studies into the physiology of drumming through The Clem Burke Project.
One person was killed and three others injured during a shooting at the eighth annual “Unity in the Park” festival in Cleveland, which featured George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic.
In 2014 Dick Wagner died from a lung infection at age 71. He was the guitarist for Alice Cooper and Loud Reed, and also wrote songs with KISS and Aerosmith.
In 2016 Jack White becomes first person to play a vinyl record in space.
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