Greetings Rockers ’N’ Rollers! I would like to dedicate this month’s article to my father Dr. Hillard R. Hoffman who passed away on February 21st. My Dad was an educator, an incredible person and a fantastic father. He enjoyed sports, family and everything Penn State. His interest in music consisted solely of Frank Sinatra – but he was always very supportive of my music passion. The gratitude I have for the life he gave me and life lessons he taught me is unmeasurable and follows me everyday.
Music this past month began with a sold-out show at Baltimore’s Soundstage featuring Mannequin Pussy and Militarie Gun. The two bands joined forces for 4 sold-out performances on the East Coast. Militarie Gun from Los Angeles continue to gain fans with noteworthy songs “Do It Faster,’ “Pressure Cooker” and “Never F-d Up Once.” They will be touring with High Vis for a month around America and play Philadelphia’s TLA April 29th and Baltimore’s Ottobar May 2nd. Mannequin Pussy hail from Philadelphia and their latest album ‘I Got Heaven’ is receiving critical acclaim and the band will play a headlining show at Harrisburg’s XL Live on June 8th.
XL Live of Harrisburg continues to fill the calendar with non-stop concerts. Crazy Train Ozzy Experience, a tribute band to Ozzy Osbourne, visited the venue on February 1st with local rockers, Steel and Road Case. Crazy Train are based in Maine and do a great job carrying on Ozzy Osbourne’s legacy. The real Ozzy Osbourne is set to reunite with his original band, Black Sabbath, for his final concert ever at Birmingham, England’s Villa Park on July 5th. Osbourne’s well documented health issues have left the singer unable to walk and profits from the last concert will be equally divided between four charities. Singer, Har Mar Superstar, visited Central PA once again for the 5th Year Anniversary of Millersville’s Phantom Power music venue on February 14th. Har Mar Superstar, played the 400-capacity venue back in March 2020 with his other project, Heart Bones. He is known for his energetic live performances and his contemporary R&B and pop music which is distributed by The Strokes’ record label, Cult Records.
Phish is hitting the road this summer with multi-night stints across the U.S., with dates kicking off in June with two shows at Philadelphia’s TD Pavilion at the Mann July 15th & 16th. The jam band was recently named as nominees for this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025, marking their first-ever nomination honoring their four-decade career.
After opening “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” by performing “Homeward Bound” as a duet with Sabrina Carpenter, Paul Simon has announced North American dates for “A Quiet Celebration Tour.” His current setlist will include the live debut performance of Simon’s Grammy-nominated 2023 acoustic album, Seven Psalms, along with a selection of his beloved hits. Paul Simon’s 55-date tour includes three nights at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music June 26th, 28th, 29th.
After turning New York City upside down two nights in a row, Paul McCartney returned for a third time at the 575-capacity Bowery Ballroom in the Lower East Side on February 14th. Tickets were limited to 1 per person. The first night’s setlist included Fab Four classics like “Hard Days Night,” “From Me to You,” “Now and Then,” “Hey Jude,” “Get Back,” “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “Letting Go” and more. Night two featured “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Flaming Pie,” “Lady Madonna,” “Carry That Weight,” “The End” and more. McCartney has performed hits across his catalog – including Beatles’ classics “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be.” McCartney admitted onstage the first night that he and his band only had one night of rehearsal before diving into their first show on February 11th.
The lineup has been announced for the 2025 Oceans Calling Festival with Green Day, Noah Kahan and Fall Out Boy set to headline September. 26th-28th at the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland. The festival returns to Ocean City Inlet Beach with more than 40 artists performing across three stages including Weezer, Lenny Kravitz, Vampire Weekend, Good Charlotte, Train, The Black Crowes, Nelly, Devo, Modest Mouse, O.A.R., Vance Joy, CAKE, Ziggy Marley, Jack’s Mannequin and many more.
Roots Picnic returns to The Mann in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia for two days on May 31st and June 1st. This year’s festival includes performances from D’Angelo with The Roots, Lenny Kravitz, Meek Mill, GloRilla, Miguel, Tems, Latto, Kaytranada and more. Warped Tour is rolling out its 2025 acts one at a time, with a handful of bands announced per day over 30 days. The festival confirmed Simple Plan, Dance Hall Crashers, Pennywise, Bowling For Soup, Miss May I and Chandler Leighton. Drain, Saturdays At Your Place, The Maine, 311 and Honey Revenge. Warped Tour begins at The Fields At RFK Campus in Washington, D.C., June 14th-15th. In July the festival heads to Long Beach for a July 26th-27th stop at the Shoreline Waterfront and in November Warped Tour lands at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium Campus November 15th-16th.
Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Phish, the Black Crowes and Oasis are some of the 2025 nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall revealed the list of 14 performer nominees including Bad Company, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Maná, Soundgarden and the White Stripes. The 2025 Inductees will be revealed in late April and the induction ceremony will take place in Los Angeles this fall. Artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before they’re eligible for induction.
The “I Love the 90s Tour” enters its tenth year celebrating the music of a decade with headliner Vanilla Ice. The lineup features a rotating roster of ‘90s hip-hop and R&B performers including Treach of Naughty By Nature, Rob Base, Color Me Badd, All-4-One, Montell Jordan and Young MC complemented by O-town, Ryan Cabrera, LFO and more. Titled “Forever Young” the tour visits Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem, PA on March 15th, Hard Rock in Atlantic City on September 13th and Powell Convention Center in Ocean City, MD on November 22nd.
Patti Smith is celebrating the golden anniversary of her acclaimed debut album, Horses, by performing the LP in full on a tour that’s booked through Europe and the U.S. Her quintet, brings the Horses 50th anniversary tour to the U.S. for 10 performances, including The Anthem in Washington DC on November 28th and The Met in Philadelphia on November 29th. Horses was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation into the National Recording Registry in 2019.
The Outlaw Music Festival 10th Anniversary Tour has announced the artists and will vary by city and includes Willie Nelson & Family, Bob Dylan, Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Sheryl Crow, Turnpike Troubadours, The Avett Brothers, Wilco, The Red Clay Strays, Lake Street Dive, Waxahatchee, Charles Wesley Godwin, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Trampled By Turtles, The Mavericks, Sierra Hull, Willow Avalon, Waylon Payne, Madeline Edwards, Lily Meola, Myron Elkins, Tami Neilson and more. Willie Nelson stated, “I can’t wait to join friends and family in bringing this celebration to the fans we love.” The milestone tour includes 35 stops across 22 states and visits Hersheypark Stadium on August 9th with Willie Nelson & Family, Bob Dylan, Turnpike Troubadours, The Red Clay Strays, Waylon Payne. Since its 2016 start in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the Outlaw Music Festival has become an annual touchstone of authentic Americana.
Marianne Faithfull, the British pop star and muse who helped write some of the Rolling Stones’ greatest songs and endured as a singer and survivor of the lifestyle she once embodied, died at the age of 78. Faithfull passed away January 30th in London in the company of her loving family. For decades, her admirers would include Beck, Billy Corgan, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, although her history would always be closely tied to the Stones and to the years she dated Mick Jagger. She and Jagger began seeing each other in 1966 and Faithfull once declared that if LSD “wasn’t meant to happen, it wouldn’t have been invented.” Their rejection of conventional values was widely publicized. Faithfull helped inspire such Stones songs as “She Smiled Sweetly,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” and “Wild Horses.”
The legendary Bob Dylan continues to tour while his Oscar nominated biography movie “A Complete Unknown” continues to play in theaters. Dylan announced a few tour dates as part of Dylan’s “Rough And Rowdy Ways” worldwide tour. That trek takes its name from Dylan’s 39th studio album, which was released in 2020. He followed that up with the 2023 LP Shadow King. Dylan’s upcoming schedule starts in Tulsa, Oklahoma, followed by Wichita, Kansas; Mankato, Minnesota, and Green Bay, Wisconsin.
MARCH CONCERTS: The Badlees/Armadillos – Hershey Englewood March 7th. Steel/ Junk Punk – Harrisburg Ramona’s Basement March 8th. The Super High-Tech Jet Fighters – Harrisburg Strawberry Square March 21st. Cape May Singer/Songwriter Conference – Cape May, NJ March 28th-29th. Jeffrey Gaines – New Cumberland West Shore Theatre March 29th.
