Are Velvet Revolver dissolving following their current European jaunt? Scott Weiland reportedly told a sold-out crowd in Glasgow, Scotland, that they were “watching something special… the last tour by Velvet Revolver.” According to fan reports, the rest of the band all looked at each other in confusion following Weiland’s statement.

In a recent post, drummer Matt Sorum said, “So last night was interesting. Had a little band turmoil on stage, as you probably all could tell. Being in a band is a lot like being in a relationship. Sometimes you just don’t get along. I guess there has been more turmoil lately. It has been frustrating, I am not going to lie.” Weiland spent time in a rehab center recently, forcing a postponement of the VR tour. Weiland also recently revealed plans to tour with his old band Stone Temple Pilots this summer. How the band breaking up effects guitarist’s Duff McKagan’s claim that VR will open for a potential Led Zeppelin reunion tour remains to be seen.

Sheffield lads, Arctic Monkeys, are on track to release their third album this year.

The follow up to ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ is well under way in a secret London location.

A ’source’ told the Daily Star: “A lot of people were surprised to see Arctics at the Brits as it’s usually the kind of event they steer clear of. The reason they went is because they’ve been down in London working on new material and fancied a night off to relax.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder will head out for his first solo tour with a handful of West Coast dates highlighting his contributions to the soundtrack for Sean Penn’s film “Into The Wild.”

The trek kicks off April 2 at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts and includes stops at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley, Calif. (April 7), The Wiltern in Los Angeles (April 12-13) and Spreckels Theatre in San Diego (April 15).

New Zealand singer/songwriter Liam Finn will open all shows.

The Police will perform an outdoor show at Stormont Estate in Belfast this summer.

The June 20th date is being billed as their final Irish appearance ever.

Northern Ireland First Minister the Rev Ian Paisley said: “This is a fantastic coup for Northern Ireland. An event of this magnitude has a sizeable benefit for the economy, not least our tourism industry.

“The beautiful grounds of the Stormont Estate are a fantastic venue for this event and it is fitting that they should be used by the public in this way.”

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness added: “This concert will send a message to the world that not only is the North open for business but that it is also a vibrant and exciting place to be.

“It is hoped that we will be able to accommodate some 35,000 fans at Stormont for the concert. I look forward to attending what I am sure will be an enjoyable show.”

James Blunt at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts 2/25/2008 

The appeal of the pop-folk music by James Blunt, a high-voiced, ultra-sensitive, singer-songwriter from England whose signature song, You’re Beautiful, endeared him to millions of women (and some men) worldwide, is lost on me.

Not, however, on the Blunty faithful who turned out in droves for two back to back shows at the Sony Centre that wrapped up Monday night.

One obnoxious female fan in particular, seated behind me, couldn’t keep her mouth shut for more than a few minutes at a time, screaming out her undying love whenever there was a quiet moment in Blunt’s 90-minute set. Or even when there wasn’t.

Blunt, to his credit, has learned how to deflect such hysterical proclamations, now two studio albums - 2004’s Back To Bedlam and 2007’s All The Lost Souls - into his career: “I see they let in my mother.”

This woman, however, wasn’t going to be put in her place.

“I love you and I’m not your mother!” she responded a few songs later.

Finally Blunt relented: “See you in my dressing room after the show, baby.”

But I digress.

Maybe my fixation on Blunt’s outspoken fans is due to the fact that his earnest music - particularly big hits like Goodbye My Lover and You’re Beautiful - isn’t exactly gripping stuff even if he really does try to be entertaining, backed by a tight-sounding four-person band, lots of slick lighting and an eye-catching backdrop of beautiful projections.

He’s also an enthusiastic performer, either strumming acoustic guitar at the front of the stage with his mouth wide open, or jumping on top of his piano.

At one point, he even leapt off the stage and ran through the audience giving high-fives to outstretched hands from happy audience members.

Blunt opened with Give Me Some Love from Souls before moving into Billy from Bedlam and back and forth it went all night long.

There were a few notable standouts like the evocative High (”Beautiful dawn lights up the shore for me” it opens), the pretty, piano-driven I Really Want You, with a heavier message from the former Kosovo peacekeeping soldier (”I killed a man in a far away land,” he sings) and Same Mistake (”Saw the world turning again in my sheets and once again I can not sleep,” it begins), and the sad and poignant Carry You Home (”I’m watching you breathing for the last time,” goes the chorus).

And when Blunt kicked it up a notch on more groove-oriented tunes like I’ll Take Everything, his Souls’ hit 1973, a cover of Supertramp’s Breakfast in America (apparently played live for the last time on Monday night), or by showing Kosovo video during No Bravery, he actually got my attention.

I particularly liked when a gong dropped down for Blunt to strike during the last song of his set, So Long Jimmy, amid confetti being blasted at the audience.

By the way, I’m in good company when it comes to my general dislike of Blunt’s music.

Apparently, Oasis guitarist-songwriter Noel Gallagher is selling his place on party-hearty Ibiza because he can’t stand the thought of his fellow British neighbour - that would be Blunty - “writing crap tunes up the road.”

Leave it to Gallagher to elaborate more colorfully in a way that I never could.

Punk Princess Avril Lavigne graced the March cover of Maxim magazine. Her “Best Damn Tour” kicks off March 5th at Save on Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, BC. North American tour dates are listed below.

Here’s an excerpt from her Maxim interview:

With three platinum albums and 35 million records sold, Avril Lavigne has gone from a teen hell-raiser who liked to spit on paparazzi to a stunning 23-year-old mogul (who´d admittedly still likes to spit on paparazzi).

What can we expect from your upcoming world tour?
I’m so excited because with three records under my belt, I have a lot of singles that people are familiar with. This will be a much bigger production than anything I’ve ever done. The color for this album is pink, so I’ll be playing a pink piano, and there’s a pink drum kit and a bunch of dancers. It’s gonna rock.

Read the whole story at Maxim.

Avril Lavigne “Best Damn Tour” Dates:

Elton John Tickets for the March 2 show in Sudbury (Ontario, Canada) were offered to city council members before they went on sale to the general public. This scandal prompted an apology from the mayor.

Local media coverage prompted accusations of unfairness, with some citizens vowing revenge at the polls.

“They raise our taxes, do almost half of the meetings in camera,” one anonymous poster griped on the Sudbury Star website.

“These people have been voted in with our trust and when that trust is broken it’s time to go. Where would you draw the line?”

Elton John’s hotly anticipated March 2 show - one of just two Canadian stops on a greatest hits tour - saw 6,000 seats sell out in less than an hour in the city of roughly 85,000.  

The manager of the Kitchener Auditorium says 61 Elton John tickets were made available to the six councillors in that city, plus another 382 tickets were made available to other city staff, venue suppliers, concert sponsors, and arena tenants like the minor hockey team.

A spokesman for concert promoter Live Nation said from Toronto that it’s common practice among most venues to let city officials have first dibs at tickets.

Elton John, whose hits include “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word” and “Rocket Man,” follows up the Ontario shows with a string of dates in Las Vegas.