The North American leg of the "Sticky & Sweet Tour" begins October 3rd at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with stops at New York's Madison Square Garden on October 6th and 7th, followed by performances in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and more before stopping at Miami's Dolphin Stadium on November 26th. Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet" tour will also visit Mexico and South America later this year.

However, organisers withdrew their application for a license after police said they feared "high-profile" retaliation over the death of Gerard Tobin, a Hells Angel Motorcycle club member.

According to Planet Rock , Def Leppard is rumored to be planning a tour of Australia in November, to be announced in the coming weeks.

Ironic quote of the day comes from Megadeth's Dave Mustaine. "I've always tried to use intelligent lyrics. I think it's kind of a shame when singers say, 'F**k,' just for the sake of it. You can tell when guys are pussies and they use a bunch of dirty words in their songs to make them have some kind of cred." Read the context here.

Dizzee Rascal kicks off "The No Chiefs Allowed Tour" tonight in DC at the 9.30 Club. The outing is support of the U.S. release of " Maths+English," which hit stores on April 29th. The two week run also features El-P and will hit markets across the U.S., with one stop in Canada, before wrapping at the El Rey Theatre in LA on May 22nd. From there he heads back home to Europe for a ton of festival appearances. date

When asked if Cave has trashed his hotel room yet: The room in this hotel isn't f**king worth trashing. Well, if you kicked over the ashtray you'd be trashing the room. It's so f**king dark in this hotel, I can't even find my room. It's like England during the blitz.

Iron Maiden will be guests on the US nationally syndicated radio show Rockline with host Bob Coburn on Wednesday, May 21st at 8:30 PM (PT) / 11:30 PM (ET). Fans are encouraged to speak with the band by calling 1-800-344-ROCK (7625). For a station near you and for information regarding how to log onto the internet for the broadcast go to RocklineRadio.com. new info on the tour documentary that's underway. 5.1 baby!

Almost 400 attended This Is Ivy League's CD release show on a Monday night at New York's famous Knitting Factory, the band's first live performance in almost a year. For those not familiar with the group, it features Alex Suarez and Ryland Blackinton of Cobra Starship and their sound is reminiscent of the pop of the late 60s. Think Simon and Garfunkel, The Birds, Peter & Gordon, etc etc. Curious? Take a listen to the full CD and see if you are ready to join the Ivy League. Stream is here

Attention all Californians and west coast thrashers! Municipal Waste have set up a "surprise" show 7PM this Friday, May 9th at Relax Bar in Los Angeles, CA. This is a special one-off show and will be their only west coast gig until they come back in July with the legendary AT THE GATES. the 411 is here

Who knew that Neil Diamond was still so popular? Ok, his tours tend to sell out but go under the media radar, and he has sold millions of albums. So it should be surprising that his new album, Home Before Dark, is going to add to that sales tally. But what is surprising is that the album may be headed to the top of the charts. A first for Neil who made his first entry into the charts some 41 years ago. Billboard has the story Having heard 'Home', the new Elvis Costello is a still a far better buy. Grab a listen here

Speaking of the charts. For this week it seems that Americans were craving candy. Madonna's "Hard Candy" captured the top spot on the charts, giving Mariah Carey a wedding gift by dropping her album to No. 2. Leona Lewis dropped a spot to 3, Lyfe Jennings' "Lyfe Change" came in at 4, Def Leppard scores its 11th consecutive top 20 album with the bow of "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge" at No. 5. The Roots, Portishead, and Tom Petty's Mudcrutch were 6-8. Tim McGraw's Wal*Mart only hits album rounded out the Top 10. more placement and all the gory details.

NOFX has confirmed some East Coast tour dates for this October. Other than the four sold out shows planned this weekend in Calgary, Vancouver, Seattle and Portland, these are the only NOFX shows slated in the US for 2008. dates

Yesterday we had a little mini-rant about the "do nothing important" Congress moving to pass the "Payback The RIAA/MPAA For All Of Their Campaign Contributions Act." Seems that the full (of it) House wasn't able to pass the measure that will create what boils down to a Copyright Czar. The bill was expected to pass on Tuesday night but partisan bickering stalled it. But the bill is still expected to pass this week. Meanwhile, while our elected officials are busy working on new laws to payback their biggest contributors, oil reached a new record of almost $124 a barrel on Wednesday. This could be bad news for the film and music industry since people won't have enough money left over to buy CDs or DVDs after filling up their cars.