Rock Report 2/24/22

Elton John is safe and sound after a harrowing in-flight emergency yesterday (Feb. 22) where his private jet suffered a hydraulic failure at 10,000 feet in altitude and the pilot was forced to land amid treacherous weather conditions and the wheels finally touched the ground on the third attempt.  News of the nearly catastrophic event was reported by British tabloid outlet The Sun where it was said that the musical superstar was en route from the U.K. to New York to play a show at Madison Square Garden on his ongoing “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour.

Mark Lanegan, the singer of Screaming Trees and a former member of Queens of the Stone Age, has died at the age of 57, a representative for the musician confirmed in a statement on Tuesday (Feb. 22).  In March 2021, Lanegan was hospitalized with COVID-19 and slipped in and out of a coma with “little hope of survival,” according to the musician’s recent memoir, Devil in a Coma, published last December. The Screaming Trees co-founder also went deaf during his illness, but he appeared better by years’s end. At that time, a spokesperson said Lanegan had “gotten his hearing back now, but his health is up and down.”

Smashing Pumpkins have just announced the ‘Rock Invasion 2 Tour,’ which adds 11 new stops to the band’s pre-existing live itinerary this spring. Joining them on these select dates will be Bones UK.  Most of the upcoming run is designed to keep Billy Corgan and his crew on the road between high-profile appearances at Beale Street Music Festival, BeachLife Festival, Welcome to Rockville and Summer Camp Music Festival. A May 2 stop without Bones UK has been added, but they’ll link up with the alt-rock icons starting May 13 with the final non-festival stop set for May 28.