Odds & Ends: Stryper, Springsteen and ZZ Top

If you’re going to see Stryper tonight in Dallas, or Houston tomorrow night, you’ll need to change your plans to December.

The House of Blues shows have been postponed because singer/songwriter Michael Sweet has diagnosed as suffering from what’s going around these days – the flu.

Stryper has rescheduled the Houston gig to Dec. 21 and Dallas to Dec. 22 at each city’s House of Blues.

“My sincerest apologies to all the fans for this inconvenience but I look forward to seeing you all in December when we return,” Sweet said in a statement. “Just for these two shows we will be putting together a special Christmas segment of the show. It’ll be great to spend the holidays with our friends and fans in Dallas and Houston.”

For more information, please click here for Stryper’s website.

Doing the E Street Shuffle By The River

Ever since late summer, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band have added something extra to their shows.  On almost every gig The Boss & Co. have played one of the many classic albums Springsteen has released in his more than 35 years on a major label.

But many of the album selections were either Born To Run or Darkness On The Edge Of Town with a little Born In The USA thrown in just to mix things up. However, New York City-area fans attending Springsteen’s Madison Square Garden shows will get a little more variety.

This Saturday Springsteen and E Street will reach back to 1973 for The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle – Springsteen’s second album for Columbia, which featured songs like concert favorite “Rosalita” as well as “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” “Kitty’s Back,” and of course, “The E Street Shuffle.”

But Sunday’s show may be a bit longer than Springsteen’s usual 2 ½ to 3 hour concert marathons. That evening’s selection will be the 1980 double record release The River, which could take up a good chunk of the night’s set list.

This will be the first time Springsteen and crew have played either album in its entirety.

ZZ Top’s London Tube Snake Boogie

ZZ Top was in London last week when consummate tourist / guitarist Billy Gibbons decided he’d ride the London Underground to the band’s Oct. 28 gig at Wembley Arena.

He wasn’t expecting problems on the subway, or “tube” as many refer to it. But maybe he should have minded the gap.

“And off I went,” Gibbons said, according to the BBC. “It’s only a block from the hotel down to the station, and no sooner had I bought the ticket the agent informed me that the Circle Line had broken down.”

But that didn’t stop Gibbons’ subway adventure. He took a bus to where he could catch another Underground line to Wembley Park. However, after boarding the train he quickly realized he wasn’t the only one going to the arena. It turns out there were plenty of ZZ Top fans on the subway.

“There was a guy on the route that was checking me out and it was getting a little edgy,” Gibbons said. “And then I realized that he was looking at a ZZ Top concert ticket for the Wembley show.”

Despite the breakdown and subsequent bus ride before boarding another train, when asked if he’ll continue to take public transportation to the band’s concerts, Gibbons seemed up to it, saying “Well, I may in the future. I beat my partners by 45 minutes.”

Click here to read the complete BBC News article.