Live Nation’s longtime link to Ticketmaster has officially ended. The concert promoting giant quietly rolled out its very own, in-house ticketing service – appropriately named Live Nation Ticketing  – this past week, apparently without one glitch.

According to a report on Billboard.biz, the “complex” new service debuted over the holidays and hasn’t experienced any setbacks. For now, many of the concerts that have transferred from Ticketmaster to Live Nation have been shows at smaller venues, as Ticketmaster still has exclusive agreements with many of the country’s larger sites. A spokesperson for Live Nation, however, told Billboard.biz that that will soon change.

“What we went live with was our own venues, and no amphitheater shows are up yet,” Jason Garner, Live Nation’s CEO of global music, told Billboard.biz. “So it was a bunch of small club shows, which in many ways is more difficult because of the volume.”

In a presentation to investors this week, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said the company had already sold more than 177,000 tickets at over 50 of its own venues, with numbers expected to rise as the company rolls out more shows and additional venues in 2009.

“Anytime you have a major rollout, you hold your breath and hope there are no major glitches,” Garner added.

But there may, however, eventually be one very big “glitch,” as anyone expecting Live Nation’s purchasing fees to be less than Ticketmaster’s historically high charges might be surprised to learn that that’s not the case.

According to a report on Rolling Stone.com, who tested the new service by buying tickets to several shows, the “Ticket Charge” levied by Live Nation was approximately 30 percent more than Ticketmaster’s fees for the same event. Example: RS tried to buy tickets for a Pretenders show at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City on Jan. 31. Ticketmaster’s “Convenience Charge” for the $49.50 ticket was $9.85, while Live Nation’s “Ticket Charge” for the same show, same ticket price, was $13.50. RS also tried to buy a $29.50 ticket to a Gov’t Mule show in Denver, Colo., only to find the “Ticket Charge” was the same – $13.50.

A representative from Live Nation contacted RS and pointed out that Ticketmaster also charges to print tickets at home, along with an additional “pre-order” charge that appears on most orders, something Live Nation does not do. But the apparent high “Ticket Charge” – even for a ticket with a face value below $30 – might be alarming to customers expecting lower fees given that there is now increased competition in the marketplace.

So much for first impressions!

A complete day devoted to what would have been Elvis Presley’s 74^th birthday got off to a rousing start yesterday at the King’s former Memphis home when ex-wife Priscilla Presley – for the first time – led a large group of fans in singing “Happy Birthday” on Graceland’s front lawn (see the video below).

The annual gathering also included a cake-cutting ceremony, a free concert by Elvis tribute artist Terry Mike Jeffrey and an announcement of the addition of two rescue horses – named Max and Bandit – to Graceland’s existing stable of horses.

Elvis, who died at Graceland on Aug. 16, 1977, had a longtime love of horses, and built a large horse barn and several riding pastures on Graceland’s sprawling grounds during his life.

Elvis’ birthday celebrations continue throughout the weekend. For a complete list of activities, click here.

There’s a lot going on in Gregg Allman’s life right now.

The 61-year-old legendary singer and keyboardist recently wrapped up a successful run of 23 shows with the Allman Brothers Band this past October, including a concert on behalf of President-Elect Barack Obama at Penn State University, and his solo band is about to finish a 11-show outing this weekend with a Saturday night performance at the Seneca Allegany Casino and Hotel in Salamanca, N.Y. When he’s done there, Allman goes back to ABB to prepare for the band’s recently announced 10-show annual run at New York’s Beacon Theatre, which begins March 9 and concludes March 21.

All the activity, however, is a far cry from where Allman was last year at this time, when ABB was forced to cancel its 2008 Beacon run due to Allman’s complications from treatments he was receiving for Hepatitis C, which exhausted his body and drained him of energy beyond anything he’d ever experienced in his life.

“When I told my solo band what was going on, my keyboard player had already been through the treatments, [and] he told me, ‘I've got some bad news on top of bad news for you; don't even think about inspiration or creation during treatment, brother I didn't even want to get laid,’” Allman told Ross CAT from Nightlife/Best of WNY recently. “Boy he wasn't lying; I didn't touch a pencil, my guitar or my piano the entire time. I just about had enough energy to pick up the phone to talk to my mother. It's that bad, it's basically watered down chemo is what it is, for those folks that have to endure full blown chemotherapy man I say a prayer for them every night. I've got to tell you I feel like I'm thirty again ….”

As for the ABB’s imminent return to the Beacon, Allman promises a few surprises to hopefully make up for the cancelled shows. There have even been rumors of appearances by Boz Scaggs, Eric Clapton, and even former ABB alum Dickey Betts, although Allman and his management team remain mum on any plans.

“I’d love to tell you what we have planned,” Allman told Billboard in November, “but it’s just kick-ass, that’s all I can tell you.”

Meanwhile, shortly after Allman hit the road with his solo band a few weeks ago, the Associated Press reported that his home in Richmond Hill, Ga., was burglarized on Dec. 27. Officials from the Bryan County Sheriff’s Department told the AP that burglars took a case containing Allman’s rare collection of 19^th-century silver dollars, along with two safes packed with personal papers, gold coins, collectible knives, a handgun and several tapes with unreleased recordings.

Police have arrested two suspects who apparently had some connection to Allman, and were able to recover all of the stolen possessions except for the handgun. A Sheriff spokesperson, however, would not reveal to the AP how Allman knew the suspects.

“He’s upgrading his security,” Mickey Sands, detective for the Sheriff’s department, told the AP.

For the second time in six months, U2 has posted a message on its Web site “to correct some online information suggesting that tickets are available for U2 shows this summer.”

Although the band is hard at work its new album, No Line on the Horizon, which is due in March, it has not yet revealed any official tour plans.

The band had to post a similar message this past August when another batch of counterfeit tickets were making the rounds on the Internet for U2 shows that didn’t exist.

To read the band’s complete message, click here.

For a while it looked as if Metallica’s Lars Ulrich might become a true classic rock superhero. Upon learning that a possible Deep Purple reunion was being scuttled by the non-participation of drummer Ian Paice, Ulrich promptly offered his services for a one-off performance.

“If Deep Purple needs a drummer, [singer] David Coverdale has my number,” Ulrich said, in a story reported by MusicRadar.com.

Ulrich, a hardcore Purple fan, saw the Mach III version of the group at their first-ever show, staged in Copenhagen in 1973. Just nine-years-old at the time, Ulrich subsequently became a huge follower of the Purple lineup that included Coverdale, Paice, bassist Glenn Hughes, keyboardist Jon Lord, and, of course, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.

In recent separate interviews with Classic Rock  magazine, Coverdale, Hughes and Lord each said they had been in contact with Blackmore regarding a possible reformation. Alas, however, it appears the reunion is not to be.

On Monday (Jan. 6), Lord posted the following comments on his website:

“It all seems like a lot of hot air and wild speculation to me. I like Lars and what he has achieved with Metallica. He’s obviously always been very complementary in his comments about DP, and I love the story of his famous nine-years-old ‘baptism of fire’ at our ‘73 concert in The KB Halle in Copenhagen, but if I was asked to be involved in a ‘Mark III’ reunion … I would not be able to even imagine it without the presence of Ian Paice.”

Rockers Black Stone Cherry have just released a new video for the single, ‘Please Come In’ from last year’s Folklore and Superstition. Check it out below.

You can also catch the band live in the following cities, as they prepare to hit the road again with a slew of early 2009 club dates that runs through the end of February. If you haven’t seen them live yet, you might want to mark one of the following dates on your calendar:

Black Stone Cherry 2009 Tour

Jan. 29 - Firewater - Dallas, Texas
Jan. 31 - Wild West - Lubbock, Texas (supporting Hinder)
Feb. 01 - Scout Bar - Houston, Texas
Feb. 02 - Scout Bar - San Antonio, Texas
Feb. 04 - Scout Bar - Beaumont, Texas
Feb. 06 - The Bottling - Company Hattiesburg, Miss.
Feb. 07 - Fire - Jackson, Miss.
Feb. 09 - Diamond Ballroom - Oklahoma City, Okla.
Feb. 10 - The Bottleneck - Lawrence, Kan.
Feb. 12 - The Rock - Maplewood, Minn.
Feb. 20 - Pierre's Entertainment Center - Ft. Wayne, Ind.
Feb. 21 - Benton Civic Center - Benton, Ill.

A reunited Phish has announced a run of late spring and early summer tour dates that officially mark the band's return to the road following its self-imposed four-year hiatus.

The jam band vets will kick off the newly scheduled shows with two concerts at New York’s Jones Beach on June 4-5, and its online ticket request period is currently underway on the band's Web site. Tickets are scheduled to go on sale to the general public on Jan. 30-31.

Phish had previously announced a three-night stand in Hampton, Va., for early March, which will be the band's first full-scale shows since their assumed final show at the Phish 2004 summer festival in Coventry, Vt. The new shows also include a night at the Great Woods Amphitheatre outside Boston (June 6), Camden, N.J. (June 7), Asheville, N.C. (June 9), St. Louis (June 16), Burgettstown, Pa. (June 18), Noblesville, Ind. (June 19) and East Troy, Wis. (June 20-21).

Rumors are also swirling that the band will make its first-ever appearance at this year’s Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The lineup for the event, which is scheduled for June 11-14, will be officially announced on Feb. 3.

In other Phish news, the band also set a March 3 release date for a 7-DVD set of its legendary 1996 Clifford Ball performance, which was staged on the grounds of a decommissioned Air Force base in Plattsburgh, N.Y. The new release features an unprecedented nine hours of music, and includes soundcheck footage and a 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary.

Fans who pre-order the DVD set from Phish’s Dry Goods merchandising division will also receive as-yet-undetermined bonus items inserted into the package. Click here for further details.

Apparently, it’s over. Really over.

Led Zeppelin’s dance with immortality, which for the last 13 months has fueled incessant rumors and innuendo about a possible tour in the wake of their December 2007 one-off reunion show at London’s O2 arena, has finally finished.

Speaking to Joe Bosso of musicradar.com, Jimmy Page’s manager Peter Mensch responded to recent reports indicating that Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham were preparing to record new music and tour together. As you’re about to read, Mensch’s response finally – and firmly – puts all rumors to rest.

“Led Zeppelin are over,” Mensch told Bosso and musicradar.com. “If you didn't see them in 2007 [when they played a one-off reunion at London's O2 Arena], you missed them. It's done. I can't be any clearer than that.”

Mensch continued, “They tried out a few singers, but no one worked out. That was it. The whole thing is completely over now. There are absolutely no plans for them to continue. Zero. Frankly, I wish everybody would stop talking about it.”

Bosso even asked Mensch about any new projects that Page may be working on. However, you’ll have to click here to read the rest of the story on musicradar.com.

Nice work guys!

Bruce Springsteen is wholeheartedly embracing new technology in advance of the release of his latest album, Working On A Dream. The Boss has made the song “Life Itself” available as a free exclusive download at the Amazon MP3 store as well as debuting its video on YouTube.

It’s the third song to have been introduced online from the Boss’s upcoming new disc, due Jan. 27, which the New Jersey rock icon recorded with the E Street Band.

The clip accompanying the moody, mid-tempo track is fairly straightforward, much like the earlier “My Lucky Day” video, made up mostly of scenes of Springsteen in the recording studio alongside fleeting montages of nature and people standing around looking apprehensive.

Meanwhile, “My Lucky Day” and the classic song “Born To Run” will also be released as downloads for the video game Guitar Hero: World Tour; also available for free until Feb. 4.

In a new interview, Grand Funk Railroad founder Mark Farner says that he’s open to the possibility of reuniting with the original members of the group once again, nearly a decade after the “We’re An American Band” rockers’ last attempt at reconciliation ended in an acrimonious split.

“I’ve been trying to put the band back together,” Farner says during a lengthy conversation on Nightwatcher’s House of Rock.

Drummer Don Brewer and bassist Mel Schacher have been touring under the Grand Funk Railroad name since 2000, with .38 Special vocalist Max Carl, former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick and keyboardist Timothy Cashion. The original trio initially split in 1977, with Farner moving on to become a successful Christian rock act. They got back together in the mid-1990s for a series of concerts and the new live recording, Bosnia.

Farner adds, “I would love for the three original guys to play music for the fans again – because I love the fans. I see that the fans want that. And I'm a fan too. I mean, wouldn't you have liked to have seen The Beatles play together again dude? All four of them? On stage together, the magic that would've been there? Even when they were on The Ed Sullivan Show, the magic that was there, they were anointed for that. But that s#@% just hits the fan, and the fans get cheated.”

In the same interview, however, the singer admits that Brewer and Schacher have so far been resistant to his pleas to get back together.