• Taylor Swift: Best grace under fire
• Beyonce: Diva with the best video of all time!
• Lady Gaga: Most original resurger of pop music
• Kings of Leon: Best job at making a straight up rock and roll band with no gimmick cool again
• Miley Cyrus: Tween queen 2009
• Owl City: Best “what the fuck is this but we kind of like it”
• Cobra Starship: Best use of a cameo and catchy hook to make you famous
• Blink 182: Best reunion
• Drake: Most awesome transition from shitty teen drama to rap star ever
• Lil Wayne: Most money for being on songs that aren’t his (surpassing Lil Jon)
• Justin Bieber: Best “this would be adorable except you’re 12 so it makes me feel like a creep”
• Glee soundtrack: Best way to make covers totally awesome yet completely nerdy all at the same time
• Jay Sean: Best introduction of Bollywood flavor into American main stream
• Michael Jackson: Best comeback, it just sucks he had to die to do it

After struggling to get through a concert in Hartford last week in the wake of DJ AM’s death, the band canceled a show in upstate New York.

“Due to circumstances surrounding the unfortunate and untimely passing of our dear friend Adam ‘DJ AM’ Goldstein, Blink-182 will not be playing tonight in Saratoga, NY at SPAC,” the band said in a statement posted on their website. “We thank all of our fans for their support in this tough time.”

The band promised that the Saratoga show would go on with performances by Weezer, Taking Back Sunday and Chester French and “some special surprises.”

“Saratoga, our sincerest apologies that we have to cancel tonight,” Blink-182′s Mark Hoppus said on his Twitter feed. “We didn’t know until late this afternoon.”

The band played a tearful tribute to DJ AM, Adam Goldstein, at their Hartford show, pausing for a moment of silence during the concert.

After news broke of DJ AM’s sudden death, members of Blink-182, including drummer Travis Barker, had to face the crowd in Hartford Saturday night.

“This night is really hard for us on stage,” bassist Mark Hoppus said from the stage, according to People. “We lost a dear friend yesterday. His name was Adam Goldstein. You probably know him as DJ AM. He was an innovator and a genius and he loved music more than anything else. Above all he was a dear friend.”

Barker was one of the survivors, with DJ AM, of a September 2008 plane crash in South Carolina that claimed four other lives.

Blink-182 held a moment of silence for their fallen friend and played a song called “Down,” in his honor. All three bandmates cried.

“We are doing our very best to get through this show,” said Hoppus, “but right now it’s very hard.”

MANSFIELD – This article is about the geometry of Tom Delonge’s penis. Okay, not really but if you didn’t find that funny then I am going to guess the long awaited Blink-182 reunion doesn’t mean that much to you.

Last night the legendary trio – guitarist Tom Delonge, bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker – played the Boston date of their reunion summer amphitheater tour to a sold out crowd of 20,000 people. Hoppus announced before the second to last song of the set that it was the second largest crowd Blink had ever played in front of.

Opening acts for this particular date of the tour were Chester French, Panic! At the Disco (with a new line up), and Fall Out Boy. Other opening acts for various dates on the tour include Weezer, Taking Back Sunday and All American Rejects. While all the participating bands of the tour put on solid performances – it was clear that the vast majority of the crowd was there for Blink and Blink only.

The most notable difference about the Blink performance at Mansfield’s Comcast Center was the severe clean up of their stage banter. Delonge and Hoppus bounced back and forth between each other in an attempt to cover up some obvious lingering bitterness over Delonge’s initial decision to leave Blink to pursue Angels and Airwaves, but fans were not greeted with the same level of perverted sillyness that was a staple of Blink-182 shows in the past (for reference, please get yourself a copy of “The Mark, Tom and Travis Show” and you’ll understand what I mean). Though certainly humorous and entertaining, there was a noticeable absence of banter about licking balls and songs like “Blow Job”, which was a slight disappoint to all of the older fans who are used to the Blink patented potty mouth humor.

The hour and a half set included songs every album – from “Buddha”and “Cheshire Cat” to the self-titled album the band released before taking their hiatus in 2005. While the crowd erupted for “What’s My Age Again” – the song that broke the boys into the mainstream – and you could hear the thunder of 20,000 people singing along to “All The Small Things”, there was an appreciation by all the old school Blink fans when they went into “Josie” – one of the pre-MTV hits that made Blink-182 a gateway punk band for so many in the mid 1990s. The most touching moment of the show may have been the sea of lighters and cell phones alike that rose in the air when the band went into “Adam’s Song”, the “Enema of the State” anthem speaking out about teen suicide.

There was no greater applause though then drummer Travis Barker’s kick-off of the band’s two song encore. It was an appropriate tribute to Barker, whose near death plane crash in 2008 inspired the band to start speaking to each other again and thus re-unite. Barker began with a drum solo, only for his drum kit to begin rising off the stage. For more than five minutes, Barker banged on his drums as his kit swung in the air from one side of the stage to the other. At one point Barker was turned 180 degrees so that when he looked straight ahead he was looking at the floor of the stage, to the rabid approval of all 20,000 fans screaming in adoration. “He’s moving so fast! He looks like an octopus,” said a fan in the crowd as Barker banged away.

Hoppus and Delonge joined him afterward to finish out the night with “Carousel”and “Dammit”. By the end of it, Blink was on stage for over an hour and 40 minutes, playing songs that appealed to the palettes of the wide variety of fans in attendance – from the now early 20 somethings whose first chords on their electric guitars in middle school were Blink songs to the entirely new generation just discovering “Dude Ranch” for the first time. Blink-182 united a crowd of extreme variance last night and gave them all a show to remember.

The success of the tour will help the boys decide if they will continue together to record a new full length LP in the fall. If the caliber of the Comcast Center show is any indication – it’s good to see you back, Blink-182.

Harmonix today announced that three-packs from Weezer, KISS, and Blink 182 are next week’s DLC additions to the already plentiful Rock Band Music Store.

Furthermore, the Wii continues to play catch-up this week and many a song will be added to that respective music store while PSP Rock Band’ers have a little more to enjoy with tunes from Alient Ant Farm and James Gang.

Full list below.

Xbox 360/PS3 additions for week of 7/28

Blink-182 “Down”
Blink-182 “Feeling This”
Blink-182 “The Rock Show”
Damone “Out Here All Night”
KISS “100,000 Years (Live)”
KISS “Deuce (Live)”
KISS “Parasite (Live)”
Weezer “My Name is Jonas”
Weezer “Pork and Beans”
Weezer “Undone “" The Sweater Song”

Wii Additions July 28

Kings of Leon “Crawl”
Kings of Leon “Molly’s Chambers”
Kings of Leon “Sex on Fire”
Rancid “Last One to Die”
Rancid “Ruby Soho”
Rancid “Time Bomb”
Rise Against “Prayer of the Refugee”
Rise Against “Re-Education (Through Labor)”
Rise Against “Savior”
Lush “Sweetness & Light”
Children of Bodom “Are You Dead Yet”
Finley “Tutto ƒ¨ Possibile
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Dr. Feelgood”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Kickstart My Heart”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Rattlesnake Shake”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S)”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “She Goes Down”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Slice Of Your Pie”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Sticky Sweet”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Time For Change”
Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e “Without You”
Platero y Tƒº “Hay Poco Rock & Roll”
Squeeze “Tempted”
Tokio Hotel “Ready, Set, Go!”

Rock Band Unplugged due out July 30

James Gang “Funk #49″
Alien Ant Farm “Smooth Criminal”

Guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker have departed from Las Vegas-based rock band Panic At the Disco.

The band has several tour dates lined up for the summer, including opening for No Doubt and a stint on the Blink 182 reunion tour, including a stop in Boston on August 6 at the Comcast Center. There has been no definite news about the fate of those scheduled shows but Ross and Walker released this statement on the band’s official site earlier today.

“Ryan Ross and Jon Walker will be leaving Panic At the Disco to embark on a musical excursion of their own. Though the four of us have made music together in the past, we’ve creatively evolved in different directions which has compromised what each of us want to personally achieve. Over the years, we have remained close and honest with each other, which helped us to realize that our goals were different and that parting ways is truly what is best for each of us. We are all excited for the future, you should be too.”

Lead singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith are tentatively planning to continue on under the Panic name. More updates about the status of the shows and who will be replacing Ross and Walker are said to be coming from Urie and Smith in the coming days.

“Panic At The Disco is alive and very very well. We are working on new songs that we are excited for you to hear,” Urie and Smith said in a statement on the website. “Our dates
with Blink and Fall Out Boy start in a little less than a month, and we wouldn’t miss those for the world.”

Millions of fans rejoiced earlier this year when the legendary pop-punk trio Blink 182 announced that they would be re-uniting after two years of hiatus. Mark Hoppus, Tom Delonge and Travis Barker have been in the studio for the past couple of weeks writing and recording new Blink songs but have just announced an epic amphitheatre summer tour. The support for the arena extravaganza will work like a game of musical artists rotating between Fall Out Boy, Weezer, Panic At The Disco, The All-American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday, Asher Roth and Chester French on different select dates of the tour. All the dates for the tour are listed below (including the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA on August 6) but which support will be at which venues has not be announced yet. All lawn seats at any of the amphitheatres will be $20 with no extra fees. Tickets go on sale May 30 at www.livenation.com.

July 24: Las Vegas (the Joint)

July 28: Vancouver (GM Place)

July 30: Calgary, AB (Saddledome)

July 31: Edmonton, AB (Rexall Place)

Aug. 1: Saskatoon, SK (Credit Union Center)

Aug. 2: Winnipeg, MB (MTS Centre)

Aug. 4: Milwaukee (Marcus Amphitheater)

Aug. 6: Boston (Comcast Center)

Aug. 7 Quebec City, QC (Colisee Pepsi)

Aug. 8: Montreal (Bell Centre)

Aug. 9: Wantagh, N.Y. (Nikon Theater at Jones Beach)

Aug. 12: Hershey, Pa. (the Star Pavilion)

Aug. 13: Cincinnati (Riverbend Music Center)

Aug. 14: Pittsburgh (Post Gazette Pavilion)

Aug. 15: Chicago (First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre)

Aug. 16: Omaha, Neb. (Westfair Amphitheater)

Aug. 18: Minneapolis (Xcel Energy Center)

Aug. 20: Indianapolis (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)

Aug. 21: Buffalo, N.Y. (Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center)

Aug. 22: Detroit (DTE Energy Music Theatre)

Aug. 23: Toronto (Molson Amphitheater)

Aug. 25: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)

Aug. 27: Saratoga, N.Y. (Saratoga Performing Arts Center)

Aug. 28: Camden, Pa. (Susquehanna Bank Center)

Aug. 29: Hartford, Conn. (New England Dodge Music Center)

Aug. 30: Washington, D.C. (TBD)

Aug. 31: Wantagh, N.Y. (Nikon Theater at Jones Beach)

Sept. 2: Cleveland (Blossom Music Center)

Sept. 3: St. Louis (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)

Sept. 4: Kansas City, Kan. (Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone)

Sept. 6: Denver (Fiddlers Green Amphitheater)

Sept. 7: Salt Lake City (David O. McKay Events Center)

Sept. 10: Seattle (White River Amphitheater)

Sept. 12: Sacramento, Calif. (Sleep Train Amphitheater)

Sept. 13: Mountain View, Calif. (Shoreline Amphitheater)

Sept. 14: Santa Barbara, Calif. (Santa Barbara Bowl)

Sept. 16: San Diego (Cricket Wireless Amphitheater)

Sept. 17: Irvine, Calif. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)

Sept. 19: Phoenix (Tempe Beach Park)

Sept. 21: Albuquerque, N.M. (Journal Pavilion)

Sept. 23: Dallas (Superpages.com Center)

Sept. 24: Houston (Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)

Sept. 26: West Palm Beach, Fla. (Cruzan Amphitheater)

Sept. 27: Tampa, Fla. (Ford Amphitheater)

Sept. 29: Atlanta (Lakewood Amphitheater)

Oct. 1: Charlotte, N.C. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)

Oct. 2: Virginia Beach, Va. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)

Oct. 3: Atlantic City, N.J. (Borgata Events Center)

A South Carolina Leerjet crash has killed four and left former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Adam Michael Goldstein (DJ AM) in critical condition at an area hospital burn unit.

The plane never made it off the ground for takeoff. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen told reporters that the plane carrying was departing before midnight Friday when air traffic controllers reported seeing sparks. The plane careened off the runway and crashed on a roadway.

The pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, of Anaheim Hills, CA co-pilot James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad, CA, Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City, CA, and Charles Still, 25, of Los Angeles, CA died in the crash.

Barker and Goldstein were in South Carolina for a concert. Officials said that Gavin DeGraw and Parrey Farrell, who preformed at the same concert, were not on the plane.

An eyewitness told local NBC affiliate WIS-10 that the two survivors could be seen running around, on fire, trying to extinguish themselves.

DJ AM is from Los Angeles and is best known for his engagement to Nicole Ritchie. He performed with Barker recently at the MTV Video Music Awards.