May 4, 2007 – Lordi, the Finnish Heavy Metal band that won the 2006 Eurovision contest arrived in New York for a visit and I took pictures of them high above the city and on the ground in Times Square! Check these guys out, they are scary! Lordi, NYC – 2007 Lordi, NYC – 2007 Lordi, NYC – 2007

This spring I was very busy with the opening of my ROCKERS exhibition in Sao Paulo, but that didn’t stop me from going out whenever I could. On this page I have a roundup of the shows I’ve seen and the scenes I’ve been to from March to July of 2007.

For the promotion of my book, “John Lennon, The New York Years” and my new DVD of the New York Dolls “All Dolled Up” I went to Berlin and Tokyo in the Fall and then I was in Utah, Sao Paulo and London during the winter. See below for an update of recents events.

As usual there was a lot going on in the summer with bands touring and places to go. Here’s some of the places I went.

I was very busy in the Fall of 2005 promoting my new book “John Lennon, The New York Years” and didn’t have time to update my webpages. Here are some of the photos I’ve made in the last few months.

Courtney Love roared into New York City and shook up the town. At the Bowery Ballroom she played one of the most exciting punk rock shows I’ve seen in a long time!

See events from the last few months, from Ryan Adams Birthday to the Star Spangles at CBGB as well as Jesse Malin & Bruce Springsteen: Joey Ramone Place; NY Fashion week and more!

Happy Fourth of July!  Ryan Adams and Jesse Malin performed in New York City’s Battery Park as part of the free Downtown River to River Festival 2003. On a beautiful sunny summer day a huge crowd came and had a great time. Jesse opened the show with his band and then Ryan hit the stage with his group, the Pinkhearts.  

Sheena & the Rokkets were among the many bands at the Fuji Rock Festival. In spite of the rain, more than 100,000 people came to dance to the music and had a great time. The Festival site is very large, set up on a golf/ski resort. It was impossible to see all of the more than 100 acts but there is so much going on all over the place that we saw some great shows and had lots of good… read more →

It’s been a very busy Spring. So many shows and events that I didn’t have time to put up a page for each one Now I have put up shots of Lou Reed, Jewel, Led Zeppelin,David Johansen, Sylvain, the Libertines, Craig from the Vines, English sensation Dirty Harry, sexy Comedienne Tammy Faye Starlight, Blondie, Star Spangles, Patti Smith, the Fugs and many others. Check it out!  

I went with my wife Elizabeth to Cuba to attend the opening of a photo exhibition titled “The Revolution of Rock & Roll”. The show was at the Fototeca De Cuba Gallery and was organized by Chris Murray of the Govinda Gallery in Washington, DC. We had a great time in Cuba, the opening was a good party and I gave a slide talk at the gallery on Rock & Roll photography. I’ve been invited to come back in December… read more →

Joe Strummer and his band the “Mescaleros” came to New York to play five shows at the new venue “St. Ann’s Warehouse” under the Brooklyn Bridge. What a week it was! The shows were great and we stayed up partying till dawn each night. Joe played new material from the Mescaleros two albums, as well as some old favorites from the Clash days.

I had a party for the opening of my exhibition at the Alex Proud Camden Moss Gallery to celebrate the release of my new book “The Clash: Photographs by Bob Gruen”.

The Fuji Rock Festival 2001 was held July 27th, 28th & 29th, at the Naeba Resort in the mountains of Northwest Japan, and it was a blast! I was very happy to be able to attend with my wife this year. More than 100 bands and artists from around the world performed on six or seven stages and there was even a weird Circus from England. I couldn’t cover the whole festival (it’s very big) but we roamed around with… read more →

I am in London working on my book of photos of the Clash and we went to a great party for the photographer Mario Testino hosted by Kate Moss with Clash bassplayer Paul Simonon. It was a nice surprise to see Paul there after I had spent all day going over final layout proofs for my book, which is due out at the end of September. We also ran into the artist Damien Hirst who introduced us to TV personality… read more →

The Patti Smith Group are playing a three night gig at the new Greenwich Village venue “Village Underground”. The sold out show I saw was fantastic! Full of passion and feeling, Patti Smith is a true legend. It’s great to see a world-class artist such as Patti in a small and intimate room. It felt like a show in a friends basement, and the crowd loved every minute. Club owner Steve Weitzman has been bringing some very good shows to… read more →

Squeezebox – a party started by Michael Schmidt, has been running at Don Hill’s club in New York for years. It’s been a great party of straight and gay rock’n’rollers with bands and guest spots backed by a rockin’ house band that can play anything and make it fun. In such a wildly varied crowd, MC Mistress Formika always made everyone feel welcome and we’ve had so many great times there. Friday May 18th was the final party – this… read more →

Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year were performers; Aerosmith, Solomon Burke, The Flamingos, Michael Jackson, Queen, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Ritchie Valens; side-men James Burton and Johnnie Johnson; and Chris Blackwell. The evening was very interesting with people such as Keith Richards, Moby and the group ‘N Sync making the presentations and joining in the after dinner Jam Session.