Mac Attack is Back... and Grammy Noms

Fleetwood Mac announced the initial dates for their first tour in five years, kicking off their Unleashed tour on March 1st at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena. Tickets for the shows go on sale on December 15th.

The band, which features Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood, said in a joint statement: "We love our band and think the title of the tour 'UNLEASHED' perfectly describes how we all feel when we get on stage together -- especially in 2009. We're so happy to get back out on the road, perform everyone's favorite songs and see our fans."

In conjunction with the tour, the band's 1977 album Rumours will be re-released as part of a special CD/DVD boxed set including previously unreleased tracks recorded during the making of the album, along with a DVD component with never-before-seen footage of the band. There's been no release date announced for the Rumours box set.

No word on rumors heard earlier in the year about Sheryl Crow joining the band...

• Fleetwood Mac tour dates:
  March 1 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mellon Arena
  March 3 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
  March 5 - Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena
  March 8 - Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills
  March 10 - Washington, DC - Verizon Center
  March 11 - Boston, MA - TD Banknorth Arena
  March 13 - Uniondale, NY - Nassau Coliseum
  March 14 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
  March 16 - Rochester, NY - Blue Cross Arena
  March 17 - Albany, NY - Times Union Center
  March 19 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
  March 21 - East Rutherford, NJ - Izod Center
  March 24 - Ottawa, ON - Scotiabank Place
  March 25 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
  March 26 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada

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Lil Wayne led the field of nominees for the 51st annual Grammy Award nominations, which were announced Wednesday, December 3rd, in Los Angeles. A portion of the nominations were announced during The Recording Academy's first-ever live nominations concert special, dubbed The Grammy Nominations Concert: Countdown to Music's Biggest Night, held at the Nokia Theater L.A. live in downtown Los Angeles.

Coldplay also racked up an impressive seven nominations for their work on the Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends CD. The band is mentioned in categories that include record, album and song of the year, best rock album, best rock song, and best pop performance by a group.

Other big nominations-grabbers were Jay-Z, Ne-Yo and Kanye West who each earned six nods. Alison Krauss, John Mayer, Robert Plant, Radiohead, and Jazmine Sullivan received five nominations each, while Adele, Danger Mouse, Eagles, Lupe Fiasco, George Strait, and T.I. each received four nominations.

LL Cool J and Taylor Swift co-hosted the nominations special, which also featured performances by Celine Dion, Foo Fighters, Mariah Carey and B.B. King. The event was immediately followed by a concert by John Mayer.

The Grammy Awards ceremony will be held February 8th, 2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The presentation will be broadcast live on CBS-TV.