Stage

The musical comedy Babes In The Wood is presented at The Tivoli Theatre, San Francisco, California, USA.

The musical comedy Fantana plays at The Lyric Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 298 performances.

The musical comedy Stop! Look! Listen!, with songs by Irving Berlin, is playing at The Globe Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 105 performances.

Robert Kuhn is born in Manhattan Beach, California, USA. He will find success as Bob Keane, founder of Del-Fi Records. He will also manage the careers of Ritchie Valens and others.

A musical romance, The Nightingale, is playing at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA during a run of 96 performances.

Singing trio Frances Garland and Sisters play the second of eight nights in 'Frolics' at the Curran Theatre, San Francisco, California, USA. Frances will find stardom after a name change to Judy Garland.

The musical revue Thumbs Up! plays at The St. James Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 156 performances.

The musical revue Thumbs Up! plays at The St. James Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 156 performances.

The Ted Lewis Band with Muggsy Spanier on cornet, opens at The Proctor Theatre in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Judy Garland opens for a season at the Cocoanut Grove in the The Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California, USA, with Freddy Martin And His Orchestra.

The Coasters play the second night of a week at the Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York City, USA, with The Spaniels, The Danleers, The Olympics, Bobby Hendricks, The Quintones, and Sil Austin's Combo.

Helen Shapiro plays the eleventh night of two weeks at The Palladium Theatre, London, UK.

Solomon Burke plays the third of ten nights at The Flame Show Bar, Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Ella Fitzgerald sings Lady Be Good and Body And Soul on the NBC tv show The Lively Ones, hosted by Vic Damone. The broadcast also features Joe Williams, Shelly Manne and Gene Krupa.

Brenda Lee plays the fifth night in two weeks of appearances in the musical Bye Bye Birdie at The Starlight Theater, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

Professional boxer Davey Moore dies as a result of inoperable brain damage at White Memorial Hospital, New York City, USA. The damage was inflicted in a featherweight championship fight four days earlier against Cuban Sugar Ramos in Dodgers Stadium. Moore's death will inspire the 1964 Bob Dylan song Who Killed Davey Moore, and also Davey Moore by Phil Ochs, which is even more scathingly critical of the boxing hierarchy.

The Mariposa Folk Festival, a three-day event, begins in Maple Leaf Stadium, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Artists appearing over the course of the event include The Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tom Kines, Jacqueline And Bridie and others. On her way to perform at this event, Joni Mitchell composes her first song, Day After Day.

A new seven-year plan is drawn up for ongoing development of The Round House, Chalk Farm, London, UK. Central planks of the plan are that 1. The Round House is to stay an open building and 2. each stage of development should widen the scope of use of the venue.

The Rolling Thunder Revue, a traveling cavalcade headed by Bob Dylan and featuring an ever-changing cast of his long-time musical comrades, plays at the Houston Astrodrome, Houston, Texas. This is the celebrated Night Of The Hurricane gig to raise funds for Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, and features guest appearances by Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes and Ringo Starr.

Meat Loaf opens in Rockabye Hamlet at The Minskoff Theatre, New York City, USA.

On their Worldwide Texas tour, ZZ Top play at Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia, USA, supported by Jay Boy Adams. The tour features an onstage menagerie of typically Texan live animals such as a longhorn steer, black buffalo, two vultures and two rattlesnakes. Various Texan plants, such as yucca, agave and cacti, also decorate the stage, which has been built in the shape of Texas.

On the second leg of their Worldwide Texas tour, ZZ Top play at METRA, Billings, Montana, USA, supported by R.E.O. Speedwagon. The tour features an onstage menagerie of typically Texan live animals such as a longhorn steer, a black buffalo, two vultures and two rattlesnakes. Various Texan plants, such as yucca, agave and cacti, also decorate the stage, which has been built in the shape of Texas.

Andy Fairweather Low plays at Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland.

On the second leg of their Worldwide Texas tour, ZZ Top play the second of two nights at The Summit, Houston, Texas, USA, supported by Rory Gallagher and Jay Boy Adams. The tour features an onstage menagerie of typically Texan live animals such as a longhorn steer, a black buffalo, two vultures and two rattlesnakes. Various Texan plants, such as yucca, agave and cacti, also decorate the stage, which has been built in the shape of Texas.

Touring in support of his album Bat Out Of Hell, Meat Loaf plays at The Apollo Stadium, Adelaide, Australia.

San Francisco hippy pioneers The Grateful Dead release a new live album, Dead Set, in the USA. The album was recorded during shows at The Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, California, USA.

Bruce Springsteen joins the band Cats on stage at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA, to play two songs with them.

Freddie Mercury of Queen takes a tumble on the stage steps in the Europahalle, Hanover, Germany, Europe, tearing ligaments in his knee.

Michael Jackson apologises publicly for using lyrics which have been branded as anti-semitic by Jewish groups on his HIStory album.

Neil Finn of Crowded House fame begins a week of solo shows at the St James Theatre, Auckland, New Zealand. During the week he is joined on stage by guests including his brother, Tim Finn, plus Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Lisa Germano, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway of Radiohead, Johnny Marr of The Smiths and Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing.

Stage musical Les Miserables closes after 6,680 shows in sixteen years on Broadway, New York City, USA.

Tony Christie plays at The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, UK.

Enter Shikari, Little Boots and White Lies play on the third and last day of the Liverpool Sound City festival in Liverpool, England, UK, Europe. When Enter Shikari frontman Roughton Reynolds urges the crowd to vote against the BNP in the upcoming European election, a chant of 'Fuck the BNP!' rings throughout the venue.

Norah Jones releases her fourth studio album, The Fall, in Germany and The Netherlands, Europe, on EMI Records.

Pollstar reports that U2 was the most successful live act of 2009, raking in $123m from its stadium tours. The irish band is followed in the ratings by Bruce Springsteen and the duo of Elton John and Billy Joel.

On the Who Am I tour, Nick Jonas and The Administration play the first of four nights at the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA.

All Time Low play at The O2 Academy, Glasgow, Scotland.

Polly Samson, wife of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, helps police to rescue a man attempting to commit suicide in freezing water near her beach-side home in Hove, East Sussex, UK. The man - who resisted being rescued - is then taken to the Royal Sussex Country Hospital, where he is arrested and sectioned.

Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite release a new album, Get Up!, on Stax Records in the USA. When the duo play a gig on this evening at Irving Plaza, New York City, USA, they are joined onstage by Warren Haynes of Govt Mule.

The Alabama Shakes play at The Fox Theatre, Oakland, California, USA.

Jedward play at The Central Theatre, Chatham, UK.