Johnny Marr official promotional shot, 2011.

Let’s check out what’s been happening in the tour news department this Monday morning.  First off, former Smiths guitar legend Johnny Marr has just announced an 18-date North American tour in support of his upcoming solo album, The Messenger.

The tour will kick off in Las Vegas on April 11, following a series of UK shows slated for March, and includes two shows with New Order along with performances both weekends of the Coachella Festival.

As far as that new album is concerned, you can grab The Messenger when it hits stores and iTunes on February 26. Details magazine in their early preview said the record “harks back to the ‘80s with chiming, effects-laden guitars and dreamy vocals.”

The album was written and produced by Marr, who recorded in Manchester and in Berlin. Engineer Frank Arkwright mastered the disc at Abbey Road Studios.

On the other side of the coin, bad news for This Lizzy fans in the land down under as the band has announced the cancellation of most of their headline appearances on their upcoming Australian tour do to what they claim were circumstances “way beyond the band’s control.”

It’s not all bad though as the band did say that all Thin Lizzy shows announced with KISS and Motley Crue will still take place as planned along with the headline show at Melbourne’s Billboard on March.

As some of you might recall, Thin Lizzy recently created a new persona for the band, including a brand new name, Black Star Riders.

The group completed recording their debut album last week, after less than a month in the studio with producer Kevin Shirley. Unfortunately, a release date has yet to be announced.

And finally, Bon Jovi was forced to postpone the first concert of their North American tour thanks to that certain northeastern US blizzard that has recently had all the cable news channels acting like it’s the end of humanity all over again.

The plans were for the band to kick of the tour on Saturday night in Connecticut but after the governor declared a state of emergency – including issuing a mandatory statewide travel ban – Bon Jovi was forced to postpone the show.

But luckily for fans and employees who were already at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night before the news hit (or failed to hear it), Bon Jovi treated the group to a free impromptu concert, according to the band’s website.

"Bon Jovi recognizes how much preparation it takes for fans to attend a concert and they wanted to honor that the best way that they know how," said the statement.

The band has already announced that the make-up date for the show will take place on October 25th and tickets from the original concert will be honored on the new date.