Farm Aid, featuring Neil Young and John Mellencamp, to air on CNN

August 20, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

Farm Aid is headed to Virginia this September, but folks who can’t make it to the show will be able to enjoy it from the comfort of their own home.

Farm Aid just announced that the annual benefit concert, taking place Sept. 26 at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia, will broadcast live on CNN.

Farm Aid board members Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff are all set to perform this year. Young will be performing with his band The Chrome Hearts, while Matthews will perform with frequent collaborator Tim Reynolds.

Other artists on the bill include Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Turnpike Troubadours, Lukas Nelson, Jesse Welles, Sierra Ferrell, I’m With Her, Mon Rovîa, Amythyst Kiah, Lily Meola and Chris Pierce.

The concert will begin on CNN at 7 p.m. ET. It will stream live on nugs.net, FarmAid.org and YouTube starting at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The first Farm Aid concert was held on Sept. 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois. Since then, the Farm Aid organization has raised nearly $90 million to help American farmers.

Grateful Dead releases ‘Shakedown Street’ performance from 1985 Merriweather Post Pavilion concert

August 20, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

The Grateful Dead has shared another preview of their upcoming live box set celebrating the summer of 1985 and the band’s 20th anniversary tour.

The latest is a performance of the Dead classic “Shakedown Street,” recorded during their June 30, 1985, concert at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. It is available now via digital outlets.

“Widely considered not only one of the greatest performances of ‘Shakedown Street’ the Grateful Dead ever played, this is also often called one of the best individual song performances the Dead ever played,” Dead legacy manager and audio archivist David Lemieux says in the video description. “This one is often described with well-deserved hyperbole; it’s really that great.”

The Merriweather Post Pavilion show is one of seven previously unreleased full concerts that make up the 20-CD box set Summer Magic 1985, dropping Sept. 18.

Summer Magic 1985 is limited to just 10,000 numbered copies and is available for preorder now on Dead.net.

The Merriweather Post Pavilion show will also be released as a standalone three-CD or four-CD set. It is also available for preorder now.

Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell says his cancer has returned

August 20, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell has revealed that his cancer has returned.

The rocker announced in 2013 that he’d been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In 2025 he revealed that he was in remission after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. But in a new interview with El Salvador’s YSKL FM, Campbell says he will once again have to undergo treatment because the transplant wasn’t successful.

Campbell talked about how lucky it was his cancer was caught early and said the winter of 2023 was the only time he worried the cancer “was going to kill me.”

“I got really scared about what was happening and the pace at which it was happening and I realized at that point that I had to do a donor transplant. It was my only hope to survive,” he said. “And that’s what I did. I did that in January of ’25, I did a donor transplant. Unfortunately, it didn’t stick, so the cancer has returned. And, you know, I’m continuing treatments to manage it.”

“I’ll probably have to do another transplant within a few years with another donor to try and see if maybe that would cure me,” he added. “But in the meantime, I’m certainly not slowing down. I’m doing a much with my life as possible.”

Def Leppard is scheduled to play Hollywood, Florida, on Oct. 15, before they launch a tour of Mexico and South America on Oct. 17 in Querétaro, Mexico. A complete list of dates can be found at DefLeppard.com.

Let there be Foo: Foo Fighters to open for AC/DC in St. Louis

August 20, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

In between dates on their own stadium tour, Foo Fighters are taking a detour on the “Highway to Hell.”

Dave Grohl and company will be opening for AC/DC during the “Back in Black” legends’ upcoming show in St. Louis on Sept. 8. They will be filling in for The Pretty Reckless, who have been supporting AC/DC’s ongoing U.S. run.

“Foo Fighters are taking a special one-off detour from their Take Cover Global Stadium Tour to fill in for their friends The Pretty Reckless as special guests of AC/DC for one night only in St. Louis,” a press release reads. “The performance brings two generations of rock’s biggest live acts together for a one-night-only event, with the Foo Fighters opening for [AC/DC’s] September 8 St. Louis tour stop.”

The Foos tour, meanwhile, continues Saturday in Los Angeles. The trek supports the “Everlong” outfit’s new album, Your Favorite Toy.

Producer Butch Vig reflects on 35th anniversary of ‘Nevermind’: ‘It changed my life’

August 20, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

Here Nevermind is now, three-and-a-half decades later.

Nirvana’s massive 1991 album will celebrate its 35th anniversary in September. The RIAA Diamond-certified Nevermind made worldwide stars out of the trio — made up of frontman Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl — while launching the generation-defining grunge scene of the ’90s.

Needless to say, Nevermind also had a huge impact on Butch Vig, who produced the album.

“It was a zeitgeist moment for me, making that album,” Vig tells ABC Audio. “It changed my life. Everyone, including the band and everyone close to the band, Nevermind changed their life, and I’m very thankful for that.”

Thirty-five years later, Vig doesn’t put on Nevermind and listen to it himself, though he doesn’t have to go far to hear its songs, which include the iconic anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “In Bloom,” “Come as You Are” and “Lithium,” out in public.

“It’s nice that [Nevermind is] out there in the world, that it’s omnipresent,” Vig says. “I go into a coffee shop and there’s a kid there with a Nevermind T-shirt on or a Nirvana T-shirt on.”

Nirvana followed Nevermind with 1993’s In Utero. They disbanded a year later following Cobain’s death by suicide in 1994.

Today, the legacy of Nevermind continues to live on, even in new ways. The album track “Something in the Way,” for example, experienced a resurgence when it was used in the 2022 movie The Batman.

“It’s one of those albums that just has connected with so many people, and continues to do that,” Vig says. “There’s something in there, this incredible energy and power and mystery.”

“[There are] so many things going on in Kurt’s voice when he sings, and it still affects people,” he continues. “That’s a cool thing.”

R.E.M.’s ‘Reckoning’ getting high-definition vinyl upgrade

August 19, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

R.E.M.’s sophomore album, Reckoning, is getting an audiophile upgrade.

The album is the latest addition to the Interscope-Capitol Records Definitive Sound Series, and will be released Sept. 18 on 180-gram high-definition vinyl, with the upgraded audio sourced from the original analog master tapes.

Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, who co-produced the original album, were directly involved with the upgrade, which was mastered by mastering engineer Chris Bellman.

According to a post on Instagram, after hearing the finished test pressing of the upgraded audio, Dixon noted that he was “hearing details within the recording that had escaped him on previous vinyl editions.”

The Definitive Sound Series edition of Reckoning will be limited to just 5,000 numbered copies, and is available for preorder now.

This is the third R.E.M. album to get an audio upgrade. In December, both their debut EP, Chronic Town, and their debut album, Murmur, were reissued as part of the Interscope-Capitol Records’ Definitive Sound Series. Both editions sold out.

Released April 8, 1984, Reckoning was a hit with critics and peaked at #27 in the U.S., although it topped college radio airplay charts. Its first single, “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry),” peaked at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100, while its second single, “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville,” did not chart. Both went on to become R.E.M. fan favorites.

The album has since been certified Gold by the RIAA.

Jimmy Buffett exhibit to open at the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf

August 19, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

The late Jimmy Buffett will be celebrated with a new exhibit at the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf in Mobile, Alabama.

Jimmy Buffett: Son of a Son of a Sailor Experience, opening Sept. 12, is described as a 6,000-square-foot permanent installation that will feature not only rare Buffett artifacts and memorabilia, but an immersive concert experience.

According to the description, visitors will gain insight into Buffett “not only as a musician, but as an author, sailor, pilot, entrepreneur, adventurer, philanthropist, friend, and storyteller whose influence extended far beyond music.”

The exhibit will include such artifacts as Buffett’s 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame statue; the guitar he used to write and perform “Son of a Son of a Sailor”; handwritten lyrics; never-before-released concert and recording footage; and more.

“Creating the Jimmy Buffett Experience has been an absolute honor for our entire team. We have spent nearly two years listening, researching, collecting stories, curating artifacts, and working to capture the remarkable life of a man who meant so much to so many people,” said Karen Poth, executive director of the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf. “We didn’t get far into this project before we realized this exhibition will never be a finished story. It is a living exhibit. And it will continue to change and grow as new stories are shared, new artifacts come to light, and we learn more about Jimmy and the world he created.”

The opening weekend will include a Sept. 11 performance featuring Coral Reefer Band members Mac McAnally and Scotty Emerick at the Saenger Theatre, as well as a Sept. 12 unveiling of a new bronze Jimmy Buffett sculpture.

More details, and ticket information can be found at nmmog.org.

Artists pay tribute to ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard

August 19, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

Several artists have paid tribute to ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard, who passed away at age 77.

Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote on social media that Beard “was one of a kind,” noting he was “A hell of a drummer, a true original, and most importantly to us, a great friend.”

Fellow drummers Matt Sorum, formerly of Guns N’ Roses, and Brad Wilk, of Rage Against the Machine, both wrote of Beard’s skill.

Sorum called Beard, “The backbone of ZZ Top for 57 years with the best shuffle known to man,” noting, “It might sound easy but possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever try to learn and still trying.” He added that Beard “was born with it in his blood.”

Meanwhile, Wilk wrote that his first experience with ZZ Top was when he was in high school and saw a show on the Eliminator tour. “My mind was BLOWN! Watching his two hand shuffle live was immense,” he wrote.

Other artists paying tribute to Beard include: Foghat, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Night Ranger’s Jack Blades, Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, Aerosmith’s Tom Hamilton, Joe Bonamassa, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, Christopher Cross and Ted Nugent.

Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready looks back on 35 years of ’Ten’: ‘I knew this was gonna be special’

August 19, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

Pearl Jam’s massive 1991 debut album, Ten, celebrates its 35th anniversary on Aug. 27.

“Ten to me is deep in my heart,” guitarist Mike McCready tells ABC Audio. “It’s a record that sounded like a band that was together for many years but wasn’t, in my mind.”

Indeed, the members of the original Pearl Jam lineup — McCready and guitarist Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, vocalist Eddie Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen — had already been a part of several other bands, including Green River, Mother Love Bone and Temple of the Dog.

“It’s the combination of efforts of those five guys that had been in a bunch of bands for a long time, and then all coalesced into one,” McCready says.

In recording Ten with Pearl Jam, McCready sensed its significance pretty much from day one.

“Ten was the example of the first situation I was in when everything was firing on all cylinders,” McCready says. “From the first day Ed showed up and we worked on ‘Once,’ and the five of us were in the room, I knew this was gonna be special. I didn’t know to the extent, but we all knew it was gonna be something.”

That “something” turned into a defining and seminal record of the ’90s grunge and alternative scene on the way to earning Diamond certification by the RIAA and spawning classic singles including “Even Flow,” “Alive” and “Jeremy.”

Three-and-a-half decades later, McCready calls performing Ten songs live a “mythical,” “spiritual” experience.

“We feel that the crowd has lifted ‘Alive’ and ‘Even Flow’ and these songs to a song that’s bigger than when we first recorded it,” McCready says. “It’s more of a universe in itself.”

Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts to headline two shows with Willie Nelson

August 18, 2026 by Classic Rock 93.9

Neil Young has just added two new shows to his 2026 schedule.

The rocker and his band The Chrome Heart will play two co-headlining dates with Willie Nelson and the Family in the lead-up to the 2026 edition of Farm Aid.

The shows are happening Sept. 22 at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Sept. 24 at the TD Pavilion at Highmark Mann in Philadelphia.

A presale begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. ET.

The 2026 edition of Farm Aid is happening Sept. 26 at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

In addition to Nelson and Young, fellow Farm Aid board members John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff are on the bill, along with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Turnpike Troubadours, Lukas Nelson, Jesse Welles and others.

All three shows will be Young’s first full-scale concerts of the year. He was supposed to tour Europe and the U.K. in June, but in February he canceled the tour, noting he “decided to take a break” from touring.

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