Classic Rock 93.9

Now we know why Journey‘s upcoming North American trek is called the 2022 Freedom Tour. Guitarist Neal Schon took to his Instagram page today to reveal that the band’s new studio album is titled Freedom.

Schon posted a photo that shows Journey’s logo, the title Freedom and the record’s 15-song track list, along with a message that reads, “Teaser…it’s coming and it’s loaded.”

The album includes lead single “The Way We Used to Be,” which was released back in June of 2021, as well as songs titled “Together We Run,” “Still Believe in Love,” “After Glow,” “Let It Rain,” “All Day All Night” and “United We Stand.”

Schon also posted a note today on his Twitter feed about the forthcoming album, writing, “I wanted to stick true artistically to the times and values of older albums where every track means something and it’s meant to be played from top to bottom and take you on a ride…no pun intended ‘JOURNEY FREEDOM.'”

No word yet on a release date.

Freedom will be Journey’s first new studio album since 2011’s Eclipse. It’s also the band’s first new album since the 2020 firings of longtime bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith, who were replaced, respectively, by Randy Jackson and Narada Michael Walden.

Journey’s current lineup features Schon, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, singer Arnel Pineda, keyboardist/backing singer Jason Derlatka, and drummer Deen Castronovo. It’s not clear whether Jackson or Walden will be touring with the band.

Journey’s Freedom Tour 2022, featuring special guest Toto, kicks off February 22 in Pittsburgh.

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A partial list of artists who will perform at the 2022 Beale Street Music Festival was revealed in December, but now the full lineup has been announced for the event, which takes place April 29 to May 1 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Van Morrison, Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer and Elvin Bishop are among the artists who have joined the bill. Other notable new additions to the lineup include Counting Crows, Sarah McLachlan, Indigo Girls, Grace Potter, Patty Griffin, Chevelle, Spoon, and Death Cab for Cutie.

Previously announced artists set to play the festival include Lindsey Buckingham, Foo Fighters, The Smashing Pumpkins, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Modest Mouse, rap star Lil Wayne, and blues guitarist Sue Foley.

This year’s event will take place at the Fairgrounds in Liberty Park, since the Memphis festival’s traditional site, Tom Lee Park, is undergoing renovations.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit MemphisinMay.org.

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Limited-edition vinyl discs from The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors and U2 are among the exclusive releases that’ll be available at independent record stores for the 2022 installment of Record Store Day.

The Rolling Stones’ Record Store Day offering is a 50th anniversary reissue of their classic 1972 two-LP compilation More Hot Rocks, pressed on glow-in-the-dark vinyl.

The Who are releasing an expanded 40th anniversary reissue of their 1982 album It’s Hard. The two-LP collection features bonus tracks, and one orange and one yellow disc.

The Doors are issuing a four-LP collection culled from last year’s deluxe 50th anniversary reissue of L.A. Woman featuring over two-and-a-half hours of outtakes that appeared as bonus content on the 2021 release.

U2’s offering is a vinyl single that features two versions each of the rarities “A Celebration” and “Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl,” including a previously unreleased studio outtake of “A Celebration.”

This year’s Record Store Day features over 320 titles in all, including releases from Alice in Chains, Allman Brothers Band, Asia, Bad Company, David Bowie, Chicago, Alice Cooper, Def Leppard,  Foo Fighters, Peter Gabriel, Billy Gibbons, The Grateful Dead, Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett, Joan Jett, Elton John, Judas Priest, The Kinks, Joni Mitchell, Motorhead, Stevie Nicks, Pearl Jam, Iggy Pop, Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Santana, Slash, Patti Smith, Ringo Starr and Pete Townshend.

Record Store Day 2022 takes place April 23. Additionally, organizers are setting aside June 18 as a “safety net” drop date for any planned release that can’t make it to stores by April 23 due to issues including manufacturing or shipping delays, which have been prevalent amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the full list of releases and participating stores, visit RecordStoreDay.com.

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Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards will headline the sixth annual edition of the star-studded Love Rocks NYC! benefit concert, which will take place March 10 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

The show will feature Richards reuniting with his solo band The X-Pensive Winos. The lineup also includes Melissa Etheridge, Mavis Staples, ex-Allman Brothers Band singer/guitarist Warren Haynes, Hozier and many more.

The Love Rocks NYC! concert raises money for the God’s Love We Deliver charity, which provides nutritious meals to seriously ill people in the New York City area.

The show will be co-hosted by comedian Mario Cantone and actors Gina Gershon, Kiefer Sutherland, Steve Schirripa and Michelle Buteau.

The event’s house band will be led by longtime CBS Orchestra bassist Will Lee, and will include one-time Bob Dylan and Levon Helm touring guitarist Larry Campbell, Eric Clapton touring drummer Steve Gadd and Fleetwood Mac touring keyboardist Ricky Peterson.

You can sign up for more information about the concert at LoveRocksNYC.com and GLWD.org. The website also is offering a free encore stream of the 2021 Love Rocks NYC! show, which included performances from Jon Bon Jovi, ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons, Haynes and many others. Those who watch the event are encouraged to donate money to God’s Love We Deliver.

Richards performance with The X-Pensive Winos at the benefit show takes place just eight days before the release of the 30th anniversary reissue of Keith’s 1992 solo album, Main Offender, which he mainly recorded with the members of the band.

The X-Pensive Winos feature acclaimed drummer/producer Steve Jordan — who became The Rolling Stones’ touring drummer in 2021 — guitarist Waddy Wachtel, bassist/keyboardist Charley Drayton and keyboardist Ivan Neville.

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Veteran Scottish hard-rockers Nazareth will release their 25th album, Surviving the Law, on April 15.

The 14-track collection can be pre-ordered now, and will be available on CD, vinyl, cassette and digital formats.

Nazareth has released the album’s lead track, “Strange Days,” as an advance digital single.  A music video for the tune has premiered at the Frontiers Music label’s official YouTube channel.

The band’s current lineup features original bassist Pete Agnew; guitarist Jimmy Murrison, who joined Nazareth in 1994; drummer Lee Agnew, Pete’s son, whose been a member of the group since 1999; and lead singer Carl Sentence, who replaced founding frontman Dan McCafferty in 2015 after McCafferty was forced to retire for health reasons.

Surviving the Law is the second studio album the current Nazareth lineup has recorded, following 2018’s Tattooed on My Brain. The new project features songwriting contributions from all four band members.

Nazareth is best-known in the U.S. for their top 10 cover of the Everly Brothers hit “Love Hurts,” and the classic rock staple “Hair of the Dog,” which both appeared on the band’s 1975 album, Hair of the Dog.

Here’s the full track list of Surviving the Law:

“Strange Days”
“You Gotta Pass It Around”
“Runaway”
“Better Leave It Out”
“Mind Bomb”
“Sweet Kiss”
“Falling In Love”
“Waiting for the World to End”
“Let the Whisky Flow”
“Sinner”
“Ciggies and Booze”
“Psycho Skies”
“Love Breaks”
“You Made Me”

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It doesn’t make a difference if you make it or not, but Bon Jovi is asking local bands to audition to open for them on their upcoming tour.

Bands who are interested in auditioning should submit a video to BonJovi.com of themselves performing original music.  One band will be chosen for each concert date.

Bon Jovi’s tour kicks off April 1 in Omaha, NE and is currently scheduled to wrap up April 30 in Nashville. Tickets are on sale now.  The trek comes in support of the most recent Bon Jovi album, 2020, which was released in October of 2020 after being delayed due to the pandemic.

For the past two years, the band has been creating online performance content. However, Jon Bon Jovi says in a statement, “We have all missed touring and we know that nothing can replace the energy of a live show for the fans or the band.”

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KISS has announced plans for the 11th annual installment of The KISS Kruise, which will take place October 29 to November 3 this fall. According to a message on the seagoing rock festival’s official website, this year’s cruise will be the last time that the band “will perform on the high seas.”

The five-day nautical extravaganza will be the first KISS Kruise to set sail from and visit sites on the West Coast, embarking from Los Angeles and stopping at Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico, before returning to port.

You can sign up today at TheKISSKruise.com to have access to a pre-sale for the cruise. The KISS Kruise XI “Experience” will feature an unmasked concert by the band on deck, a full “masked” electric show in the ship’s Stardust Theater, an engraved commemorative gift, two activities with KISS, two activities with individual members of the group, an expo offering rare memorabilia, concerts by various other artists, autograph sessions with members of the cruise’s support acts, and more.

The lineup of acts joining KISS on the cruise is expected to be announced soon.

KISS frontman Paul Stanley appears in a video promoting this year’s KISS Kruise that been posted on the group’s YouTube channel.

“[W]e’re gonna have great bands. We’re gonna have a great time,” Stanley says in the clip, then teases, “Everybody says, ‘When is it gonna be the last one?’ Well, this is KISS Kruise XI, and you don’t want to miss it for a whole lot of reasons. I want you there. You deserve to be there. Be there!”

Meanwhile, KISS’ End of the Road farewell tour is scheduled to relaunch with a South American leg starting April 20 in Santiago, Chile. The trek likely will continue into 2023.

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Foo Fighters have gone metal. Well, sort of.

Dave Grohl and company have shared a new song called “March of the Insane,” released under the moniker Dream Widow for the band’s upcoming horror-comedy movie Studio 666.

The tune is credibly thrashy, and gives you a glimpse of what Foo Fighters might’ve sounded like if Grohl had grown up a Bay Area metalhead instead of in the Washington, D.C. punk scene.

You can listen to “March of the Insane” now via digital outlets.

Studio 666 premieres in theaters on February 25.

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Well, at least one member of Pearl Jam at one time liked Mötley Crüe.

Speaking to Revolver‘s Fan First podcast, guitarist Stone Gossard recalled buying the “Kickstart My Heart” outfit’s first album, 1981’s Too Fast for Love.

“At the time, it was punk-like,” Gossard said of the record.

Normally, a rock artist saying they once bought a Mötley Crüe album wouldn’t be news, but Gossard’s comments arrive in the middle of a tiff between band mate Eddie Vedder and Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx.

As previously reported, Vedder told The New York Times Magazine in a interview that he “despised” Mötley Crüe, a declaration to which Sixx responded by calling Pearl Jam “one of the most boring bands in history.”

Vedder seemingly returned fire during a recent live solo show, when he noted how the drum kit in his band “does not need to elevate or rotate to do its job,” which was interpreted as a jab at Crüe drummer Tommy Lee‘s elaborate drum roller coaster.

Should any other Pearl Jam members share their opinions on Mötley Crüe, we’ll let you know.

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