Classic Rock 93.9

Rod Stewart is making the most of his upcoming performance at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival.

He’s teamed up with the charity Water Aid to design a public toilet for the festival that’s — we kid you not — shaped like a giant boombox. Dubbed the “Boombox Bog” — bog is British slang for toilet — it features Rod Stewart cassette tapes affixed to the walls, a neon sign in the shape of a pair of headphones, and a leopard-print seat, because Rod has a fondness for that pattern.

While you’re using the facilities, you’ll hear Rod’s biggest hits and “specially recorded water-themed messages from the man himself,” according to a press release.  The whole thing is located near the festival’s main Pyramid Stage, where Rod is performing on Sunday.

“I’ve spent my life singing to packed arenas and festival crowds, but nothing hits a high note quite like clean water and a decent loo,” Rod says in a statement. “They might not be sexy, but they’re life-changing.”

“That’s why I’ve teamed up with WaterAid to bring our funky Boombox Bog to Glastonbury Festival and shine a light on the importance of these everyday essentials that millions still live without,” he adds. “Together, we’re creating change that’s gonna last forever.”

As Water Aid notes, nearly one in 10 people around the world don’t live near a clean water source, and almost one in five don’t have a decent toilet of their own.

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While Dead & Company are playing three nights in San Francisco in August to mark the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary, those won’t be the only shows celebrating the band’s enduring legacy.

Grahame Lesh & Friends are set to host a three-night concert series, The Heart of Town, put on by The San Francisco Giants and Relix. The concerts will take place July 31-Aug. 2 at San Francisco’s Pier 48 in Mission Rock, near Oracle Park.

Grahame, son of the late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, will be joined on the bill by Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes, John Medeski, Duane Betts, Neal Francis and others.

While the July 31 show starts at 8 p.m., the Aug. 1 and 2 shows coincide with the first two nights of Dead & Company’s Golden Gate Park stand, so they won’t start until 11 p.m. As a press release notes, this way “the music never stops.”

“I’m so thrilled to be among the countless Deadheads flocking to beautiful San Francisco to celebrate 60 years of the Grateful Dead – the timeless music of my father Phil and his dear friends – in Golden Gate Park with Dead & Company,” Grahame shares. “And I know that San Francisco will be filled with that music all weekend. I’m honored to contribute to that with all of my friends at The Heart of Town.”

Various presales will kick off Friday at 10 a.m. PT, with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Monday at 10 a.m. PT. There will also be three-day passes available, which go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. PT.

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Scorpions are celebrating their 60th anniversary with a new compilation album.

The German rockers are set to drop From the First Sting on Sept. 26, a 16-track, career-spanning collection that features such hits as “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” “Wind of Change” and “No One Like You,” along with two previously unreleased songs, “This Is My Song” and “Still Loving You,” the latter of which features a guest appearance by British violinist Vanessa Mae.

The compilation will be released in the U.S. on CD and two-LP. It is available for preorder now. In Europe and the rest of the world it will be released on two-LP or two-CD, and as a deluxe two-LP/two-CD set.

Next up for Scorpions, they play the Rock Imperium Festival in Murcia, Spain, on Friday. They’re also set to continue their anniversary festivities in Sin City with the five night Scorpions – Coming Home to Las Vegas 60th Anniversary Las Vegas Residency, kicking off Aug. 14 at PH Live at Planet Hollywood.

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The Pretenders are set to reissue their greatest hits collection.

The Chrissie Hynde-led band will rerelease their 1987 compilation, The Singles, on two-LP and CD with remastered audio on Aug. 15.

The 16-track album features Pretenders classics like “Brass in Pocket,” “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Talk of the Town,” “Middle of the Road,” and “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” as well as their cover of the Sonny & Cher classic “I Got You Babe.”

The Singles is available for preorder now.

The news comes just a week after the Pretenders treated their fans to a new live album. They released Pretenders Live – Kick ‘Em Where It Hurts! on June 20, featuring live performances recorded during the band’s 2024 theater tour.

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Bob Dylan broke out one of his classic songs in Tennessee Wednesday night for the first time in more than a decade.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer performed a slow version of his 1964 classic “The Times They Are A-Changin'” on piano during his set at the Outlaw Music Festival in Franklin, Tennessee.

According to Rolling Stone, the last time Dylan performed the song was 15 years ago during a February 2010 event at the White House honoring the civil rights movement.

Dylan’s next stop on the Outlaw Music Festival is happening Friday in Memphis, with the final show set for Sept. 19 in Troy, Wisconsin. A complete list of dates can be found at BobDylan.com.

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Barry Keoghan is set to play Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ four Beatles biopics, and Ringo’s son, drummer Zak Starkey, has some thoughts about the casting.

When asked by NME if he had any advice on how to play Ringo, Starkey shared, “Get a big rubber nose. I don’t know what else to say. He doesn’t look anything like my dad, does he? You can fix anything, can’t you? You can certainly give someone a big rubber nose.”

Besides the looks, Starkey shares, “The thing about my dad is his personality. He sold The Beatles to America, he’s the one with the charisma. Pulling that off will be hard. He’s just himself.”

Starkey thinks another big challenge for Keoghan will be be mimicking Ringo on the drums.

“That’s f****** impossible. Nobody can play like my dad,” he says. “Good luck to him, but he’ll be the first guy who can pull it off.”

“My dad’s unique – the greatest rock ’n’ roll drummer in the world, still,” he adds. “He’s better now than he was then.”

All four Beatles pictures, titled The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, will be released in April 2028. In addition to Keoghan, the film stars Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.

The Sony films will mark the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles have granted a studio the rights to the life stories of band members and their legendary catalog of music.

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The Grateful Dead recently announced their next Meet-Up at the Movies will be screenings of The Grateful Dead Movie on Aug. 14, and now they are sharing a trailer for the experience.

The clip features performance footage from the film, which is a recording of their five-night stand at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in October 1974, which at the time was believed to be their final run of shows. The trailer features a peek at performances of “Sugar Magnolia,” “U.S. Blues,” and “Truckin’.”

The film, one of only two directed by the late Dead founder Jerry Garcia,  features not only performances, but interviews with the band and animation, along with a focus on the band’s fans and their “Dead Head” lifestyle. It will also feature a bonus performance of “China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider” at the end, the first time the performance is being shown on the big screen.

The Grateful Dead Movie will be shown in theaters, as well as on IMAX screens for the very first time. An advance screening will also be held in 60 IMAX North American locations on Aug. 13.

Tickets for The Dead’s Meet-Up at the Movies, as well as the advance screening, are on sale now.

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Two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash has sung with a lot of great artists over the years, but there’s one musician he’s dying to collaborate with.

In an interview with Vulture, Nash was asked to reveal his “top bucket-list item.” He said it’s “singing a two-part harmony on ‘Yesterday’ with one guitar with Paul McCartney.”

“If anyone has Paul’s number, give him a call for me,” he added.

And speaking of harmonies, Nash also picked his favorite Crosby, Stills & Nash harmonies to sing, noting it’s their track “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”

He says the Stephen Stills-penned tune, which appeared on the band’s 1969 self-titled debut, “lets people know that we were very serious about the sound that we had created; I think that that song shows that deeper than anything.”

“Me and David (Crosby) would always watch Stephen. It was the first thing we tried to do in the studio while making that first record,” he explains. “We knew it was an important song, and we would just watch Stephen. He would sing the song to us, and we knew instinctively what to do.”

He adds, “And, of course, doing the do-do-do-do-dos is fun.”

Nash kicks off a new leg of his Evening of Songs and Stories tour on July 8 in Red Bank, New Jersey. A complete list of dates can be found at GrahamNash.com.

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Rod Stewart will perform in what’s called the “Legends slot” at the U.K.’s iconic Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, and it will be his first time at that event since 2002. Last time, he had literally 100,000 people singing and swaying to his music — but he claims he has absolutely no memory of that moment.

“I don’t remember a thing,” he tells the BBC. “I do so many concerts, they all blend into one.”

And Rod doesn’t have much of a memory for his records, either, it seems. He tells the BBC that his youngest son, Aiden Stewart, has “gone back and listened to everything I’ve done, bless him.” He adds, “He knows songs that I don’t even remember recording!”

Let’s hope Rod remembers the songs he’ll be performing on Sunday; they’ll likely be all his biggest hits. However, he’ll still have to leave some out, even though he’s persuaded the organizers to give him a 90-minute set, rather than the original 75 he was offered.

“Usually I do well over two hours so there’s still a load of songs we won’t be able to do,” he says. “But we’ve been working at it. I’m not gonna make any announcements between songs. I’ll do one number, shout ‘next,’ and go straight into the next one. I’m going to get in as many songs I can.”

Rod adds, “I’ll be in good voice. I’ll enjoy myself. I don’t care anymore what the critics think. I’m there to entertain my people.”

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Foreigner launched a farewell tour in 2023, but that was because frontman Kelly Hansen wanted to stop touring. Now that Hansen’s announced his departure from the band at the end of the summer and will be replaced by the band’s guitarist, Luis Maldonado, Foreigner isn’t going anywhere.

“There’s just a lot of forward movement, and the band is incredibly excited,” Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson, who joined the band in 2004, tells Billboard. “What started off as being a farewell tour now ended up being Kelly’s last tour and (the band) moving forward.”

Regarding Kelly’s departure, Pilson notes, “We’ve had a great run together, and he deserves to have a wonderful life.” He says that Maldonado coming in as a replacement happened “organically.”

“Luis really had no intention of this,” Pilson says. “He was trying to talk Kelly into staying. And when it became clear Kelly really wants to live a life now … Luis just stepped up and, oh my God, that voice came through.”

And while there are currently no original members in Foreigner, original frontman Lou Gramm recently played some shows with the band and said he’d be open to doing more. Plus Pilson says founder Mick Jones, who no longer tours due to Parkinson’s disease, has been “really supportive” of the group.

“It’s creating a unified front,” Pilson says. “We’re able to integrate everything, not only with Lou but everything about Foreigner, into the present. Making this change, with Luis, with Mick and Lou’s endorsement and having the whole organization working more together, has been such a positive thing.”

Foreigner’s tour hits Arnolds Park, Iowa, on Friday. A complete list of dates can be found at Foreigneronline.com.

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