Classic Rock 93.9

Dead & Company paid tribute to late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh during their Dead Forever residency at the Sphere Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Fan-shot footage posted to social media shows the band playing Lesh’s classic tune “Box of Rain.” According to setlist.fm, it was the last song of the night and the first time they played the tune since Lesh’s passing in October.

During the performance the screens at the Sphere displayed archival photos of the Grateful Dead and Lesh.

Dead & Company — which features Bobby Weir and Mickey Hart, two of the last three surviving original members of The Dead — kicked off their latest Sphere residency on March 20. They will return to the venue on Thursday, with dates running through May 17. A complete list of shows can be found at deadandcompany.com.

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Eric Clapton, Elton John and Robert Plant are among the artists who have backed an open letter written by singer Ed Sheeran to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, asking him to fund music education in schools.

The letter, which Sheeran shared on Instagram, is also backed by such artists as Coldplay, Harry Styles, members of Mumford & Sons, Snow Patrol and more. It asks Starmer to approve a music education package worth more than $300 million to “repair decades of dismantling music.”

“Learning an instrument and getting up on stage – whether in school or a community club – is now a luxury not every child can afford,” reads Sheeran’s letter. “As an industry, we bring [nearly $10 billion] into the U.K. economy, yet the next generation is not there to take the reins. Last year was the first in over 20 years without a UK global top 10 single or album in the charts. … The time to act is now.”

“Artists and industry can’t deliver on the world stage for the U.K. without schools, youth clubs and stages at home,” it continues. “Music in and out of school should be for all, not a few.”

Among the specific things the letter asks for: funding music in schools in the same way that sports are; training up 1,000 music teachers and stopping the closures of university music departments; launching 500 music apprenticeships nationwide; and diversifying the music curriculum.

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It appears that David Lee Roth has expanded his return to performing.

Back in January it was revealed that Roth would be one of the headliners at the annual M3 Rock Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, in May. Now it looks like he’s added a new date to his schedule.

Although Roth hasn’t officially announced the second show, The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California, has him on its calendar for a concert on Sept. 12.

A ticket presale is set to kick off Tuesday at 10 a.m., with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m.

Both Roth shows will be the former Van Halen frontman’s first live performances since March 2020. He was supposed to play a Las Vegas residency in December 2021/January 2022, which was billed as his final shows, but it was canceled and he retired from performing.

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Carlos Santana has announced a new set of dates for his Las Vegas residency, An Intimate Evening with Santana: Greatest Hits Live.

Santana has added 15 new shows at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in September and November, kicking off Sept. 17 and wrapping Nov. 16.

A fan presale begins Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT, followed by a Live Nation and Ticketmaster presale starting Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets will then go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. PT.

Santana will next return to the House of Blues on May 14 for a set of residency shows, but before that he’ll launch his Oneness tour on April 16 in Highland, California. A complete list of dates can be found at Santana.com.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is also set to release the new album Sentient on Friday. It is available for preorder now.

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On This Day, March 24, 1977…

Fleetwood Mac released the single “Dreams,” written by Stevie Nicks. The song was the second single off the band’s multiplatinum album Rumors.

“Dreams” went on to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Fleetwood Mac’s only #1 single.

The song sold over one million copies, and also went to #1 in Canada.

In 2020 “Dreams” returned to the chart after a TikTok video created by Nathan Apodaca, in which he was skateboarding to the tune, went viral. The song returned to the Billboard Hot 100 at #22, peaking at #12 a week later.

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The next Metallica album won’t have any shortage of riffs.

Speaking with the Rolling Stone Now podcast, guitarist Kirk Hammett shares that he’s written 767 new riffs for the band’s follow-up to 2023’s 72 Seasons.

But while Hammett is stockpiling guitar parts, he says that he “[doesn’t] foresee us starting the next album for at least another year because we’re still finishing the 72 Seasons tour.”

“Once we fully finish this and go to all the outlying places like Asia and Australia and New Zealand, I think we’re gonna take a little bit of a break,” Hammett says. “Not too much of one, and then we’re gonna get right back into it.”

Meanwhile, Hammett says he’s also working on a full solo album to follow his 2022 instrumental EP, Portals.

“I guess the best way to describe it is it’s gonna be a fusion of all sorts of styles,” Hammett says of the upcoming solo record. “All of a sudden I’m writing classical progressions, and all of a sudden I’m writing more heavy stuff and all of a sudden I’m writing, like, a funk thing.”

“There will be vocals because the songs that I wrote scream for vocals this time around,” he continues. “So I’m like, ‘O.K., who’s gonna be doing the vocals?’ I don’t know. I hope I’m not — I already have too much to do on stage.”

Metallica will resume their tour in April.

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Despite saying goodbye to the road with two shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden in December 2023, KISS is poised to return to the stage this November, 

In an email to members of their KISS Army fan club, the band announced a 50th anniversary celebration in Las Vegas which will feature their first performance since those final New York concerts.

KISS Army Storms Vegas, which will double as a 30th anniversary of the first KISS fan convention, is happening Nov. 14-16 at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. It will feature a special “unmasked” performance from the band, along with a live performance from former KISS member Bruce Kulick and other special guests.

The email promises “a full schedule of activities” to be announced soon, and notes the weekend will include interactive activities and exclusive experiences, with special Vibee packages available that feature Q&As with members of KISS, panels, activities and more.

A KISS Army VIP member presale kicks off Thursday at 7 a.m. PT, with regular KISS Army and fan presales starting April 2 at 7 a.m. PT. Tickets will go on sale to the general public starting April 6 at 7 a.m. PT.

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A contract from a controversial 1966 concert by The Beatles is one of the many pieces of Beatles memorabilia currently available at Rockaway Records, which boasts having over $1 million worth of rare items related to the band in stock.

The contract in question was from the band’s concert in Memphis that year, known as the “cherry bomb” concert because someone threw a cherry bomb and firecrackers at the stage. The show happened not long after John Lennon was quoted as saying the band was “bigger than Jesus.”

“In our nearly 50 years in business we have had countless amazing Beatles artifacts, but never an original contract,” Rockaway Records co-founder Wayne Johnson shares. “The opportunity to own one from a historically significant show is a collector’s dream.”

Other Beatles-related items in stock include unused concert tickets from 1964, 1965 and 1966, hundreds of rare Beatles LPs and 45s, plus items autographed by all four members of the group.

More information on the collection can be found at rockaway.com.

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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch has released a new song from his upcoming album with his new band, The Speaker Wars.

The group — made up of Lynch, singer-songwriter Jon Christopher Davis, Jay Michael Smith on guitar, Brian Patterson on bass, Steve Ritter on percussion and Jay Brown on keyboards — just dropped a video for the new single “It Ain’t Easy.”

The track is the second tune released from The Speaker Wars’ upcoming self-titled album, which will be released May 30. They previously shared their debut single, “You Make Every Lie Come True.”

“After my 20-year tenure with the Heartbreakers, I got a second act writing and producing. It was educational beyond measure to learn how to create music from the other side of the glass,” Lynch shares. “Around this time, I met Jon Christopher Davis in Nashville who casually mentioned that we should start a band — so here I am — in The Speaker Wars and it’s good to have my old job back.”

He adds, “The guys in our new band know how to make great music, and I’m looking forward to another round.”

The Speaker Wars is available for preorder now.

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Back in February, The Beatles won a Grammy for best rock performance for their single “Now and Then.”  And the win was a very special one for Ringo Starr.

“I didn’t expect to win, but it was great,” Ringo tells People. “It just felt like John (Lennon) was with us.”

The win came 55 years after The Beatles broke up. It marked the band’s first Grammy win since 1997, when “Free As A Bird,” from Anthology 1, took home the Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals. 

Released in November 2023, “Now and Then” featured vocals Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with new recordings from Ringo and Paul McCartney, and guitar parts George Harrison recorded in the ’90s during the sessions for the Anthology series.

The song, said to be the final Beatles tune, debuted at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #1 in the U.K.

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