Classic Rock 93.9

Though he’s known for running to the hills, Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson slowed things down during a surprise onstage collaboration with Pantera.

Dickinson joined the reformed groove metallers during their concert in Paris on Saturday for a performance of their signature song, “Walk.” In fan-shot footage, you can see Dickinson take the stage about halfway through the song to add some back vocals to the chorus.

On Instagram, Panetra reposted pictures of the moment taken by famed rock photographer Ross Halfin. 

“I was absolutely surprised to see Bruce Dickinson backstage, and it was nice to see him do ‘Walk,'” Halfin writes. “A very unexpected collision of worlds.”

Pantera has been touring since 2022 with a lineup featuring vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown alongside Black Label Society‘s Zakk Wylde and Anthrax‘s Charlie Benante in place of the late Abbott brothers, guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul.

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On This Day, Feb. 18, 1990…

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury joined his bandmates at the BRIT Awards in London to accept the award for outstanding contribution to British music.

It would wind up being Mercury’s last onstage appearance.

Mercury had been privately battling AIDS, and would later make his final on screen appearance in the video for “These Are the Days of Our Lives,” which was filmed in May of 1991.

In November of that year the rocker released a statement confirming the long held rumors that he had tested positive for HIV and had AIDs. He passed away the day after issuing the statement at the age of 45.

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Elton John and Brandi Carlile‘s duet “Never Too Late,” from Elton’s Disney+ documentary of the same name, is Oscar-nominated for best original song. It was co-written by Elton, Bernie Taupin, Brandi and producer Andrew Watt, and as Watt tells ABC Audio, it was no small thing for Brandi to join Elton and Bernie’s 55-year songwriting partnership.

According to Watt, the fact that Brandi, Elton and Bernie were already good friends was the key. “There was a familiarity there and a respect that was enticing for everyone,” he says. “Like, ‘Okay, let’s see what happens when we let Brandi enter, like, the mysterious thing of putting the pages in front of Elton.'”

Brandi wrote her lyrics to the song after seeing a rough cut of the documentary, and they inspired  Elton to change the title of the film. Watt was there when Elton first saw Brandi’s lyrics, and says it was amazing to watch him work.

“He takes the lyrics and he reads them and he sees some kind of a movie scene in his head,” Watt explains. “And then he kind of scores the scene and starts singing along with whatever key words jump out at him … and he did that in the moment, live, to the stuff that Brandi wrote.”

Watt confirms that “Never Too Late” was the catalyst that led to Elton and Brandi doing a joint album, Who Believes In Angels?, due April 2. “It’s was just kind of like, ‘Let’s keep this thing rolling,'” he notes.

While Elton already has two best original song Oscars, this is Watt’s first nomination, and he tells ABC Audio that it’s “just beyond my wildest dreams.”

He adds, “The process of making that song was so special and so real and raw, to see it recognized by the Academy is the most meaningful and amazing thing to me.”

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The success of the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown has resulted in a lot of renewed interest in Dylan’s music, but just how big of an impact has it made?

Well, Rolling Stone explores the movie’s effect in a new article, noting Spotify data shows a huge increase in interest since the film’s December release. In fact, the year prior to the release, there were about 1 million streams of Dylan songs each day, with that number rising to 4 million a day after the release, with overall streams jumping about 100%.

There were also plenty of people experiencing Dylan’s music for the first time, with the streaming service showing a 110% increase in streams from newbies. There’s also three times more women taking an interest in Dylan than in the past, possibly because of the film’s star Timothée Chalamet.

“Timothée has that demo, and it’s maybe not a complete shocker that that would happen,” Richard Story, president of the Commercial Music Group at Sony Music Entertainment, tells the mag. “But it was a great opportunity that it did.”

The movie’s also helping increase sales, with both digital and physical sales doubling the week after the movie’s Christmas Day opening, with 1962’s Bob Dylan, 1963’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and Dylan’s Greatest Hits record seeing the biggest bumps.

The Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, also saw a bump in visitors, including a lot of younger people, who are apparently learning about the rocker’s vast catalog.

“A lot of the younger visitors here assume ‘To Make You Feel My Love’ is an Adele or Garth Brooks song,” museum director Steven Jenkins says of the 1997 track covered by both artists. “So it’s fun to see those aha moments, when they say, ‘Oh, he’s that guy, too.’’’

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Guns N’ Roses, Tool and Rival Sons have joined the lineup for Black Sabbath‘s big Back to the Beginning reunion/farewell concert.

Other new additions to the bill include Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, producer Andrew Watt, ex-Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid and Ugly Kid Joe‘s Whitfield Crane.

Back to the Beginning takes place July 5 in Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, England, and will be headlined by the metal legends’ four original members, plus a solo set from Ozzy Osbourne. It’s set to be the last live show of the Prince of Darkness’ career.

Other previously announced artists include Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Halestorm, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, Disturbed‘s David Draiman, Limp Bizkit‘s Fred Durst, Korn‘s Jonathan Davis, Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, Faith No More‘s Mike Bordin, Sam Hagar and Wolfgang Van Halen.

Morello will also be the show’s musical director, and actor Jason Momoa will host.

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Saturday Night Live celebrated its 50th anniversary with the three-plus hour live SNL50: The Anniversary Special on NBC Sunday night, and like a regular SNL show it featured some musical guests.

The show opened with a performance of the Simon & Garfunkel track “Homeward Bound,” featuring Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter, with Simon noting he first performed the tune on the show in 1976 with Beatle George Harrison, and Sabrina adding that she wasn’t alive yet and neither were her parents.

Wrapping up the night was Paul McCartney, who performed the Abbey Road side two medley that includes “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End.” “The End” was an important part to an infamous SNL sketch where an excited Chris Farley interviewed McCartney, asking him if the line “in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make” was true.

Another rocker turning up on the show was Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who took part in a Q&A portion of the evening, asking Tina Fey and Amy Poehler if anyone found a scarf he left in 1988. While Tina and Amy said they didn’t see it, the camera then cut to comedian Zach Galifianakis wearing it, and shouting “look it’s simply not here, OK. Can we all just stop looking?”

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The SNL50 Homecoming Concert special streamed live on Peacock Friday from New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, and, like January’s FireAid benefit concert, featured a surprise Nirvana reunion.

Post Malone took on the role of the late Kurt Cobain while backed by Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear and ripped through “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Another grunge rocker, Eddie Vedder, covered Tom Petty‘s “The Waiting” and paid tribute to late SNL cast members including Gilda Radner and John Belushi. He then began Elvis Costello‘s “Less Than Zero,” which Costello infamously snubbed during his 1977 SNL performance, before cutting it and launching into Pearl Jam‘s “Corduroy.”

Vedder also popped up during Andy Samberg‘s Lonely Island medley to sing Michael Bolton‘s part of the comedy band’s song “Jack Sparrow.”

Jack White closed the night by rocking Neil Young‘s “Rockin’ in the Free World” and The White Stripes‘ “Seven Nation Army.”

Here are some of the show’s other highlights:

Arcade Fire performed their song “Wake Up” alongside St. Vincent and David Byrne of Talking Heads. The three acts also covered David Bowie‘s “Heroes” together.

Byrne returned to the stage alongside Robyn to perform her song “Dancing on My Own” and Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place.”

Alabama Shakes‘ Brittany Howard joined Miley Cyrus for a rendition of Queen‘s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”

Mumford & Sons played “I Will Wait” and covered Simon & Garfunkel‘s “The Boxer.”

Bonnie Raitt performed her version of the song “Thing Called Love.” Coldplay’s Chris Martin then joined her for a rendition of “I Can’t Make You Love Me.”

Devo played their song “Uncontrollable Urge” with Fred Armisen on drums.

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NBC has confirmed that Paul McCartney and Paul Simon will perform on SNL50: The Anniversary Special, a live three-hour show airing Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.

The pair had previously been announced as participants on the Saturday Night Live celebration, but a new post on Instagram now lists them as performers, along with Miley Cyrus, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, Sabrina Carpenter, Lil Wayne and The Roots.

The telecast, from Studio 8H in New York’s Rockefeller Center, will also feature appearances by Adam Driver, Ayo Edebiri, Bad Bunny, Dave Chappelle, John Mulaney, Kim Kardashian, Martin Short, Pedro Pascal, Peyton Manning, Quinta Brunson, Robert De Niro, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks and Woody Harrelson.

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Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder wants everyone to know he’s doing okay.

The rocker was forced to stop his performance on the Rock Legends Cruise Thursday after experiencing a medical issue, and a post on social media reveals that he’s now doing better.

“We appreciate everyone’s concern regarding Don Felder’s abrupt stop to his show last night on the Rock Legends Cruise,” reads the post. “After recieving (sic) medical attention he was deemed to be suffering from dehydration. He was given fluids, and is feeling much better.”

“To ensure he has ample time to rehydrate and recover fully, we are working on rescheduling today’s shows and adjusting the remainder of the cruise schedule accordingly,” the post continues, adding, “Thank you for your understanding, and remember—drink your water!”

The 2025 edition of the Rock Legends Cruise is set to run until Feb. 17, sailing from Miami to CocoCay in the Bahamas. It also features appearances by Styx, Alice Cooper, Guess Who‘s Burton Cummings, The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone, John Waite, Foghat and more.

Felder is also scheduled to be a special guest on the upcoming Brotherhood of Rock tour, headlined by Styx and REO Speedwagon‘s Kevin Cronin. The tour kicks off May 28 in Greenville, South Carolina.

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A new movie about the late Roy Orbison is in the works.

Variety reports that Orbison’s family has teamed with Compelling Pictures for a biopic and a documentary on the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, best known for such hits as “Oh, Pretty Woman” and “Crying.”

According to the trade, the feature film is being described as “a romance more than a traditional biopic,” telling the story of Orbison’s relationship with his wife and manager, Barbara, who helped guide his comeback in the ’80s.

The film, with the working title You Got It, after Orbison’s posthumous 1989 hit single, will be produced by Denis O’Sullivan, who produced the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and Jeff Kalligheri, who produced the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody.

“The Orbisons are elated to find the perfect partners in Compelling Pictures for the Roy Orbison biopic,” Orbison’s sons said in a statement. “Denis and Jeff’s vision for this journey through Roy’s life is incredible.”

Orbison passed away in December 1988 at the age of 52. In addition to his solo career, he had several hits as a member of the Traveling Wilburys, which also featured George Harrison, Tom Petty and ELO’s Jeff Lynne.

Orbison’s many accolades include being a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Musicians Hall of Fame. He won five Grammy Awards and was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

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