Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts kick off tour in Sweden

June 19, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Neil Young launched his love earth tour with his new band The Chrome Hearts in Rättvik, Sweden, on Wednesday, treating fans to some classic hits, as well as tunes he hasn’t played in a while.

According to setlist.fm, Young kicked things off with a solo performance of “Sugar Mountain,” sprinkling the 15-song set with fan favorites like “Harvest Moon,” “Cinnamon Girl,” “F*****’ Up,” “Old Man,” “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” and “Like a Hurricane.”

He also performed a solo version of “The Needle and the Damage Done” for the first time since 2019; the Greendale tracks “Sun Green” for the first time since 2004 and “Be the Rain” for the first time since 2014; and the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song “Looking Forward” for the first time since 2000.

Young ended the night with his iconic track “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Missing from the set were any songs from Talkin To the Trees, Young’s recently released album with The Chrome Hearts.

Young’s love earth tour hits Bergen, Norway, on Friday. He is set to play the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on June 28. The tour comes to North America Aug. 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at NeilYoungArchives.com.

The tour is Young’s first trek since cancelling his 2024 tour with Crazy Horse due to health issues. Prior to that he went on a small West Coast tour in summer 2023, which was his first since 2019.

KISS’ Paul Stanley says he felt ‘betrayed’ by bandmate Gene Simmons in the ’80s

June 19, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

KISS’ Paul Stanley says he felt a bit betrayed by his bandmate Gene Simmons in the ’80s when Simmons went off to pursue other projects when he should have been concentrating on the next KISS album.

“I felt betrayed. No secret, I felt that he was leaving me to do the heavy work but continued to get paid. So, you know, trying to have the best of both worlds,” Stanley said on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast. “Go off and do your own thing, and have the success at any level that there was success, and the monetary compensation, which I’m not sharing in, but you’re abandoning ship and you’re still my partner.”

Simmons dabbled in acting in the ’80s, nabbing parts in TV and movies, including an appearance on Miami Vice. Stanley says at the time he felt “very resentful and hurt,” but it forced him to commit even more to KISS.

“Gene’s my brother, he’s been with me since I was 17. So that was difficult, really difficult,” he said. “But again it was, ‘Well screw it, I’m not gonna let this band fall apart.’ If it’s my band in that sense, then so be it. … But yeah, I felt that he was selling the band short. … I thought he wasn’t playing fair.”

Bruce Springsteen says Jeremy Allen White was ‘wonderfully tolerant’ on ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’ set

June 19, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Bruce Springsteen was often seen on the New Jersey set of the upcoming movie Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, and he tells Rolling Stone that while he enjoyed his time there, it wasn’t always easy seeing his life acted out in front of him.

Springsteen is played by Jeremy Allen White in the film, and Bruce says of being on set, “I’m sure it was much worse for the actor than for me.”

“Jeremy Allen White was very, very tolerant of me the days that I would appear on the set,” he shares. “I said to him, ‘Look, anytime I’m in the way, just give me the look and I’m on my way home.’ So the days that I got out there, he was wonderfully tolerant with me being there. And it was just fun. It was enjoyable.”

Bruce does say there was “some unusualness” watching the film being made “because the movie involves, in some ways, some of the most painful days of my life. But it was a great project.”

He says White and Jeremy Strong, who plays his manager, Jon Landau, are “both fantastic, terrific in it as were all the other actors.” Springsteen adds that Stephen Graham, who plays his dad, is “out of this world” and that everyone involved in the film “were all tremendous.”

But Springsteen wasn’t always around for the more emotional scenes. He says, “If there was a scene coming up that was sometimes really deeply personal, I wanted the actors to feel completely free, and I didn’t want to get in the way, and so I would just stay at home.”

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere follows The Boss’ efforts to make his 1982 solo album Nebraska. It hits theaters Oct. 24.

A Foo-versary? Foo Fighters launch Substack page ahead of 30-year milestone

June 19, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

It appears that Foo Fighters are gearing up to celebrate a big anniversary.

Dave Grohl and company have launched a Substack page titled Foo Fighters Field Notes. The first entry features images and videos related to the Foos’ self-titled debut record, which turns 30 on July 4.

A Fourth of July festival celebrating the album’s 25th anniversary was previously planned for 2020, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Foos announced the Substack in a Facebook post alongside a clip of the video for the song “I’ll Stick Around,” along with #FF30. They also updated their Facebook cover photo to a black banner featuring the phrase “Est. 1995.”

As fans have noted in the post’s comments, the “I’ll Stick Around” video features William Goldsmith on drums, who Grohl had recruited to play in the first live iteration of the Foos after he recorded every instrument on the Foo Fighters album himself. That’s led some to guess that Goldsmith might be rejoining the Foos following the firing of drummer Josh Freese in May.

However, a reunion with Goldsmith seems unlikely, given the bad blood that’s persisted between him and Grohl following his departure from the Foos in the late ’90s. As the story goes, Grohl was unsatisfied with Goldsmith’s drumming on the sophomore Foo Fighters album, 1997’s The Colour and the Shape, and decided to rerecord the drum parts himself. When Goldsmith found out, he subsequently quit the band.

Beyond whatever they might be planning to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut, Foo Fighters’ 2025 schedule includes a tour of Asia in October and headlining Mexico’s Corona Capital festival in November. Those mark the first announced Foo live dates since Grohl’s 2024 infidelity scandal.

Original white label 7-inch test pressing of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ to go up for auction

June 19, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Queen has contributed a unique piece of music history to an upcoming auction.

The band announced that an original white label 7-inch test pressing of their 1975 classic “Bohemian Rhapsody” will be part of the upcoming White Label Auction to benefit the Brit Trust on Oct. 7.

“With just a handful produced ahead of a release so artists, managers and labels can check the audio is just as it should be, these white label test pressings can be highly collectible, and, as the past five editions of the auction have shown, there is demand for them from collectors around the world,” White Label Auction founder and organizer Johnny Chandler shares. “As ever, I’m excited for this next auction, not least as we have an incredibly rare gem in the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ 7” single to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its release.”

Full details of the auction have yet to be announced, but Queen notes in a post on Instagram that “hundreds of rare lots” will be up for grabs.

The Brit Trust is a music industry charity established in 1989 to “improve lives through the power of music and the creative arts.” The annual White Label Auction has raised over $215,000 for the charity.

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” written by Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, was featured on their album A Night at the Opera. It hit #1 in the U.K. and was Queen’s first chart-topper. The song was rereleased in 1991 following Mercury’s death and returned to the #1 spot.

In 1992, after it was included in the comedy blockbuster Wayne’s World, “Bohemian Rhapsody” returned to the chart again and peaked at #2 in the U.S.

#Whoscominghome: Mötley Crüe teases Friday announcement

June 18, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Mötley Crüe is looking to kickstart your weekend with some news.

The metal vets have shared an Instagram post teasing an announcement happening Friday. The accompanying photo features only what appears to be the letters Y and C in “Mötley Crüe” lit up on a billboard, while the caption is tagged #whoscominghome.

Things have been fairly quiet in the Mötley world since the band postponed their Las Vegas residency due to frontman Vince Neil undergoing an unspecified medical procedure. The Vegas shows, which were originally scheduled to begin in March, are currently set to kick off in September.

Mötley is also set to perform at the inaugural Rock the Tides festival in Mexico in November.

Deep Purple to release super deluxe edition of ‘Made in Japan’ live album

June 18, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Deep Purple is revisiting their 1972 live album Made in Japan, which featured performances from two shows in Osaka and one in Tokyo.

The band is set to release a new super deluxe edition of the record on Aug. 15: a five-CD/Blu-Ray set that includes new stereo and Dolby ATMOS mixes of the original album by producer Steven Wilson, as well as newly remixed versions of all three concerts and three rare single edits.

“It’s all completely as it happened on the night,” Wilson says of the new mix. “The album has a power and sense of abandon that they never quite captured in the studio. Hopefully this new mix makes it feel even more like you’re there.”

As a preview of the new set, Deep Purple has released a performance of “Highway Star,” recorded in Osaka, to digital services.

The set will also be released digitally and as a 10-LP black vinyl edition, which will be exclusively available on DeepPurple.com and Rhino.com. There will also be a two-LP vinyl edition featuring the Wilson remix, available in the U.S. on Oct. 3.

Live in Japan featured performances of songs from Deep Purple’s recently released album Machine Head, including their now-classic “Smoke on the Water,” as well as songs like “Child in Time” and “Strange Kind of Woman.”

The double LP was supposed to come out only in Japan, but eventually got a wider release. It was released in America that December and was a huge success. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Made in Japan (Super Deluxe Edition) is available for preorder now.

Sting to perform on CNN’s ‘The Fourth in America’

June 18, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Sting is one of several musical acts who’ll be ringing in Independence Day this year on CNN.

The cable network’s fifth annual special The Fourth in America will air starting at 7 p.m. ET live on CNN. The special will feature coast-to-coast firework shows from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego, New Orleans, Nashville and Seward, Alaska.

Counting Crows and a reunited 4 Non Blondes are also set to perform, along with ’90s alt-rockers CAKE and Sublime, Noah Kahan, The Fray and more.

CNN’s The Fourth in America is hosted by Dana Bash, Boris Sanchez, Victor Blackwell and Sara Sidner.

Warren Haynes to release new stripped-down solo album, ‘The Whisper Sessions’

June 18, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes is offering up a new take on his recent solo album, Million Voices Whisper.

The rocker is set to release The Whisper Sessions on Sept. 12. The nine-track album features seven stripped-down versions of songs from the album, which came out in November. It also includes a new version of the Allman Brothers Band classic “Melissa,” featuring Haynes and his ABB bandmate Derek Trucks.

“We didn’t plan to release stripped-down versions of the songs from Million Voices Whisper, it just kind of happened organically,” Haynes says of the album. “We were combing through these performances and realized that they offer a unique perspective into the songs themselves, so we thought it would be cool to make them available.”

Trucks actually appears on three of the album’s tracks. Another one is “These Changes,” which was co-written by both artists.

“I love this song, which is about looking back and forward at the same time and navigating your way through an ever-changing life,” Haynes shares. “The instrumental section at the end, where we are trading guitar riffs and playing off of each other, was not in the original arrangement as we wrote it – it just came about organically once we started recording the song.”

He adds, “It was a great opportunity for the two of us to rekindle our chemistry that we’ve had for a long time.”

The Whisper Sessions is available for preorder now.

Chicago to release expanded version of ‘Chicago IX’ greatest hits collection

June 18, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Chicago is set to release an expanded version of their greatest hits collection, Chicago IX, to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The original collection of 11 songs was released in 1975 and featured Chicago hits from 1969 to 1974, including such songs as “25 or 6 to 4,” “Saturday in the Park” and “If You Leave Me Now.” It went to #1, spent 72 weeks on the Billboard 200 and became one of the band’s bestselling albums.

The new expanded edition adds 10 Chicago hits that were released through 1980. They include songs like “Baby What a Big Surprise,” “Street Player” and “Thunder and Lightning.”

Chicago IX: Greatest Hits Expanded, which features a new cover in gold in honor of the album’s 50th anniversary, will be released on CD and two-LP black vinyl. It is available for preorder now.

Chicago is set to launch a new North American tour on Wednesday in Dubuque, Iowa, with dates confirmed through Nov. 16 in Brookings, South Dakota. A complete list of dates can be found at ChicagoBand.com.

+ More