Classic Rock 93.9

The Who‘s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey have parted ways with their longtime touring drummer Zak Starkey, son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. He last played with them during their Teenage Cancer Trust shows in London in March.

“The band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall,” a rep for The Who told The Guardian. “They have nothing but admiration for him and wish him the very best for his future.”

Daltrey seemed to be upset with Starkey’s performance during the London shows, complaining on stage and pausing the final song to tell the audience, “To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t. All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that. I’m sorry guys.”

Starkey, who’s been touring with The Who since 1996, responded to the news of his job loss in a statement obtained by ABC Audio.

“I’m very proud of my near thirty years with The Who,” he said. “Filling the shoes of my Godfather, ‘uncle Keith’ has been the biggest honor and I remain their biggest fan.” “Uncle Keith” refers to the band’s late drummer Keith Moon. Starkey added that the band has “been like family to me.”

Starkey went on to explain he’d suffered from blood clots in his calf in January, but insisted he’s now “completely healed” and it didn’t affect his drumming.

“After playing those songs with the band for so many decades, I’m surprised and saddened anyone would have an issue with my performance that night, but what can you do?” he continued. “29 years at any job is a good old run, and I wish them the best.”

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While the song “Africa” was a huge hit for Toto, guitarist Steve Lukather reveals in a new interview that he has mixed feelings about the tune.

During an appearance on the Fail Better with David Duchovny podcast, Lukather shares that the tune has been both “a blessing and a curse” for the band.

“First off, it’s the least Toto song out of our whole bunch, but that’s the one everybody thinks that’s what we are,” he explained.

The song is heavy on keyboards and includes a kalimba, a South African instrument, which wasn’t typical of Toto’s other material. Lukather says the band felt it was a “catchy” tune that had “potential.”

“It was the last thing we cut, we thought it was a throwaway song,” he says. “We made the whole record without hearing the lyrics. And the last thing we did was put the lead vocal on. Everything else was done.”

Toto’s David Paich and Jeff Porcaro wrote the lyrics, with Lukather acknowledging the tune is “different lyrically” from anything else they’ve done.

“People try to think we’re serious about all this,” he says. He notes they took “poetic license” with the lyrics,  like singing about seeing Mount Kilimanjaro from the Serengeti, which isn’t possible. He adds, “We started laughing, going, ‘What does this mean, man? We’re from North Hollywood.’”

“But it’s become the golden carrot, you know, so you can’t argue with it,” Lukather says, adding that because of it younger audiences have found their catalog, “and then they find out these guys are actually a rock band.”

“Africa” was the second single off Toto’s 1982 album, Toto IV. It was the band’s only #1 single. In 2018 it was covered by Weezer and became the band’s first Hot 100 hit since 2009.

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Elton John has his Elton John AIDS Foundation and his musical partner Brandi Carlile has her Looking Out Foundation. Following their musical team up, their charity initiatives are now joining forces to fill a gap in funding for the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

The two charities will join their communities together with a goal of raising $1 million for Elton’s foundation’s Rocket Response Fund. The money will go to reopen clinics, restore access to medications and maintain prevention services in the wake of President Donald Trump‘s administration shutting down USAID. Since the ’80s, USAID has been one of the world’s largest funders of HIV/AIDS programs.

“Without prompt action, decades of progress in the global fight against HIV could be reversed, creating a global health crisis that we have both the power and the tools to prevent,” Elton says in a statement.

He adds, “I’m so fortunate that Brandi is not only a wonderful collaborator and artist, but a dear friend who shares my vision of a world where HIV care is prioritized and protected.”

“Elton’s activism and work with the Elton John AIDS Foundation was what led me to Elton before I even heard a note of his music,” Brandi adds. “It’s an incredible honor to launch this partnership and raise funds for the life-saving work of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Rocket Response Fund at a time when support is needed the most.”

Visit LookingOutFoundation.org and EltonJohnAIDSFoundation.org to get more information and to donate.

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War is set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their hit album Why Can’t We Be Friends? with a new deluxe release.

Why Can’t We Be Friends? (50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition) will feature a remastered version of the 1975 album, along with two additional discs. One will feature bonus tracks, jam sessions and unedited mixes, while the third disc will feature a recording about the making of the album.

As a preview of the release, the band has shared a previously unreleased unedited mix of their hit “Low Rider,” which is now available via digital outlets.

Why Can’t We Be Friends? (50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition) will be released digitally and as a three-CD set on June 6. It is available for preorder now. A three-LP vinyl set was already released exclusively for Record Store Day on April 12.

Released in June 1975, Why Can’t We Be Friends? was a huge hit for War, thanks to two singles: the title track and “Low Rider,” which were both top-10 hits for the band. The album peaked at #8 on the Billboard chart.

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Heart has announced a new set of summer tour dates.

The latest additions to the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ schedule kick off Aug. 8 in Quincy, Washington, with stops in San Diego, San Francisco, Kansas City, Des Moines and more, before wrapping Aug. 30 in Bethel, New York. Todd Rundgren is set to join them as special guest on select dates.

A presale for tickets starts Monday at 10 a.m. local time, with tickets going on sale to the general public on Thursday, April 24, at 10 a.m. local time.

Heart is set to wrap their Royal Flush tour at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Wednesday. They will then kick off a new tour, An Evening With Heart, on May 31 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That tour will have the band performing two sets each night.

A complete list of dates can be found at heart-music.com.

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Aerosmith’s hit song “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” is featured in a new ad campaign for the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

The clip features footage of NBA players like Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Donovan Mitchell and Karl-Anthony Towns as everyday people in homes, bars, businesses and more get transported into the arena to watch the game. The clip also includes cameos from Rob Lowe, Shaboozey, Sheila E. and more, ending with the tagline “Don’t Miss A Thing.”

The 2025 NBA Playoffs kick off Sunday on ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV.

“I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” was the theme to the hit action flick Armageddon, which starred Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler’s daughter Liv Tyler. Written by Diane Warren, the song was Aerosmith’s first #1 single, spending four weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

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On This Day, April 16, 1996 …

The four original members of KISS – Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley – held a press conference aboard the USS Intrepid in New York City to announce they were getting back together for a reunion tour.

The trek would be the band’s first with Criss and Frehley since 1979’s Dynasty tour.

When tickets went on sale a few days later they sold out in just 47 minutes.

KISS’ Alive/Worldwide tour kicked off June 28 in Detroit and wrapped July 5, 1997. It consisted of 192 shows and brought in $43.6 million.

Following the release of another album, Psycho Circus in 1998, the reunited band went on a farewell tour that launched in March 2000, although it wouldn’t be KISS’ last.

While Criss and Frehley eventually left the group again, Simmons and Stanley continued to tour with KISS. The pair wrapped what they said would be the final KISS tour in New York City in December 2023, although they recently announced they would be performing an “unmasked” show in Las Vegas in November.

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Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, Metallica and Depeche Mode are among the musical acts premiering new documentaries at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, taking place June 4-15 in New York City.

Vedder’s film, Matter of Time, follows his work to support research into finding a cure for the genetic disease epidermolysis bullosa. His EB Research Partnership organization, which he cofounded alongside his wife, Jill, hosts a benefit concert to raise money for the cause.

The screening of Matter of Time, which will mark the doc’s world premiere, will be followed by an acoustic performance by Vedder.

Metallica Saved My Life is dedicated to the the metal legends’ passionate fanbase, while Depeche Mode: M was filmed during the “Enjoy the Silence” outfit’s 2023 concerts in Mexico City. Their respective Tribeca screenings, which also mark their world premieres, will be followed by conversations with Metallica and Depeche Mode. 

Other music films premiering at Tribeca include the Billy Idol doc Billy Idol Should Be Dead, which will be followed by a performance by the “Rebel Yell” rocker, and the Counting Crows doc Have You Seen Me Lately?

For more info, visit TribecaFilm.com.

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Pink Floyd has shared another preview of the newly restored version of their 1972 concert film, Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII, which is set to hit theaters and IMAX on April 24.

In addition to the band’s October 1971 performance at the ancient Roman amphitheater in Italy, which was the first live concert ever to take place at the site, the film features behind-the-scenes footage of them in the studio recording their classic 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.

They just shared a clip from that footage, which shows Roger Waters playing around with some synthesizers, and both Roger and David Gilmour discussing the equipment they use.

“I mean it’s all extensions of what’s coming out of our heads,” Gimour says in the clip. “I mean you’ve got to remember you’ve got to have it inside your head to get it out at all anyway. The equipment isn’t actually thinking of what to do any of the time. It couldn’t control itself.”

Tickets for Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII are on sale now.

In addition to the theatrical release, Pink Floyd will release the live album Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII on May 2, marking the first full-length live record of the concert. It will be released on CD, LP, Blu-Ray, DVD, digital audio and Dolby Atmos.

It is available for preorder now.

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Carlos Santana is set to launch his Oneness tour on Wednesday, which will mark his first show since November 2024. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was supposed to headline some Las Vegas residency dates back in January, but was forced to postpone the shows after falling and breaking his finger.

The 77-year-old Santana tells ABC Audio that the accident “was scary” because he couldn’t feel one of his fingers.

“It was like it was something that’s dead, you know? There was no feeling in this finger, and it was affecting the rest of my hand,” he says. “So for about five minutes I had that poison doubt. ‘What if this is the end of my career and I can’t play anymore?’”

But the guitar great quickly got over that feeling, noting, “I heard my spirit say, ‘Shut up, shut up. That’s not what God wants. That’s not what’s gonna happen.’”

Carlos says the break from performing “is the longest pit stop I ever had,” but now he’s got a “full tank” and is ready to go.

“We came in replenished with inspiration and feeling, the emotions, passion, light,” he shares. 

As for what songs fans can expect to hear this time around, Santana says that he likes to “change it up enough so that it’s new for us and it’s new for the audience.”

“I want every note, every song to be like your first French kiss because when you’re having a French kiss with a beautiful woman, you have to be totally present,” he says. “You know, you can’t fake a French kiss, and so to me music is like that.”

Santana’s Oneness tour kicks off Wednesday in Highland, California. A complete list of dates can be found at Santana.com.

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