Classic Rock 93.9

As speculated, The Who has announced dates for a new 2025 tour, which will be their final North American trek.

The Song Is Over North American Farewell Tour, named after a song on their 1971 album Who’s Next, will kick off Aug. 16 in Sunrise, Florida, and hit such big cities as Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle and New York, before wrapping Sept. 28 in Las Vegas.

The Who’s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey announced the news at a press conference Thursday in London.

“The warmth of the American audiences over the years have been inspirational to me, and reflect the feeling I remember getting after hearing the first rock records coming across the radio. Musical freedom!” Daltrey shared. “To me, America has always been great. … It’s not easy to end the big part of my life that touring with The Who has been. Thanks for being there for us and look forward to seeing you one last time.”

“Well, all good things must come to an end,” Townshend added. “Roger and I are in a good place, despite our age, eager to throw our weight behind this fond farewell to all our faithful fans, and hopefully to new ones who might jump in to see what they have been missing for the last 57 years.” He notes, “This tour will be about fond memories, love and laughter. Make sure you join in.”

A Citi presale for tickets will go on sale May 13 through the band’s Wholigans fan club, with additional presales happening throughout the week. Tickets go on sale to the general public starting May 16 at 10 a.m. local time.

A full list of dates can be found at TheWho.com.

In addition to the tour, The Who announced a new live album, Live at the Oval 1971, recorded Sept. 18, 1971, in Kennington, South London. It will first be part of a Wholigan fan club bundle, that comes with presale access to tickets for the tour.

Live at The Oval will also be released Aug. 22 to digital services, as well as on CD, 2-LP vinyl and other various formats. It is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

An exhibit of Bob Dylan’s artwork is set to open at London’s Halcyon Gallery on Friday.

The exhibit, Point Blank, will feature 97 paintings by the “Like A Rolling Stone” singer. The description notes that they “read like a glimpse into his visual journey,” adding, “[T]hey are a masterful expression of a dynamic imagination, emphasized via the eclectic swathe of subjects depicted.”

The exhibit will feature works that started out as Dylan sketches, created between 2021 and 2022, and were then painted over.

This isn’t the first time Dylan’s works have been displayed by the gallery. According to Time Out London, he has actually been working with it for close to 20 years.

“It is nearly 18 years since Halcyon first started working with Bob Dylan and it has been an extraordinary experience to watch this cultural icon develop into such a critically revered and important visual artist so closely,”, Halycon Gallery founder Paul Green shares. “This latest body of paintings feels like a more intimate connection to the artist than in any of his previous work and it is a great privilege to share them with the public for the first time.”

Point Blank is free and open to the public and runs through July 16.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lynyrd Skynyrd has shared a live recording of their classic tune “Sweet Home Alabama.”

The performance is taken from Celebrating 50 Years – Live At The Ryman, a special live album and DVD of the band’s historic 50th anniversary concert, which took place in November 2022.

“Sweet Home Alabama (Live)” is available now via digital outlets.

The Ryman concert was filmed before the 2023 loss of Gary Rossington, the last founding member of Skynyrd. It features guest appearances by 38 Special’s Donnie Van Zant, Jelly Roll, Brent Smith of the rock band Shinedown, country star John Osborne of Brothers Osborne and Marcus King.

“It was a very special night with incredibly talented guests as we honored the iconic musicality of Skynyrd,” frontman Johnny Van Zant previously shared. “We are so grateful to the Ryman and to all of those who have worked so hard to make this project become a reality! This will forever be a keepsake in our hearts, and we are so happy to be able to share it with our Skynyrd Nation.”

Celebrating 50 Years – Live At The Ryman is due out June 27 and is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The writers of Sam Mendes’ upcoming films about The Beatles have just been revealed.

Variety reports that three writers have been hired for the four films: Jez Butterworth, whose resume includes Ford v Ferrari, Edge of Tomorrow and Spectre; Peter Straughan, who won the Oscar this year for writing Conclave; and Jack Thorne, a BAFTA and Tony Award winner who wrote the 2020 film Enola Holmes and the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Mendes’ Beatles films, titled The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, will be released in April 2028, with each film being told from a different band member’s point of view. They will star Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr 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.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Who appear to have something brewing.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers shared a cryptic post on Instagram Wednesday, writing, “Stay tuned… in 24-hrs we’ll be answering your questions!” They then asked fans to drop questions in the comments.

While the post doesn’t offer any more details, The Who is set to hold a press event in London on Thursday, which will include a “special announcement followed by an exclusive Q&A session.”

According to Rolling Stone, the event is for a project called “The Song is Over,” which seems to be named after a track from The Who’s 1971 album, Who’s Next. Considering the finality of the title, there is some speculation the band may be making a farewell tour announcement.

The speculation comes on the heals of the band relaunching their Wholigan fan club, which promises members presale tour codes “for any future tour announcements.”

Last year, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey shared differing opinions in interviews as to whether the band would tour again, but in December Townshend told Variety, “I know that if Roger and I do tour again, as I’m sure we will, it will probably be one of the last periods that we tour.”

Since then they’ve played two Teenage Cancer Trust shows in London and have two shows in Italy scheduled in July.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Looks like folks in the U.K. are really enjoying the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

The movie, starring Timothée Chalamet, has topped the U.K. Official Film chart for the first time, seven weeks after it debuted on the chart. The Official Film chart tracks the U.K.’s favorite movies of the week based on DVD, Blu-Ray and download sales.

A Complete Unknown, which is now streaming on Hulu in the U.S., follows a 19-year-old Dylan as he arrives in New York from Minnesota and tracks his rise as a folk singer during the ’60s to the top of the charts, ending with his electric rock ‘n’ roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

The film earned eight Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best actor for Chalamet, although it lost in all categories.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Guess Who’s Burton Cummings is hitting the road this summer.

Cummings, who co-wrote such classic songs as “American Woman” and “These Eyes,” has announced dates for the A Few Good Moments tour, which is set to kick off June 21 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The first U.S. date is July 11 in Madison, Wisconsin, and the tour wraps Aug. 29 in Saratoga, California.

The tour is named after Cummings’ most recent solo album, A Few Good Moments, which came out in September. It was his first solo album in over a decade.

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at BurtonCummings.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bryan Adams has shared another song from his upcoming album Roll with the Punches, and has recruited actress/model Elizabeth Hurley for the video.

The rocker just debuted the video for the single “Never Let You Go,” which is set in an amusement park at night with rides that are all lit up in neon. The clip has Adams and Hurley riding a roller coaster together, and is cut with footage of Adams performing against the backdrop of the park.

Roll with the Punches, due out in August, is the “Run to You” singer’s first album since 2022’s So Happy It Hurts. He has already released two other songs from the record, “Make Up Your Mind” and the title track.

Adams is set to launch his Roll with the Punches North American tour in September. It will first hit Canada starting Sept. 11 in Kamloops, British Columbia, with U.S. dates, featuring Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo as special guests, kicking off Oct. 25 in Uncasville, Connecticut, and running through Nov. 26 in Minneapolis.

A complete list of dates can be found at BryanAdams.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Have The Who just given fans hope they’ll be touring more in the future?

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just announced the relaunch of their official fan club, The Wholigan. In doing so they may have hinted at their upcoming touring plans, because membership comes with presale tour codes “for any future tour announcements,” suggesting that there may soon be tickets to buy.

Other perks of the fan club include discounts on The Who Official Store merchandise, as well as exclusive Wholigan merch, a Live at the Oval CD or vinyl and a limited-edition Wholigans pin.

There are three levels of Wholigan memberships ranging in price from $65 to $100. They are all for one year, and the more expensive ones come with extra merch.

More info can be found at TheWho.com.

As of now, The Who only have two more shows on their schedule for the year, both in Italy: July 20 in Padua and July 22 in Milan. In addition, frontman Roger Daltrey has three U.K. shows left on his solo tour. 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Guitar greats Joe Satriani and Steve Vai announced in December they were coming together to form the SatchVai Band, and now they are sharing the band’s first single.

The pair just released the aptly titled song “I Wanna Play My Guitar,” featuring former Deep Purple singer Glen Hughes.

“This song depicts all that Joe and I used to think about as teenagers. All of the things we loved about pounding rock and roll and the glorious guitar,” Vai tells Guitar Player. “It is an absolute phenom for us to be able to present to you now our teenage aspirations in this song.”

He adds, “It feels like freedom and joy and I recommend everybody find some time in their life to play the guitar. And to be able to hear the mighty voice of one of our childhood heroes on this track, the great Glenn Hughes is more than the icing on the cake, enjoy!”

“I Wanna Play My Guitar” is available now via digital outlets.

SatchVai Band is set to launch The Surfing with Hydra tour of the U.K. and Europe on June 13 in York, England. So far they haven’t announced any U.S. shows. A complete list of dates can be found at SatchVaiBand.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.