Classic Rock 93.9

Dead & Company are once again set to take up residency at the Las Vegas Sphere. 

The band just announced a set of 18 new spring dates for their Dead Forever – Live at Sphere residency, kicking off March 20 and wrapping May 17. The shows will be in celebration of Dead & Company’s 10th anniversary and will be the only Dead & Company Sphere dates for 2025. 

Presale sign-up is open now, with the artist presale kicking off Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. PT, followed by other presale opportunities that begin Dec. 12 at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets go on sale to the general public starting Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. PT. Travel and VIP packages go on sale Thursday at 7 a.m. PT. 

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

Dead & Company launched their Dead Forever – Live at Sphere residency in May, treating fans to a four-hour show that combined the iconic Dead music with visuals that helped celebrate the 60-year legacy of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame group.

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The Rolling Stones want to make sure you smell good.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have just unveiled their first-ever fragrance, RS No. 9, described as “a unique scent that summons the spirit of a scene that made history, the place where it all began.”

The scent, released in partnership with The Stones, fragrance company Nirvana Brands and Bravado, is designed to recall the feeling of London’s Soho area in 1962, which is when The Stones played their first live show at London’s Marquee Club.

As for what it smells like, the scent is described as having “bourbon-infused notes of velvet swagger onto centre stage, as warm leather brawls under electric musk while tempting patchouli and sultry oud seductively linger.”

“It’s the perfect fragrance for those who dare to be different,” The Stones share, “and we hope it will bring some joy to our fans.”

The fragrance will be limited to 999 numbered bottles and will cost $99.99 for a 100ml bottle. They’ll be available at The Stones’ RS No.9 stores in London and Tokyo, and are also available to preorder online, with bottles shipping on Jan. 31.  

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Gibson has unveiled the newest addition to its Jimmy Page guitar collection.

The latest is a new replica of the Led Zeppelin rocker’s most recognized guitar, his 1969 EDS-1275 Doubleneck, which he used on such songs as “Stairway to Haven,” “The Song Remains The Same” and “Celebration.”

The new Jimmy Page EDS-1275 Doubleneck VOS ’69 Cherry is described as an “effective clone” of the original, with Gibson using 3D scanning technology while crafting the instrument. It also got “significant input” from Page while crafting the guitar.

Gibson first announced its collaborative partnership with Page back in February, and in March released a limited collector’s edition of the 1969 EDS-1275 Doubleneck guitar, at a cost of $50,000. The new model comes at a more reasonable price of $9,999 and is available to order now.

Gibson also released the Jimmy Page 1964 SJ-200 and 1964 SJ-200 Collector’s Edition guitars in October, which were inspired by Page’s own mid-’60s Gibson SJ-200 acoustic, which he used to record Led Zeppelin’s debut album.

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Actor Oscar Isaac wasn’t sure if Timothée Chalamet could pull off playing Bob Dylan — that is until he heard him sing one of Dylan’s songs.

While presenting Chalamet and director James Mangold with the Visionary Tribute award at the 2024 Gotham Awards on Monday, Isaac recalled working with Chalamet on Dune: Part One. While hanging out with fellow actors Josh Brolin and Stephen McKinley Harrison, Chalamet mentioned his upcoming project, A Complete Unknown.

“He starts telling us about his next project he was working on. A movie with the wonderful director James Mangold about a young Bob Dylan coming to New York in 1961,” Isaac. “And my first thought, ‘It sounds like a really bad idea.’ I mean, it’s Dylan. It’s the holy of holies for me. It just didn’t sound right.”

But Isaac’s opinion changed after he heard Chalamet sing.

“Then Timmy takes out his guitar — not a good sign — and starts playing ‘Girl from the North Country,'” Isaac said. “Now, this is a song I know deeply, to my core, and Josh, Stephen and I, we’re not your average Timmy Chalamet groupies. We’re grizzled movie vets. We’ve seen some s***.”

Isaac finished his speech with kind words for Chalamet and Mangold.

“James and Timothée have approached this work with a mix of humility and irreverence, just like Dylan approached the Great American Songbook, probing familiar forms to rediscover the truth of the present moment,” Isaac said.

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A producer on Fleetwood Mac’s classic album Rumours has settled his lawsuit over the Tony Award-winning play Stereophonic.

Ken Caillat, who co-produced the 1977 album, filed a lawsuit in October against the writer and producers of Stereophonic, alleging the play used portions of his 2013 book, Making Rumours: The Inside Story Of The Classic Fleetwood Mac Album, without permission.

In the suit, which was also filed on behalf of Caillat’s co-author Steven Stiefel, the pair claimed Stereophonic “copies the heart and soul of Making Rumours, and is substantially similar,” noting they didn’t authorize the play’s writer, David Adjmi, to “copy, reproduce, or create a fictional adaptation or derivative work of their book.”

In legal documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, the parties asked for the adjournment of a planned conference that was supposed to take place Thursday, noting that both sides have “resolved the dispute in principle” and expect to have their settlement finalized before Dec. 23.

So far no details of the settlement have been revealed.  

Prior to filing the suit, Caillat, father of singer Colbie Caillat, gave an interview with The New Yorker, in which he detailed the similarities of his book and the play, including portions of dialogue he believes were taken right from his book.

Stereophonic opened on Broadway in April and won five Tony Awards, including Best Play. It was originally scheduled to run until July 7, but its run was extended several times. It is now scheduled to close on Jan. 12.

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Guns N’ Roses rockers Slash and Duff McKagan have lent their musical talents to the new single “I Can Breathe” from Gibson Band, described as “a revolving collective of musicians who join together to make music and raise funds and awareness for worthy causes.” 

Duff takes lead vocal and lyrics duties on the song, with Slash handling lead guitar and solos. Both are joined by Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian, who plays piano and rhythm guitar on the track, along with Jota Morelli on drums and Seta Von Gravessen on bass.

“It was such a pleasure to work with Cesar and his whole crew on this tune,” Duff shares. “The musical slant and progressive rock-ness of this huge epic pushed me in a whole new direction.” He notes, “I love a challenge and Cesar killed it! Most importantly, to be of service for mental health issues and awareness is super important to me at this time. Let’s rock!”

Slash adds, “Cesar and Duff came to me with a really cool piece of music. I loved the riff idea, and Duff’s vocal, so I felt right at home on the track.”

“I Can Breathe” is now available via digital outlets.

Also contributing to the project is System of a Down‘s Serj Tankian, whose original painting “They’re Coming” served as inspiration for the song’s cover art.

Released in conjunction with Giving Tuesday, proceeds from the song will be donated to the National Alliance on Mental Health through Gibson Gives. In addition to a one-of-a-kind Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar, Serj’s original painting will be auctioned off through Julien’s Auctions, with proceeds going to the same organization.

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Rod Stewart has reunited with his Faces bandmates Ron Wood and Kenney Jones.

Rod posted a photo to Instagram Monday of the three of them sitting on a couch together. While he didn’t offer up a caption on the shot, it’s apparent from the comments fans are hoping it will lead to more than just the photo.

“Reunion,” one person commented, while another requested, “Please play some shows next year!!!”

Both Stewart and Wood have talked about the future of Faces in interviews this year.

Back in February, Rod told Vulture he had some songs that were written and not released, and that he had sent them to Wood, telling him, “This is stuff we’ve recorded with my band, maybe the Faces would like to do it instead?”

And in an interview with BBC Radio’s Front Row in November, Wood talked about the work he’s doing with Faces, noting, “We’re making some continued developments of music we made back in the day. … It still sounds as no time has gone by.”

While they have yet to release new music, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers did put out some music from their archives. They released The BBC Session Recordings and Had Me A Real Good Time… With Faces Live In Session At The BBC 1971-1973 for separate Record Store days. They also released Faces At The BBC — Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973 in September.

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Three albums by the late Robert Palmer will be released on vinyl for the very first time.

The records, Live at the Apollo, Drive and Rhythm & Blues, will be released on vinyl on Feb. 14, and will also be reissued on CD and digitally the same day.

Rhythm & Blues, Palmer’s 13th studio album, was originally released in 1999. Drive came out in 2003, and would wind up being Palmer’s 14th and final studio release before his September 2003 death.

Live at the Apollo, released in May 2001, was Palmer’s first-ever complete live album. It was recorded in New York on the final U.S. date of his 1988 Heavy Nova tour and features performances of hits like “Addicted To Love,” “Simply Irresistible” and “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On.”

All three albums are available for preorder now.

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Iron Maiden‘s Legacy of the Beast mobile game is shutting down.

In the game, which has been running for eight years, you play as famed Maiden mascot Eddie as you make your way through different levels inspired by the metal outfit’s music and iconography. It often collaborated with other bands to bring their mascots into the game, including Disturbed, Ghost, Motörhead, Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch.

The game also inspired Maiden’s Legacy of the Beast tour, which ran from 2018 to 2022.

Legacy of the Beast will officially come to a close on Dec. 31. In the meantime, the developers say they’re “continuing to work on new projects with Iron Maiden that we are excited to share with you somewhere down the line.”

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Legal documents pertaining to the break up of The Beatles are set to go up for auction in December.

The U.K. auction house Dawsons will handle the sale of the more than 300 pages of documents relating to the band’s official split in 1974. The pages, from advisers and legal reps, were discovered in a cupboard sometime in the last year, although the exact location of the find was not revealed. 

Denise Kelly, from Dawsons, tells the BBC that the docs are “fascinating,” noting, “I just couldn’t put them down until I had read every page.”

“As I read the minutes of meetings – notes which included discussions between the legal teams and accountants – I wondered how on earth they were going to sort everything out, and at times I could sense panic in the room as more and more complexities came to light,” she shares. “One of the lawyers even suggested during one meeting when they had gone round and round and round in circles: ‘Would it be easier if The Beatles just retired?’”

The auction is set to take place Dec. 12, with the pages estimated to sell for between $6,000 and $10,000.

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