Classic Rock 93.9

Rick Wakeman is not ready to say goodbye to the road just yet. The Yes keyboardist has added even more dates to his Final One Man Solo tour, which he launched in March.

The rocker wrapped the 2024 leg of the tour in November, but he’s now added new shows for 2025 that will take place before and after his appearance on the Cruise To The Edge, happening April 4-9 and leaving out of Miami.

The new tour dates kick off March 27 in Vienna, Virginia, hitting Charlotte, Charleston, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando and more before wrapping April 17 in Peekskill, New York.

The show will feature highlights from Wakeman’s five-decade career, including solo work and work with Yes. Plus, he’ll play the 30-minute instrumental “Yessonata,” turning themes and melodies from Yes into a sonata. 

“I have thoroughly enjoyed performing the various one-man shows, but it’s time to call it a day,” he said when he first announced the tour, sharing he plans to stop touring by his 77th birthday, which is May 18, 2026. “I am taking this opportunity of thanking everyone and anyone who has supported me over the last 53 years!”

A complete list of Rick Wakeman tour dates can be found at rwcc.com.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

James Taylor is hitting the road again this summer.

The 76-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has announced a new 23-date tour with his All-Star Band, kicking off May 5 in Phoenix and wrapping July 1 in Guilford, New Hampshire. The tour includes two-night stands in San Diego and Santa Barbara, California; Woodinville, Washington; and Morrison, Colorado.

All shows feature vocal harmony trio Tiny Habits as special guests.

James Taylor fan club presales kick off Tuesday at 10 a.m., with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. A complete list of dates can be found at jamestaylor.com.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ringo Starr and his All Starr band are returning to the road in 2025 with a string of new tour dates. 

The latest trek kicks off June 12 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and wraps June 25 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The tour includes shows at Philadelphia’s The Mann Center and Radio City Music Hall in New York, making up for shows that Ringo had to cancel during the fall leg of his 2024 tour after getting sick.

“I am happy to announce these new All Starr shows in June,” Ringo shared. “I absolutely love playing live and I love this band. It’s been so great playing with these guys, I just want to keep this line up going and that’s why I haven’t changed the All Starrs in a while. So here we go again, and we look forward to seeing you on the road this Spring.”

Ringo’s All Starr Band is made up of the same musicians who joined him on the road earlier this year: Toto’s Steve Lukather, Men at Work‘s Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette and Buck Johnson.

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

Next up, Ringo is set to release his new country album, Look Up, produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett, on Jan. 10. He’ll celebrate the release of the album with two shows, Jan. 14 and Jan. 15, at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, billed as Ringo Starr & Friends. 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, Dec. 9, 1989 …

Billy Joel began a two-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with “We Didn’t Start The Fire” from his 11th studio album, Storm Front.

The song has Billy listing off a series of important events and happenings that took place from 1949, the year he was born, to 1989.

The tune, which was nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year, was Joel’s third and final #1 single.

In 2023, rockers Fall Out Boy released their own updated version of “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” chronicling events that happened between 1989 and 2023.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Guns N’ Roses have announced a world tour for 2025.

The headlining outing kicks off with shows in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi on May 23 and May 27, respectively, before heading to Europe.

Openers on the trek include Rival Sons, Public Enemy and the reformed Sex Pistols, featuring original members Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock alongside vocalist Frank Carter.

Members of GN’R’s Nightrain fan club will have access to a presale beginning Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 9 a.m. local time.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit GunsNRoses.com.

Guns N’ Roses have continued to tour consistently since Slash and Duff McKagan rejoined Axl Rose in 2016. The initial reunion run, the Not in This Lifetime tour, is among the 10 highest-grossing tours of all time.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bonnie Raitt and the Grateful Dead were celebrated as recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday in Washington, D.C., with Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews, Brandie Carlile and more on hand to honor them, Billboard reports.

Raitt was in attendance as Julia Louis-Dreyfus shared her thoughts on the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, noting, “You know it’s Bonnie. It’s all red hair and no bulls***.”

Performances in Raitt’s honor included Crow and Carlile on “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” Matthews and Emmy Lou Harris on the John Prine-penned track “Angel From Montgomery,” and Jackson Browne, Crow, James Taylor and Arnold McCuller on “Nick of Time.”

Grateful Dead’s three surviving members, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bobby Weir, were also in attendance and were feted with a tribute that featured Grahame Lesh, son of late Dead bassist Phil Lesh, Don Was and Sturgill Simpson backing Matthews, Maggie Rogers, Leon Bridges and Susan Tedeschi on such songs as “Fire on the Mountain,” “Sugaree” and “Not Fade Away.” 

Highlights from Sunday’s ceremony will air Dec. 22 on CBS and stream on Paramount+.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s seven studio albums are set to be released on special color vinyl in February.

Each album — their 1968 self-titled debut; 1969’s Bayou Country; 1969’s Green River and Willy and the Poor Boys; 1970’s Cosmo’s Factory and Pendulum; and 1972’s Mardi Gras — will get a separate color, with descriptions like Mardi Gras purple, Calm Before The Storm, Bayou Sunset and Spellbound Swirl.

Those albums produced nine top-10 singles, including “Proud Mary” from Bayou Country; “Bad Moon Rising” from Green River; and “Down on the Corner” and “Fortunate Sun” from Willy and the Poor Boys.

All seven colored vinyl editions will be released Feb. 14 and are available for preorder now.

Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty is set to return to Las Vegas in January. He’ll play three shows at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas starting Jan. 22.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has announced his retirement from touring with the band.

The news was shared on Facebook, with McBrain writing, “After much consideration, it is with both sorrow and joy, I announce my decision to take a step back from the grind of the extensive touring lifestyle,” noting that his last show was Saturday in Sao Paulo.

McBrain, who’s been with Iron Maiden since 1982, added, “What can I say? Touring with Maiden the last 42 years has been an incredible journey! To my devoted fan base, you made it all worthwhile and I love you!” 

In a statement posted by Iron Maiden’s manager Rod Smallwood on behalf of the band, he thanked McBrain “for being an irrepressible force behind the drum kit for Maiden for 42 years and my friend for even longer,” adding, “I speak on behalf of all the band when I say we will miss you immensely!”

Iron Maiden then announced that Simon Dawson, a former session drummer who has worked with bassist Steve Harris since his 2012 solo debut British Lion, will be taking over behind the drum kit.

Fans can expect to see him on stage with Maiden starting with their Run For Your Lives Tour, celebrating their 50th anniversary, which kicks off May 27 in Budapest.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Grateful Dead and Bonnie Raitt will be celebrated on Sunday as some of this year’s recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. 

The celebration is happening at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., with highlights from the ceremony to air Dec. 22 on CBS. So far performers set to honor this year’s recipients have not been announced.

In a Washington Post profile released ahead of the ceremony, The Dead’s Mickey Hart discussed the band’s appeal, noting, “You couldn’t pigeonhole the Grateful Dead. You still can’t.”

“The Grateful Dead is a lot of things,” he added. “The Grateful Dead is a record. The Grateful Dead is mythology. The Grateful Dead is us. The Grateful Dead is a force.”

In her own Washington Post profile, Raitt discussed her love of playing live.

“It’s like a magical exhalation that happens, the exchange between the audience and us,” she says. “Playing live is what drives you. That’s what your purpose is. At the end of the night, I feel like I’ve had my blood changed.”

This year’s celebration will be hosted by Queen Latifah, who received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2023. The other honorees this year are director Francis Ford Coppola and jazz musician Arturo Sandoval, as well as the iconic Harlem venue The Apollo, which will receive a special Honors recognition as an American institution.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Styx and REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin are headed out on the road together.

The artists just announced dates for the Brotherhood of Rock tour, which will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first tour together. The tour was announced with a video in which Cronin and Styx’s Tommy Shaw magically switch bodies in their sleep.

The trek, which features former Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder as a special guest, will kick off May 28 in Greenville, South Carolina, and wrap Aug. 24 in Milwaukee.

A Citi presale for tickets begins Dec. 9 at 10 a.m., with tickets going on sale to the general public Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. A complete list of dates can be found at styxworld.com.

Styx and Cronin, as frontman of REO Speedwagon, first toured together in 2000 and 2001, and this will mark the sixth time they’ve hit the road together.

In June, Styx went out on tour with Foreigner on the Renegades and Jukebox Heroes tour. The band is now on a solo tour, playing Durant, Oklahoma, on Friday. Back in September, REO Speedwagon announced they would stop touring in 2025 due to “irreconcilable differences.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.