Classic Rock 93.9

Alice Cooper is headed back out on the road in 2025.

The rocker just announced eight more dates on his Too Close For Comfort Tour, with the new shows kicking off Jan. 31 in Augusta, Georgia. It hits Greensboro, North Carolina; Mobile, Alabama; Orlando, Florida; and more before wrapping Feb. 11 in St. Augustine, Florida.

Tickets for all shows go on sale Thursday aka Halloween.

Cooper also has two other gigs confirmed for 2025. He’s set to take part in the Rock Legends Cruise XII 2025, happening Feb. 13-17, leaving out of Miami, and he’s also on the bill for the Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival on May 9 in Columbus, Ohio.

Cooper recently contributed to a new song by The Black Keys. The tune, “Stay in Your Grave,” will appear on the upcoming deluxe version of the Keys’ new album, Ohio Players. The expanded set is due out Nov. 15.

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Stevie Nicks appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, where she talked about her new song, “The Lighthouse,” which is a protest song in support of women’s rights in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

Asked why she decided to speak out on the issue, Nicks noted, “Because everybody kept saying, ‘Well, somebody has to do something. Somebody has to say something.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I have a platform. I tell a good story. So maybe I should try to do something.'” She added, “I was also there. I was, been there, done that.“

Stevie recounted her decision to have an abortion in 1979 after she became pregnant with then-boyfriend Don Henley, saying that her having a baby would have “destroyed” Fleetwood Mac.

“It would’ve been a nightmare scenario for me to live through,” she shared.

Asked what she’d want to say to anyone who criticized her decision to have an abortion, Stevie said, “If people want to be mad at me, be mad at me. I don’t care. Had I made the other choice, had I gone the other way, I’d have been a great mom. I went this way, and I’ve done great.”

And for Stevie, the song is more about getting the message out than having a hit.

“Poets write what they write, and poets should not be censored. Writers should not be censored. This song should not be censored,” she said. “It should go out into the world and do what it’s gonna do, maybe change some minds. There is a God, and God gave me this talent to sing and write and dance. So, I’m doing my job.”

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Carlos Santana has announced more dates for his Las Vegas residency, An Intimate Evening with Santana: Greatest Hits Live, at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. 

The new dates are his first for 2025, consisting of 16 shows in January, February and May, starting Jan. 22 and running through May 25.

Santana has been headlining his House of Blues residency for 13 years and will return to the stage on Wednesday for his latest round of shows.  

Tickets for the new dates go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. A complete list of dates can be found at santana.com.

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On This Day, Oct. 28, 2014 …

The Allman Brothers Band played their final live show at New York’s Beacon Theatre.

The location of the concert was very special to the Allman Brothers Band. They’d played the venue annually since 1989, which helped them set a Broadway record of 237 consecutive sold-out shows.

The concert had the band — founders Gregg Allman, Jaimoe and Butch Trucks, along with Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Marc Quinones and Oteil Burbridge — playing a set that included such songs as “Mountain Jam,” “Midnight Rider,” “Whipping Post” and “Melissa.”

The three-set show was one of the longest in the band’s history, lasting into the wee hours of the morning, which coincided with the 43rd anniversary of Duane Allman’s death.

The concert was recently remastered and released digitally, with a three-CD set and a 16-page booklet dropping Nov. 22.

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We are getting our first look at Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen.

The Bear star will play The Boss in the upcoming movie Deliver Me From Nowhere, and 20th Century Studios has just released the first photo of White in character, wearing a flannel shirt and leather jacket.

Production is now underway on Deliver Me From Nowhere, based on author Warren Zanes’ book, which follows Springsteen as he makes his 1982 solo record Nebraska.

“Beginning production on this film is an incredibly humbling and thrilling journey,” said the film’s director Scott Cooper. “Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska has profoundly shaped my artistic vision. The album’s raw, unvarnished portrayal of life’s trials and resilience resonates deeply with me.”

He adds, “Our film aims to capture that same spirit, bringing Warren Zanes’ compelling narrative of Bruce’s life to the screen with authenticity and hope, honoring Bruce’s legacy in a transformative cinematic experience.”

Deliver Me From Nowhere also stars Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Odessa Young, Sir Stephen Graham, and Johnny Cannizzaro.

The film is expected in theaters in 2025.

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Art from music legends like Bob Dylan, Bono, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr is set to go on display at a new art exhibition and sale in November.

Beyond the Stage: Art by Legends of Rock ‘n’ Roll, described as “the largest collection of art by iconic names in rock and roll” is opening Nov. 7 at Animazing Gallery in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. 

It will feature an array of drawings, sketches, paintings, unique guitars and other works of fine art from some huge names in music. Other stars with art in the exhibit include Stevie Nicks, The Doors’ Robby Krieger, John Lennon, David Bowie, Jerry Garcia, Gene Simmons and Steven Tyler.

To celebrate the opening, a special event will be held at Animazing Gallery on Nov. 8, with appearances by guitarists Steve Vai and Billy Morrison, who’ll both have pieces shown at the gallery.

“I’m honored to have been invited to show my abstract art at Animazing Gallery’s exhibit along with so many inspired artists,” said Vai. “It’s a unique exhibit that explores the artistic expression of musical icons. We know their musical expressions, but at this exhibit we get to see how that translates into shapes and colors.”

The exhibit will mark the first time all these works have been shown together.

And folks who can’t make it to Vegas will still be able to enjoy the collection. The show will be available to stream at www.animazinggallery.com.

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Warren Haynes and Phish‘s Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon are among the artists who’ve taken to social media to pay tribute to Grateful Dead bassist and co-founder Phil Lesh, who passed away Friday at the age of 84.

Haynes, who performed with the offshoot band The Dead in 2004 and 2009, and with Phil Lesh and Friends, wrote a lengthy tribute, sharing what he learned playing with Lesh over the years. He wrote that Lesh’s death was “a huge loss to the music world and to our beloved musical community,” noting, “There’s a whole type of music fan and a whole type of musician that exists due to something that Phil helped create.”

Anastasio wrote that Lesh “was more than a revolutionary, groundbreaking bass player,” adding, “He transformed how I thought about music as a teenager.” He shared that when he got to play with Phil he learned “that beyond being an astounding musician, he was a truly kind and wonderful man.”

Phish’s bass player Mike Gordon wrote that Lesh had a “profound influence on all of us,” adding, “The Grateful Dead were uniquely moving, and I always felt Phil’s contribution was at the pinnacle of that magic.” 

According to Setlist.fm, Phish also paid tribute to Lesh on stage, opening their show Friday in Albany, New York, with Grateful Dead’s “Box of Rain,” a song Lesh co-wrote and sings on. 

Other artists who paid tribute to Lesh include John Mayer, who plays with Dead & Company, Sammy Hagar, Allman Brothers Band, The Beach Boys’ Al Jardine, Chuck D and others.

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The surviving members of the Grateful Dead – Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann – have paid tribute to their bassist and founding member Phil Lesh, who died Friday at the age of 84.

“Today we lost a brother,” the trio wrote on social media. “Phil Lesh was irreplaceable. In one note from the Phil Zone, you could hear and feel the world being born. His bass flowed like a river would flow. It went where the muse took it. He was an explorer of inner and outer space who just happened to play bass. He was a circumnavigator of formerly unknown musical worlds. And more.”

“We can count on the fingers of one hand the people we can say had as profound an influence on our development – in every sense,” they continued. “And there have been even less people who did so continuously over the decades and will continue to for as long as we live. What a gift for us. We won’t say he will be missed, as in any given moment, nothing we do will be without the lessons he taught us – and the lessons that are yet to come, as the conversations will go on.” 

The post described Phil as “much more than a virtuoso bass player,” noting he was “a composer, a family man, a cultural icon…”

“There will be a lot of tributes, and they will all say important things. But for us, we’ve spent a lifetime making music with Phil Lesh and the music has a way of saying it all,” they shared. “So listen to the Grateful Dead and, in that way, we’ll all take a little bit of Phil with us, forever.”

They ended the post with, “For this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago…”

In addition to the group tribute, Kruetzmann, Hart and Weir also shared their own personal tributes on their social media pages.  

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Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh has announced the cancelation of his annual veterans charity concert VetsAid, which was due to take place Nov. 11 at UBS Arena in New York.

A post on social media blamed the cancellation on “circumstances beyond organizers’ control.”

“The wellbeing of our veterans and their families remains my foremost concern and the primary mission of VetsAid,” Walsh wrote. “While I am disappointed in the cancellation of this year’s event and apologize for any inconvenience to our fans, I am thrilled to share that VetsAid will provide $400,000 in grants to these fine organizations who will focus these funds on the ground in New York and New Jersey to veterans who have sacrificed so much and asked for so little in return.“

The 2024 edition of VetsAid was to feature a lineup that included Walsh, Post Malone, Toto, country star Eric Church and Kool and the Gang. Those holding tickets to the concert will receive refunds.

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The new Bruce Springsteen documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+, and if after watching it you get the urge to listen to some live Springsteen performances, a new playlist may be just the thing for you.

As a companion to the documentary, Road Diary: The Music, a curated list of 25 live tracks from Springsteen’s 2023-24 World Tour, is now streaming on nugs.net.

Songs on the playlist include “No Surrender” and “Ghosts” from Tampa, Florida; “Letter To You” from Atlanta; “The Promised Land” from Ferrara, Italy; “Mary’s Place” from Newark, New Jersey; and “Last Man Standing” from Barcelona.

There are also plenty of classics, like “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” from Newark; “Glory Days” from Rome; and “Dancing in the Dark” and “Born in the U.S.A.” from Barcelona.

Bruce & The E Street Band are getting ready to hit the road once again. They kick off a Canadian tour on Oct. 31 in Montreal. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.com.

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