Classic Rock 93.9

The Rolling Stones are getting ready to kick off their Hackney Diamonds tour on Sunday, April 28, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, and they’ve just revealed the lineup of acts set to open for them on the trek.

The opening show will feature already announced special guest Gary Clark Jr., with The Pretty Reckless, KALEO, Joe Bonamassa, The Linda Lindas, Lawrence, Tyler Childers, Widespread Panic, Lainey Wilson, The Beaches, Electric Mud, Carin León, Ghost Hounds, Bettye LaVette, The Red Clay Strays and The War and Treaty among the artists booked for the rest of the tour.

Clark Jr., Ghost Hounds and KALEO have all opened for The Stones in the past.

The Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds tour, their first North American tour since 2019’s No Filter tour, consists of 19 shows, with multiple nights in New Jersey, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as a headlining set at Jazz Fest in New Orleans on May 2.

The tour wraps July 17 in Santa Clara, California. A complete list of dates can be found at rollingstones.com.

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse opened their Love Earth Tour in San Diego, California, on Wednesday, April 24, treating fans to a 14-song set filled with classics.

Rolling Stone reports that Young opened with his iconic track “Cortez the Killer.” The band — drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot and guitarist Micah Nelson filling in for Nils Lofgren — spent six minutes jamming before Young uttered a lyric.

In early April, Young told fans on Zoom that he had discovered some lost lyrics to the song that were never recorded; as promised, he added them during the show. “I floated on the water/I ate that ocean wave/Two weeks after the slaughter/I was living in a cave,” he sang. “They came too late to get me/But there’s no one here to set me free/From this rocky grave/To that snowed-out ocean wave.”

As for the rest of the set, Young performed such classic tunes as “Cinnamon Girl,” a 16-minute “Down by the River” and an equally long “Love and Only Love,” as well as solo acoustic performances of “Comes a Time,” “Heart of Gold” and “Human Highway.” He wrapped the show with “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black).”

Young & Crazy Horse have one more show in San Diego on Thursday, April 25, before they move to Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday, April 27. A complete list of dates can be found at NeilYoungArchives.com.

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Artists including Graham Nash, Yes and Duran Duran have signed an open letter supporting the proposed Fans First Act, which aims to “combat predatory resellers and the use of illegal bots” in the concert ticket industry.

The letter was released by a coalition called Fix the Tix, organized by the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA).

“As artists and members of the music community, we rely on touring for our livelihood, and we value music fans above all else,” the signees write. “We are joining together to say that the current system is broken: predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices and deprive fans of the chance to see their favorite artists at a fair price.”

“Predatory resellers have gone unregulated while siphoning money from the live entertainment ecosystem for their sole benefit,” the letter continues. “They use illegal bots, speculative ticket listings, and deceitful advertising, which cause real harm.”

It concludes, “We, as artists, as music lovers, and as concert attendees ourselves, urge you to support the Fans First Act to combat predatory resellers’ deceptive ticketing practices and the secondary platforms, which also profit from these practices. Predatory resellers should not be more profitable than the people dedicating their lives to their art.”

Others who signed include Blue Öyster Cult, Nile Rodgers, Cyndi Lauper, Green Day, Darlene Love, Men at Work‘s Colin Hay, Dave Matthews, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Billie Eilish, Jack Johnson and Pixies.

To read the whole letter, visit NIVAssoc.org/fixthetix.

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Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour has given fans their first preview of his upcoming solo album Luck and Strange, which drops September 6. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just released the new tune “The Piper’s Call,” with the video set to debut on Friday, April 26.

“It’s been such a joy to make my new album, Luck and Strange, and I look forward to you hearing it,” Gilmour shared on Instagram following the release of the song. 

Luck and Strange is Gilmour’s first album of new material in nine years. The album consists of eight new songs and one cover, with the title track featuring a contribution from late Pink Floyd keyboard Richard Wright, taken from a jam session at Gilmour’s barn back in 2007.  

Luck and Strange will be released in a variety of formats, including LP, CD, Blu-ray and digital. All formats are available for preorder now.

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Green Day‘s upcoming world stadium tour will include full album performances of 1994’s Dookie and 2004’s American Idiot each night in honor of their respective 30th and 20th anniversaries. The band has been warming up for the trek with smaller, last-minute club shows, including playing American Idiot in its entirety during a recent gig in San Francisco.

“American Idiot was sort of this unicorn that [during its album cycle] we were like, ‘OK, let’s get past this and move on,'” front man Billie Joe Armstrong tells Billboard. “Revisiting it [in San Francisco] was cathartic, for lack of a better cliché. Playing songs like ‘Extraordinary Girl’ and ‘Whatsername,’ there were times on stage where I was getting choked up because it was bringing me back the feeling that I had at that time, that I was revisiting for the first time in 20 years. I had a great sense of pride and I was sort of humbled by the experience.”

In addition to getting emotional himself, Armstrong noticed people in the audience crying.

“I saw this one person that was in the crowd that was transgender, and I could see the tears coming out,” Armstrong says. “I realized how far we’ve come. Green Day has been a space for people to feel a connection with people that are kindred spirits … I was kind of taken aback by it.”

Armstrong adds that he feels rock albums are a “work of art,” and he’s a fan of bands playing their past records in full.

“This sounds really pretentious, but it’s like when an orchestra is playing Mozart,” he says. “I think rock music is just as important.”

The U.S. leg of Green Day’s stadium tour will launch in July.

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On This Day, April 25, 1987…

Three weeks after its release, U2’s The Joshua Tree hit number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.

The album, the band’s fifth studio release, was U2’s first U.S. chart-topper, and it remained at number one for nine weeks.

The record included future U2 classics “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which remain U2’s only number-one singles in the U.S., as well as “Where the Streets Have No Name.” 

The Irish rockers went on to have seven more number one albums: 1988’s Rattle and Hum, 1991’s Achtung Baby, 1993’s Zooropa, 1997’s Pop, 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, 2009’s No Line on the Horizon and 2017’s Songs of Experience.

U2 celebrated the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree with tours in 2017 and 2019, during which they played the album in its entirety. The tour hit North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

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Mike Pinder, keyboardist, vocalist and founding member of the Moody Blues, passed away Wednesday, April 24 at the age of 82. The news was confirmed in a statement from his family, which was shared on Facebook by his Moody Blues bandmate John Lodge.

“Michael’s family would like to share with his trusted friends and caring fans that he passed peacefully,” read the statement. “His final days were filled with music, encircled by the love of his family. Michael lived his life with a childlike wonder, walking a deeply introspective path which fused the mind and the heart.”

“He created his music and the message he shared with the world from this spiritually grounded place,” the statement continued. “His authentic essence lifted up everyone who came into contact with him. His lyrics, philosophy, and vision of humanity and our place in the cosmos will touch generations to come.” 

Pinder was remembered by his Moody Blues bandmate Justin Hayward as “a natural born musician who could play any style of music with warmth and love.” He added, “He was a huge part of my own musical journey. My sincere condolences to his loving and devoted family.”

Moody Blues were formed in May 1964 by Pinder and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Ray Thomas, who recruited guitarist/vocalist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and Clint Warwick. Guitarist/vocalist Hayward and bassist/vocalist Lodge joined the band after Laine and Warwick’s departure in 1966. Pinder was the last surviving original member of the band.  

Moody Blues were influential in the development of progressive rock, with their sophomore album Days of Future Passed considered by some to be the first real example of the genre. It contained the classic hit “Nights in White Satin,” which was initially released in 1967, but peaked at #2 in the U.S. when it was reissued in 1972. 

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Robert Plant’s career following the breakup of Led Zeppelin in 1980 will be explored in a new picture book coming later this year. 

Portraits of Robert Plant, from Rufus Publications, is a 240-page coffee table book featuring rare and previously unseen photos from well-known rock photographers. It also includes an essay from music journalist Mark Blake, who delves into Plant’s career through the decade. 

The book will be released in two editions, both coming with a foldout poster. The main edition, limited to 500 numbered copies, comes in a black slipcase with gold foil logo. There’s also a lager black leather and metal edition, limited to 50 copies, which comes in a hand welded aluminum metal slipcase with a screen printed logo and a unique lenticular print. 

Both copies will be available for preorder starting Friday, April 26, with shipping to start at the end of July.

Led Zeppelin called it quits in 1980 following the death of their drummer, John Bonham. Plant released his first solo album, Pictures at Eleven, in 1982, releasing three other solo albums in the ‘80s: 1983’s The Principle of Moments, 1985’s Shaken ‘n’ Stirred and 1988’s Now and Zen.

Plant also teamed up with his Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page and guitarist Jeff Beck for the side project Honeydrippers, releasing the EP The Honeydrippers: Volume One in 1984. It featured a remake of Phil Phillips’ “Sea of Love,” which hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 1988 he reunited with his Led Zeppelin bandmates Page and John Paul Jones, along with Bonham’s son Jason, to perform at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary celebration concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

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Billy Idol is giving fans some insight into his Rebel Yell hit “Eyes Without A Face” in a new video for Vevo Footnotes.

In the clip, Idol explains that his aim with the song was to put out something that was the opposite of what was popular during the ’80s. 

“I think I was deliberately trying to write not a love song because the ’80s was full of love songs, all drippy, soppy love songs,” he shares. “So I thought maybe I’ll just write an anti-love song. It’s almost a murder song; it’s what I was thinking about, something like a serial killer.”

Idol also shares that the video for the track was influenced by the low-budget silent movies he enjoyed watching at the time. 

“I liked a lot of silent movies because you knew they were doing things with paint, wood and glue; you know, it’s very sort of cheap in a way, but with maximum effect,” he says. “That’s what I was sort of bringing into my videos: this kind of old influence of movies one hundred years before.”

And while Idol’s bleach blond hair may have looked good in the video, he reveals that he fell asleep while the bleach was in it and his hair was “fried.”

He notes, “I just had a little bit at the front, and somehow we made it look like I had hair. And that’s the kind of fun we had in the 1980s.”

“Eyes Without A Face,” a top five hit, is one of the many tracks featured on Idol’s sophomore album, Rebel Yell. He is set to release a 40th anniversary deluxe edition of the album on April 26. It is available for preorder now.

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John Fogerty is packing up and moving out of the home he recently bought from Sylvester Stallone.

Fogerty purchased the 2.2-acre ranch in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley back in October, reportedly shelling out a little over $17.2 million. The Robb Report says he’s now putting it back on the market.

Fogerty got a bit of a deal on the property, as Stallone was originally asking $22.5 million for the home, which he bought in the spring of 2022. Now Fogerty is trying to make some money on the place, listing the home for $21.5 mil.

The home is located in the gated community of Hidden Hills, home to several other stars. In addition to the main house, a guest house and a large cabana, it features a horse barn and arena for horse riding. There’s also a vegetable garden and fruit-bearing trees, a private swimming pool, a fire pit area and more.

But Fogerty certainly won’t be homeless. He and his wife, Julie, own a 20-acre compound in the Hidden Valley community near Thousand Oakes.

Fogerty won’t be spending too much time at his home this summer, though. He’s set to hit the road starting June 2 in Simpsonville, South Carolina, with dates booked through September. A complete list of dates can be found at johnfogerty.com.

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