The Who, Robert Plant, Eddie Vedder set for Teenage Cancer Trust shows

January 8, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

The Who has revealed the star-studded lineup for their annual Teenage Cancer Trust charity concerts, happening March 18-24 at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

The Who, backed by an orchestra, will play shows on March 18 and 20, with special guest Squeeze. The Who’s Roger Daltrey will return for the closing night on March 24, which will also feature Robert Plant with Saving Grace, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones and Paul Weller.

That final night is being billed as Ovation, a Celebration of 24 Years of Gigs for TCT, to celebrate Daltrey’s tenure as host and curator of the annual shows. The rocker has announced that he’s stepping down from the post after this year. The shows will be hosted by a variety of guest curators beginning in 2025.

The rest of the shows include a night of comedy on March 19; Noel Gallagher’s the High Flying Birds, with special guest Blossom, on March 21; Young Fathers on March 22; and The Chemical Brothers on March 23.

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday, January 12, at 9 a.m., with proceeds going to Teenage Cancer Trust’s mission to provide specialist treatment and support for young people with cancer.

Talkin’ bout food: David Lee Roth’s a food critic now

January 8, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

David Lee Roth hasn’t been performing in a while and it looks like he may be trying out for a new gig – food critic.

The former Van Halen frontman just posted his own food review on Instagram, sharing his thoughts on Irv’s Burgers in Los Angeles.

“Irv’s fun fact, like so many hard earned red, white and blue joints, it’s owned and operated by first generation Ukrainians,” Roth says in the post. “I don’t want to say Irv’s was on the funky side, but if you needed it, there’s probably still some John Belushi DNA under the toilet lid.”

Roth gives Irv’s props for its motif, noting it’s “very American, very red, white and Irv.”

“There’s a menu up there, barely visible. You can barely see it,” he says of the place, noting the food is “a veritable wheel of gastro turbulence, featuring extraordinary samples of nutritionally bereft fare so greasy and so good you want to hop the counter and just punch the f****** cook in the face.”

Irv’s Burgers has been around since 1946, with the original location opening in West Hollywood under the name Queens Burgers. It was one of the first roadside burger stands in Los Angeles.

Billie Eilish wins Best Original Song Golden Globe, beats Springsteen and Kravitz

January 7, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Billie Eilish and brother FINNEAS won their second Golden Globe for Best Original Song Sunday night.

The siblings won for “What Was I Made For?” from the Barbie movie. It was one of three Barbie songs nominated in the category: The other ones were Dua Lipa‘s “Dance the Night” and Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken.”

The other nominees in the category included Lenny Kravitz for his Rustin track “Road to Freedom,” and Bruce Springsteen for his song “Addicted to Romance,” from the movie She Came to Me.

Accepting the award, Billie said she “did not expect this at this moment” and thanked her co-writer FINNEAS, saying he was “the reason I am who I am.” She also thanked Barbie director Greta Gerwig, star and producer Margot Robbie and Mattel.

Billie noted that it had been almost exactly a year since she and FINNEAS were first shown Barbie — at the time, Billie said, she was “very, very miserable and depressed.” She added, “Writing that song kind of saved me a little bit. A year later, and here we are, and it’s really surreal. I feel incredibly, incredibly lucky and grateful.”

The siblings had previously won the Golden Globe for their James Bond theme “No Time to Die.”

The late Robbie Robertson, who was nominated in the category of Best Original Score for Killers of the Flower Moon, lost to Ludwig Göransson, who won for Oppenheimer.

Pink Floyd quietly releases archival live concerts to comply with European copyright laws

January 5, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Pink Floyd recently released a collection of live concert recordings, although most fans probably knew nothing about it.

Variety reports that in December the band quietly released about 18 concert recordings to streaming services in order to comply with European “use it or lose it” copyright laws, which say that after 50 years, any sound recordings can become public domain if they aren’t used.

The concerts were all from the ’70s, around the time they put out their classic album The Dark Side of the Moon. Pink Floyd didn’t make any big announcements about the release, and even made them a bit difficult to find, including them in the “compilations” section of their Spotify page.

This isn’t the first time Pink Floyd has quietly released concert recordings in order to comply with the copyright laws. In 2016 they released a box set of ’60s-era material, in late 2021 they released concerts from 1970 to early 1972, and in 2022 they released more concerts from 1972.

But Floyd fans may not want to wait too long to listen to the latest release. Past copyright drops disappeared after only a few weeks.

New street named after David Bowie to be unveiled in Paris

January 5, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Paris is set to formally name a street after David Bowie on Monday, January 8, which would have been the rock star’s 77th birthday.

The Connexion reports that the street, “rue David Bowie,” will be a brand new road near Austerlitz train station, in the 13th arrondissement. There will also be an inauguration party on the same day, with a photo and painting exhibit dedicated to Bowie running until January 14 at the city’s Galerie Athéna.

Arrondissement Mayor Jérôme Coumet first revealed the plans for the Bowie street back in 2020, noting that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer “had a strong link with the city of lights.”

Interestingly, while Bowie will now have a street named after him in France, there currently isn’t one in his home country, the U.K.

Bowie passed away January 10, 2016, after a secret battle with liver cancer.

Elton John’s “Rocket Man” joins Spotify’s Billions Club

January 5, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Elton John is celebrating a new milestone. The rocker just revealed on social media that his classic tune “Rocket Man” has reached 1 billion streams on Spotify.

“Thank you to all of you who keep listening and streaming,” Elton wrote, “it brings me so much joy that this song continues to mean so much to you all after all of these years.”

“Rocket Man” is the second Elton song to reach 1 billon streams on Spotify. His first was his Dua Lipa collaboration “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” which joined the Billions Club in July 2022.

Released in April 1972, “Rocket Man” was the lead single off Elton’s album Honky Château. It went on to become one of Elton’s signature tunes and has been certified three-times Platinum by the RIAA.

The Smashing Pumpkins announce open application for new guitarist

January 5, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Despite all your rage — or, perhaps, because of it — you could be The Smashing Pumpkins‘ newest member.

The “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” outfit has announced an open call for applicants to become an additional guitar player in the band.

“The application process is open to anyone who might be interested,” the Pumpkins write in a Facebook post. If you’d like to apply, send your resume and “related material” to SPGuitar@redlightmanagement.com.

The position will presumably fill the absence of departing guitarist Jeff Schroeder, who’d been with the Pumpkins since 2006 before leaving in 2023. The band, which currently includes original members Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin, has a busy touring schedule for 2024, including U.S. stadium dates with Green Day.

You may recall that Corgan previously held an audition process for a new drummer after Chamberlin left the Pumpkins in 2009. He ended up hiring 19-year-old Mike Byrne, who played with the band until 2014.

Neil Young to release ‘Archives Vol. II’ collection, ‘Dume’, on vinyl for the first time

January 5, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Neil Young is set to release a new collection of songs on vinyl for the very first time.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will release Dume on February 23, made up of 16 songs that were originally part of his Neil Young’s Archives Vol. II release, a 10-CD box set that came out in the fall of 2020.

The album, which was disc eight of the Archives set, features songs recorded with his band Crazy Horse during sessions for Young’s mid ’70s album Zuma, like “Cortez the Killer.” It also includes some previously unreleased tracks from that period.

Dume is now available for preorder at the Greedy Hand Store at Neil Young Archives, and all purchases come with free hi-res digital audio downloads of the album. Dume will also be sold at music retailers.

Here is the track list for Dume:

“Ride My Llama”
“Cortez the Killer”
“Don’t Cry No Tears”
“Born to Run”
“Barstool Blues”
“Danger Bird”
“Stupid Girl”
“Kansas”
“Powderfinger”
“Hawaii”
“Drive Back”
“Lookin’ for a Love”
“Pardon My Heart”
“Too Far Gone”
“Pocahontas”
“No One Seems to Know”

Documentary about “We Are The World” to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival

January 5, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

A new documentary about the making of the ’80s classic “We Are The World” will have its world premiere screening at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

The Greatest Night in Pop reveals the untold story of how 46 musicians, including Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross and Billy Joel, came together in 1985 to record the iconic charity single.

The screening will be followed by a conversation that features Richie, who co-produced the film and co-wrote the song with Jackson, as well as the film’s co-producer Julia Nottingham and director Bao Nguyen.

Released in March 1985, “We Are The World” raised more than $63 million for a newly formed organization called United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa) to help with the famine crisis in the region. The song, produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian, went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for a month. It went on to become the first single to be certified multi-Platinum, earning a four-time Platinum certification by the RIAA.

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, will take place January 18–28 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. Passes for the festival are on sale now, with individual ticket sales set to begin January 11. More info can be found at festival.sundance.org.

Enter Sphere? Robert Trujillo ponders Metallica residency at new Vegas venue

January 5, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Could Metallica be the next band to headline the Sphere?

The high-tech, state-of-the-art Las Vegas venue, which boasts a 160,000-square-foot wraparound LED screen with 16K resolution, opened in 2023 with a residency by U2, which Phish will follow in April.

As for whether the “Enter Sandman” metallers could enter the Sphere, Metal Hammer poses that very question to bassist Robert Trujillo in a new interview.

“You’d have to ask [drummer] Lars [Ulrich] that question!” Trujillo replies. “He’s always the guy with his finger on the pulse, so we’re happy to let him go ahead with all this cutting-edge stuff, exploring possibilities.”

He adds, “So if we do end up playing the Sphere, I’d say that seed is being planted about now.”

Metallica’s confirmed plans include resuming their M72 world tour in support of their latest album, 72 Seasons. The outing picks up again in May.

“We just want to get into 2024 and see where that takes us, but I’m pretty sure we have shows going right up to 2025 at this point,” Trujilo says.

In other Metallica happenings, the band has shared a clip of a meteorologist inserting a lyric from “Enter Sandman” into his forecast. In the clip, posted to Metallica’s Instagram Story, the weatherman says, “Don’t forget my son forecast … on Thursday,” though he was referring to the sun with a “u.”

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