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The newly reimagined version of The Who’s Tommy is set to open on Broadway Thursday, and director Des McAnuff, who also directed the original production, says the idea to bring it back was sparked by another Tommy project.

McAnuff tells ABC Audio he and The Who’s Pete Townshend were working on a movie version of the musical when the idea of bringing it back to the stage came up.

“I think we came to the realization that the world has perhaps caught up to Tommy Walker,” he explains, noting, “The piece seemed to take on a whole new kind of pertinence.” He adds, “It’s not so much that the piece changed radically, it’s that the world around us had changed.”

Based on The Who’s 1969 album and 1975 film, the original production of Tommy opened on Broadway on April 22, 1993. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Direction for McAnuff and Best Original Score for Townshend.

McAnuff says that even though it’s been 30 years since the original production, the story of Tommy is particularly relatable in our current climate, specifically in the second act, “when Tommy becomes this imam, guru, political leader, a rock star and has a kind of an epiphany about that.” He notes that it’s something “one would hope more leaders would do.” 

As for Townshend’s involvement, McAnuff says the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is “wildly enthusiastic about the piece,” sharing that after decades of working together he sort of knows what Pete likes.

But, McAnuff says, “I would not consider doing anything without his blessing.” 

Tommy The Musical opens March 28 at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre. Tickets are available now.

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Last year, the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame opened a special exhibit dedicated to Billy Joel. Now, the Hall will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a June tribute concert celebrating the Piano Man’s music.

The June 7 show will take place at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post in Brookville, Long Island, New York. On the bill will be Billy’s daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, as well as Debbie Gibson, The Rascals‘ Felix Cavaliere, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC, legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb and Mike DelGuidice, who is Billy’s guitarist and also leads his own tribute band, Big Shot.

Webb, McDaniels and Gibson are all in the Hall of Fame, as are two other acts on the bill: Zebra and two former members of Blue Öyster Cult.

Advanced presale tickets will be available starting March 25 at limusichalloffame.org. Tickets go on sale to the general public starting March 27.

It’s entirely possible that Billy himself might attend, considering he has to be in the area on June 8 for a show in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

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Over the years, Black Sabbath‘s lead singers have included metal icons Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio. But a new box set aims to turn the spotlight on an era when the band was fronted by a third man: Tony Martin.

The box set, Anno Domini 1989-1995, arrives May 31. The set, available on four CDs or LPs, documents the albums that Martin made with Sabbath, starting with 1989’s Headless Cross, which also featured founding guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Cozy Powell and keyboardist Geoff Nicholls.

That album was followed by 1990’s Tyr, which added bassist Neil Murray. That lineup was put on hold in 1992 while Ronnie James Dio temporarily reunited with the band, but in 1994, Martin was back for the album Cross Purposes, as was founding Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler. Bobby Rondinelli of Rainbow played drums on that release.

Martin also sang on 1995’s Forbidden, which saw the return of Powell and Murray. It was the group’s last for nearly 20 years — in 2013, Iommi and Butler reunited with Ozzy to record the band’s final studio album, 13.

Some of these four albums are making their vinyl debuts in the LP version of the box set. The CD version includes three bonus tracks: a B-side called “Cloak & Dagger” and two Japan-only releases, “What’s the Use” and “Loser Gets It All.” A booklet, poster and replica tour program round out the set.

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Country star Dierks Bentley has released a cover of Tom Petty‘s “American Girl” for an upcoming tribute album, and in the video for the song, he’s playing one of Petty’s guitars.

Shot at Nashville’s Clementine Hall, the video features Bentley and his band performing Petty’s 1977 classic, with Bentley playing the late rocker’s signature Rickenbacker guitar, which was flown in specially from Tom’s archives in California.

“Holding an instrument that carries so much musical history and significance was surreal, you could almost feel the stories resonate from it as I played it,” says Bentley in a statement. “Tom Petty’s lyrics and delivery were a huge part of what made his music so impactful.” 

“American Girl” is the lead track from the all-star tribute album Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty. The project’s release date and track list will be revealed in the coming weeks.

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Bruce Springsteen has just relaunched his tour with the E Street Band after a six-month break to deal with a diagnosis of peptic ulcer disease. But now, The Boss has revealed that during the worst stages of his condition, he wasn’t able to sing at all.

Calling into Sirius XM’s E Street Radio on March 21, Bruce said, “You sing with your diaphragm. You know, my diaphragm was hurting so badly that when I went to make the effort to sing, it was killing me, so I literally couldn’t sing at all, you know? And that lasted for two three months. Along with just a myriad of other painful problems.”

“It took a while for the doctors to say, ‘Oh, no, you’re gonna be okay,'” he added and then chuckled, “At first, nobody was quite saying that, which made me nervous, y’know?”

Now that Bruce is back in good shape, he said he and the band consider their return to the stage to be a “whole new tour.”

“There’ll be a much wider song selection going on,” he said. “Some of the second half of the set is built so solid so a lot of it’ll stay. The opening …. I’m not sure what’s going to happen up top, but it’ll shift around. I’m waiting to see myself where the show is going to take me.”

“But … for us, it’s a new tour, a new day, and we’re approaching everything like that,” he continued. “We’re looking forward to having a lot of fun.“

Bruce and the band will next take the stage Friday, March 22, in Las Vegas, followed by a March 25 show in San Diego. Right now, dates are scheduled through November.

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To make it to the Oscars, Slash needed to pull a Taylor Swift.

Just like the pop superstar hopped on a last-minute jet from Tokyo to see boyfriend Travis Kelce win the Super Bowl, the Guns N’ Roses shredder fit in a flight to Los Angeles in between tour dates in Asia to take part in Ryan Gosling‘s instantly iconic performance of the Barbie song “I’m Just Ken” during Hollywood’s biggest night.

“I flew to LA from Korea, got to the Kodak Theater, got rushed into this crazy mayhem situation which is the Oscars, and we did a quick run through with Ryan Gosling singing and all these guys dancing around, and then went backstage,” Slash tells Classic Rock magazine. “I sat in the audience with all the other actors for the ceremony, then got up and played the song, got in a car, went back to the airport and flew to the Philippines.”

Slash played on the studio version of “I’m Just Ken,” as did Wolfgang Van Halen, who also took part in the Oscars performance. While the two guitarists definitely brought the riffs, Slash maintains that Gosling was the number’s real star.

“Ryan was really cool, I had no idea what to expect,” Slash says. “We hung out backstage, and he sung the s*** out of the song — I’ve got to give him kudos, he made that whole production happen.”

Meanwhile, Slash is preparing to release a new blues covers album, Orgy of the Damned, on May 17, and launch a U.S. tour in July. Guests on the record include AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson, Iggy Pop, Demi Lovato, Gary Clark Jr. and ZZ Top‘s Billy F Gibbons.

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March marks the 50th anniversary of Aerosmith‘s album Get Your Wings, and in honor of the milestone, the band is releasing a whole slew of new stuff.

First, there’s a limited-edition vinyl, due out May 17. To match the year of release, there will only be 1,974 copies, each pressed on gold sparkle vinyl with an embossed gold foil jacket. In addition to the album, the package includes an Aerosmith logo sticker and a replica of a vintage ad. You can preorder the vinyl now.

In addition, there’s a whole line of new merchandise and clothing, also available on May 17. You can check out all the pieces on Aerosmith’s online store: they range from bomber jackets, tees and tanks to banners, wallets and blankets. There’s also a line of Get Your Wings-branded sterling silver jewelry, including rings, pendants and earrings.

Get Your Wings, which is RIAA certified triple Platinum, was Aerosmith’s first collaboration with producer Jack Douglas, who helped the band develop what’s now considered their classic sound. It includes “Same Old Song and Dance,” “Lord of the Thighs” and the band’s cover of blues classic “Train Kept A-Rollin.'”

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Ozzy Osbourne is currently #2 on the fan ballot vote for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but he’s not booking his flight to Cleveland just yet.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Ozzy says his nomination has “been driving me mad.” 

“It’s an honor that I’m nominated, but I’m not expecting to get in,” he says. “There’s Mariah Carey, there’s Cher, Lenny Kravitz. I’m up against some serious people. If I get in, I get in. If I don’t, I don’t.” Of course, Ozzy is already in the hall: He was inducted in 2006 as a member of Black Sabbath.

Ozzy also tells Rolling Stone that lately he’s been painting and waiting for Andrew Watt, who produced his Grammy-winning 2022 album Patient Number 9, to call him. “He’s been working with Lady Gaga. I’m dying to make more music,” says Ozzy.

Meanwhile, the Prince of Darkness is unsure about a return to the stage. “I would love to, but I can’t stand upright,” he tells Rolling Stone. “Maybe I’ll do something one day. I miss it terribly.” He said if he’s inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he “maybe” will do a short set at the ceremony: “We’ll see.”

As previously reported, you can currently hear the metal icon singing on “Crack Cocaine,” a collaborative single with Billy Idol guitarist Billy Morrison, who Ozzy calls “my best friend.”

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Elton John‘s latest musical will hit Broadway on October 19, and tickets are going on sale the last week of March.

The musical, Tammy Faye, was a hit in London last year and is coming to Broadway’s Palace Theatre, with previews starting October 19. The tickets go on sale to the public on March 27, but members of Elton’s Rocket Club can access a presale now.

Tammy Faye stars Katie Brayben and Andrew Rannells as real-life televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, who built a media empire with their TV show The PTL Club. After Bakker was sent to prison for fraud and conspiracy in 1989, Tammy Faye divorced him and married megachurch builder Roe Messner.

Known for her glamorous image and layers of makeup, Tammy Faye, who died in 2007, became a gay icon by preaching compassion for people with HIV/AIDS and support for the LGBTQ community. Jessica Chastain won an Oscar for playing her in the 2021 movie The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Elton wrote the music for the show, while Jake Shears of the group Scissor Sisters wrote the lyrics. The musical, which premiered last fall, was nominated for four Olivier Awards, the U.K. equivalent of the Tony Awards.

“Broadway is the place where the greatest stories are told,” Elton says in a video announcing the news. “And Tammy Faye’s story was made for the stage. … Sharing this with you, here, feels like coming home.”

Elton’s other musicals include Billy Elliott, The Lion King and Aida, as well as Lestat, which flopped in 2006. He also has a musical version of The Devil Wears Prada coming to London’s West End this year.

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After removing her music from Spotify in 2022 in solidarity with her old friend and fellow Canadian icon Neil Young, Joni Mitchell‘s classic albums are back on the streaming service.

As previously reported, Young pulled his music from Spotify in January 2022, accusing the service of “spreading fake information” about the COVID-19 vaccine by hosting The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. In a recent post on his Archives website, he announced its return, writing, “My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at SPOTIFY.”

Young added that he can’t leave Apple and Amazon “because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all.” He added, “I hope all you millions of Spotify users enjoy my songs! They will now all be there for you except for the full sound we created.”

He also expressed his hope Spotify would improve its sound quality so “people will be able to hear and feel all the music as we made it.”

Mitchell hasn’t commented on the return of her music, but as Billboard points out, it was never 100% absent from Spotify. Her classic albums, like Blue, Ladies of the Canyon and Court and Spark, disappeared, but her ’80s and early ’90s releases, like Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, Night Ride Home and Wild Things Run Fast, were still available. 

Billboard reported in 2022 that following Mitchell’s announcement of the removal, songs from those albums saw a nearly 500% streaming increase.

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