Classic Rock 93.9

Fresh off the news of their new album, Happiness Bastards, The Black Crowes have revealed they’ll hit the road in support of the record.

The rockers announced dates for the Happiness Bastards Tour, hitting 35 cities in North America and Europe. The trek kicks off April 2 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, and will hit big cities including Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., before wrapping May 7 in Philadelphia.

They’ll then head overseas starting May 14 in Manchester, U.K., and stop in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and more, before ending June 9 with a set at the Stone & Music Festival in Mérida, Spain.

A ticket presale kicks off Tuesday, January 23, with the general onsale set for Friday, January 26, at 10 a.m. A complete list of dates can be found theblackcrowes.com.

Happiness Bastards. dropping March 15, is The Black Crowes’ 10th studio album and their first album of new music in 15 years. It is available for preorder now.

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After reuniting in 2021 for their 50th anniversary tour, The Doobie Brothers are ready to hit the road together again.

The band, made up of Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald, Pat Simmons and John McFee, just announced dates for The 2024 Tour, featuring special guests Steve Winwood and Robert Cray on select dates. 

The 38-city tour kicks off Saturday, June 15, in Seattle, Washington, and will hit San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa, New York, Boston and more, before wrapping Friday, August 30, in Salt Lake City. 

A Citi presale for tickets begins Tuesday, January 23, at 10 a.m., with the general onsale set for Friday, January 26, at 10 a.m. A complete list of tour dates can be found at thedoobiebrothers.com.

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On This Day, January 22, 1977… 

Paul McCartney scored his sixth post-Beatles #1 album with his band Wings’ triple live release, Wings Over America. It was the first triple album by a group to top the chart.

The album featured songs recorded during Wings’ spring 1976 tour, including live performances of Beatles tunes “Yesterday,” “Lady Madonna,” “Blackbird” and “The Long and Winding Road.” 

The lead single was a live recording of the McCartney solo track “Maybe I’m Amazed,” which became a top 10 hit.

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Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic are mourning the death of Susie Tennant, a Seattle music industry figure who helped launch Nirvana‘s career.

“We loved Susie a great deal, and she will be missed,” Grohl and Novoselic tells The Seattle Times.

Author and fellow Seattle figure Charles R. Cross, who wrote the Kurt Cobain book Heavier than Heaven, penned the obituary for Tennant in The Seattle Times. She died at age 61 of early onset dementia.

Tennant worked for Sub Pop and DGC Records, both of which released Nirvana albums. She planned the infamous Nevermind release party, which then moved to her house after the Nirvana members got kicked out of the original bar for starting a food fight.

Other bands that Tennant worked with included Weezer, Hole, Beck and Sonic Youth.

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Sunday, January 21, marked the 40th anniversary of Yes’ hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart” hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Trevor Rabin, the song’s main writer, always had a feeling it would be a hit. 

“I had an idea that was going to be the song because it’s very hooky and got all the ingredients,” Rabin tells ABC Audio.

Believe it or not, Rabin says he actually wrote the track on the toilet because acoustically the sound was great in the bathroom.

He notes, “When I wrote that riff, I thought, ‘Ohhh.’ I stopped and I actually pondered it and I thought, ‘This is either something really kind of cool or it might be just absolutely nothing.’” 

Well, it certainly didn’t turn out to be nothing. The song, which appeared on Yes’ 11th studio album, 90125, was the only Yes single to top the charts, spending two weeks in the top spot. And the album turned out to be Yes’ bestselling release, selling over 3 million copies in the U.S.

But not everyone immediately thought “Owner of a Lonely Heart” would be a hit. Rabin says that after he wrote it he sent the song out to a bunch of people, including famed music executive Clive Davis, who told him the song wasn’t commercial enough.

But Rabin showed him, noting, “I sent him the Billboard clipping of it [at] #1.”

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Foo Fighters‘ concert in New Zealand on Saturday, January 20, featured a surprise from Jack Black.

Fan-shot footage shows the actor and Tenacious D frontman joining Dave Grohl and company for a spirited rendition of the AC/DC song “Big Balls.” The performance also featured co-vocals by the Foos’ drum tech Fiona, who also sang “Big Balls” during the band’s 2023 tour of Australia.

As for how Foo Fighters and Black found themselves on the other side of the planet at the same time, the “Tribute” singer has been in New Zealand filming the upcoming Minecraft movie.

The Foos have two more New Zealand shows on their schedule. They’ll be back in the U.S. in May for a few one-off shows and festival sets, including at New Orleans Jazz Fest and Shaky Knees, before launching a full Stateside stadium tour in July.

Foo Fighters released their latest album, But Here We Are, in June 2023.

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Jon Bon Jovi is set to appear at February’s Pollstar Live! conference, HitsDailyDouble reports.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has joined the conference’s February 7 panel called How To See a Million Faces and Rock Them All, a reference to the Bon Jovi hit “Wanted Dead or Alive.”

The band’s 40th anniversary will also be marked during the conference, with the rocker honored with Pollstar Live!’s Milestone Award.

The conference is set to take place February 6-8 in Los Angeles. 

Jon’s appearance at Pollstar Live! will take place just a few days after he receives another prestigious honor. As part of Grammy week he’ll receive the MusiCares 2024 Person of the Year award at a gala held Friday, February 2, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

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A pool table once owned by rocker Janis Joplin is now up for auction.

Coinciding with what would have been Joplin’s 81st birthday on Friday, January 19, Julien’s Auctions announced the launch of an auction of the rocker’s personally owned pool table, made by Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. in the 1920s.

That pool table has been in Joplin’s home in Larkspur, California, since 1969 and was featured in an August 1970 issue of Rolling Stone that accompanied a review of her January 1970 concert at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Whoever purchases the pool table will be getting it directly from Joplin’s former home, where it currently resides in the same room it did when the rocker was alive.

The auction is happening online through Monday, January 29, with the pool table estimated to sell for between $10,000 and $20,000. More info can be found at juliensauctions.com.

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The Alarm is returning to the U.S. for a new North American tour, and they’re bringing along two other acts from the MTV era.

Joining The Alarm on the Live Today Love Tomorrow Tour MMXIV will be The Blow Monkeys, best known for their top 20 hit “Digging Your Scene,” and Belouis Some, best known for songs like “Some People” and “Round and Round,” the latter of which was featured on the soundtrack to ’80s classic Pretty in Pink.

“This tour will be a chance for a generation of fans – both old and new – to step back into the future and celebrate a time that defined millions of people’s life soundtracks when the era of Music Television ruled the earth,” The Alarm’s Mike Peters shares. “All our bands made an initial impact through the medium of music, but it was driven deeper into the hearts and imaginations of people all over North America via Music Television.” He noted it “paved the way for a new generation of artists and fans of which had never been witnessed before.”

The tour kicks off May 1 in New Orleans, hitting Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York and more, with dates confirmed through May 29 in Boston. 

A ticket presale will kick off Wednesday, January 24, with the general sale happening Friday, January 26.

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Alice in Chains may be reopening their Jar of Flies.

In a Facebook post, the “Man in the Box” outfit is teasing the date January 25, which will mark the 30th anniversary of their 1994 Jar of Flies EP. The post also features artwork of flies surrounding the AiC logo.

Jar of Flies followed Alice in Chains’ 1992 hit album Dirt and arrived during the last years of the grunge era. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, making it the first EP to ever achieve that feat.

Alice in Chains’ most recent album is 2018’s Rainier Fog.

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