Classic Rock 93.9

Warren Haynes is bringing back his annual Christmas Jam. The Gov’t Mule frontman announced that his annual charity concert will take place Friday, December 9, at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena in Asheville, North Carolina. 

Information on the full lineup and when tickets go on sale is “coming soon,” but last year’s lineup featured such artists as Phil Lesh & Friends, Tyler Childers, Gov’t Mule and Brothers Osborne.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit Asheville’s Habitat for Humanity and Beloved Asheville. In the more than 20 years of Christmas Jam, Haynes has raised more than $2.8 million, enough to build over 50 homes through Habitat for Humanity.

More info on Christmas Jam can be found at xmasjam.com.

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Live Nation has announced the end of merchandise fees charged to artists playing club shows.

In a statement unveiling its new On the Road Again program, Live Nation says, “Clubs will charge no merchandise selling fees, so artists keep 100% of merch profits.”

The participating venues include New York City’s Irving Plaza, The Wiltern in Los Angeles and various House of Blues clubs throughout the U.S.

The subject of merch fees been a large topic of conversation recently as artists have protested against the practice, which has become more prevalent as touring has returned in full swing.

Live Nation is launching On the Road Again in partnership with country legend Willie Nelson. Its other initiatives include providing artists playing such clubs with a $1,500 stipend for gas and travel for each show.

“Touring is important to artists so whatever we can do to help other artists, I think we should do it,” Nelson says. “This program will impact thousands of artists this year and help make touring a little bit easier.”

For more info, visit RoadAgain.live.

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Pearl Jam has teamed up with The Last of Us for the 2023 edition of the band’s annual Halloween shirt.

The tee features PJ’s name printed above an image of a clicker, a particularity nasty type of the zombie-like infected creature featured in the video game-turned-TV series. 

You can order yours now through September 29 via Pearl Jam’s website.

Pearl Jam, by the way, has long been connected to The Last of Us universe. Their song “Future Days” was featured in the 2020 The Last of Us Part II game, while the track “All or None” is on the soundtrack for the HBO adaptation. Eddie Vedder also performed “Future Days” at the 2020 Game Awards, during which The Last of Us Part II won Game of the Year.

Meanwhile, the T-shirt announcement marks the 10th anniversary of Outbreak Day. In The Last of Us universe, the virus that turns people into the aforementioned zombie creatures took hold on September 26, 2013.

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Grateful Dead‘s Bobby Weir has announced a December residency at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. He’ll be backed by the Wolf Bros, made up of Don Was, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti and Barry Sless.

“Well OK, looks like we’re back at the Cap for five nights this time around in December; this is gonna be big fun,” Weir tells Billboard. “We’re gonna get a chance to get to most everything in the song book – and maybe see if a couple folks are willing to make the hr-or-so trip outta the city to join us.”

Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack will kick off the residency December 12, with shows booked for the 13, 15, 16 and 17. 

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday, September 29, at 10 a.m. local time.

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Ozzy Osbourne may be unable to tour, but he’s been busy in the studio, delivering the solo albums Ordinary Man in 2020 and Patient Number 9 in 2022. As the Prince of Darkness tells Metal Hammer, he isn’t planning on slowing down in 2024.

“I’m just starting to work on [a new record] now, and we’ll be recording in the early part of next year,” Ozzy shares. “I want to take my time with this one!”

Ozzy’s also hoping to reunite with producer Andrew Watt, who he worked with on both Ordinary Man and Patient Number 9.

“I want to do one more album and then go back on the road,” Ozzy says.

Ozzy hasn’t played a full live show since 2018 and has been hampered by a number of health issues, including requiring extensive surgery after suffering a fall in his home in 2019, which aggravated injuries he sustained in a 2003 ATV accident. In a September 19 episode of The Osbournes Podcast, Ozzy shared that he was set to undergo what he called his “final surgery” since the fall.

“I’ve had all the surgery now, thank god,” Ozzy now tells Metal Hammer. “I’m feeling okay — it was just dragging on. I thought I’d be back on my feet months ago, I just couldn’t get used to this mode of living, constantly having something wrong.”

He adds, “I can’t walk properly yet, but I’m not in any pain any more and the surgery on my spine went great.”

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A deluxe version of the 1993 Nirvana biography, Come As You Are, will be released on October 24.

Dubbed The Amplified Comes As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, the updated book includes “hundreds of extensive new essay-like annotations” by original author Michael Azerrad.

“Rereading Come As You Are for the annotated edition, I began to notice some patterns that I hadn’t noticed when I was in the thick of writing the original version,” Azerrad says. “Maybe I was too young to see them; maybe I was looking the other way because I was smitten by my subject; maybe I had to work too fast to notice such things.”

“The idea behind The Amplified Come As You Are is to comment on my 1993 book,” Azerrad continues. “To illuminate what’s there, and mine it for insights on Nirvana, its members, and the time in which the band existed.”

The original Come As You Are is often considered the definitive Nirvana biography and is the only book to feature original interviews with Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. It was published just months before Cobain died in 1994.

The Amplified Come As You Are will arrive just ahead of the upcoming 30th anniversary reissue of Nirvana 1993’s In Utero album, due out October 27.

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Procol Harum‘s late frontman Gary Brooker will be celebrated this December with a star-studded concert in the U.K.

Eric Clapton, Genesis’ Mike Rutherford and Queen’s Roger Taylor are among the artists confirmed for the concert, Remembering Gary Brooker, taking place Monday, December 4, at G Live in Guildford, Surrey, England.

The concert also features Squeeze’s Paul Carrack, Dire Straits’ bassist John Illsley, Andy Fairweather Low and Mike Sanchez, who will all be backed by a house band made up of session musicians, some of whom played with Procol Harum on tour.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit two charities important to Brooker: The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and Cure Parkinson’s.

Tickets for the concert go on sale Thursday, September 28, at 10 a.m. local time.

Brooker, the founder and lead singer of Procol Harum, passed away February 19, 2022, after a battle with cancer. He was 76.

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t sounds like Mick Jagger is not completely against the idea of The Rolling Stones living on long after he and his bandmates are gone.

“You can have a posthumous business now, can’t you? You can have a posthumous tour,” he tells WSJ. Magazine in their October issue, suggesting he wouldn’t be opposed to an avatar-type tour. He notes, “The technology has really moved on since the ABBA thing,” referring to the group’s virtual Voyage show.

As for the future, Jagger says the band has no intention of selling their catalog like many artists have been doing lately, even though doing so could mean more money for his kids. He jokes, “the children don’t need $500 million to live well. Come on.” 

Jagger turned 80 this year, which may seem like a big milestone to some, but he doesn’t look at it as a big deal. Asked how it feels different than 70, he simply replied, “They’re both big numbers. One’s more than the other one.”

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Elvis Costello is heading back out on the road in 2024. The rocker just announced dates for his 7-0-7 tour, where he’ll be backed by his band The Imposters and Charlie Sexton.

The tour will kick off January 10 in Tallahassee, Florida, with dates in Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Nashville and more. It will wrap February 2 in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“We implore you, dear connoisseurs, to mark your calendars, ready your senses and spring forth with willing, curious hearts for the extravaganza that is the 7-0-7 Tour,” reads the announcement on Elvis’ website. “As the days grow shorter, anticipation swells. Remember that this is not just a concert—it is a communion of amorous spirits, an odyssey of pure, unadulterated elation.”

For those wanting tickets, an artist presale begins Wednesday, September 27, at 10 a.m. local time, followed by the general onsale Friday, September 29, at 10 a.m. local time. A complete list of dates can be found at elviscostello.com.

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The Rolling Stones are ready to give fans another taste of their upcoming album Hackney Diamonds, due out October 20.

The band announced on Instagram that they’ll release their Lady Gaga collaboration, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” at noon on Thursday, September 28. You can presave or preadd it now.

The song also features Stevie Wonder on keyboards. You can hear him playing — and Gaga vocalizing a bit — in a snippet of the song on Instagram.

On the Stones’ Instagram Story, they reveal that the song is pretty epic: It runs seven minutes and 22 seconds.

This will be the second track The Stones have released off Hackney Diamonds following the single “Angry.” The album’s title is a reference to the London neighborhood of Hackney, which has a reputation as a rough place. “Hackney Diamonds” is British slang for pieces of broken glass from car windshields and store windows following a robbery.

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