Classic Rock 93.9

There’s nothing quite like seeing Bruce Springsteen play a show close to his home in New Jersey, and now the rocker is sharing some of his favorite local performances with fans.

The Boss, who turns 74 on Saturday, just shared The Live Series: Songs of New Jersey, a playlist made up of previously unreleased live performances recorded in the New Jersey/New York area, many of which are about the Garden State.

They include such performances as “Born To Run,” live from the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 9, 1981; “Jersey Girl,” performed at Giants Stadium, also in East Rutherford, on August 22, 1985; “My Hometown,” from St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold, New Jersey, on November 8, 1996; “Atlantic City” from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on January 31, 2016; and “My City of Ruins” at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on August 25, 2016.

You can listen to The Live Series: Songs of New Jersey now streaming on digital outlets.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are currently on a break from touring, after postponing September shows so The Boss could recover from a peptic ulcer. Their next show is scheduled for November 3 in Vancouver, Canada. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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The Rolling Stones’ latest single, “Angry,” is featured on the official Spotify soundtrack to EA SPORTS FC24, the football (soccer to most folks in the U.S.) entertainment platform with a community of over 150 million users. 

“Angry” is the first single off The Stones’ upcoming album, Hackney Diamonds, dropping October 20. EA Worldwide Executive and President of Music Steve Schnur tells HitsDailyDouble the band approached them about featuring the song on the soundtrack.

“The premiere of EA Sports FC 24 delivers a definitive global soundtrack that builds on innovation and authenticity,” Schnur shares. “We’ve curated a player experience that celebrates diversity and discovery via new music that defies genres, erases borders, creates football culture and powers football life.” 

Other artists featured on the soundtrack include Kendrick Lamar, Jack Harlow, Run the Jewels and more.

EA SPORTS FC24 comes out September 29.

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Foghat has unveiled the latest track from their upcoming album, Sonic Mojo. The new tune, “She’s a Little Bit of Everything,” was co-written by founding drummer Roger Earl’s former Savoy Brown bandmate, the late Kim Simmonds, before he passed away in December 2022. 

“As soon as I heard this song, I knew it was for us,” Earl shares. “I claimed that it was written about Kim’s wife, Debi, but she is far too fine a person to ever admit that that’s where it came from. I really believe that this is where Kim got the inspiration for this song.” He adds, “It’s probably my favorite.”

Guitarist Bryan Bassett adds, “The song is a straight blues rocker that’s quickly becoming a crowd favorite in our live show.”

You can listen to “She’s A Little Bit of Everything” via digital outlets and on YouTube.

“She’s A Little Bit Of Everything” is one of three songs Simmonds co-wrote for the album along with the already released “Drivin’ On” and “I Don’t Appreciate You,” which is coming October 20.

Sonic Mojo, Foghat’s first album in seven years, drops November 10. It is available for preorder now.

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Fleetwood Mac is back on the charts. The band’s recent release, Rumours: Live, lands at #4 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart this week.

It’s been a pretty long time since Fleetwood Mac has been ranked this high on the chart. The last time was back in 2003 when their album Say You Will debuted at #2. 

Rumours Live is a double album of the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ August 29, 1977, concert at the Forum in Los Angeles. It features live versions of most of the songs on 1977’s Rumours, including “Never Going Back Again,” “Songbird” and “The Chain” as well as tracks from 1975’s Fleetwood Mac, including “Landslide” and “Rhiannon.”

Of course, Rumours was a huge hit for Fleetwood Mac. The album spent 31 nonconsecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200, a record for any album by a group.

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We’re about to learn even more about the Sex Pistols.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a documentary about the British rockers is in the works, and it will be based on bassist and founding member Glen Matlock’s 1990 memoir, I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol.

The film’s producers, VMI Worldwide, say the doc is set to follow the band’s “rise to global infamy with an honest, insightful account of a group of malcontents, determined to change the music business and to attack hypocrisy and stale conventions in society at large.” 

In addition to what Matlock revealed in his book, the doc promises to share previously unknown info about the rockers and will include interviews from the band’s rock star contemporaries.

This won’t be the first time the Sex Pistols’ story has been told. The band was the subject of the FX/Hulu series Pistol from director Danny Boyle, which was based on guitarist Steve Jones’ memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol. Matlock had previously said in an interview he was “very disappointed” by the series.

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On This Day, September 22, 1985…

Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp headlined the first-ever Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois.

The trio organized the all-star event to raise money to help family farmers in the United States. They were inspired by comments Bob Dylan made during the Live Aid concerts, in which he said he hoped some of the money could go to help struggling farmers.

Dylan also performed at the first Farm Aid, as did Billy Joel, Tom Petty, B.B. King, Loretta Lynn and Roy Orbison.

The first concert raised over $9 million.

Since then Farm Aid has held concerts almost every year, with the 2023 edition scheduled for September 23 in Noblesville, Indiana. A full lineup can be found at farmaid.org.

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Queen frontman Freddie Mercury has often been hailed as one of the greatest frontmen in rock ‘n’ roll, and that was certainly apparent to anyone who ever got to see him perform live with the band. Well, now Queen is giving fans insight into the man for the latest edition of their weekly YouTube series, Queen the Greatest Live.

This week’s episode features archival interviews with the late Mercury, in which he shares why it was so important for Queen to put on a spectacle at each live show.

“People want to be entertained. How boring if we reproduce note-for-note what was on the album,” Freddie says in one clip. “People might as well just sit at home and listen to the album. It’s a show, it’s entertainment, and our songs take on a different meaning when we do a stage show.” 

He notes that for years, artists like The Rolling Stones and others have used visual theatrics in shows, noting “It’s a form of entertainment. It’s like you do your music and then entertainment plus.” 

“And I, sort of personally, you know, I just like doing that anyway,” he adds. “I’d hate to go onstage and just sit and sing my songs. I have to move.”

Next week on Queen The Greatest Live: “Freddie Mercury – Part 2.”

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Carlos Santana looks back at his life and career in the new documentary Carlos, and after 50 years in the business, he tells ABC Audio that making the documentary “was a long time coming.” 

“A lot of people approached me that wanted to do this, but it just wasn’t the time or it wasn’t the right people or the right person,” he shares. Things changed when producer Ron Howard and director Rudy Valdez came into the picture, with Santana sharing he had confidence “they would honor and respect my request and that I had say so on beginning, middle and end, how my life was being presented.”

The decision to call the movie Carlos and not Santana was a deliberate one, as the film gives fans insight into the man, not just his music.

Santana says throughout his career, regardless of the bands he’s played with, “Carlos seems to be the glue that keeps believing that this particular multidimensional Mexican could bring something” respected by other artists, which makes him feel “really, really grateful.”

The film covers many of the highs and lows of Santana’s career, including highs like playing Woodstock and his multi-Platinum album, Supernatural. He hopes fans are inspired by what they see.

“I remember that it was Maya Angelou who said, ‘The only thing people are going to remember is how you make them feel,’” he said. “So I want to make people feel like you’re priceless, precious, and God loves you and he believes in you. That’s what I want people to receive from this documentary.” 

Carlos is set to open with a special three-day theatrical event September 23, 24 and 27. It will then get a wider theatrical release on September 29.

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Neil Young kicked off his two-night stand at The Roxy in Los Angeles on Wednesday, treating the intimate audience to performances of two complete albums.

According to setlist.fm, Young and his pre-Crazy Horse band, Santa Monica Flyers, kicked off the show by playing the 1973 album Tonight’s The Night in its entirety, followed by his 1969 release, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

Young classics performed during the show include “Cinnamon Girl” and “Down By The River,” with the Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere deep cut “Round and Round (It Won’t Be Long)” being played live for the first time. 

The two concerts are part of The Roxy’s 50th anniversary celebration and will benefit The Painted Turtle, a camp for children with serious medical conditions, and The Bridge School, which educates children who have severe speech and physical impairments. Young performed for the venue’s opening 50 years ago.

Neil Young and Santa Monica Flyers play The Roxy again on Thursday, September 21.

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As the saying goes, “One is random, two is a coincidence, three times is a trend,” so welcome to the Phil Collins trend.

Specifically, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s debut solo single, “In The Air Tonight,” is suddenly everywhere. First, Sean “Diddy” Combs sampled the iconic drum break from the song on his new single, “Another One of Me,” which features The Weeknd.

Next, country star Chris Stapleton, rap icon Snoop Dogg and drummer Cindy Blackman Santana teamed up to record a new version of “In the Air Tonight,” which is being used as ESPN’s new Monday Night Football theme.

And now, country/pop crossover star Kane Brown has released a new song called “I Can Feel It,” which also interpolates the “In The Air Tonight” drum break. Kane has also given Phil a writing credit on the song, telling Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, “It’s a legendary drum fill and it’s a legendary song. There’s no way I could not do that … Phil could have said no, so I’m glad that he let me use the song.”

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