Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee of Rush, performing on stage, 1984 (Photo by David Tan/Shinko Music/Getty Images)
Rush is celebrating the release of the deluxe edition of their 10th studio album, 1984’s Grace Under Pressure, with the release of a classic concert.
The band has just debuted a recording of their Sept. 21, 1984, concert at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens on YouTube. The concert features performances of Grace Under Pressure tracks, as well as Rush hits like “The Spirit of the Radio,” “Subdivisions,” “Tom Sawyer” and “Closer to the Heart.”
The concert is part of the Grace Under Pressure: Super Deluxe Edition, which is now available as limited-edition four-CD + Blu-ray and five-LP + Blu-ray sets. The sets also include a newly remastered version of the original album and a new stereo mix taken from the original analog recordings.
Portions of the 1984 concert previously appeared on the band’s 1986 Grace Under Pressure Tour home video and CD. The new version, titled Grace Under Pressure Tour: Live in Toronto 1984, adds 37 minutes of previously unreleased footage.
Rush is getting ready to hit the road again. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, with new drummer Anika Nilles, will launch the Fifty Something tour on June 7 in Los Angeles, with North American dates running through Dec. 17 in Vancouver, Canada. A complete list of dates can be found at Rush.com.
Cover of ‘Asia – Live in England’ (Frontiers Music SRL)
ASIA has just released their new live album, ASIA – Live in England, and to coincide with the release they’ve shared a new live performance video.
The latest video is for the track “Wildest Dreams,” which originally appeared on ASIA’s 1982 self-titled debut album, which went to #1 in the U.S. The band previously shared live performances of their hits “Only Time Will Tell” and “Heat of the Moment.”
ASIA – Live in England was recorded in April 2025, during the first night of ASIA’s three-night stand at Trading Boundaries in Sussex, England. The show had the band — which now consists of keyboardist and founding member Geoff Downes, drummer Virgil Donati, guitarist John Mitchell, and vocalist and bassist Harry Whitley — performing their self-titled debut in its entirety, along with a selection of other hits.
Cover of Lou Gramm’s ‘Released’ (Stray Notes Music/Rhino Entertainment)
Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm has released another track from his upcoming solo album, Released.
The latest, “Time Heals the Pain,” is described in a press release as “a soaring, emotionally charged rock ballad” that “unfolds as a moving meditation on love, reconciliation, and the healing passage of time.”
“Time Heals the Pain” is available now via digital outlets. It is the third song Gramm has dropped from Released following “Long Hard Look” and “Young Love.”
Released, dropping March 27, is Gramm’s third solo album and his first since 1989’s Long Hard Look. It is made up of unreleased songs the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer recorded in the 1980s for his previous solo albums that didn’t make the cut.
Gramm is due to hit the road in support of the album this summer, with dates to be announced. He will also join Foreigner for a string of Florida shows that kick off April 17 in St. Augustine and wrap April 23 in Key West.
David Gilmour’s ‘The Black Strat’ guitar (Courtesy of Christie’s)
A guitar previously owned by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour has broken records at auction.
Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster, known as “The Black Strat,” brought in a record-setting $14.55 million from an online bidder at a Christie’s auction on Thursday. According to the auction house, the guitar was part of a 21-minute online bidding war.
That price tag for Gilmour’s guitar is now the highest amount ever paid for a guitar at auction, beating Kurt Cobain’s Martin D-180E, which he played during Nirvana’s Unplugged episode, which brought in over $6 million in 2020.
According to Christie’s, Gilmour’s guitar was used in the recording of six Pink Floyd albums, including 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon, 1975’s Wish You Were Here, 1977’s Animals and 1979’s The Wall. He also recorded most of his 1978 self-titled solo debut on the guitar.
In 2019 the guitar was purchased at auction by the late Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay for $5 million. The latest sale was part of a larger Christie’s auction of Irsay’s vast memorabilia collection.
Other records set in Thursday’s auction include: a guitar Cobain used for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video sold for $6.9 million, the highest price for one of the rocker’s instruments; a custom Jerry Garcia-owned guitar known as “The Tiger” brought in $11.56 million, the highest price ever for a Garcia guitar; and John Lennon’s Broadwood upright piano, on which he composed songs for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, sold for over $3.2 million, the most expensive Beatles item ever sold.
The Jim Irsay Collection auction, featuring over 400 items, continues through Tuesday.
Billy Joel, Pink, and Willow Hart attend ‘The Music of Billy Joel’ at Carnegie Hall on March 12, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
It wasn’t 9 o’clock on a Saturday, but the crowd that shuffled into New York’s Carnegie Hall at 8 p.m. on Thursday night were definitely in the mood for a melody — written by Billy Joel.
An all-star cast lined up to pay tribute to The Piano Man during the latest installment of the annual Music Ofcharity concert series, which raises money for music education for underserved youth. Thursday night’s show netted $225,000 for the cause.
While Billy himself didn’t take the stage, he did watch from the balcony, accompanied by his friend Pink and her teenage daughter, Willow Sage Hart. He smiled and waved as the adoring crowd chanted, “Let’s go, Billy!”
And speaking of daughters, Billy’s eldest, Alexa Ray Joel, was on hand to perform for her dad, who she called “my musical hero.” She thanked Billy — and her mom and “golden muse,” Christie Brinkley — “for making me,” before singing “This Night,” from Billy’s 1983 album An Innocent Man. She was backed by Billy’s longtime touring band, who accompanied every artist on the bill, and also took their own turn in the spotlight to play “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.”
While many artists delivered faithful renditions of Billy’s songs, such as Rob Thomas singing “Vienna,” Gavin DeGraw rocking through “Big Shot” and Train’s Pat Monahan doing “She’s Always a Woman,” others offered their own interpretations. Former 10,000 Maniacs singer Natalie Merchant turned “Allentown” into a somber piano ballad, while jazz-pop singer Sammy Rae did “River of Dreams” solo, accompanied only by her own ukulele.
Matt Nathanson sang an introspective solo acoustic guitar version of Billy’s hard-driving 1990 rocker “I Go to Extremes,” and followed that with a full-band rendition of “Miami 2017,” earning him one of the night’s many standing ovations. Another ovation came when legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman accompanied O.A.R. frontman Marc Roberge on “The Downeaster ‘Alexa.'”
The night concluded with an all-star version of “You May Be Right,” which had fans literally dancing in the aisles.
Here’s who performed what:
Yola — “Movin’ Out” Rob Thomas — “Vienna” Pat Monahan — “She’s Always a Woman” Mary Chapin Carpenter — “And So It Goes” Matt Nathanson — “I Go to Extremes” and “Miami 2017” Jon McLaughlin — “Everybody Loves You Now” Alexa Ray Joel — “This Night” Rufus Wainwright — “Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel)” Ledisi — “Turn the Lights Back On” Marc Roberge & Itzhak Perlman — “The Downeaster ‘Alexa'” Bettye LaVette — “(He’s) Got a Way” David Rosenthal (Billy’s musical director) — “The Longest Time” piano sonata Music Will students and Wyclef Jean — “My Life” Neal Francis — “Stiletto” Sammy Rae — “River of Dreams” and “Get It Right the First Time” Natalie Merchant — “Allentown” Billy Joel Band — “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” Curtis Harding — “Uptown Girl” Gavin DeGraw — “Big Shot” Lawrence — “Only the Good Die Young” Andrew McMahon — “Piano Man” Ensemble — “You May Be Right”
The Black Crowes’ Chris and Rich Robinson (Photo by: Ross Halfin)
The Black Crowes are back with a new album, A Pound of Feathers, which they recorded in just eight days. And while that may sound fast, guitarist Rich Robinson tells ABC Audio that’s just how he and brother Chris Robinson work.
“Chris and I have always been that way when we make records,” he says. “Even when we were kids, we were always that way.” He adds, “This time around we were just like, well, let’s just kind of wing it and see what happens.”
Rich says he and Chris “work really quickly” when they get into the studio together, as does their producer, Jay Joyce.
“At the end of the first five days we had nine songs done, and we’re like wow, that’s pretty cool,” he says.
One of the first singles the band released from the album is “Profane Prophecy,” which Rich says is a fun song that has “an abandon to it.”
“You know, it is kind of a love letter to rock ‘n’ roll music,” he says. “Even how the songs are crafted, how they come across and, you know, and also the variety, the love, it’s a love letter to what rock ‘n’ roll was.”
When it comes to influences on the album, Rich says there’s a “really deep and broad base that we draw from,” but he notes, “At the end of the day, it still sounds like a Black Crowes record.”
A Pound of Feathers is the Crowes’ follow-up to 2024’s Happiness Bastards. While two albums in two years may also seem fast, Rich would be happy to continue at that pace.
“I would make a record a year indefinitely,” he says. “It’s something I love to do.”
Sebastian Bach poses during Day 2 of 2024 Comic-Con International at San Diego Convention Center on July 26, 2024 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)
Sebastian Bach is apologizing to actress Christina Applegate, who revealed in her new memoir that she dumped Brad Pitt for the Skid Row frontman in 1989 when she was just 17.
In her book, You With the Sad Eyes, Applegate writes that at the MTV VMAs that year she left her date, a not-yet-famous Pitt, for Bach and she and Pitt didn’t talk for years after.
In an interview with Billboard, Bach says he was “very surprised” when Applegate’s revelations hit the news.
“I was a single guy on tour, in a band, and I met a lot of girls and I apologize if I hurt her … if I hurt anybody,” he tells the mag. “When you’re young you get thrown into the whirlwind of rock ‘n’ roll, meeting a lot of people and you better hold on tight. It’s like being on a roller coaster.” He notes, “It was a long time ago. If I hurt anybody, I apologize for it.”
In the same interview Bach talked about his new gig filling in for Dee Snider as frontman of Twisted Sister on select tour dates.
“I am a fan,” he says of the band. “They had the tour booked and (Snider’s) doctors told him he couldn’t do it. They had a choice to either try to get another singer or cancel the whole tour.” He adds, “I just look at it in the same way as when Brian Johnson couldn’t do the AC/DC shows (in 2016) and Axl Rose stepped in, or when Queen wanted to tour and Paul Rodgers came in.”
Referring to his 2024 solo album, Child Within the Man, Bach notes, “[A] band like Twisted Sister 100% makes me feel like a child within the man. That music is very youthful and fun.”
Barry Keoghan is Ringo Starr in ‘The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event.’ (Lloyd Wakefield)
Barry Keoghan is set to play The Beatles’ Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ upcoming films about the legendary band, and in a new interview with Collider he opens up about what it’s been like to work on the films.
“It’s emotional. It is,” he says. “Because The Beatles, for me, I’ve met Ringo and Paul (McCartney), but you get to know the lads very much through all the research. It’s not pressure, it’s sort of like you just want to do them good.”
The film also stars Paul Mescal as McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison. The cast has been filming in Liverpool, where The Beatles got their start, and it sounds like it’s been a great experience for Keoghan.
“And filming up in Liverpool, they’re such lovely people and very welcoming to it,” he says. “There’s just a nice energy around it, and a spiritual kind of circle as well with it.”
The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event will consist of four films, each told from the perspective of one of band members. Due to hit theaters in April 2028, the cast also includes Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney, Mia McKenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey, Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono and Aimee Lou Wood as Pattie Boyd.
Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready at 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Disney/Cristian Lopez)
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready has announced a new graphic novel called Farewell to Seasons.
The book, which will be published by Z2, presents a “historical fantasy” set in the Seattle music scene of the ’80s and ’90s, told from the perspective of a fictional musician named David Williams.
“It’s a story I’ve been developing for many years, inspired by the creativity, community, and chaos of the Seattle music scene,” McCready says in a statement.
Deluxe editions of Farewell to Seasons will be accompanied by a rock opera of original music recorded by McCready.
“I’ve had a great time bringing this project to life with Z2, and I hope people enjoy the journey as much as I did creating it,” McCready says.
Farewell to Seasons is due out Oct. 6 and is available to preorder now via Z2Comics.com.
Billy Joel and daughter Alexa Ray Joel in 2015 in New York City. (Myrna M. Suarez/Getty Images)
A long list of artists will pay homage to Billy Joel at Carnegie Hall Thursday by performing his songs during the latest installment of the annual Music Of charity concert, which raises money for music education for underserved youth. And according to his daughter Alexa Ray Joel, Billy will be in the house.
The Piano Man has been sidelined from performing since last year due to a diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus, a neurological condition that affects balance, vision and hearing. But as Alexa tells The Hollywood Reporter, “I said, ‘Dad, you better be there! This is Carnegie Hall. Everyone’s paying tribute to you, and it’s an amazing group of artists.’”
“He was like, ‘Let me mark that down.’ He’s very organized with his little calendar,” adds Alexa. “He was so excited when he first played Carnegie Hall in the ’70s, so it’s exciting for him to come back decades later and see amazing artists and his daughter pay tribute to him. It’s a full-circle moment.”
As for her dad’s health, Alexa tells the publication, “He’s doing physical therapy regularly and he’s doing great. He’s lost weight as he’s on his diet.” She adds, “I’m so proud of him. He’s such a [trouper], so resilient and committed to being healthy and proactive. He’s a fighter. He’s always been a fighter.”
Alexa told The Hollywood Reporter that during Thursday’s show she’ll perform a song of her dad’s that she’s never covered before. She — and all the artists on the bill — will be backed by Billy’s longtime touring band.
Other artists paying tribute to Billy on Thursday night include Rob Thomas, Gavin DeGraw, Train’s Pat Monahan, Andrew McMahon, Tanya Tucker, Matt Nathanson, Rufus Wainwright, Wyclef Jean and Itzhak Perlman.
