Classic Rock 93.9

Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell is sharing his admiration for the late Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott.

While appearing on BBC’s The Rock Show with Johnnie Walker, Campbell was asked to pick his “Rock God,” and made the case for Lynott.

“Phil was an absolute rock star. When Phil walked into the room, everyone noticed and he held everyone’s attention,” he explained. “It was such an inspiration to me and to my musician friends.” 

Vivian added, “Growing up in Ireland, in Belfast in the ’70s, it wasn’t a fun place. But to witness this band Thin Lizzy get this international success, to be on shows like ‘Top Of The Pops,’ but yet they were the cool rock band when everyone else was doing disco music.”

Vivian says he met Lynott “so many times,” especially around Dublin, where Lynott would get onstage with Campbell’s teen band, Sweet Savage, to play Thin Lizzy tunes.

Campbell notes, “It really kind of helped us to look up to this man and to this band and to say, you know, it’s possible to move beyond what it is that we see around us in our daily lives and to dream big.”

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Elton John has been busy with his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour for years now, but he found some time to write another musical — and it’s a winner.

Tammy Faye, a stage musical based on the life of the late televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, is currently running in London. Elton wrote the music for the show, which just won several honors at the Olivier Awards, the U.K. equivalent of the Tony Awards.

The show’s star, Katie Brayben, was named Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Bakker, while actor Zubin Varla was named Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his role as fellow real-life televangelist Jerry Falwell.

Elton acknowledged the win on Instagram, calling Brayben’s work brilliant and adding that all his collaborators on the musical are “an incredible team I’m so grateful to work with.”

Tammy Faye has been welcomed with more acclaim than Elton’s other recent musical, The Devil Wears Prada, which was panned when it opened in Chicago last year. Elton later said he felt the show needed another year to find its footing.

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band brought their tour to New York’s Madison Square Garden this weekend and treated fans to a very special performance.

For the first time on this trek, Bruce and the band performed the Born to Run epic “Jungleland.” According to the Asbury Park Press, before launching into the song The Boss told the crowd, “We got something special for New York City.” 

And it turns out some famous faces got to enjoy that tour debut, with Paul McCartney among the A-listers spotted in the audience.

Springsteen’s MSG show was the first of five shows in the New York/New Jersey area over the next two weeks. On Monday, April 3, he’s set to play Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, followed by two shows at Long Island’s UBS Arena April 9 and 11. He then wraps this leg of the tour on April 14 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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REO Speedwagon is set to play two very special shows in Las Vegas this fall. An Evening of Hi Infidelity … and More will see the band performing their classic album Hi Infidelity in its entirety, along with a set featuring other hit songs.

The shows are happening Friday, November 10, and Saturday, November 11, at the Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort Las Vegas, with tickets set to go on sale Friday, April 7, at 10 a.m. local time.

“The Venetian is an intimate theater, and Hi Infidelity is an intimate album,” frontman Kevin Cronin shares. “We bared our souls in these songs, so it will be emotional for us to play the whole album for the first time and tell its story. Then we get to blow the lid off the joint with the hit-filled second set.” 

Released in November 1980, Hi Infidelity peaked at number one on the Billboard Album chart, and featured the hit songs “Take It On The Run” and “Keep on Loving You.” It was the biggest selling album of 1981 and was certified 10-times platinum by the RIAA.

And REO Speedwagon has plenty of other shows on their schedule. Their next concert is happening April 12 in Albany, Georgia. A complete list of tour dates can be found at reospeedwagon.com.

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On This Day, April 3, 2015…

Bob Burns, the original drummer for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died in a car crash near his home in Cartersville, Georgia. 

Burns helped to form Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1964 with Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Larry Junstrom, but left the group in 1974.

He is credited on recordings from the group’s first two albums, 1973’s (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) and 1974’s Second Helping. That includes such Lynyrd Skynyrd classics as “Free Bird,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Simple Man.”

In 1996, after years out of the public eye, he joined the band for a performance in conjunction with the film Freebird: The Movie. Then, in March of 2006 he returned to perform alongside the band at their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.

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Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein, who was responsible for launching the careers of such artists as Madonna, The Talking Heads, and more, passed away Sunday at the age of 80 after a long battle with cancer.

Stein co-founded Sire Productions with record producer Richard Gottehrer in 1966, which later became Sire Records. In addition to Madonna and Talking Heads, Stein is known for signing such future stars as the Ramones, the Pretenders, Ice-T and more, along with a slew of new wave acts like Depeche Mode, The Smiths, The Cure, Echo & The Bunnyman, and others. 

Stein was also vice president of Warner Bros. Records until his retirement in July, 2018. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March of 2005, and was honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016 with the Richmond Hitmaker Award.

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The Kinks became rock ‘n’ roll superstars with Ray Davies as lead vocalist, but he says that was never really his ambition when he started playing music.

In an interview with The Sun, Ray says he wanted to be just like some of his musical heroes, like Chet Atkins and jazz guitarist Tal Farlow, “and just sit at the side playing guitar and let other people do the hard work.” Ray notes, “I thought there was too much responsibility in being a frontman so I tried to give the job to (brother) Dave (Davies) but he didn’t accept it.”

Ray also says their label “thought I had good diction in the days when manners prevailed,” recalling that they told him, “My dear boy, you should be the singer.”

Ray is promoting The Kinks’ recently released compilation album The Journey – Part 1, which features songs handpicked by him, Dave and Mick Avory. He also talked to the paper about some of their biggest hits, including 1964’s “You Really Got Me,” which he says almost didn’t get released. 

“The record company didn’t want us to put it out because they thought it was too aggressive,” he says. “I don’t know what they’d do with it in today’s world.”

The Journey – Part 1 is part of the band’s 60th anniversary celebration. The Journey – Part 2 is expected to come out later this year, along with other events and activities celebrating the anniversary happening throughout 2023 and 2024.

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The 2023 CMT Music Awards went down in Austin, Texas Sunday night, and while the night celebrated country music’s biggest stars, rock was also well-represented.

The show featured a once-in-a-lifetime tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd and their late guitarist Gary Rossington, who passed away last month. The performance, which was introduced by Peter Frampton, featured a trio of guitar greats – Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons, and Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes – along with Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers and country star Cody Johnson on vocals, Rolling Stones’ keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and Wynonna Judd and LeAnn Rimes filling in for Skynyrd’s backup singers, The Honkettes.

The all-star lineup treated the crowd to performances of Skynyrd classics “Simple Man” and “Sweet Home Alabama,” with current Skynyrd members Johnny Van Zant and Rickey Medlocke watching on from the audience,  along with Rossington’s widow, Dale Krantz Rossington and daughter Dale, and the late Ronnie Van Zant’s widow Judy and his granddaughter.

The show also featured a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan from Gary Clark, Jr., who performed a rousing rendition “The House Is Rockin’.” 

And if that wasn’t enough, The Black Crowes also performed on the telecast, joining Darius Rucker for a collaboration on the Crowes’ classic “She Talks to Angels.” Plus, Alanis Morissette teamed with Lainey Wilson, Ingrid Andress, Madeline Edwards and Morgan Wade for a performance of her classic “You Oughta Know,” and Wynonna and Ashley McBryde performed a cover of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

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In December, a woman named Julia Holcomb filed a lawsuit in California accusing Steven Tyler of sexual assault, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Well, now Tyler is seeking to have the suit dismissed. 

Deadline reports that in legal documents seeking the dismissal, the Aerosmith frontman’s lawyers argue Holcolmb’s claims shouldn’t be allowed, either in whole or in part, because she consented to the relationship, which occurred in 1973 when she was 16 and he was in his 20s. They also argue he has qualified immunity from her claims because of his previous status as her onetime legal guardian.

They say Holcomb hasn’t “sustained any injury or loss by reason of any act or omission on the part of (Tyler),” adding the rocker’s “actions were legitimate, good-faith, justified, nondiscriminatory and/or non-retaliatory.”

In her suit, Holcomb claimed she and Tyler were together for three years starting in 1973, saying the rocker got her mother to grant him guardianship over her, which allowed her to live and travel with him. Holcomb claims she “was powerless to resist” the rock star’s “power, fame and substantial financial ability,” and that he “coerced and persuaded” her into believing their relationship was a “romantic love affair.”

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Queen + Adam Lambert have added more dates to their North American Rhapsody Tour.

The band has added eight new dates “due to overwhelming fan demand,” including second shows in Baltimore, New York, Boston, St. Paul, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

The tour now features 22 shows overall, opening October 4 in Baltimore, Maryland, and now wrapping November 12 in Los Angeles. 

Tickets for the new dates go on sale Friday, April 7, at 10 a.m. local time. A complete list of shows can be found at queenonline.com.

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