Classic Rock 93.9

Nils Lofgren is getting ready to release his new solo album, Mountains, on July 21, but in the meantime he’s still busy on tour with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. And it sure sounds like his boss, The Boss, really appreciates him.

“Nils is a unique combination of talents: musical and psychological and emotional,” Springsteen tells MOJO in its latest issue. Asked what makes Nils so special, Springsteen offers, “Well, he plays the guitar pretty well, in a way that a lot of other people can’t. And what’s unusual about him is he’s got a great voice, so he’s actually a fabulous frontman.”

Springsteen says Nils, who joined the band in 1984, is “kind of underused in The E Street Band.” He notes, “He’s very, very generous with his playing and with his time. The kind of time that he puts into working on your work, your vision, your material, is very special.”

On a personal level, Springsteen says Lofgren is “about the nicest guy you’ve ever met. They don’t come any sweeter. They don’t come any more thoughtful. Any more generous. He’s exactly who he appears to be. And you know, just an incredible guy to be in a band with.”

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band bring their tour to Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday, July 11.  It returns to the U.S. with a two-night stand at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on August 9 and 11. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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Five years after he first announced it at a press conference, Elton John‘s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour finally came to an end in Stockholm, Sweden July 8. The tour, which started September 10, 2018, has entertained more than 6.25 million fans across the globe and grossed more than $900 million.

During the final show, Coldplay appeared via a live video link-up from their concert in Gothenburg, Sweden. Chris Martin told Elton that he, and the world, are grateful for all he’s done for the fight against AIDS, the fight for LGBTQ rights, and all he’s done for “fashion and eyewear…sexiness, and love.” 

He added, “We love you so much, we’re going to miss you so much.”

After the show, Elton released a statement reflecting on the past five years. “Every step of the way, my fans have been there,” he expressed. “They have stuck with me, they have supported me, they have been patient, and they have kept turning out for every single last show.”

“Tonight has been magical,” Elton continued. “I’m trying to process it, and I don’t think it will sink in for a while yet that I’m finally finished touring.”

He concluded, “I can’t tell you how much I’m going to miss the fans and how much their support has humbled me – it will stay with me forever.”

A sweet photo on Elton’s Instagram Story shows Elton waving goodbye at the end of the show, with his husband David Furnish and their two sons waving at him from side stage.

The past five years have also solidified Elton’s place in the music pantheon, encompassing the release of his biopic Rocketman, his memoir ME, the album The Lockdown Sessions, and his recent pop hits “Cold Heart” and “Hold Me Closer.”

Here’s Elton’s final set list:

“Bennie and the Jets”
“Philadelphia Freedom”
“I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues”
“Border Song”
“Tiny Dancer”
“Have Mercy on the Criminal”
“Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)”
“Take Me to the Pilot”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
“Levon”
“Candle in the Wind”
“Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”
“Burn Down the Mission”
“Sad Songs (Say So Much)”
“Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”
“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”
“The Bitch Is Back”
“I’m Still Standing”
“Crocodile Rock”
“Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”
*Encore*
“Cold Heart”
“Your Song”
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”

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Music plays a pivotal role in the classic Bill & Ted movies. It turns out, they always hoped to snag a guitar great for the flicks.  

Actor Alex Winter, who played Bill S. Preston, Esq. in the films alongside Keanu Reeves’ Ted “Theodore” Logan, revealed their dream was to get Eddie Van Halen in a film, and it almost happened in the series’ third installment.

“We asked Eddie to be in every single movie and every single movie he said ‘no,’” Winter revealed on the Paltrocast with Darren Paltrowitz podcast, but that almost changed with 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music. 

“We went to Eddie, and we were like, ‘Would you please, please be in the third movie?’ He’s like, ‘You know what you guys, this one I would have done,’ but he was dying at that point. He was already quite sick,” Winter says. “He didn’t tell us that he was literally gonna pass, but he was like, ‘I’m not well and I can’t do it.’ But I really appreciate these films. We all love them. And if I wasn’t sick, I would absolutely come down to New Orleans and shoot this with you.”

Face the Music came out in August of 2020; Van Halen passed away that October.

The film was able to land another famous rocker for the cameo: Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, with Alex noting his whole sequence was  “supposed to be [at Eddie] Van Halen’s house.”

Winter adds, “So it had kind of a bittersweet end. But it was a running joke in Bill & Ted amongst the little family of ours that every single movie we would be like knocking on Eddie’s door, and he’d be like ‘no’ and slamming the door in our face, so it was not for lack of trying.”

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Paul McCartney shared some birthday wishes for his The Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, who turned 83 on Friday, July 7. 

In a post on Instagram, Sir Paul noted that Ringo shares a birthday with his late father, James, who passed away in 1976. “Happy Birthday to two of my heroes,” McCartney wrote. “It’s Ringo and my Dad’s birthday so let’s have a great day to celebrate these two great people.”

Along with the post, McCartney shared two photos: one of Ringo holding up his customary peace sign and a black-and-white shot of McCartney’s mom and dad, with mom holding a baby in her arms.

As he’s done for many years, Ringo marked his birthday with his annual worldwide “Peace and Love” celebration. Ringo was in Los Angeles with several celebrity friends, so his peace and love moment took place at 12 p.m. PT. Ringo even posted a countdown on Instagram, sending peace and love to all of his fans around the world.

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The solo career of the late Pink Floyd guitarist and co-founder Syd Barrett is being celebrated by Jack White’s Third Man Records. The label, in conjunction with Sony Music, will release a three-LP set of Barrett’s solo work as the 57th installment of their Vault subscription series.

The Solo Works Of Syd Barrett will feature the albums from Barrett’s post-Pink Floyd career, including 1970’s The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, as well as 1988’s Opel, which features outtakes and previously unreleased material from 1968-1970. All of these albums have been out of print for almost 10 years.

The set, the first time the albums have been available together on vinyl, will be pressed on 180-gram vinyl, with each coming in a slipcase with new artwork. It also includes a very special seven-inch single featuring Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour covering Barrett’s “Dominoes” and “Dark Globe.”

Fans interested in the package have until July 31 at midnight CT to sign up for Third Man’s Vault program.

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Five years after he first announced it, Elton John‘s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour finally comes to an end Saturday, July 8, in Stockholm, Sweden. It’s officially the highest-grossing tour of all time, taking in more than $900 million so far. By comparison, no previous tour had even hit $800 million. So, why has Elton’s tour reached this milestone? Chalk it up to a combination of length, location, setlist and, of course, the whole “farewell” thing.

“He announced in 2018 that it would run for three years, and that’s pretty much what it’s done, if you take COVID out of that,” explains Eric Frankenberg, Billboard‘s senior chart and data analyst for touring and global music. “So yeah, being able to tour for that long…really showcasing this incredible catalog that he has, that’s a big part of it.”

The other part, says Frankenberg, is the fact that Elton’s literally toured the world, selling out both arenas and stadiums in North America, Europe and Australia. 

“It’s been a full world tour. I would say that and the length has really pushed it over the edge,” he notes. 

Branding it as fans’ last chance to see Elton has also helped attract more than six millions fans to the tour as well, Frankenberg says. 

“I really don’t know if he’s going to come back,” he points out. “…But they’ve definitely put a lot of stock into this being his farewell tour. So I wouldn’t be surprised if this is actually it.”

As incredible as his $900 million gross is, Elton’s record likely won’t stand for long. Frankenberg says Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour is “a big contender for this record … next year when she comes back for Australia and Europe.”

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band headlined BST Hyde Park in London Thursday, July 6, and the huge crowd featured lots of famous faces. 

According to Sky News, A-listers spotted taking in The Boss’ performance from the VIP section included Peter Gabriel, Jon Bon Jovi, tennis legend Roger Federer and Billy Joel, who plays his own BST Hyde Park show on Friday, July 7.

As for the concert itself, The Boss rocked the crowd with a three-hour show that included such classics as “Prove It All Night,” “Badlands,” “Thunder Road,” “Born to Run,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Dancing in the Dark” and more. 

According to BBC News, at one point, Springsteen addressed an incident from his 2012 Hard Rock Calling Festival in Hyde Park, when he and Paul McCartney‘s performance of some covers got cut off because they had gone over curfew.

“I think it’s time to go home,” Springsteen told guitarist Steve Van Zandt about 15 minutes before the show was to end. “I’m telling you, if we don’t go, they’re going to pull the plug on us again,” before adding, “f*** em.”

Springsteen and the E Street Band play their second BST Hyde Park show on Saturday, July 8. Their tour returns to the U.S. with a two-night stand at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on August 9 and 11. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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Queen is back with episode 24 of their weekly YouTube series Queen the Greatest Live, once again looking at the evolution of a song’s live performance, this time focusing on the classic hit “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”

This week’s episode features a joyous performance of The Game track from Japan’s Seibu Lions Stadium during their 1982 Hot Space Tour.

“It took me five or ten minutes,” frontman Freddie Mercury previously told Melody Maker of writing the tune. “I did that on the guitar, which I can’t play for nuts, and in one way it was quite a good thing, because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords.” 

Released in December 1979, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” went on to become Queen’s first #1 single in the U.S., spending four weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. 

Next week on Queen The Greatest Live:  “Seven Seas of Rhye.”

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On This Day, July 7, 2007…

The Live Earth concerts to battle climate change took place at various venues across the world, including New Jersey, Tokyo, Rome, London, Washington, D.C. and more.

The concerts featured more than 150 acts, with The Police closing the show at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Other artists on that bill included Roger Waters, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Melissa Etheridge and more.

Meanwhile, in London, Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran and more headlined the concert at Wembley Stadium.

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Talking Heads is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the concerts that were filmed for their classic movie, Stop Making Sense — with a deluxe edition of the soundtrack featuring previously unreleased content. 

Dropping August 18, the deluxe edition will feature the entire concert for the very first time, including two tracks that didn’t make the original album: “Cities” and “Big Business / I Zimbra.” The live version of “Cities,” which up until now was only included on the VHS/DVD of the movie, is out now.

Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) is being released as a limited edition two-LP set as well as digitally, and there will also be a Dolby Atmos mix. The vinyl will come with a 28-page booklet with liner notes from all four band members and a series of previously unpublished photos. 

“We had done a live album before this, but coupled with the film, and with the improved mixes and sound quality, this record reached a whole new audience,” frontman David Byrne writes in the liner notes. “As often happens, the songs got an added energy when we performed them live and were inspired by having an audience. In many ways, these versions are more exciting than the studio recordings, so maybe that’s why a lot of folks discovered us via this record.”

Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) is available for preorder now.

This isn’t the only way the film is being celebrated. A24 plans to release a newly restored 4K version of the movie to theaters later this year.

Directed by Jonathan Demme, Stop Making Sense is considered by many to be the greatest concert film of all time. In 2021, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

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