Classic Rock 93.9

Now that Elton John‘s a father of two young boys, he seems to have a soft spot for kids — including one visually impaired child who attended his concert Tuesday night in Leeds, England.

In video posted on the Leeds-Live website, Elton is seen stopping the concert to praise fans in the audience who’ve attended more than 100 of his concerts and other fans who’ve dressed up like him. “It makes me feel so happy,” he says. “And I’ll tell you what made me feel even happier tonight is a little boy in the front row called Louie.” 

“And he can’t see me but he can hear me,” Elton added. “And he just broke my heart all night.” 

As the audience cheered, Elton told the boy, “You are so special, young man, and you made me feel so great tonight. I tell you what, we are going to get your telephone number and I’ll keep in touch with you.” The audience cheered again.

Elton thanked the crowd for “so many years of love and loyalty,” adding, “You’ve shown me more kindness on this tour than I can ever remember.”

Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour officially wraps up in July.

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David Bowie’s daughter, Alexandria “Lexi” Jones, is giving the public a little more insight into her relationship with her rock star dad. The 22-year-old, whose mom is supermodel Iman, just posted a throwback video to Instagram, showing her dancing with her dad. She captioned the clip, “My forever sunshine.”

The video starts with Lexi dancing on Bowie’s feet as the rocker sings along to the English nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence.” She later breaks off and dances on her own as Bowie watches on. Then, at the line “down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose,” Bowie does the very dad thing and steps in to “snatch” her nose.

This isn’t the first time Lexi has shared a throwback video featuring her dad. Back in January, on the seventh anniversary of Bowie’s January 10 death, she shared a clip of them playing piano together.

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Bryan Adams kicked off his North American tour in Baltimore Tuesday, treating fans to a 23-song set filled with lots of hits and more.

According to setlist.fm, Adams kicked off the show with the So Happy It Hurts track “Kick A**,” then proceeded to rock the crowd with such classic tracks as “Somebody,” “Summer of 69,” “Cuts Like A Knife,” “Run To You,” “It’s Only Love,” his duet with the late Tina Turner and more.

Of course, there were plenty of ballads, including “Heaven,” “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” and “All For Love,” which was a collaboration with Sting and Rod Stewart. There were even two requests, “Never Gonna Rain” and “The Boys Night Out,” a song he hasn’t played since 2015.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are opening for Adams on this tour, and while their set was filled with hits, they also took the opportunity to debut some new songs, playing “Shooting Into Space,” “(Make the Music Go) Boom,” “If You’re Blue” and “Whiskey Goes Good” from their just-released EP, Mindsets. The rest of the set was filled with fan favorites, including The Runaways track “Cherry Bomb,” plus classics like “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” “Crimson & Clover,” “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and “Bad Reputation.”

The Bryan Adams/Joan Jett tour hits Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 7. A complete list of dates can be found at bryanadams.com.

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Mötley Crüe has filed to move ex-guitarist Mick Mars‘ lawsuit to arbitration, TMZ reports.

If granted, the request would allow the disagreement between the two parties to be hashed out privately, as opposed to in a public court.

“This is yet another attempt by bullies to hide the truth!” Mars’ lawyer tells TMZ.

As previously reported, Mars first sued Mötley Crüe in April over a financial disagreement relating to his retirement from the road last October. The 72-year-old rocker, who’s long battled the inflammatory disease ankylosing spondylitis, maintained that, while he won’t be joining Mötley for future tours, he was still a member of the band and deserved to be compensated as such.

Mars’ suit also accused the other Mötley members — bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee and vocalist Vince Neil — of playing to prerecorded tracks during the band’s reunion tour last year.

Mötley’s team contends that Mars’ retirement from touring is effectively retiring from the band and that the band offered to compensate him fairly following his announcement. They’ve also denied the accusations that they don’t perform live.

Since the split with Mars, Mötley Crüe’s been touring with new guitarist John 5 and has been working in the recording studio.

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The Guess Who has dropped a new video for their latest single, “Headline,” the third track released from their upcoming album, Plein D’Amour. 

“Headlines are inherently orchestrated, recurring one-liners regurgitated by our media. They are negative in nature and most of the time…. verbatim en masse,” songwriter and lead singer Derek Sharp says of the track. “Something genuine, uplifting and inspiring is the path forward. This dusty old review could use a new headline.”

“Headline” follows The Guess Who’s previous two Plein D’Amour singles “The King” and the album’s title track, which had great responses on streaming services. The album is available for preorder now.

The Guess Who is currently on a tour of North America. Their next show is happening June 28 in Layton, Utah. A complete list of dates can be found at theguesswho.com.

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Another classic Steely Dan album is getting the reissue treatment. The latest is the band’s third album, Pretzel Logic, which will be reissued on vinyl for the first time in 35 years.

The reissue, remastered from the original analog tapes, will drop July 28 on 180-gram black vinyl, along with a premium 45 RPM version on Ultra High-Quality vinyl.

Released in February 1974, Pretzel Logic was Steely Dan’s first album to land in the Billboard Top 10, peaking at #8. It featured the hit single “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” which went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it their highest-charting single.

This is the third Steely Dan record to get a vinyl reissue. The reissue program, which Donald Fagen has overseen, started with their 1972 debut Can’t Buy A Thrill, reissued in November 2022, followed by 1973’s Countdown to Ecstasy, which dropped in May. The program plans to reissue four more albums — 1975’s Katy Lied, 1976’s The Royal Scam, 1977’s Aja and 1980’s Gaucho — over the next year.

Pretzel Logic is available for preorder now.

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On This Day, June 7, 1975 …

Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy became the first album in history to debut at #1 on the Billboard chart. The album remained at #1 for seven weeks. 

The record, Elton’s ninth studio album, included the classic “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” inspired by Elton’s near marriage to his then-girlfriend.

The album was certified Gold by the RIAA before its May 19 release and went on to sell 1.4 million copies in its first four days of release.

The album went on to spawn the 2006 sequel, The Captain and the Kid.

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Rod Stewart recently made headlines when he announced he’d abandoned plans to sell his music catalog for millions.  But he can make up for losing that income stream when he sells his mansion in Los Angeles — for $70 million.

The Wall Street Journal says Rod is selling his 33,000-square-foot estate, which includes a nine-bedroom home on three acres, a soccer field and a pool.  Rod bought the property for just over $12 million back in 1991, and then had it designed to look like a European château, with marble floors, wood paneling, crystal chandeliers and a classical fountain outside.

The home includes a library, a formal dining room can seat 20 people, huge for what’s described as Rod’s “extensive shoe collection,” and, most unusually, a speakeasy.  No word on whether or not it comes stocked with Rod’s new signature brand of whisky, Wolfie’s.

As for why Rod is selling, his real estate agent wouldn’t comment, but told the Wall Street Journal that the property will appear to people who are looking for “a return to maximalism.”

It’s not like Rod was going to spend a lot of time at the mansion in the near future anyway. Not only does he also own homes in England and Palm Beach, Florida, but he’s currently on tour in Europe.  The North American leg of his tour starts July 29.

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The Tribeca Festival kicks off Wednesday, June 7, in New York City, and while it’s mostly known for its movie premieres, there will be a lot of music and music-related events happening this year.

The festival opens Wednesday with a new documentary, Kiss the Future, featuring members of U2. The film, produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sarah Anthony, follows a group of underground musicians and creatives during the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted from April 1992 to February 1996. The doc includes footage of U2’s memorable 1997 concert at Koševo Stadium celebrating the country’s liberation, along with interviews with Bono, the Edge and Adam Clayton. 

The festival will also feature an appearance by Paul McCartney, with the former Beatle sitting down for a conversation with Conan O’Brien for a recording of the former talk show host’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend. The event will have the pair discussing McCartney’s new photo book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, which drops June 13. The chat is happening June 15 at 6 p.m. at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center.  

John Mellencamp will also sit down for a conversation with another famous talk show host, David Letterman. That event is set to happen June 8 at 6 p.m. at the BMCC.

And the new Carlos Santana doc, Carlos, will premiere at the festival, with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer set to perform at its June 17 opening at the Beacon Theatre.

The Tribeca Festival runs June 7-18 in New York City. More info can be found at tribecafestival.com.

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Def Leppard recently played Bramall Lane in their hometown of Sheffield, England, and they’ve given fans a behind-the-scenes look at what went down.

In their latest Behind The World Tour YouTube video, the band shares clips of the show at the stadium where frontman Joe Elliott’s favorite football team, Sheffield United, plays. Elliott notes his parents bought season tickets back when he was about 12, pointing out where their seats were.

“Now we’re gonna do a gig here tomorrow,” Elliott shares. “Mental, totally mental.”

After the show, Elliott discusses how it felt to be onstage amongst a hometown crowd.

“I just had a great feeling about tonight. It was Sheffield, it was our home birth town. I don’t live here anymore but … I was born here, I lived here for 21 years … so it’s always gonna be a huge connection,” he says. “It was brilliant. Great, great day.” He added, “We got promoted tonight just like Sheffield United did. We got promoted to the big league: stadiums in the U.K.”

But that’s not all. The video also features behind-the-scenes action from their shows in Mönchengladbach and Munich, Germany. 

Up next, the Def Leppard/Mötley Crüe tour hits the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden, on Wednesday, June 7. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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