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Report: Rolling Stones members weren’t able to attend Charlie Watts’ funeral due to COVID-19 restrictions

September 14, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was laid to rest last week but, according to U.K. newspaper The Sun, his band mates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood were not able to attend the funeral because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The paper reports that small private ceremony for Watts was held in Devon, U.K., but because the band was in Boston rehearsing for The Stones’ upcoming U.S. tour, they weren’t allowed to travel back to their home country for the services.

The Sun also reports that it was the wishes of Watts’ family that the funeral took place secretly, without much attention.

According to the newspaper, an inside source said that The Rolling Stones plan to pay tribute to Watts at their upcoming concerts, and also are organizing a celebration of his life that will be held in the U.K. later in 2021.

Watts died on August 24 at the age 80. As previously reported, before his death, Charlie had handpicked lauded session drummer Steve Jordan to step in for him on the band’s forthcoming trek.

The Stones’ 2021 No Filter Tour of the U.S. kicks off September 26 in St. Louis and is mapped out through a November 20 show in Austin, Texas.

Iron Maiden scores highest-charting album on ‘Billboard’ 200 with ‘Senjutsu’

September 14, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

Iron Maiden‘s latest album, Senjutsu, has become the band’s highest-ever charting album on the Billboard 200.

Senjutsu enters the chart at #3, with 64,000 equivalent album units, 61,000 of which were traditional album sales, making it the best-selling album of the week.

Its debut sales week is the second-best of 2021 for a hard-rock album, following only Foo Fighters‘ Medicine at Midnight.

Iron Maiden’s previous two studio albums, 2010’s The Final Frontier and 2015’s The Book of Souls, both peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200.

Tommy Lee reacts to Sebastian Stan playing him in Hulu biopic ‘Pam & Tommy’

September 14, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Sebastian Stan plays Tommy Lee in the upcoming Hulu limited series Pam & Tommy, and the Mötley Crüe drummer is pleased with the casting.

“I know Sebastian, he’s playing me. From what he’s told me, [it’s a] really beautiful story,” Lee tells Entertainment Tonight. “I think a lot of people would think it’s one thing, but it’s really about privacy and how things got crazy then. There’s different laws now.”

Pam & Tommy chronicles Anderson and Lee’s tumultuous romance, including their 1995 wedding on the beach in Mexico after knowing each other for only 96 hours, and the private sex tape from their honeymoon that was made public and watched by millions without their consent.

Lily James plays Anderson while Seth Rogen will play the person who stole — and subsequently leaked — the couple’s personal sex tape.

Lee divorced Anderson in 1998. The ex-couple shares two sons: 25-year-old Brandon and 23-year-old Dylan.

“The story’s actually cool, what actually happened wasn’t,” Lee, 58, tells ET, insisting “people need to know” what occurred.

Lee was previously portrayed by Machine Gun Kelly in the 2019 Crüe biopic The Dirt.

Pam & Tommy also stars Nick Offerman, Taylor Schilling, Andrew Dice Clay, Pepi Sonuga, Spencer Granese and Mozhan Marnò. A release date has yet to be announced.

Watch David Lee Roth pay tribute to Eddie Van Halen, reveal plans to return to Las Vegas for New Year’s

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

David Lee Roth helped bring the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards to a close on Sunday when he hit the stage to present the Video of the Year honor.

Backstage at the event, the Van Halen frontman was interviewed by Us Weekly, and he shared some words of tribute to his late band mate Eddie Van Halen and also revealed that he has plans for a special performance at the end of the year.

Asked if he had any new music plans, Diamond Dave revealed that he was going to be playing “Las Vegas on New Year’s,” and then said a few words about Eddie.

“You know, my guitar player passed away, Eddie Van Halen,” Roth said. “He’s either in heaven raising hell or he’s in hell, consequently in heaven. Read into that as you wish, and he would have me say it just like that.”

Eddie died on October 6, 2020, after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.

Roth also offered a brief quip about one of his other Van Halen band mates, drummer Alex Van Halen.

“I just spoke to Alex,” Dave told Us Weekly. “We’re about to celebrate our 50th year of ragging on each other.”

While no official announcement has been made about Roth performing in Las Vegas later this year, he had been about to play a second series of 2020 shows in Sin City at the House of Blues in March of last year when he was forced to postpone the engagement because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He played his first run of House of Blues gigs in January 2020.

‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ special wins two awards at 2021 Creative Arts Emmys

September 13, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

David Byrne’s American Utopia, the Spike Lee-directed TV special presenting former Talking Heads singer David Byrne‘s critically acclaimed Broadway show of the same name, won two awards Sunday at the 2021 Creative Arts Emmys ceremony.

The program was a winner in two technical categories — Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Special and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special.

The program, which premiered on HBO and HBO Max in October 2020, also will vie a trophy in the Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) category at the 2021 primetime Emmy Awards, airing live this Sunday, September 19, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

The American Utopia show features Byrne accompanied by 11 musicians, dancers and singers who move freely about an almost-empty stage. The production includes monologues by David connecting performances of songs from his 2018 American Utopia album, as well as Talking Heads songs and several other Byrne solo tunes.

For more details about the Creative Arts Emmys, visit Emmys.com.

The Byrds’ Chris Hillman to release audiobook version of his 2020 memoir, ‘Time Between,’ in October

September 13, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

Last November, founding Byrds bassist Chris Hillman published an autobiography called Time Between: My Life as a Byrd, Burrito Brother and Beyond, and now an audiobook version is set for release on October 19.

In addition to Hillman reading the entire book, the audio version of Time Between also includes newly recorded snippets of 21 songs that span the influential musician’s long and wide-ranging career.

“Recording my narration for the book was far more challenging than I could have ever imagined,” Hillman notes. “For me it was completely different from going into a studio and recording music, and vocals, which I’ve been doing for nearly six decades.”

He adds, “We tossed around the idea of adding a bit of music to embellish the title of each chapter. Each chapter was named after a song I had written, and or had recorded. This began to take on a whole new dimension in the presentation.”

As previously reported, Time Between follows Hillman from his childhood in Southern California, through the adversity of his father’s death by suicide when he was a teenager, and the development of his passion for bluegrass music, to becoming a member of legendary ’60s folk-rock band The Byrds and beyond.

The book not only details Chris’ adventures with The Byrds, but also his experiences with The Flying Burrito Brothers, the influential country-rock band he co-founded with Gram Parsons, and with his later groups Manassas, Souther-Hillman-Furay, McGuinn, Clark & Hillman and The Desert Rose Band.

Meanwhile, Hillman has several concerts lined up this year and about a dozen in 2022 that will feature him performing with his former Desert Rose Band mates Herb Pedersen and John Jourgenson. Echoing his memoir’s title, the concerts have been dubbed “Time Between: An Evening of Stories and Songs.”

Bush & Stone Temple Pilots tour canceled due to “unavoidable COVID-related circumstances”

September 13, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

Bush has canceled the band’s upcoming co-headlining tour with Stone Temple Pilots due to “unavoidable COVID-related circumstances.”

“We cannot stress enough how heart-breaking it is not to be able to got out and play after all this time, and after all of our attempted stars and ensuing stops over the past year and a half,” Gavin Rossdale and company write on their social media. “We wish to extend our deepest apologies as this is the last thing we would want for all our great fans as well as our good friends in Stone Temple Pilots.”

The tour was set to kick off September 30 in Mesa, Arizona, and stretch into mid-October.

Along with the STP run, Bush’s festival appearances for this fall have been scrapped, as well.

Sammy Hagar to play free Las Vegas concert next week to celebrate his new line of canned cocktails

September 13, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

Sammy Hagar is launching a new alcoholic beverage venture called Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co. featuring sparkling rum cocktails in a can, and he’ll celebrate the new drink line with a special free concert in Las Vegas on Wednesday, September 22.

The show, which will feature the Red Rocker performing with his band The Circle, will take place on the rooftop of the Paris Las Vegas hotel at the Beer Park bar, beginning at sunset, 6:30 p.m. local time.

Fifty pairs of free tickets will be given out to Hagar fans who register at RedRocker.com. Registrations will be accepted until midnight ET on Thursday, September 16. You must be at least 21 years of age to enter. Winners, who will be selected by a random drawing, will be announced this Friday, September 17.

Meanwhile, Hagar also is giving away a signed electric guitar via a contest on Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co.’s Instagram. To enter, visit Instagram.com/SBBCCo and post your best inspirational motto.

Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co. drinks are available in four flavors — Tangerine Dream, Pineapple Splash, Island Pop and Cherry Kola Chill. The cocktails, which are made with made with Hagar’s Beach Bar Rum, will go on sale this month in California, Texas and Nevada, will be available in several other states soon.

“Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co.’s sparkling rum cocktails will make you want to dip your toes in the sand,” says Hagar in a statement. “You’ll want to throw these cocktails in a cooler and take them to the beach, your pool party, out tailgating, and your backyard barbeque. They’re so good that they’re even going to be your favorite drink at your local bar.”

Foo Fighters perform, David Lee Roth presents on 2021 MTV VMAs

September 13, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

Foo Fighters, were among the many artists who performed during Sunday’s 2021 MTV Video Music Awards.

Dave Grohl and company, who were honored at the ceremony with the Global Icon Award, performed a three-song medley including the classics “Everlong” and “Learn to Fly,” as well as “Shame Shame,” the lead single from their latest album, Medicine at Midnight.

Meanwhile, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee was on hand to introduce his pal Machine Gun Kelly, who teamed up with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker for a performance of his new single, “Papercuts.”

Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth helped close the show by handing out the evening’s final award, Video of the Year, which went to rapper-singer Lil Nas X‘s “Montero (Call Me by Your Name).”

Rob Halford says Judas Priest’s 50th anniversary show is “something that will live with you forever”

September 13, 2021 by Classic Rock 93.9

After it was postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Judas Priest‘s 50 Heavy Metal Years tour finally kicked off last week in Pennsylvania.

Frontman Rob Halford tells ABC Audio that fans who come to see Judas Priest will be treated to a special concert celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary.

“It’s glorious,” Halford declares. “It’s just a great night out of nostalgia, and something that will live with you forever once you’ve experienced this show.”

Describing the concert, the 70-year-old rocker notes, “[We] give you a timeline celebration of the 50 heavy metal years of Judas Priest, beginning with a really special part…where we play the title track of [our debut album]…Rocka Rolla.”

He adds that the concert also features “other songs that we’ve not played in the longest time, [and a] couple…that we’ve not done before.”

Halford also notes that Judas Priest will change up the set list throughout the tour.

Rob says Priest’s 50th anniversary show also is visually dynamic, and one that pays tribute to the band’s U.K. home city.

“[There are] lights, costumes, a gigantic inflatable Birmingham bull,” Halford notes. “We’re taking you into the metal heart [of]…the factory environment, because as kids…we were surrounded by heavy industry — the steelworks, the metal factories and so on. So we’re bringing that onto the stage.”

Longtime Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton retired from full-time touring in 2018 after announcing that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, although he did appear as a special guest at many shows on the group’s 2018 tour.

But will Tipton take part in this trek? “The door is open,” Halford says. “When Glenn’s ready to come out on stage, he’ll come out on stage.”

Judas Priest’s tour continues tonight in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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