Classic Rock 93.9

Well, there’s no doubt Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour is one of the hottest shows out there, and it’s earned Elton yet another honor.

StubHub is out with its 2022 Year In Live Experiences report and, thanks to the tour, which wrapped in the U.S. in November, Elton earns the honor of Top Global Touring Artist of the Year. He beats out Harry Styles for the top spot, with a third British act, Coldplay, landing at three. The rankings are based on cumulative ticket sales on StubHub North America and Viagogo international marketplaces over the past year.

Bad Bunny lands in the number four spot, with veteran rockers Mötley Crüe rounding out the top 5, thanks to their big stadium tour with Def Leppard.

StubHub’s Top Global Touring Artists of 2022

1. Elton John
2. Harry Styles
3. Coldplay
4. Bad Bunny
5. Mötley Crüe
6. Morgan Wallen
7. Billie Eilish
8. Garth Brooks
9. Adele
10. Justin Bieber

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After conquering the Upside Down, Metallica‘s “Master of Puppets” is headed to the world of video games.

The metal legends have teamed up with the online game Fortnite to add a ‘Tallica-themed emote, which are actions players can perform with their avatars to communicate with one another. Using the emote, you can get four players together to jam along to “Master of Puppets.”

“Master of Puppets” saw a resurgence this year thanks to its placement in Netflix’s Stranger Things. The show propelled the 1986 thrash classic to chart on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.

Meanwhile, Metallica premiered a new song called “Lux Æterna” last month. It’s the lead single off the band’s upcoming album, 72 Seasons, due out April 14. Metallica will launch a world stadium tour in support of the record in 2023.

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The Beach Boys recently released the new six-CD box set Sail on Sailor -1972, which focuses on their early ’70s releases, Carl and the Passions and Holland. At the time, the band was moving away from their customary sound and image to blend in more with the music of the day. They were so committed to the new direction they actually contemplated a name change.

“At that time, we felt we needed to get away from the California culture and just start over,” Al Jardine tells Variety. “We were in the process of even changing our name. I had an idea to call ourselves ‘the Beach,’ you know? Take the ‘Boys’ out, because we were branded with that.”

He adds that the band was in the midst of an “identity crisis” and were questioning, “Who are they? What is this all about? This is another direction.” 

They of course opted against the name change.

Sail on Sailor – 1972, which can be ordered here, contains newly remastered versions of both albums, along with 80 previously unreleased recordings, including unreleased outtakes, alternate versions and mixes and isolated backing tracks.

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The annual M3 Rock Festival is out with the lineup for their 14th edition, and they’ve landed some heavy hitters. 

The festival, set for May 6th and 7th at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, opens with Styx, Extreme, Winger, Slaughter, Lita Ford and Quiet Riot on Saturday, with Warrant, Great White, Loudness, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler, FireHouse, Riley’s L.A. Guns, Vixen, White Lion’s Mike Tramp, and Maryland’s own KIX wrapping the weekend on Sunday.

Two-day tickets and VIP packages go on sale Friday at 12 p.m. ET via Ticketmaster and at the 9:30 Club, The Anthem and Lincoln Theatre box office. The Merriweather Post Pavilion box office will begin selling tickets Monday at 10 a.m. Single-day tickets will go on sale at a later date.

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Night Ranger and Ace Frehley are set to headline this summer’s Gettysburg Bike Week motorcycle rally, scheduled for July 6 to 9 at the Allstar Events Complex in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Former KISS guitarist Frehley is set to headline the Gettysburg Bike Week Main Stage on Friday night, with Night Ranger headlining Saturday and more live acts to be announced at a later date.

“We just keep rolling,” GBW event coordinator Kelly Shue shares. “We’re always trying to top the year before, and we’re giving it a run with this year’s Friday and Saturday headliners, Ace Frehley and Night Ranger!” 

In addition to the performances, the Bike Show, now in its 23rd year, features rides around the historic Gettysburg battlegrounds, along with a huge vendor village and swap meet, fun bike games, a cornhole tournament, memorial rides, the Moto Motion Stunt Show and more. Tickets can be purchased here.

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Ozzy Osbourne has contributed to a new holiday single in support of the Cancer Awareness Trust charity organization.

The track, titled “This Christmas Time,” is about soldiers fighting during World War I who called a temporary truce over Christmas. Osbourne provides an opening narration to the song.

Other artists featured on “This Christmas Time” include Pink Floyd‘s Nick Mason, Duran Duran‘s Andy Taylor and Noddy Holder of Slade.

For more info, visit TheCancerPlatform.com.

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The Alan Parsons Project is set to release a new box set of their fifth studio album, The Turn of a Friendly Card. 

The limited edition set, dropping February 24, will feature three CDs and one Blue-ray, with the album remastered and remixed by Alan from the original master tapes. It will also include 42 bonus tracks, culled from Eric Woolfson’s songwriting diaries, and studio session outtakes, as well as four promotional videos.

Plus it includes an illustrated book with new essays and photos, recollections from Alan and Sally Woolfson, and a reproduction poster. Fans can preorder it here.

The Turn of a Friendly Card was originally released in 1980 and spawned two hits, “Games People Play” and “Time.” A deluxe anniversary edition of the album was previously released in 2015.

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Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott‘s picks Demi Lovato‘s Holy Fvck as his favorite rock album of the year.

Speaking with Classic Rock magazine, the “Pour Some Sugar on Me” singer says that Holy Fvck “rocks harder than anything else I’ve heard this year,” adding that the record’s “riffs are fantastic” and Lovato’s vocals are “off the f***ing charts!”

Holy Fvck, which was released in August, finds Lovato exploring more of a rock, guitar-driven direction compared to the pop star’s previous releases. It includes features by Yungblud, Royal & the Serpent and Dead Sara; longtime Alice Cooper guitarist Nita Strauss joined Lovato’s live band last summer.

Def Leppard released their own album this year, May’s Diamond Star Halos. Elliott and company also co-headlined the massive Stadium Tour with Mötley Crüe, and they’ll continue to share the road together on a world outing in 2023.

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Patti Smith and New Order‘s Bernard Sumner will perform during the 2023 Tibet House US Benefit Concert, taking place March 1 at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.

The annual event, which will return to an in-person celebration in 2023 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to go virtual the past two years, raises money for Tibet House US, a nonprofit organization founded in 1987 that works to preserve Tibetan culture.

Other artists on the lineup include Laurie Anderson, Gogol Bordello, Allison Russell and artistic director Philip Glass.

For more info, visit the Tibet House US website, THUS.org.

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The stars were out in London Monday to celebrate the premiere of the new Disney+ Abbey Road documentary, If These Walls Could Sing. 

Yahoo reports Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, accompanied by wives Nancy Shevell and Barbara Bach, attended the London premiere, along with Elton John and David Furnish, Stella McCartney, Spice Girls member Melanie Chisholm, Twiggy and more.

If These Walls Could Sing is directed by McCartney’s daughter Mary McCartney and is described as the “first feature-length documentary” on London’s Abbey Road studios. Many of the Beatles’ classic albums were recorded at the studio, including Abbey Road, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, offering fans “exclusive access to these famously private studios.” In addition to interviews with Paul, Ringo and Elton, the film features Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Oasis’ Liam Gallagher and more.

If These Walls Could Sing is set to premiere on Disney+ Friday, December 16.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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