Classic Rock 93.9

A new Las Vegas residency isn’t the only thing that Def Leppard has planned for 2026.

The band tells USA Today that they’re working on a new album for release next year. It’ll be their first new studio album since 2022’s Diamond Star Halos. And like that record, they’re working on the new album remotely, rather than all the members together in a studio. 

“We’re blessed that technology has allowed us to do this,” singer Joe Elliott tells USA Today. “We get together metaphorically rather than physically and do Zoom meetings all the time. This way five people can work on the same song at the same time and it adds excitement to the flavors of what you’re doing. Laptops have become Abbey Road.”

Elliott added that there’s “plenty of stuff” completed for the new album, and that they just need to figure out which songs will make the final cut and in what order.

Meanwhile, the band is currently on tour. When they wrap up their dates in October, they’ll start preparing for Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency. The 12-show run is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2026, to Feb. 28, 2026, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. 

Elliott, who’s spent 48 years with Def Leppard, tells USA Today, “Health allowing, we’ll keep going until we feel we can’t anymore.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ouch! Steve Nicks has been sidelined by an injury and is postponing her August and September concerts.

A note on her Instagram says that Stevie requires “recovery time” from “a recent injury resulting in a fractured shoulder.” The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer notes that her October dates will be unaffected and her schedule will resume Oct. 1 in Portland, Oregon.

“Stevie looks forward to seeing everyone soon and apologizes to the fans for this inconvenience,” the note concludes. Ticketholders are advised to hold onto their tickets for the rescheduled shows; you can get more info at the point of purchase.

Stevie’s rescheduled dates, all of which are listed on her Instagram, start Oct. 28 in Detroit and run through Dec. 10 in Hollywood, Florida. Visit StevieNicksOfficial.com for more info.

Many of these concerts by Stevie were announced in June to fill in the gaps in her schedule after the cancellation of her joint stadium dates with Billy Joel. The two were scheduled to play four shows together in New Jersey, California and Michigan, but following Billy’s brain disorder diagnosis, those concerts were scrapped.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Joe Walsh‘s VetsAid charity concert is returning this year for its ninth edition, and it’ll be held in a place near and dear to the guitarist’s heart: his hometown of Wichita, Kansas.

VetsAid 2025 will take place Nov. 15 at the INTRUST Bank Arena. The lineup includes country star and Eagles touring member Vince Gill; Ryan Bingham and The Texas Gentlemen; and a “super-set” from Walsh, joined by Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Nathaniel Rateliff and more.

Tickets go on sale Aug. 8 at 10 a.m. CT via selectaseat.com; the all-in price is $50. 

Walsh said in a statement, “It’s been a long-term goal of mine since we began VetsAid nearly ten years ago to bring it all home to my native Wichita to serve Kansan veterans and their families. It’s where my parents were both born and are buried, where I was born and where I will always feel a deep connection and sense of heritage and responsibility.” Walsh is a Gold Star son whose father died while stationed on active duty on Okinawa.

The proceeds from the concert will go to veterans services charities based in Kansas or with operations on the ground in Kansas; grant applications are open now via vetsaid.org/grants.

The first VetsAid took place in 2017 in Fairfax, Virginia. Over the years, VetsAid has disbursed more than $4 million in grants.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

If you piled it all up, the amount of marijuana smoked at Grateful Dead and Dead & Company concerts over the years would probably reach from here to the moon. But Deadheads will be indulging legally for the upcoming anniversary shows.

Three Dead & Company shows are taking place at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park from Aug. 1 to Aug. 3 in celebration of 60 years of the Grateful Dead’s music. And Pollstar reports that for the first time ever at a Dead & Company show, cannabis will be sold legally. That’s due to Grass Lands, an on-site marijuana consumption area that was first introduced at the Outside Lands festival in 2018. Grass Lands will be present at the shows, offering products from a variety of growers, many of them local. 

But weed won’t be the only organic material on offer during the shows. The Jerry Garcia Foundation will set up a tent in Participation Row, a charity tent village at the concerts, to distribute free organic and non-GMA sunflower seed packets to concertgoers to “promote pollinator preservation.”

In a statement, Garcia’s wife, Manasha Garcia, said, “Jerry advocated for the preservation of the environment. We hope sharing organic seeds inspires others to plant gardens that are beneficial to butterfly and bee populations.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Billy Joel‘s two-part HBO documentary, And So It Goes, is inspiring fans to check out his back catalog — and that’s sending his albums back onto the charts.

Billboard reports that according to new Luminate data, Billy experienced an 80% jump in traditional album sales and a 356% increase in digital song downloads. His catalog streams also increased by 16%.
 

What this means is that Billy’s Greatest Hits Vol. I & II has reentered the Billboard 200 for the first time since 2016. It’s now at #145, which is the highest it’s been since 1986. His album The Stranger is now at #167, which is its highest ranking since 1980.

Meanwhile, Billy’s most-streamed song of the week is “Piano Man,” followed by “She’s Always a Woman.”

It should be noted those numbers only reflect the activity following the first part of the documentary, which debuted on July 18. The second part aired July 25, and Billboard reports that between July 25 and 28, streams were up 17%. 

The full Billboard charts will be updated next week to reflect the impact of both parts of the documentary.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

If you’re an Alice Cooper fan, you know that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is really into playing golf and has hosted a charity golf tournament for the past 27 years. But in a new interview, Alice says he only got into the sport because he needed something to distract him from his substance abuse.

Speaking to the Scott Mills Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, Alice explained, “I had to find an addiction that wasn’t gonna kill me because all my other ones were killing me. And I lived in Arizona, so I went, ‘Well, there’s 130 courses in Phoenix — I’ll try that.'”

“And I got addicted immediately,” he continued. “I hit two good shots and I went, ‘OK, I’m here.’ I play every morning.”

Asked if he plays with his “rock friends,” Alice dished, “Some of the guys can play. A lot of the guys really shouldn’t be on the golf course at all. You know, Meat Loaf should never have been on a golf course.” He added that Eddie Van Halen wasn’t exactly a whiz on the links either.

“So you played golf with Eddie Van Halen and Meat Loaf?” the deejay asked.

“Well, I played golf,” quipped Alice.

Alice and his original Alice Cooper Group recently released their first new album in over 50 years, The Revenge Of Alice Cooper.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Wanna learn how to play the iconic guitar solo in “Hotel California” from the guy who wrote it? Now’s your chance.

Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder is offering fans a chance to win an an all-expenses-paid trip to Nashville. During the trip the winner will receive a one-on-one lesson from him, as well as an Epiphone Double Neck SG guitar, a signed bass drum head and tickets to the Musicians Hall of Fame. You’ll also get a tour of the Gibson Guitar Vault and attend a Gibson showcase as Felder’s guest.

The Rock & Roll Retreat Sweepstakes is a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which treats childhood cancer and other diseases, and covers families’ treatment, travel, housing and other expenses.

“As a young child, I spent two and a half months in the polio ward where music on the radio was my lifeline,” Felder says in a statement. “Music gave me hope, freedom, and something to enjoy in such a scary place for someone just beginning their life. That’s where my love for music began—in a children’s hospital.”

“I was fortunate and only have minimal lasting effects. But so many children aren’t as lucky,” he adds. 

If you enter before Aug. 15, you’ll also get a chance to win an Epiphone Les Paul Standard 50s guitar.

You can register for the sweepstakes at donfelder.com/contests. You’ll receive one entry for every $50 you donate to St. Jude.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, Aug. 1, 1942…

Jerome John “Jerry” Garcia was born in San Francisco, California.

Co-founder of the legendary rock band the Grateful Dead, Garcia was the principal songwriter, lead guitarist and a vocalist for the group, and for many he was their de facto leader.

The Grateful Dead came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s, and went on to become one of the most beloved rock bands, especially among fans who would follow them across the country.

The Dead only had one Top 40 single throughout their career, 1987’s “Touch of Grey.” But their touring success was immeasurable, and they were one of the highest-grossing touring acts for decades. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Garcia struggled with diabetes later in life, and also struggled with addiction. He passed away from a heart attack on Aug. 9, 1955, at the age of 53.

This weekend, the Grateful Dead’s 60-year legacy will be celebrated in San Francisco, the city where they were formed. Dead & Company, which features founding members of The Dead Bobby Weir and Mickey Hart, are headlining three nights at the city’s Golden Gate Park, Aug. 1, 2 and 3.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Doobie Brothers — featuring founding members Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald and Pat Simmons — are set to kick off the North American leg of their Walk This Road tour on Monday, their first time touring the States since releasing their new studio album, Walk This Road, in June.

Johnston tells ABC Audio fans can expect to hear new songs from the album at their shows, but they likely won’t play “more than two or three, maximum.”

“Because you still got this backlog of catalog that everybody wants to hear … which is great because people love it,” Johnston says. “And so the new songs are an adventure.”

Of course, fitting in all the songs fans want to hear isn’t easy.

“Our problem is, there’s just so many songs to do in a certain amount of time that we always have to make these hard choices,” McDonald explains. “I think if it was up to all of us, we’d do them all, but we’d probably be up there for four hours trying to play them all.”

He adds, “They’d probably have to send an ambulance for us after that, but yeah, we try to cover it all as much as we can, the important stuff.”

And pleasing the audience is something that’s important to Johnston, who says that “interacting with the crowd” is his favorite part of playing live.

“I mean, they’re the ones that, to me, make it worthwhile to do this,” he says. “The crowd has just been phenomenal, have been for years. And that’s not something I take for granted. … That’s what it’s all about.” 

The Doobie Brothers’ U.S. tour begins Monday in Detroit. A complete list of dates can be found at The DoobieBrothers.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Foghat‘s 1975 album Fool for the City, which gave us both the classic title track and their signature song “Slow Ride,” is getting a 50th anniversary reissue.

Available on double CD and double vinyl, the package includes a remastered version of the original album, as well as a second disc of live tracks from a 1975 show at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. The CD includes two bonus tracks not included on the vinyl — including a live cover of Chuck Berry‘s “Maybellene” — plus an interview with the band’s Roger Earl and Nick Jameson about the making of “Slow Ride.” 

The package was mixed, mastered and produced by Nick Jameson, who also produced the original album. You can preorder both versions now; they ship on Sept. 12, just a few days before the anniversary of the album’s release.

Fool for the City was the British rockers’ first album to be certified RIAA Platinum. On Aug. 6, Earl and Jameson will appear on TalkShop.Live’s Rock & Roll Channel to talk about the album and the new package. You can preorder autographed versions of the CD and vinyl now via TalkShop.Live.

Foghat launches a tour Aug. 9, and they’re offering their fans a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas for the band’s Sept. 13 show. All you have to do is design your own version of the cover of Fool for the City, which shows Earl sitting on a crate in the middle of a New York City street, fishing down a manhole. You can download the original background now and submit your design to Foghat’s website by Aug. 15.

Here’s the reissue track listing:

Original album:
“Fool For The City”
“My Babe”
“Slow Ride”
“Terraplane Blues”
“Save Your Loving (For Me)”
“Drive Me Home”
“Take It Or Leave”

1975 live show:
“Fool For The City”
“Home In My Hand”
“My Babe”
“Honey Hush”
“Slow Ride”
“I Just Wanna Make Love To You”
“Wild Cherry”*
“Maybellene”*
*CD only

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.