Classic Rock 93.9

Elton John is currently on the road on his final tour, titled Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which is now the third highest-grossing tour in history.

But, since the tour is far from over, Sir Elton may move up even higher on the list.

Billboard reports that the three-year trek, which spans 257 stops, has sold 4.5 million tickets so far. That amounts to $661.3 million in revenue.

This is only the third tour in history to surpass the $600 million mark. U2‘s 360 Tour, which ran from 2009 to 2011, is the second-highest grossing tour of all time with a record $736.4 million. As for who the reigning champ is, that’s Ed Sheeran‘s Divide Tour, which amassed $776.4 million between 2017 and 2019.

It is unknown at this time if or when Sir Elton will eclipse either act and take over the top spot.

As for this current tour, Sir Elton has been adding new stops after emerging from the pandemic-related delay on the entire touring industry. He played 29 dates in North America this spring, then flew across the pond to perform 19 stops in Europe and is now back in North America for another run that covers 30 shows.

On this current leg, Sir Elton has played roughly 20 of these stops, which has added $133.4 million more to his coffers following the sale of 830,000 tickets. Attendance for his shows is also up by a whopping 192 percent, averaging about 41,513 attendees per stop. The tour is set to conclude next summer.

Across his entire career, Sir Elton’s tours have amassed $1.7 billion and sold 19.1 million tickets. With that, he is the highest-grossing solo act of all time in the Billboard Boxscore’s eyes.

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Will Rolling Stones fans finally get to hear some new music in 2023? That’s the word from U.K. tabloid The Sun, which reports that an unnamed source has confirmed that the band intends to put out its first new album of original material in 18 years next summer.

According to The Sun, Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood took part in recording sessions during the past two weeks at New York City’s famed Electric Lady Studios. The report claims that they worked with “a raft of world class session musicians” as well as longtime Stones touring bassist Darryl Jones and drummer Steve Jordan, who joined the group’s touring lineup in the wake of drummer Charlie Watts‘ death last year.

The newspaper also reports that the source says The Rolling Stones will likely launch a major tour following the album’s release that would include shows in the U.S., South America and Europe.

The Sun says the source noted that after Watts’ death, the band was unsure about whether it would continue, “But now they’ve had time to reflect they all feel it’s the right thing to keep doing what they’ve always done as a band, make new music and hopefully hit the road again to perform it to their fans.”

A new album would be the first that the band ever recorded without Watts. In March, Richards revealed in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning that he, Jagger and Jordan had been writing new songs together. The Rolling Stones’ last album of original tunes was 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

Earlier this year, the band launched a 60th anniversary tour, a European trek that ran from June to August.

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Judas Priest will be welcomed into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on November 5, and two of the band’s surviving former members — guitarist Ken “KK” Downing and drummer Les Binks — will be inducted alongside most of the group’s current lineup and late drummer Dave Holland.

While Downing has been at odds with his former bandmates since leaving Judas Priest in 2011, frontman Rob Halford confirms both KK and Binks will perform at the Rock Hall ceremony.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Halford tells ABC Audio about having Downing and Binks playing with the band. “And that was never a real issue. We felt that this is what the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame represents in terms of showing the talent, showing these are the guys that are receiving this accolade and there they are playing, you know.”

Halford also shares some details about the band’s performance, noting with a chuckle, “We’ve got, like, 8 minutes and 32-and-a-half seconds … Everything’s on the clock, which is the way it is in these kinds of events. So, we’re gonna try and cram as much as we can in that space.”

He adds, “And we got a few other things that we’re gonna do, which we won’t let out until the actual night, because that’s part of the magic of Priest. We’ve always got a little something up the metal Houdini sleeve.”

Judas Priest will be inducted into the Rock Hall in conjunction with receiving the Musical Excellence Award. The ceremony will take place at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater, and the event will air on HBO at a later date.

Meanwhile, Priest launched the fall 2023 U.S. leg of its 50 Heavy Metal Years tour last week. Check out all the upcoming dates at JudasPriest.com.

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Chicago will return to Las Vegas’ Venetian Theatre for an eight-show residency in February and March 2023.

Marking the sixth consecutive year the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees will visit the theater, which is located inside The Venetian Resort, the performances are scheduled for February 24 and 25, and March 1, 3, 4, 8, 10 and 11.

Tickets for the new Vegas shows will go on sale to the general public on Monday, October 24, at 10 a.m. PT. Chicago fan club members will be able to buy presale tickets starting Thursday, October 20, at 10 a.m. PT. Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers and members of The Venetian Resort’s Grazie loyalty program can purchase presale tickets beginning Friday, October 21, at 10 a.m.

You can purchase tickets via Ticketmaster.com, VenetianLasVegas.com, the box offices at The Venetian and by calling 702-414-9000 or 866-641-7469.

Chicago, which released new studio album Born for This Moment in July, has 10 U.S. tour dates left on its 2022 schedule. The shows run from an October 20 concert in Memphis, Tennessee, through a November 2 performance in Lubbock, Texas.

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Raise your devil horns this Halloween with AXS TV’s “Heavy Metal Halloween” event.

On Saturday, October 29, the channel will be running an all-day marathon of documentaries and concert films dedicated to the biggest names in hard rock and metal, including Guns N’ Roses, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, KISS, Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper.

Among the films shown will be Sabbath’s The End of the End doc, which captures the “Iron Man” legends’ 2017 farewell concert.

You can tune into “Heavy Metal Halloween” starting at noon ET.

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Founding R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry is back. He’s in a new group called The Bad Ends, who, like his former band, hail from Athens, Georgia.

The Bad Ends also feature singer/guitarist Mike Mantione of the veteran Athens band Five Eight, as well as Dave Domizi on bass and vocals, Geoff Melkonian on keyboards and vocals, and Christian Lopez on guitars and mandolin.

The group will release its debut album, The Power and the Glory, on January 20, 2023. The first track from the record, “All Your Friends Are Dying,” is available now as a digital single.

The Bad Ends have also debuted a music video for the tune, which you can watch on the New West Records label’s YouTube channel.

The clip features cameos by R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and Pylon singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay, and much of the footage was shot at Berry’s home near Athens. The video includes scenes of The Bad Ends members driving ATVs and performing around a swimming pool, where they eventually appear as zombies.

Berry, who hadn’t played in a full-time band after leaving R.E.M. in 1997, recalls in a new SPIN article that he wound up joining The Bad Ends after “a chance pedestrian encounter in downtown Athens” with Mantione in 2017.

“At that point it had been over two decades since I’d involved myself with the record-making process and here was a man Peter Buck recently described as ‘the unsung hero of Athens rock and roll’ offering an opportunity to play in the game again,” Berry explains. “It was energizing to once again play with top-notch musicians.”

The Bad Ends will make their live debut at the Athens Uncovered concert in Athens, GA on November 27.

You can preorder The Power and the Glory now.

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Ozzy Osbourne has an upset demon on his hands.

The Prince of Darkness has announced a new partnership with the fundraising platform Omaze to raffle off a Dodge Demon car in support of the Save the Music Foundation. To support the campaign, Ozzy has released a video of him drawing car designs when his “pet demon” enters the room to see a sign reading “Win a Demon.”

“Ozzy, how could you?” the dejected demon asks. When Ozzy protests that “it’s not what you think,” the demon replies, “And what exactly am I supposed to think?” before leaving the room in tears.

The clip ends with the demon declaring, “Oh, and you know the whole ‘biting off the head of a bat’ thing? You know I was doing that 5,000 years ago! So thanks for the credit on that.”

For more info on the raffle, visit Omaze.com. Along with the car, the winner will receive a signed copy of Ozzy’s new solo album, Patient Number 9.

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Sheryl Crow shared a heartfelt tribute to Elton John after she took her two sons to see him in concert.

The singer/songwriter, who is the mother of 12-year-old Levi and 15-year-old Wyatt, took to Twitter to talk about Sir Elton’s legacy.

“Two weeks ago, I took my two sons to see one of the greatest artists of all time… Sir Elton John. It felt like one of the most important things I will ever do,” she wrote. “I am sure that fact was lost on them however on the way home, they mused at how many songs they knew.”

Sheryl continued, “I told my boys how when I was young and taking piano lessons that it was Elton John’s songs that got me through practice time (at least until my mom busted me that I wasn’t playing my lesson but instead was playing ‘Your Song’).”

Sheryl marked the lyrics “Thank god my music’s still alive” from Elton’s “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” and spoke about what it was like seeing the stadium — packed with people from all walks of life — sing along loudly to the 1975 hit.

“This is what I want the world to feel like all the time,” she wrote, adding, “Thank you, Elton, for inspiring me and a world of people with your music.”

Sheryl added that her son Wyatt wants to learn to play Elton’s songs on the piano and closed with, “Yes, Elton, your music is still alive!”

Elton has yet to respond to the meaningful tribute. He is currently embarking on his final tour titled Farewell Yellow Brick Road. It’s set to conclude next summer.

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In addition to making resurgent hits out of Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill” and Metallica‘s “Master of Puppets,” the latest season of Stranger Things also sparked renewed interest in Dio when beloved character Eddie Munson wore a denim jacket featuring one of the “Holy Diver” band’s back patches.

Wendy Dio, the widow of the late Ronnie James Dio, tells ABC Audio that the Stranger Things-driven Dio revival has been “really great.”

“It’s keeping Ronnie’s music and his memory alive, and now to the younger set,” Wendy says. “With Stranger Things, there’s so many people that didn’t know about Dio that want to now wear the patch.”

Wendy, who provided the patch for Stranger Things to use, shares she’s been “inundated with requests” from people hoping to buy their own since the season premiered.

“I really wish Ronnie could be here to know that these younger generation kids are now listening to his music, as well,” she says.

Along with the spot in Stranger Things, Dio’s song “Rainbow in the Dark” is featured in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder film. In choosing when to allow different projects to license her husband’s music, Wendy says she’s “very protective of Ronnie’s legacy.”

“I only want to put [his music] in things that I think is something Ronnie would want to do,” she says.

You can, of course, also hear Ronnie’s music in the new documentary Dio: Dreamers Never Die, which premiered in theaters in September.

Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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Journey guitarist Neal Schon recently revealed that the band would be returning to the road next year for a new tour with their 2022 opening act Toto. Now, the group has announced official plans for the trek, which will celebrate Journey’s 50th anniversary.

The outing, dubbed the 50th Anniversary Freedom Tour 2023, will feature 38 North American dates, running from a February 4 concert in Allentown, Pennsylvania through an April 25 show in Palm Springs, California.

The trek will include the four previously announced makeup concerts that Journey postponed earlier this year, which are scheduled for March 1 in Washington, D.C.; March 4 in Hartford, Connecticut; March 9 in Quebec City; and March 12 in Toronto.

Tickets for the newly announced shows will go on sale to the general public this Thursday, October 20 at 10 a.m. local time at JourneyMusic.com. Citi card members will have access to presale tickets starting Tuesday, October 18 at 10 a.m. local time; visit CitiEntertainment.com for more info. A limited number of VIP packages will also be available.

“We are all thankful and overwhelmed by the success of our Journey Freedom Tour 2022 this year,” says Schon. “We are looking forward to hitting the road again with our very good friends Toto! Come join us for a special evening full of fun and Rockin’ good memories.”

Adds Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain, “Excited to perform for our fans as we tour next year with Toto. The combined hits of both bands represent a couple of decades of excellence that have become a soundtrack for people’s lives.”

Meanwhile, Journey recently debuted a lyric video for “Beautiful as You Are,” a song from their recently released Freedom album. Check it out on the band’s YouTube channel.

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