Classic Rock News

While scrolling through Instagram on Friday, you may have gotten upset when you saw a photo of Elton John in a hospital bed with both his legs in casts, as well as a brace around his neck. But don’t worry, it was just movie magic.

In the photo, Elton is lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by flowers, get-well cards and balloons. His husband, David Furnish, is standing next to him, talking to some people. But as Elton explains in the caption, “Rocked too hard… ended up in a cast! Backstage with Spinal Tap.”

He continues, “The new film, Spinal Tap II, and [soundtrack] album are out today, featuring me on ‘Listen To The Flower People’ and ‘Stonehenge’. Thanks for having me be a part of it!” Those two songs were in the original This Is Spinal Tap movie back in 1984, but these are new versions featuring Elton. He also appears in the film, duetting with the fictitious band onstage as they perform “Stonehenge.”

If you scroll through the post, you’ll see close-ups of Elton’s fake casts, which are completely bedazzled with rhinestones, and include motifs like a yellow brick road and piano keys.

Plotwise, it’s not clear how Elton ends up in the hospital; you’ll just have to watch the film to find out. Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks and other famous musicians also appear in it.

Many fans were fooled by the hospital image, though. One wrote in the comments, “i’m at the airport and my heart sank so quickly.” Another wrote, “You scared me for a second. It took me a hot second to realize that this is for spinal tap 2.” Another wrote, “I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK THINKING IT WAS REAL.” Even Elton’s pal Charlie Puth wrote in all caps, “YOU SCARED ME.”

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The Who has added one more date to their The Song Is Over North American Farewell Tour, and it will be the last show of the trek.

The new show is scheduled for Oct. 1 at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, California. In a post on Instagram the band calls it “The Final Public Show.”

Tickets for the final date go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time.

In other tour news, The Who announced that The Offspring will be opening their Sept. 19 show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

The Song Is Over North American Farewell Tour kicked off Aug. 16 in Sunrise, Florida. It hits Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Friday. A complete list of dates can be found at TheWho.com.

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Mötley Crüe will finally kick off their Las Vegas residency on Friday at the Dolby Live at Park MGM. The residency was supposed to launch in March, but was postponed after frontman Vince Neil had to have an undisclosed medical procedure — and now Neil is opening up about his health issues.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Neil reveals that he suffered a stroke the day after Christmas, noting, “My whole left side went out.”

He adds that the stroke happened while he was sleeping.

“I had to learn to walk again, and that was tough,” he says. “The doctors said they didn’t think I’d be able to go back on stage again. I go, ‘No, no, I’m gonna do it. Watch and see.’”

Neil had to undergo months of physical therapy at his home in Nashville, and it wasn’t easy.

“I went from people carrying me to the bathroom, because I couldn’t walk myself, finally to a wheelchair,” Neil says. “I graduated to a walker, and then I had a cane. Now I don’t need anything. But it’s like a full-time job getting back to where you feel good again.”

Mötley Crüe’s 10-show residency runs through Oct. 3. A complete list of dates can be found at motley.com.

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The Silverlake Conservatory of Music, the music education organization cofounded by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, has released a new EP, this time paying tribute to Flea’s own band.

Our Loving Tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers, produced by Flea and Merck Mercuriadis, features four songs: “Subway to Venus,” from 1989’s Mother’s Milk; “Sick Love,” from 2016’s The Getaway; “Hump de Bump,” from 2006’s Stadium Arcadium; and “Soul to Squeeze,” from their 2003 Greatest Hits album. 

All songs on the EP are performed by the SCM All-Stars, described as the “Conservatory’s ensemble of outstanding student musicians.”

“The kids! I’m so grateful that our music can be a vehicle for their spirits to fly. This is what music is for. I am so proud of them,” Flea says. Frontman Anthony Kiedis adds, “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be tributized by. Student musicians are the best. Let’s all take a listen to how they interpret these tunes.”

Our Loving Tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers is available now to stream or download, with proceeds benefiting the Silverlake Conservatory.

The Chili Peppers EP is the third and final EP to be released by the organization this year. Previous EPs paid tribute to the Pretenders and Neil Young.

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Neil Young has announced the four albums that will make up the sixth installment in his Official Release Series.

The latest edition will include discs 26, 27, 28 and 29 in the series, and will feature 1992’s Harvest Moon, featuring the iconic title track; 1993’s Unplugged, recorded for the MTV series; 1994’s Sleep With Angels, which includes the 14-minute song “Change Your Mind”; and 1995’s double album Mirror Ball, which he recorded with Seattle rockers Pearl Jam.

Official Release Series Volume 6, dropping Oct. 24, will be released as a limited-edition numbered vinyl box set, with each album issued as a double vinyl. There will also be a CD box, with one CD for each title.

Both sets will be available at the Greedy Hand Store at the Neil Young Archives, as well as music retailers. The set will also be available in high-res digital audio at Neil Young Archives and on most digital services. All formats are available for preorder now.

Young is currently on his Love Earth tour with his band the Chrome Hearts. The tour hits Mountain View, California, on Friday.

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Smashing Pumpkins are taking off with the release of a song called “Chrome Jets.”

The track was originally recorded during the sessions for their 2024 album, Aghori Mhori Mei, and is billed as a “special release for fans.”

In addition to listening to the song digitally, you can preorder a 12-inch vinyl featuring “Chrome Jets” on one side and a live cover of U2‘s song “Zoo Station” from a show in Berlin in 2024 on the other through Billy Corgan‘s Madame Zuzu’s tea shop. Only 1,500 copies are available.

The Pumpkins will start their Rock Invasion tour Sept. 15 in Japan.

As previously reported, in November Corgan will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Pumpkins’ classic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by performing what’s described as a “new sonic and visual experience” at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

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Pink Floyd is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here, by reissuing the album with a whole host of bonus material.

Wish You Were Here 50 will be released in a variety of formats, including a digital release that features the original album mixed in Dolby Atmos. It will include 25 bonus tracks, with nine studio rarities, including six tracks that have never been released before.

The bonus material also includes 16 live bootleg recordings from a concert at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on April 26, 1975, which are getting their first-ever official release. The audio has been restored and remastered by producer Steven Wilson.

Wish You Were Here 50 will also be released as a three-LP or two-CD set, with the original album and the rarities; a Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Surround mixes of the album; three concert films from the band’s 1975 tour; and a short film by famed art designer and Hipgnosis co-founder Storm Thorgerson.

And there will be a deluxe box set that includes all the material on the two-CD or three-LP editions (in clear vinyl), as well as the Blu-ray, an additional clear vinyl LP with a 1974 Live at Wembley concert, a replica Japanese 7-inch single of “Have A Cigar”/”Welcome to the Machine,” a hard cover book and more.

As a preview of the bonus material on Wish You Were Here 50, Pink Floyd has released “The Machine Song,” a previously unheard demo of what would go on to become the album’s track “Welcome to the Machine.”

All formats will be released Dec. 12 and are available for preorder now.

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Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor are set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band’s iconic tune “Bohemian Rhapsody” with a very special performance.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will appear at BBC Radio’s Last Night of the Proms, which is described as the “biggest party in classical music,” to perform an orchestral arrangement of the song with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and chorus, the BBC singers and National Youth Choir.

“What a splendid way to celebrate a Queen masterpiece in its 50th year: Bohemian Rhapsody performed with a 100-piece BBC Symphony Orchestra and a choir of over 150 singers – on the most prestigious night of the year in The Royal Albert Hall,” May and Taylor shared on Instagram. “Freddie will be loving it!” they added, referring to the band’s late frontman Freddie Mercury.

The event takes place at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Saturday at 7 p.m. BST, and will air live on BBC Radio 3, and also on BBC TV.

The almost six-minute “Bohemian Rhapsody” was the lead single off Queen’s 1975 album, A Night at the Opera, and went on to sell over 6 million copies worldwide.

The song had a resurgence in popularity in 1992 after appearing in the film Wayne’s World. After the release of the 2018 Queen biopic, also named Bohemian Rhapsody, the song became the most streamed song of the 20th century and was certified Diamond by the Recording Academy.

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Mötley Crüe is setting the record straight about accusations by their former bandmate Mick Mars that they don’t perform live in concert.

The accusations came out in Mars’ 2023 lawsuit in which he claimed he was forced out of the band he founded and that his bandmates were cutting his stake in the group.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Nikki Sixx acknowledges the band uses backing tracks, but says that doesn’t mean they aren’t playing.

“Anything we enhance the shows with, we actually played,” he says. “If there are background vocals with my background vocals, and we have background singers to make it sound more like the record. That does not mean we’re not singing.”

Sixx tells the paper that Mars’ accusations were “a crazy betrayal” to the band’s legacy.

“Saying he played in a band that didn’t play, it’s a betrayal to the band who saved his life,” he adds. “People say things like, ‘Well, if you guys are really playing, then I need isolated tracks from band rehearsal.’ … It’s ludicrous.”

Mötley Crüe kicks off a 10-show Las Vegas residency on Friday at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The shows were originally scheduled for the spring, but were postponed due to frontman Vince Neil’s health issues. Sixx says Neil’s been working “really hard” at getting back in shape for the shows.

“You can tell he’s working up the stamina, and a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, man, he’s not kicking a** like he used to,’ but it takes a lot of courage to have a doctor tell you you will probably never go onstage again and to fight through that,” Sixx tells the LA Times. “If he’s got some imperfect moments here and there. They’re getting erased as the days go with rehearsal.”

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On This Day, Sept. 12, 1975 …

Fifty years ago, Pink Floyd released their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here.

The album featured the nine-part “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” which was a tribute to founding member Syd Barrett, who’d been fired seven years earlier due to his drug use and mental health issues.

The album’s title track became a classic rock staple and has often made lists of the greatest songs of all time. Other songs on the album include “Have a Cigar” and “Welcome to the Machine.”

Wish You Were Here went on to be a huge hit for the band, reaching #1 in both the U.S. and U.K. It became Pink Floyd’s fastest-selling album ever and went on to sell 20 million copies.

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