Classic Rock News

Guns N’ Roses will be without keyboardist Melissa Reese for the band’s upcoming tour.

The “Welcome to the Jungle” rockers have issued a press release reading, “Rock legends Guns N’ Roses have announced that Melissa Reese will not be joining the band on tour due to unforeseen personal reasons.”

“We hope our fans understand,” the statement adds.

GN’R’s upcoming live schedule includes a U.S. stadium and amphitheater tour kicking off in July, as well as dates in Europe, Latin America and Australia. They’re also headlining Florida’s Welcome to Rockville festival in May.

Reese joined Guns N’ Roses in 2016 for their Not in This Lifetime… tour, which saw Slash and Duff McKagan rejoin the band alongside Axl Rose. 

GN’R did not name a replacement for Reese in their statement, nor did they specify the duration of her absence.

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On This Day, March 27, 1987 …

U2 filmed the video for “Where the Streets Have No Name,” the third single off their album The Joshua Tree.

Inspired by The Beatles’ 1969 rooftop concert, U2 took to the roof of a downtown Los Angeles liquor store to perform the song.

The production attracted more than 1,000 fans who gathered to watch the performance, prompting the police to try to shut them down — something the band was hoping for in order to add drama to the video.

U2 actually performed an eight-song set during the video shoot, including four performances of “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

The video went on to earn U2 a Grammy for best performance music video.

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Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm’s new solo album, Released, is out now, made up of previously unreleased songs he recorded in the ’80s for his previous solo albums.

While it’s been decades since he first recorded some of these songs, Gramm tells ABC Audio he always knew they existed, but notes “as time went by, I forgot I had them.”

“When I was ready to do a new album, I had some original songs written, and something just kept tugging at me to go back and listen to the songs from my previous solo albums that weren’t on the album,” he says. “I remember when I started listening to ‘em that they shocked me at how good they were, but they were incomplete.”

Gramm says the songs didn’t make his original solo albums not because they were bad, but due to “time restraints,” noting in order to meet deadlines he had to choose songs “that were done, not necessarily the ones that we liked the best.”

Gramm says going back and listening to the tunes all these years later turned out to be “very emotional” for him.

“And then I started getting a little angry. ‘Why didn’t we finish them? Why didn’t we get them on the album?’” he says, noting, “Here are these great songs sitting around for 30 years, you know, or more.”

Gramm says he hopes after listening to the record fans come away realizing he’s “a formidable songwriter, as well as a vocalist.”

“I have a style that’s uniquely my own and it has elements of Foreigner in it, because that’s the band I was part of,” he explains. “But it’s quite a bit different than Foreigner,” noting he hopes the album lets the “difference be known.” 

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The Beatles released a lot of music over the course of their career, and there’s no doubt some songs are better than others. So, which Beatles songs are the best?

Of course, the answer to that is subjective, but Collider has some thoughts, and it just came out with its choices for the 10 most “perfect” Beatles tunes, noting songs were chosen based on “songwriting, musical construction, overall influence, and the song’s impact on the band’s musical evolution.”

Topping the list is the 1968 classic “Hey Jude,” which Paul McCartney wrote for Julian Lennon after John Lennon left his first wife, Cynthia Lennon.

“Whether it’s tears of triumph or pain, ‘Hey Jude” is a song meant to make you feel something,” the mag writes. “It’s what music is all about, after all.”

Coming in at #2 is 1969’s “Come Together,” followed by 1970’s “Let It Be” at #3, 1968’s “Blackbird” at #4 and 1964’s “A Hard Day’s Night” at #5.

Rounding out the top 10 are: “In My Life,” “All You Need Is Love,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Yesterday” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”

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Bruce Springsteen hasn’t made it a secret that his upcoming Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour is going to get political, and he doesn’t care if that ruffles a few feathers.

In an interviews with the Minnesota Star Tribune, The Boss comes right out and says, “The tour is going to be political and very topical about what’s going on in the country,” noting he doesn’t concern himself about possible blowback for taking a stand.

“My job is very simple: I do what I want to do, I say what I want to say and then people get to say what they want to say about it,” he says. “Those are the rules of my game. That’s fine with me.”

He adds, “I don’t worry about if you’re going to lose this part of your audience. I’ve always had a feeling about the position we play culturally, and I’m still deeply committed to that idea of the band. The blowback is just part of it. I’m ready for all that.”

For Springsteen, speaking out is more important than ever considering the current climate.

“I don’t know of another time when the country has been as critically challenged and our basic ideas and values as critically challenged as they are right now,” he says. “It’s a critical, critical moment.”

And fans can expect the rocker to get his message across through the songs he chooses to play each night.

“The E Street Band is built for hard times. It always was,” he notes. “These are the moments when I think we can be of real value and real worth to the community. These are moments that fill the band with purpose, so I try to fill the set list around those ideas.”

The tour kicks off Tuesday in Minneapolis.

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Rob Halford has lived after midnight, rocked to the dawn and is now boldly going where no man has gone before.

The Judas Priest frontman is collaborating with William Shatner on the Star Trek icon’s upcoming metal album. Together, they recorded a new version of the Priest classic “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.”

“I’ve always been drawn to the energy and storytelling of heavy metal,” the 95-year-old Shatner says in a statement. “Working with Rob on this track brings that intensity to life in a way that feels both timeless and entirely new.”

As previously reported, Shatner’s album will also include covers of songs by Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. Further details about the record, including the full track and guest list, title and release date, will be announced soon.

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Paul McCartney is back with his first solo album in over five years.

The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will release The Boys of Dungeon Lane on May 29, described in a press release as “a collection of rare and revealing glimpses into memories never-before shared along with some newly inspired love songs.”

The songs have a reflective McCartney writing about his childhood in Liverpool, early adventures with future Beatles bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon, and more.

“Looking back on your life, you go, ‘Wow, did we really do that?'” he writes on Instagram. “All of that comes flooding back… it’s like a dream.”

And fans are getting their first preview of the album with the release of the song “Days We Left Behind,” which is now available via digital outlets.

“This is very much a memory song for me. The album title, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, comes from a lyric in this track,” McCartney says. “I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else?”

The Boys of Dungeon Lane, produced by Andrew Watt, is McCartney’s first solo album since 2020’s McCartney III. It is available for preorder now.

And it’s possible some lucky fans may soon hear McCartney’s new music live. He’s set to headline two shows at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday.

Here is the track list for The Boys of Dungeon Lane:
“As You Lie There”
“Lost Horizon”
“Days We Left Behind”
“Ripples in a Pond”
“Mountain Top”
“Down South”
“We Two”
“Come Inside”
“Never Know”
“Home to Us”
“Life Can Be Hard”
“First Star of the Night”
“Salesman Saint”
“Momma Gets By”

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Just in time for baseball’s opening day, John Fogerty, the only musician to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, has announced that he’s reissuing his 1985 solo album, Centerfield.

Centerfield (Hall of Fame Edition), set to arrive this summer, will feature a remastered version of the album sourced from the original half-inch master analog tapes. The CD and digital editions will also feature live performances of the album’s three hit singles: the title track, “The Old Man Down The Road” and “Rock and Roll Girls.” The live tracks were recorded in 2024 and performed with his sons, Shane Fogerty and Tyler Fogerty.

Released in January 1985, Centerfield was the third solo album from Fogerty, who played all the instruments on the project. It hit #1 in the U.S. and gave Fogerty his only top-10 single as a solo artist, “The Old Man Down The Road,” which peaked at #10.

Fogerty has a busy 2026 ahead of him. He’ll perform at the “Thank You, NYPD” concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden Saturday, and he has a string of solo tour dates booked for May and June. In September, he’ll launch a new leg of his Legacy Tour, this time with fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Steve Winwood. It kicks off Sept. 3 in Tinley Park, Illinois, outside of Chicago.

On June 11, Fogerty will be honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame with the 2026 Johnny Mercer Award, the organization’s highest honor. 

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On This Day, March 26, 2025 …

Bruce Springsteen and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe were among the artists celebrating Patti Smith at New York’s Carnegie Hall as part of the annual Music Of… concert series, put on by New York City entrepreneur Michael Dorf.

Springsteen, who was a last-minute addition to the bill, performed “Because the Night,” which he co-wrote with Smith and went on to become a hit for her. Stipe performed “My Blakean Year,” from Smith’s 2004 album Trampin’.

Other artists who performed at the concert included Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O, Maggie Rogers, Johnny Depp, Glen Hansard, The Kills’ Alison Mosshart, Susanna Hoffs, Ben Harper and The National’s Matt Berninger.

Smith — joined by her band, Lenny Kaye, Tony Shanahan and Jay Dee Daugherty — ended the evening with a performance of “Peaceable Kingdom,” and was then joined on stage by all the performers for a rendition of her iconic tune “People Have the Power.”

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Judas Priest has announced a reissue of the band’s 1976 album Sad Wings of Destiny in honor of its 50th anniversary.

The reissue also celebrates Priest acquiring the master rights to the original album in partnership with the label Exciter Records and its publishing affiliate, Reach Music.

“Sad Wings of Destiny was a defining moment for us as a band,” Judas Priest says in a statement. “It’s where we really began to shape the sound and identity that would carry through everything we’ve done since. To see it recognized 50 years on—and to have it presented in new editions—is incredibly meaningful.”

Further details about the reissue, including a release date, are forthcoming.

Sad Wings of Destiny marked the sophomore Priest record, and spawned future live staples in “Victim of Changes” and “The Ripper.” It was first released in the U.S. on March 26, 1976, 50 years ago Thursday.

The most recent Judas Priest album is 2024’s Invincible Shield.

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