Classic Rock News

David Byrne is releasing a new solo album, Who is the Sky?, on Friday, but that’s not the only reason he has to celebrate.

In August the Talking Heads frontman revealed in an interview with The Times that he was engaged to businesswoman and artist Mala Gaonkar. He revealed in an Instagram Story Monday that they’ll be getting married “this week,” and he shared the music that will be playing at the event.

“I’m getting married this week and made an almost entirely instrumental playlist while our guests eat an amazing and spicy dinner,” he shared in the Story. “My sense is that words & lyrics can be distracting – the ear goes to them, especially if it’s a song one knows.”

He adds, “So I opted for buoyant instrumentals that will create a hopeful and joyous atmosphere … and that folks can also ignore at the same time.”

Byrne shared a link to the playlist so fans can enjoy the music, as well.

Who is the Sky? is Byrne’s first solo album since 2018’s American Utopia. It features special guests St. Vincent, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and The Smile drummer Tom Skinner.

Byrne is set to kick off a new tour in support of the album on Sept. 14 in Providence, Rhode Island, wrapping with two nights in Miami, Dec. 5 and 6.

A complete list of dates can be found at DavidByrne.com.

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R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe took some time during the holiday weekend to make sure everyone knows the correct lyrics to the band’s song “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).”

Stipe’s signature vocal style long made it hard to understand exactly what words he was singing. That issue is particularly exacerbated in “It’s the End of the World As We Know It,” which features Stipe singing so fast that you’d be forgiven if you could only discern the song’s title in the chorus and the part where he yells, “Leonard Bernstein.”

Nearly 40 years after “It’s the End of the World” dropped in 1987, Stipe has clarified two particular lines in the song’s first verse in posts to the social networking site Bluesky.

“It’s ‘Left of west and coming in a hurry with the Furies breathing down your neck,'” Stipe writes in one post. He then adds the correct version of the following line, “Team by team reporters, baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped, Look at that low playing, fine, then.”

The R.E.M. Instagram account has shared a screenshot of Stipe’s post in a Story alongside the caption, “Michael shares some lyrics on [Bluesky].”

“It’s the End of the World” appears on R.E.M.’s 1987 album, Document, which celebrated its 38th anniversary on Monday.

R.E.M. broke up in 2011, though the four members reunited for one-off performances in 2024 and 2025. Stipe performed a parody version of “It’s the End of the World” during a 2016 guest spot on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

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The Who is revisiting their classic album Who Are You with whole host of new reissues, including a massive super-deluxe edition.

Out Oct. 31, the seven-CD/Blu-ray super-deluxe edition includes a newly remastered version of the album, along with over 70 unreleased tracks. Bonus material includes the first mix of the album by producer Glyn Jones, which the band rejected, plus early run-throughs of songs, session outtakes, demos and live recordings.

Highlights include drummer Keith Moon singing “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Barbara Ann” from the 1977 Shepperton Studios rehearsals; an early live version of “Who Are You” from a Toronto show in 1976; previously unreleased demos of bassist John Entwistle‘s songs on the album; songs from the live concert at Shepperton Studios recorded for the filming of The Kids Are Alright documentary; and an alternative take of “Sister Disco” with a previously “lost” guitar solo.

The set also includes several live recordings from the band’s 1979 tour, which was their first with drummer Kenney Jones, as well as a 100-page hardcover book, and a Blu-ray featuring Dolby Atmos and Stereo mixes created by producer Steven Wilson.

In addition to the super-deluxe edition, there will be four-LP or two-CD deluxe editions, a limited-edition single LP and a limited-edition yellow colored vinyl.

All formats are available for preorder now.

Released in 1978, Who Are You was The Who’s eighth studio album and their last with drummer Keith Moon, who died three weeks after its release. The album peaked at #2 in the U.S. and has been certified double Platinum by the RIAA.

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On This Day, Sept. 2, 1988…

The Human Rights Now! World Tour kicked off at London’s Wembley Stadium, headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N’Dour.

The tour, benefiting Amnesty International, sought to raise awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948 to enshrine the rights and freedoms of all human beings.

The tour hit 20 different countries, and the bill included local musicians in each city.

In addition to London, the tour stopped in Paris, Budapest, Barcelona, Toronto, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and more, wrapping Oct. 15 in Buenos Aires.

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A never-before-seen video of John Lennon and Yoko Ono performing during their One to One benefit concerts at New York’s Madison Square Garden has been released.

The clip is a performance of Lennon’s solo hit “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On),” which he performed during the concerts on Aug. 30, 1972. It features newly restored and edited footage of the performance, with newly remixed and reengineered audio.

The performance of “Instant Karma! (We All Shine)” is one of the tracks featured in the new box set Power to the People (Super Deluxe Edition), produced by the couple’s son, Sean Ono Lennon. It will be released Oct. 10, on what would have been John’s 85th birthday.

The performance will also be featured in the upcoming film Power To The People, directed by Simon Hilton, which will be released next year.

Power to the People (Super Deluxe Edition) is a nine-CD/three-Blu-ray box set, featuring 123 tracks, 90 of which have either never been heard before or were previously unreleased. 

The set includes demos, outtakes, home recordings and more, along with a new version of John and Yoko’s 1972 album Sometime in New York City, plus the completely remixed One to One concerts, which were John’s only full-length concerts after leaving The Beatles.

The super deluxe edition will come with a 204-page hardcover book and more goodies. There will also be two-CD, four-LP and two-LP colored vinyl editions.

All formats are available for preorder now.’

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Cyndi Lauper is headed to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this fall, and to celebrate the final show of her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, she brought out fellow female members of the Hall to join her onstage.

Cher and Joni Mitchell — the latter in only her second public appearance of 2025 — were special guests at Lauper’s show Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl, as were pop/R&B superstars John Legend and SZA.

Mitchell joined Lauper for a version of “Carey,” from Mitchell’s iconic album Blue. Lauper has performed the song herself multiple times in concert over the years.  Legend then appeared to join Lauper on “Time After Time,” and SZA popped up for “True Colors.”

The final song of the night was, of course, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” with Lauper’s good pal Cher joining her to perform that number.

You can find footage of all of these performances on YouTube.

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Dead & Company’s three San Francisco shows celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead helped promote a lot of causes that are important to the band.

Like most Dead & Company concerts, the band had a Participation Row at the San Fran shows, promoting causes like Reverb.org and HeadCount.org, and it produced some pretty positive returns.

According to a post on Instagram, the shows raised over $2.2 million for Dead Family charities. In addition, there were over 17,700 positive activations from fans, including over 5,300 voter actions and over 13,100 environmental actions.

“Dead Heads make a positive impact everywhere they go,” the band said on Instagram. “Thanks to all the fans that took action and supported @headcountorg, @reverb_org and other nonprofits, we accomplished all of this together. THANK YOU for showing up.”

Dead & Company’s three shows at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park took place Aug. 1, 2 and 3. They featured guest appearances by Phish’s Trey Anastasio and Phil Lesh‘s son Grahame Lesh, as well as Billy Strings and Sturgill Simpson.

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Bryan Adams has released a new video for the track “Will We Ever Be Friends Again” from his just-released new album, Roll With the Punches.

According to a post on Instagram, the clip was filmed in Iceland and stars Icelandic model Inga Eiriksdottir. Adams shared a video of an outtake with Inga playing the accordion.

Roll With the Punches is Adams’ 16th studio album and his first album since 2022’s So Happy It Hurts. He’s set to celebrate the release with a series of intimate club shows in England, kicking off Saturday in Leeds and wrapping Sept. 3 in Kingston.

He’ll also launch a North American tour on Sept. 11 in Kamloops, British Columbia. U.S. dates, featuring Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo as special guests, begin Oct. 25 in Uncasville, Connecticut, and run through Nov. 26 in Minneapolis.

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A new documentary about Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles years has been acquired by Amazon MGM Studios.

Directed by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville, Man on the Run will premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, which runs from Friday to Monday. It will eventually be released in select theaters.

It will then be released on Prime Video on Feb. 25, 2026.

Man on the Run gives fans a look at McCartney’s life following the breakup of The Beatles, including the formation of his band Wings. According to the description, it “chronicles the arc of McCartney’s solo career as he faces down a myriad of challenges while creating new music to define a new decade.”

The acquisition of the film is part of a larger partnership between McCartney, Universal Music and Amazon. Over the next year it will include the release of exclusive music and merch drops from Amazon Music.

McCartney is also releasing a new book about his post-Beatles career. Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run will be released Nov. 4.

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The Sex Pistols‘ iconic album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols is the latest album to get a high fidelity audio release.

The English punk rockers’ only studio album is now part of Rhino High Fidelity’s series of limited-edition, high-end vinyl reissues, with 5,000 individually numbered 180-gram black vinyl copies now available via Rhino.com. The reissue comes with new liner notes from the album’s producer Chris Thomas.

Released in 1977, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols features such songs as “Anarchy in the U.K.” and “God Save the Queen.” The album debuted at #1 in the U.K., despite many record stores refusing to carry it because its title was considered offensive. The band would eventually break up just months after the album’s release, calling it quits in 1978 during their U.S. tour. 

Although not a huge hit in the U.S. when it was first released, the album would go on to sell over 1 million copies and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. It was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.

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