Classic Rock News

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has shared a tribute to late Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who died Thursday, November 30, at age 65.

“And now I say, god bless the great Irishman Shane MacGowan,” Flea writes in an Instagram post. “Everytime I heard him sing I heard the truth, and my heart filled up with humanity.”

Flea recalls seeing MacGowan perform with The Pogues in the ’80s, noting that the show “was so beautiful and I was reduced to tears.”

“I approached him, and gushed ‘Man that was so beautiful, thank you etc…'” Flea writes. “He looked at me and burst into laughter, accidentally spitting beer in my face, and it was not thoughtless or mean at all, he was just so humble and being a dude singing it seemed absurd to him to be elevated, like I was doing to him.”

“I have never been a church going man or a religious man, but if I ever felt [baptized], it was that beer and spit in my face that did it,” he adds. “[I’m] so grateful he sang his songs for us.”

Here are a few of the other tributes to MacGowan:

Garbage: “Some people are just too fragile for this world. Too sensitive. They see too much. They feel too much. Belly on up to that bar then Mr MacGowan and line em up. Cheers to you, you beautiful, brilliant bastard. Thanks for all the fantastic music. We shall miss you.”

Dropkick Murphys: “Rest in Peace Shane McGowan. You were one of a kind. Thank you for the impact you had on so many of our lives.”

Flogging Molly: “Farewell to a legend.”

Jack Antonoff: “shane macgowan has made me feel something that nobody else ever could through his work. his way is something i feel inspired by everyday in the studio and on tour. love to those close to him and for the rest of us who wouldn’t be here without his music it’s a sad day.”

Against Me!‘s Laura Jane Grace: “Forever grateful to have had the opportunity of opening for the Pogues years ago. Shane was a lyrical god to me, always will be.”

President of Ireland Michael Higgins: “Shane will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists. So many of his songs would be perfectly crafted poems, if that would not have deprived us of the opportunity to hear him sing them.”

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Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson is helping fellow guitarists sound better. The rocker has just launched a new line of amplifiers handcrafted by Mojotone. 

The line, LERXST, features hand-built guitar amps and cabinets inspired by Lifeson’s five-decade career, offering players “a versatile tonal platform upon which to build their own sonic identity.”

Lifeson says he’s excited about the new line, noting, “It sounds incredible and it’s very handsome. … you’ll want to get one even if you don’t play guitar.”

The line is being launched with Lifeson’s signature amplifier, OMEGA, designed to the rocker’s specifications. It features power scaling and serial effects loops, footswitchable clean and lead channels, a switchable 50/25 watt power section and more. There’s also the CHI, a more compact 30-watt amplifier.  

“I’ve used more amps than Dr. Frankenstein did when breathing life into his creature, but the LERXST CHI is an awesome monster in its own right and one of the sweetest sounding amps I’ve ever heard,” Lifeson shares. “All the great character of the OMEGA in a cool, compact package that you don’t have to be a seven-foot monster to carry around.”

Both are available now, along with a range of guitar cabinets in multiple speaker configurations. More info can be found at lerxstamps.com.

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Paul McCartney has inspired a lot of artists over the years, and it seems Taylor Swift is no exception.

Swift’s 2022 album Midnights features the song “Sweet Nothing,” which was co-written by her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, using the pseudonym William Bowery. Many fans believed the song was about Taylor and Joe’s relationship, but Taylor may have just dropped a clue that Paul was actually the inspiration.  

At least one eagle-eyed Swifty noticed that on X, formerly Twitter, Taylor “liked” a post from October 2022 shared by an account called Paul McCartney Archive. The post features a photo of McCartney with his late wife, Linda McCartney, and the text, “i would come back from a run with a poem to share and having listened linda would say ‘what a mind.'” 

That seems to be paraphrasing a poem Paul wrote for Linda called Blessed: “I would come back from a run/ With lines of poetry to tell/ And having listened, she would say ‘What a mind.'”

What does this have to do with Taylor? The lyrics of “Sweet Nothing” go, “On the way home/ I wrote a poem/ You say, ‘What a mind’/ This happens all the time.”

Fans now speculate that Taylor liking the tweet was her way of saying the song was possibly inspired by Paul’s relationship with Linda, which is often seen as one of rock’s greatest love stories. 

Taylor has, in fact, met Paul, who’s an idol of hers. The two interviewed each other for Rolling Stone in 2020. And Paul has said his 2018 song “Who Cares” was partly inspired by Taylor’s relationship with her fans.

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Richie Sambora and Chicago are among the artists taking part in the 2023 ASCAP Foundation Holiday Auction. 

Former Bon Jovi guitarist Sambora has donated a signed Fender guitar to the auction, while Chicago is offering up four VIP tickets to their 2024 tour, including a meet and greet with the band. 

Also up for auction is a guitar from the 2004 ASCAP Pop Music Awards signed by Jackson Browne, Metallica, Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell and others; posters signed by Tenacious D and Papa Roach; and a custom song written by Songwriter Hall of Fame members Desmond Child (“Livin’ on a Prayer”) and Paul Williams (“Rainbow Connection”).

The auction is open now through December 14. Proceeds will benefit the ASCAP Foundation, which is “dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education, talent development and humanitarian programs.” 

For more info, visit ASCAPFoundation.org/auction23.

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Music fans who didn’t snag tickets to Warren Haynes’ annual Christmas Jam will still be able to enjoy the show.  

The concert, with a lineup that features Haynes’ band Gov’t Mule, ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons, Slash & Myles Kennedy, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, Clutch and more, will be livestreamed on volume.com.

The 32nd annual Christmas Jam is happening Saturday, December 9, in Haynes’ hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. Proceeds from the concert will benefit Asheville Habitat for Humanity and BeLoved Asheville.

Haynes is also celebrating Christmas Jam this year with the December 8 release of The Benefit Concert Volume 20. Recorded live during 2018’s 30th annual Christmas Jam, it features performances by Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl, Gov’t Mule, Joe Bonamassa, Jim James, Grace Potter and others. It is available for preorder now.

And fans are about to get a preview of the album. Haynes is set to release a video of Grohl’s performance of “Play” on Friday, December 1, at 10 a.m. ET.

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Mick Fleetwood is paying tribute to his late Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie to mark the one-year anniversary of her passing.

Sharing a picture of him and Christine on Instagram, Mick writes, “Dear Chris, a year ago today you flew away, and memories come flooding back[.] Too many to mention! I miss you .. Fleetwood Mac misses you… along with so many that loved your music. Always love, Mick Fleetwood.”

Mick also shared a video of his Grammy tribute to Christine, where he performed with Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow, writing, “Honoring our beautiful Christine today and every day.” Plus he posted a photo of the cover of the instrumental version of Christine’s “Songbird,” which he recorded with ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro, commenting, “We miss our songbird[.] We miss you Christine.” 

McVie passed away November 30, 2022, following a short illness. She was 79.

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Following U2‘s opening residency, Phish will be the next band to take over the Las Vegas Sphere.

The jam band will play four shows at the immersive venue, which boasts a 160,000 square foot LED display, taking place April 18-21. Each performance will feature completely different set lists and visuals.

“From the moment we first heard about Sphere and its potential, we’ve been dreaming up ways to bring our show to this breathtaking canvas,” says frontman Trey Anastasio. “We’re thrilled to present this completely unique experience to Phish fans.”

You can request tickets now through Monday, December 11, at noon ET via Tickets.Phish.com. Remaining tickets will go on sale Friday, December 15.

U2 launched their Sphere residency in September. They currently have dates scheduled into February.

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On This Day, November 30, 2003… 

New York City officially renamed a street on the Lower East Side Joey Ramone Place after the late Ramones frontman Joey Ramone, who passed away April 15, 2001.

The street sign was unveiled on a portion of East 2nd Street, near the punk rock club CBGB, where the band played their early gigs. It was also near an apartment where Joey once lived with bandmate Dee Dee Ramone.

In 2010, New York reported that Joey Ramone Place was the most stolen street sign in the city, forcing the Department of Transportation to reinstall the sign 20 feet above street level.

Born Jeffrey Ross Hyman in Queens, New York, Ramone co-founded The Ramones in 1974 with friends John Cummings, a.k.a. Johnny Ramone, and Douglas Colvin, a.k.a. Dee Dee Ramone. Considered by many to be one of the most influential punk rock bands of all time, the band was known for such hits as “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Rockaway Beach,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” and more.

The Ramones were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

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The Rolling Stones are giving fans another way to enjoy Hackney Diamonds, their first album of new material in 18 years.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just announced they’ll be releasing Hackney Diamonds (Live Edition), featuring the original album, along with recordings of the seven songs they performed at the surprise record release concert they held at the intimate New York City venue Racket on Thursday, October 19.

The show featured the debut performance of four Hackney Diamonds tracks: “Angry,” “Whole Wide World, “Bite My Head Off” and “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” which featured a surprise appearance by Lady Gaga. The show also featured performances of Stones classics “Shattered,” “Tumbling Dice” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

Hackney Diamonds (Live Edition) will be released January 19, as a double CD set. It is available for preorder now.

The live performances are just a taste of what fans can expect when The Rolling Stones head out next year on their Hackney Diamonds tour. The trek kicks off April 28, in Houston, Texas, and wraps July 17, in Santa Clara, California. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 1. A complete list of dates can be found at therollingstones.com.

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The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke shared on social media Thursday. He was 65. 

No cause of death was given, but in late 2022, the singer spent months in a Dublin hospital viral fighting encephalitis.

MacGowan’s life, and his music, were famously intertwined with his hard partying ways.

“[T]he love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese,” Clarke began her post. 

“I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures,” she continued. 

Calling MacGowan the “love of my life,” Clarke also expressed, “There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music.”

Drinking problems led to MacGowan leaving the beloved band he founded in 1982 — as Pogue Mahone, a rude Irish slang phrase — in 1991.

The Celtic punk legend’s famous holiday song, with the late Kirsty MacColl, “Fairytale of New York,” came to a new generation last year, thanks to its addition to James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special soundtrack. 

The 1987 hit was also covered by Bon Jovi in 2020, and most recently, Travis Kelce teamed up with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, to record a hit cover called “Fairytale of Philadelphia.”

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