Classic Rock News

Bruce Springsteen is revisiting his 1999 reunion tour with the E Street Band for the latest release in his Live Archives series.

The New Jersey rocker just released a live recording of his Oct. 28, 1999, concert at Oakland Arena, which was the final show of a three-night stand in Oakland, California.

The 24-song set opens with the Darkness on the Edge of Town track “Adam Raised a Cain,” and features performances of “Prove it All Night,” “Atlantic City,” “The Promised Land,” “Out in the Streets,” and “Land of Hope and Dreams” as well as a stripped down version of the title track to Springsteen’s solo album The Ghost of Tom Joad, and another song from the same album, “Sinaloa Cowboys,” which was the only full band performance of that song ever.

The set also features an appearance by Southside Johnny on “Hungry Heart,” as well as such Springsteen staples as “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,” “Backstreets,” “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run,” with the night ending with his Greetings From Asbury Park N.J. track “Blinded by the Light.”

The show is now available to stream or purchase at nugs.net.

Springsteen and The E Street Band are getting ready to launch a new tour. They’ll kick off the Land of Hope and Dreams tour of Europe and the U.K. on May 14 and 17 in Manchester, England.

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Julien’s Auctions has unveiled the complete lineup of items that will be up for grabs at their upcoming Music Icons auction happening May 30 and May 31 at the Hard Rock Café in New York City.

The auction includes plenty of guitars, including Ronnie Wood’s Telecaster in metallic blue finish, which is signed and includes a handwritten “Midnight Rambler” lyric. There’s also Eddie Van Halen’s stage played and signed Charvel Art Series guitar in black with red and white stripes, Joe Perry’s stage played and signed Gibson Les Paul, plus guitars from Eric Clapton, Brian May, Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, Slash and more.

Also included are clothing, personal effects and jewelry previously owned by such stars as Elton John, Chrissie Hynde, Jimi Hendrix, Freddie Mercury, Christine McVie and Cher, plus gear from AC/DC, the Eagles, Neil Young, Aerosmith and others.

Also up for grabs are handwritten works from Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, John Lennon, Cobain, David Bowie and more, including Bob Dylan’s vintage handwritten lyrics for “Lay Lady Lay.”

Highlights from the exhibit will be on display in the window of the Hard Rock Café Piccadilly Circus in London until May 13 and then at the Hard Rock in Times Square from May 21-31.

A complete list of items up for auction can be found at JuliensAuctions.com.

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KISS has shared another fan-curated playlist, this time created by music journalist Allison Hagendorf.

The playlist, titled “My Kiss,” features 40 tracks, including “Love Gun,” “Black Diamond,” “Detroit Rock City,” “God Gave Rock & Roll to You II” and more. It can be found on Spotify and YouTube.

“This playlist is my celebration of KISS in full,” Hagendorf shares. “I wanted to create something that touches every era of their career—something that captures the essence of what made them so iconic but also feels personal to what I love about them.”

KISS launched their fan-curated playlist series in November 2024, with the first dedicated to hidden gems. The last one was released in February 2025 for Valentine’s Day.

The playlist drop comes just weeks after KISS announced a new fan convention, KISS Army Storms Vegas, which will feature an “unmasked” KISS performance from Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and Tommy Thayer, their first show together since their final concerts at New York’s Madison Square Garden in December 2023. The convention’s happening Nov. 14-16 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas and will feature a Q&A with Simmons and Stanley.

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Elton John‘s been a superstar for more than 50 years, and during that time, he’s sported endless pairs of glasses, some of which were incredibly elaborate. He recently had to go through them to get ideas for a new signature line of eyewear he’s created for a British company called SpecSavers — which means he finally got a full count on just how many he has.

Elton’s husband and manager, David Furnish, tells Hello! magazine, “We have catalogued and in storage about 15,000 pairs of eyewear.”  He keeps a large part of that collection in his home in Windsor, England, and David says they didn’t realize just how many pairs they had until, “We emptied all the drawers and all of the cabinets and cupboards in the house.”

“They completely filled the dining room table, which seats 14 people,” he adds. “And that was when we started to play around and group them and realized they’re almost like chapters of his story.”

“Eyewear has given him a wonderful opportunity to be so individual, so expressive, and to decide what face he wants to put on the world every time he goes out the door,” David explains. “It’s an integral part of him. He doesn’t feel complete until he’s wearing the right frame.”

Elton used to own far more than 15,000 pairs of glasses, but over the years, he’s auctioned them off in periodic purges of his many possessions.  Last year, just one pair of his glasses sold for nearly $23,000 at auction.

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Pink Floyd has landed a new #1 album in the U.K.

The recently released soundtrack to the band’s 1972 concert film, Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII, tops the U.K. Albums chart this week, making it the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band’s seventh U.K. #1 album.

Their previous U.K. chart toppers include 1970’s Atom Heart Mother, 1975’s Wish You Were Here, 1983’s The Final Cut, 1994’s The Division Bell, 1985’s Pulse (Live) and 2014’s The Endless River.

Interestingly their iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon only made it to #2.

Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII was also big on vinyl, with the album landing at #1 on the Official Vinyl Albums chart as well.

Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII is a film of the band’s October 1971 performance at the ancient Roman amphitheatre in Italy, which was the first live concert ever to take place at the site. A remastered version of the movie was released in theaters in April.

The release of the soundtrack marked the first full-length live record of the concert.

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Metallica‘s concert in Blacksburg, Virginia, on Wednesday rocked in more ways than one.

According to ABC affiliate WSET, activity from the performance registered on the seismograph at the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory. The show took place at Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium, where the school’s college football team plays.

The shaking occurred during two moments: during the very beginning of the concert, and during the night’s closing song, “Enter Sandman.”

“What you’re seeing there is probably four to five times bigger than what we see typically for a football game,” says Virginia Tech professor Dr. Martin Chapman.

While “Enter Sandman” is already one of Metallica’s biggest songs, it has a special connection Virginia Tech and Lane Stadium, which plays it during every home game as the football team’s entrance song.

Metallica’s ongoing U.S. tour continues Friday at Ohio’s Sonic Temple festival.

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Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett is set to release a live recording from his U.K. tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary Genesis concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

The Lamb Stands Up Live at the Royal Albert Hall was recorded in October 2024 at the famed London venue, and features select tracks from the 1974 Genesis album, as well as other Genesis tunes and Hackett solo material.

“I was so happy to revisit the Lamb on tour. The Royal Albert Hall evening was particularly memorable,” says Hackett. “It is my favorite London venue and the atmosphere there that night was absolutely electric… I was really pleased that everyone in the band and the performing guests pulled it off with flying colors!”

As a preview, Hackett has released a performance of the classic album’s title track.

The Lamb Stands Up Live at the Royal Albert Hall will be released July 11 as a special edition 2-CD+Blu-ray set, as well as on vinyl as a deluxe 4-LP set. Both are available for preorder now.

Hackett is set to revisit The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway once again this fall when he brings his Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights and Solo tour to North America. The trek kicks off Oct. 4 in Ithaca, New York, and wraps Nov. 22 in Portland, Oregon. A complete list of dates can be found at hackettsongs.com.

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It was a meeting of two Rock & Roll Hall of Famers in Nashville Thursday night, when legendary guitarist Peter Frampton joined Pearl Jam for their show at Bridgestone Arena.

Fan shot footage posted to YouTube shows Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder introducing the night’s “special guest,” noting, “We grew up, this gentleman was someone we looked up to. Before the Ramones, some of our first guitar heroes, Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend, he was right up there.”

He later added that Frampton “was one of the reasons why you loved live records and later we decided to release bootlegs because of his influence,” noting, “He’s such an incredible human being on top of it.”

Vedder also shared that Frampton had “become a good friend to the group,” and even recorded with guitarist Mike McCready and drummer Matt Cameron.

Frampton then came out to join the band for their classic Ten track “Black,” with Eddie telling the crowd, “Something most people do not know, this song was named after the color of his famous Les Paul guitar.”

The performance included dueling guitar solos between McCready and Frampton, who were both seated for the song, and Vedder even threw in a tag of Frampton’s classic track “Do You Feel Like We Do” at the end.

Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter tour hits Raleigh, North Carolina, for two nights, May 11 and 13, before wrapping in Pittsburgh May 16 and 18.

Frampton’s set to kick off the second leg of his Let’s Do It Again tour on June 13 in Woodinville, Washington. A complete list of dates can be found at Frampton.com.

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Alice in Chains canceled their show Thursday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, due to drummer Sean Kinney‘s health.

Just hours before the concert was set to begin, Alice announced in an Instagram Story, “After our soundcheck this evening at the Mohegan Sun Arena, Sean experienced a non-life-threatening medical emergency.”

“We unfortunately have to cancel tonight’s show,” the post continues. “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Refunds are available at the point of purchase.”

Alice in Chains’ tour is currently scheduled to resume Saturday in Camden, New Jersey. Following their run of shows in May, they’re set to perform at the Black Sabbath reunion/farewell tour in July.

Kinney, 58, is Alice in Chains’ original drummer, and has played on all of their albums.

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NXS is celebrating the 40th anniversary of their fifth studio album, Listen Like Thieves, with a new deluxe box set that is out now, featuring plenty of bonus material.

Founding member and keyboardist Andrew Farriss tells ABC Audio that Listen Like Thieves “was a breakthrough album for us,” both commercially and artistically. He credits the album’s producer Chris Thomas with helping them reach that success.

“We’d had success before in other countries, including the United States,” he shares, “but meeting Chris Thomas was a whole other thing.” He adds that Chris was “really tough on us,” but he was also “good for us.”

“If we thought it was good enough, he’d say, ‘Yeah, that’s all right. You can do better than that,'” Andrew says. He notes they soon realized Chris was “going to play hardball with us to get the best out of us.”

And it was thanks to Chris that INXS wound up with their first major hit in the U.S. and other countries.

“Chris said, look, you’ve made a really good album, but you need just that one more song … that thing that you need, you know, that killer hit,” Andrew says. “And that became ‘What You Need,'” which was a top-five hit for INXS. 

Andrew co-wrote several songs on Listen Like Thieves with INXS’ late frontman Michael Hutchence and says Michael was a unique songwriter because “he never played an instrument, his instrument was his voice.”

Andrew describes Hutchence as an “articulate lyric writer” and says he often deferred to whatever Hutchence felt was best.

“That was my attitude because he wrote the lyric and because he believed in the lyric, it helped him deliver it to the audience,”” Andrew says. “I think that is a really important part of our songwriting relationship.”

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