Classic Rock News

Warren Haynes has released another track from his upcoming symphonic album, Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey, dropping Sept. 18.

The latest is a performance of “Thorazine Shuffle,” which originally appeared on Gov’t Mule’s 1998 sophomore album, Dose. The performance was arranged by Jon Medeski, who plays organs and keyboards on the album.

“John Medeski did the arrangement for ‘Thorazine Shuffle,’ and his unique take on music in general was what led me to ask him to arrange that particular piece,” says Haynes. “He was able to strike a balance for ‘Thorazine Shuffle’ that takes it a little further avant-garde than most of the songs but still has that beautiful symphonic quality as far as the arrangement is concerned that really transports it into another place.”

He adds, “It’s probably the most unique arrangement on the record.”

“Thorazine Shuffle (Live)” is available now via digital outlets. 

The 16-track Dreams & Songs was recorded in 2019 at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville, North Carolina, Haynes’ hometown. In addition to Medeski, it has him backed by the 64-piece Asheville Symphony Orchestra, as well as musicians Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Sipe and Greg Osby. Edwin McCain and Jasmine Muhammad join on background vocals.

Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey is available for preorder now. 

Since the initial 2019 orchestra concerts, Haynes has put on several other symphonic shows and has two more planned, March 11 and 12 in Nashville.

Meanwhile, Haynes and Gov’t Mule are currently on a U.S. tour and will play Aurora, Illinois, on Thursday. A complete list of dates can be found at mule.net.

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Dave Grohl has been all around the world touring with Foo Fighters and Nirvana, but he’s somehow never been inside a Bass Pro Shops. Well, that’s now changed thanks to Josh Homme.

The Queens of the Stone Age frontman brought Grohl to a Bass Pro Shops for the first time in between shows on Foo Fighters’ ongoing North American stadium tour, which also features the “No One Knows” rockers on the bill.

A video of the visit, which is posted to QotSA’s Facebook, shows Grohl and Homme excitedly making noises as they inspect all sorts of fishing and fish-themed products.

There’s also a reference to the iconic Them Crooked Vultures “Fresh Pots” video.

Foo Fighters’ tour with Queens continues Thursday in Philadelphia.

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Billy Joel broke multiple records with his historic 10-year residency at Madison Square Garden. But back when he was still an unknown, he declared in his first radio interview that the iconic New York City venue was “kind of a ripoff.”

The new documentary film 1971: Billy Joel’s Lost Interview will premiere at the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame’s Music Documentary Film Festival on Sept. 25. The 20-minute short contains audio from a 1971 radio interview Billy did with a student named Ed Mann for college radio station WCWP. At the time, Billy was an unknown who’d just released his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor.

In the trailer, Mann asks Billy if he’d eventually “like to get into the big places, Madison Square Garden or something like that.” Billy replies, “No, I don’t think I’d ever like to work Madison Square Garden. … That place is kind of a ripoff, really.”

When Mann asks why, Billy says, “Because what it is, in effect, is just jamming as many people and making as much money as you can out of a one-night thing. Unless you’re up front or up close, it’s just wasted. But  Madison Square Garden’s just too big.”

The twist of this film is that only the audio of the interview exists. Director Adam Ripp has used AI to visually recreate Billy, his manager Irwin Mazur and Mann for the film. Tom Needham, executive director of the festival, says in a statement, “This film demonstrates how technology, when used thoughtfully, can help us reconnect with important moments in music history.”

“1971: Billy Joel’s Lost Interview allows audiences to see a young Billy Joel before worldwide fame changed his life, and we hope people will experience it with curiosity and an open mind,” adds Needham.

Mann, who executive produced the film, will participate in a Q&A after the premiere, along with Ripp and Mazur.  

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After revealing Tuesday that he would be reuniting with his former band Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore joined the group onstage at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York, for one of their biggest hits.

Toward the end of the band’s set, Blackmore, who hadn’t performed with Deep Purple since 1993, came out to perform the iconic tune “Smoke on the Water.” Fan-shot video shows Blackmore kicking things off with the song’s iconic riff.

“I gotta say something, couple a days ago I got a message from a local lad … saying I only live around the corner, mind if I come jam with you,” frontman Ian Gillan explained to the crowd after the performance. “It was an absolute pleasure to have back onstage founder member, the great legend, the immortal, Ritchie Blackmore.”

He added, “Thanks Richie, I have to say it was a great pleasure. I’ll see you in the bar.” Blackmore then walked offstage as fans chanted, “Ritchie.”

Deep Purple later posted photos from the reunion on Instagram, calling it “A big moment in rock history.”

Deep Purple is currently on tour in support of their latest album, SPLAT! Their next show is happening Thursday in Mansfield, Massachusetts. A complete list of dates can be found at DeepPurple.com.

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Lenny Kravitz is one of the artists set to perform at the 2026 Global Citizen Festival, happening Sept. 26 on the Great Lawn in New York’s Central Park.

Other performers include Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, who will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Fugees’ album The Score; country stars Lainey Wilson and Shaboozey; John Legend; and K-Pop stars TOMORROW X TOGETHER.

The event will be hosted by Global Citizen Ambassador Hugh Jackman, with appearances by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan and Gayle King.

“It’s time to gather once again on the Great Lawn, in the middle of New York City, to tell the world an end to extreme poverty is possible,” says Jackman. “There’s something every one of us can do to change the world, and what better way to participate than by taking action with Global Citizen, earning those points, and celebrating with a day of music and advocacy to close out the summer. See you there!”

Free tickets can be earned by taking action through the Global Citizen app or globalcitzenfestival.com on the issues Global Citizen is focusing on this year. These include helping more children go to school, supporting farmers who feed their communities and providing electricity to millions of people around the world.

Global Citizen Festival launched in 2012 featuring performances by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters and others. Subsequent festivals were headlined by such artists as Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé and more.

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Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits compilation has reached new heights on the Billboard charts, nearly 40 years after its initial release.

The album was originally released in 1988. It landed at #10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart this week, thanks to an expanded reissue of the album featuring additional tracks. The new chart position marks a new peak for the album, which reached #13 on that chart in 2016.

The album also reached a new peak on the all-genre Billboard 200, where it jumped from #69 to #13 this week. The compilation’s previous peak on the Billboard 200 was #14 in 1989. The album has also peaked at #5 on the Vinyl Albums chart, up from its 2019 peak of #7, and lands at #4 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and #3 on the Top Rock Albums charts.

Greatest Hits covered the band’s catalog from the mid-’70s to the late ’80s, specifically songs released after Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band. The newly released expanded edition added classic tunes like “The Chain,” “Landslide,” “Silver Springs (Live)” and “You Make Loving Fun,” among others.

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Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers and Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler are being celebrated on a new limited-edition charity album.

Sound & Vision Live, produced by former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, was recorded in March at the inaugural Palm Springs Sound & Vision Awards in Palm Springs, California. Proceeds from the album benefit Sorum’s Adopt the Arts foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing underserved elementary schools with high-quality music education.

In addition to performances from Rodgers and Butler, the double vinyl album features an all-star lineup of artists including Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, Billy Idol’s longtime collaborator Steve Stevens, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert DeLeo and Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt.

“I never went into that night thinking we were making a record,” says Sorum. “I originally had the show recorded and filmed because I wanted to preserve the experience for myself. But when I listened back, I realized we had captured something truly magical—the energy in the room, the performances, and the spirit of all these incredible artists coming together for the kids.”

The album’s first pressing will be limited to 2,000 copies. It is available for preorder now through Experience Vinyl, with a shipping date of Sept. 28.

A record release celebration for the album will be held Sept. 13 at the Plaza Theatre in Palm Springs and will feature two screenings of a companion concert film. In addition, 250 Collector’s Edition colored vinyl copies of the album will be available at the event.

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Paul McCartney’s 2025 book about his post-Beatles career with Wings is getting a paperback release with some bonus material.

Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run will be released in paperback on Oct. 6 and will feature an added conversation between McCartney and director Morgan Neville. The interview was recorded to coincide with the the Neville-directed documentary Paul McCartney: Man on the Run, which debuted on Prime Video in February.

When it was initially announced, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run was described as “a landmark account” of McCartney’s “triumphant musical reinvention in the 1970s and the subsequent rise of one of the decade’s most iconic bands.”

The book, edited by historian Ted Widmer with a foreword by McCartney, features over 150 photographs from the time period, many of which were previously unseen.

Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run isn’t McCartney’s first book. In 2021 he released The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, based on conversations McCartney had with the Irish poet Paul Muldoon. In it McCartney recounted the inspirations behind over 100 of his songs.

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ASIA is giving fans another taste of their upcoming album, Indigo.

The band, which currently features original member Geoffrey Downes along with musicians Virgil Donati, John Mitchell and Harry Whitley, has released the new single “Echo of You,” along with an accompanying video.

“This song was part of the main writing sessions between Harry and I. It took on a whole different angle in the latter stages of development with more of a focus on electronica and a spacey production,” Downes says. “It’s a happy, uplifting tune, despite the nostalgic overtones of the lyrics, a love song with a twist.”

This is the second song ASIA has released from Indigo, following “The Traveller (Into the Light).”

Indigo is the first new album from ASIA since 2014’s Gravitas, which was the band’s last album to feature vocalist/bassist John Wetton before his 2017 death. It will be released Nov. 6 and is available for preorder now.

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Welcome to The Lost Boys on Broadway, we got fun, games and possibly Slash.

The musical adaptation of the ’80s cult classic is teasing an appearance by the Guns N’ Roses shredder for its performance Thursday at Broadway’s Palace Theatre in New York City.

A flyer posted to the production’s Instagram reads, “The Lost Boys with Slash! Live at the Palace” and “One night only” alongside Thursday’s date.

Slash previously played on a studio recording of a song from The Lost Boys musical called “Have to Have You.”

In other Slash news, the guitar icon is set to provide the music for a haunted house called Killceañera as part of Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights season. 

“In this haunted house featuring music by Slash, you’re invited to Lola’s quinceañera — where she’s summoned vengeful ghosts and malevolent spirits to help exact her monstrous revenge on school bullies,” reads a post on the Halloween Horror Nights Instagram. “Face legendary creatures from Latin American folklore as they help Lola snuff out her birthday candles one by one.”

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