Classic Rock News

AC/DC recently announced they were bringing their Power Up tour to Australia, and their hometown fans were certainly eager to snap up tickets.

Ticketek, which handled ticket sales for the tour, reports that AC/DC moved over 320,000 tickets in a single day, breaking a record for the most concert tickets sold in one day on the platform. The previous record for the most concert tickets sold was set in 2009, also by AC/DC.

AC/DC initially announced only five total Aussie shows, in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. After tickets went on sale they added second nights in four cities. The tour is set to kick off Nov. 12 in Melbourne and wrap Dec. 18 in Brisbane.

Next up, AC/DC brings the tour to Berlin, Germany, on Monday. A complete list of dates can be found at ac/dc.com.

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Black Sabbath was honored in their hometown of Birmingham, England, Saturday with the Freedom of the City award.

All four original members of the pioneering metal band — Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward — attended the ceremony, and received scrolls and medals from Birmingham’s lord mayor.

“The Freedom of the City honor is the [sic] one of the oldest traditional ceremonies in the country and recognizes people’s exceptional service to the city,” reads a post on Sabbath’s Instagram. “This honor recognizes Black Sabbath’s significance to the cultural and musical identity of Birmingham, their strong association with the city and continued influence as pioneers of heavy metal in both Birmingham and beyond.”

Black Sabbath will soon be rocking Birmingham during their Back to the Beginning reunion/farewell concert, taking place on Saturday. Those who aren’t attending the sold-out show can stream it online.

In other Black Sabbath-related news, the label Big Bear Records is releasing a compilation of the band’s early recordings from when their name was Earth. 

The release, titled The Legendary Lost Tapes 1969, is due out July 25 and is available to preorder now.

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Foo Fighters have shared a cover of the song “I Don’t Wanna Hear It,” originally by the influential hardcore outfit Minor Threat.

The instrumentals for the Foos version were first recorded in 1995, while the vocals were recorded 30 years later in 2025. It’s accompanied by a video featuring a slideshow of Foo Fighters photos over the last three decades, which you can watch now on YouTube.

The cover arrives as Foo Fighters have been looking back at their career leading up to the 30th anniversary of their 1995 self-titled debut album. As previously reported, the band launched a Substack account with photos and notes about each of their records, and have also been posting throwback photos and video on social media.

The most recent Foo Fighters album is 2023’s But Here We Are. The band has been through some turmoil since then, including Dave Grohl‘s 2024 infidelity scandal and the firing of drummer Josh Freese in May.

Foo Fighters are set to return to the live stage in October for a tour of Asia.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 



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With the 40th anniversary of Live Aid coming up on July 13, Queen is giving fans a chance to relive their electric set.

The band just announced that on the day of the anniversary they’ll be showing their set on their YouTube channel for 24 hours starting at 6:41 p.m. BST, the same time Queen took the stage at Wembley Stadium.

Live Aid, organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, took place at London’s Wembley Stadium and Philly’s John F. Kennedy Stadium. The benefit concerts, which raised more than $150 million for Ethiopian famine relief, were watched by about 2 billion people in more than 100 countries.

“Of the 16 hours of playing out on over 500 million TV sets, it was Queen’s magical 21-minute set which has come to epitomize Live Aid,” the band says in their announcement. “And when Freddie Mercury, at the climax of his famous call-and-response ‘Ay-oh’ segment, he struck what would become known as ‘The Note Heard Around the World.'”

Remembering the event, guitarist Brian May shares that Mercury “was our secret weapon,” explaining, “He was able to reach out to everybody in that stadium effortlessly, and I think it was really his night.”

Drummer Roger Taylor adds, “The whole day was one of those stand out wonderful days. A great credit to music which can move mountains if it has to! It’s beyond politics and politicians!”

Queen’s Live Aid set included performances of some of their biggest hits, including “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Radio Ga-Ga,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”

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On This Day, June 30, 2007…

R.E.M. kicked off a five night residency in Dublin, Ireland, which was billed as a “working rehearsal” for their 14th studio album Accelerate.

The shows took place at the Olympia Theatre, and featured live debuts of songs off that album, many of which were still considered a work in progress.

Throughout the five nights they also played several songs they hadn’t performed live in decades.

In 2009, R.E.M. released a live album Live at The Olympia, featuring performances from the five nights of shows. The two-CD release featured 39 songs, and included an accompanying DVD with a documentary, This Is Now a Show, about the residency.

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On June 30, 2000, 25 years ago Monday, nine people died in a crowd crush during Pearl Jam‘s set at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark.

In a statement published in 2020 marking the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, guitarist Stone Gossard called what happened “our worst nightmare.”

“Every day our hearts continue to ache and our stomachs turn at the thoughts of those young men dying and of what might have been different, if only…but nothing changes,” Gossard wrote. “And our pain is a thousandth of that of the families…. the moms and dads, sisters and brothers, best friends…Our deepest condolences and apologies to the families who lost their boys that day.”

In his audio book, I Am Mine, frontman Eddie Vedder said, “There was at least one person in the band … that thought maybe we should never play again.”

“Everyone failed to live up to what was needed in those hours before and in those days following the tragedy,” Gossard wrote. “The festival, the media, us included. We retreated and became angry after many reports implied PJ was responsible.”

“Our words were nothing to help at that point,” he continued. “We hid and hoped that it wasn’t our fault. We have been trying our best to unhide ever since.”

Pearl Jam eventually did return to the stage for their planned U.S. tour in August 2000, though what happened at Roskilde still remains with them. Their song “Love Boat Captain,” included on the 2002 album Riot Act, references the tragedy in the lyric, “Lost nine friends we’ll never know.” The band members have also met some of the victims’ families.

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The Beach Boys will be spending July Fourth in Washington, D.C.

Mike Love and the band are booked to play A Capitol Fourth, the annual PBS special celebrating Independence Day.

The celebration will air July 4 at 8 p.m. ET and will feature a telecast of the fireworks live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

The program will be hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and will also feature performances by The Temptations, Trombone Shorty, country stars Josh Turner and LOCASH, Yolanda Adams and others. There will also be a special tribute in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as tributes for World War II heroes and first responders.

And speaking of The Beach Boys, following the news of Brian Wilson’s death on June 11 at age 82, music fans have been revisiting the band’s catalog.

Billboard reports that for the first time in over a decade, The Beach Boys have returned to the top 40 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Their 2003 compilation, Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys, climbed to #14.

The last time The Beach Boys were in the top 40 was with their 29th studio album, That’s Why God Made Radio, which was released in 2012 and got as high as #3. It was the last album to feature Wilson.

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Rod Stewart‘s “Legends Slot” performance Sunday afternoon at the U.K.’s Glastonbury festival featured not one, not two, but three different guest stars.

Lately, Rod’s live sets have included his version of the Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes song “If You Don’t Know Me by Now.” So on Sunday, about 15 songs into his set, he was joined by Mick Hucknall of the band Simply Red, who had a #1 hit with the tune in 1989. The two sang the song together.

Rod had previously teased that his former bandmate in the Faces, Ronnie Wood — who now plays guitar for The Rolling Stones — would be joining him at Glastonbury, and so he did: The two teamed up to perform the Faces’ classic song “Stay With Me.”

Wood then stuck around to play on a version of “Hot Legs,” during which Rod was joined by Lulu, the Scottish singer who’s best known in the U.S. for her 1967 #1 hit “To Sir With Love.”

Rod — who performed plenty of his own hits, including “Maggie May,” “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?,” “Some Guys Have All the Luck” and “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” — closed his set with “Sailing,” a song that flopped in the U.S., but is a beloved classic in the U.K.  In fact, it remains his biggest-selling single there.

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Paul Simon has been forced to cancel his June 28 and 29 shows at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music due to back problems.

“Paul has been struggling with chronic and intense back pain,” read the announcement on social media. “Today it became unmanageable and demands immediate attention.”

The post notes that both shows will not be rescheduled immediately.  However, it adds, “We are hopeful after this minor surgical procedure which has been scheduled in the next few days, Paul will be able to complete the tour as well as look into returning to make up these dates.”

Full refunds will be given to those with tickets to the two Philly shows.

Simon is currently on his A Quiet Celebration tour, which is his first full tour since 2018 and his first tour since releasing his 2023 album Seven Psalms. His next show is scheduled for July 7 in Long Beach, California. A complete list of dates can be found at PaulSimon.com.

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Metallica‘s blood drive in Denver ahead of their two shows at the Colorado capital’s Empower Field at Mile High stadium was the biggest in the history of the Denver Red Cross, according to a press release.

The two-day drive, held Monday and Tuesday, marked the finale of Metallica’s blood donation campaign, which took place in cities across the U.S. in connection with the metal band’s M72 tour. Those who donated had the opportunity to receive a limited-edition Metallica T-shirt.

Earlier in June, Metallica announced that the initiative had passed the 1,000 donations mark.

“Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood, and the need for blood donations increases during the spring and summer months,” Metallica said in launching the campaign. “By participating in these drives, the Metallica Family will help trauma victims, those facing cancer, new mothers, people living with sickle cell disease, and so many more.”

Metallica’s Denver shows take place Friday and Sunday, and currently mark the last scheduled U.S. dates on the M72 tour.

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