It was recently confirmed that Barry Keoghan will be playingRock & Roll Hall of Famer Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ four films about The Beatles and the actor’s Saltburn co-star Richard E. Grant thinks he’ll be great in the role.
Grant was asked about Keoghan’s casting while appearing on the BBC’s The One Show, and he had nothing but praise for the 32-year-old actor.
“He’s an extraordinary actor. He’s unlike anybody else I’ve ever, ever worked with before, so completely untrained, instinctive and brilliant,” said Grant. “I think he’ll be a fantastic Ringo Starr.”
Mendes’ films, titled The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, are expected to hit theaters in April 2028. In addition to Keoghan, Harris Dickinson has been cast to play John Lennon, with Paul Mescal playing Paul McCartney and Joseph Quinn playing George Harrison.
Kelly Clarkson is making her way back home with a cover of the Foo Fighters song “Learn to Fly.”
The inaugural American Idol winner put her spin on the There Is Nothing Left to Lose single for her Kellyoke segment on a recent episode of her talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“I love the Foo Fighters,” Clarkson said following her performance. “A few years ago we actually had Dave Grohl on the show, and we talked about [‘Learn to Fly’]. Now, I thought it had all this deep meaning, and he was like, ‘Nope, I really just wanted to become a pilot.'”
“I’m still calling BS!” Clarkson laughed. “You were trying to be funny, man, but it’s, like, such a deep song, it’s such a cool song! He’s poetic. Just lean into it, Dave!”
Hearing Clarkson sing “Learn to Fly” might be the closest we’ve gotten to hearing the song live for a bit, as Foo Fighters still haven’t played a show since news broke in September that Grohl had fathered a child outside his marriage. Grohl, though, has returned to the stage in recent months for surprise Nirvana reunion performances at the SNL50 Homecoming Concert and the FireAid benefit.
Lenny Kravitz has dropped a new video for the track “Let It Ride,” from his latest album, Blue Electric Light, which was released in May 2024.
The clip, directed by Kravitz, is set in a club that’s mostly bathed in red light, and features lots of beautiful people who slowly let loose and begin dancing to the tune.
Along with the video, Kravitz has released a remix of the track by Welsh DJ Jamie Jones. It is available now via digital outlets. It’s the first in a series of remixes of the song Kravitz plans to release.
“Let It Ride” is the fifth video Kravitz has released for a song from Blue Electric Light, following“TK421,” “Human,” “Paralyzed” and “Honey.”
Lenny is currently on a European tour that hits Nice, France, on Friday. He’s set to play several festival dates in the U.S. this year, starting with the Beachlife Festival in Redondo Beach, California, on May 2. A complete list of dates can be found at LennyKravitz.com.
Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder has shared another track from his upcoming album, The Vault – Fifty Years of Music, which will be released on May 23.
The latest is the track “Hollywood Victim,” a song he originally wrote in the early ’90s for the Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over tour. According to a press release, the track is a companion to the Eagles classic “Hotel California,” which Felder co-wrote with Don Henley and Glenn Frey. It’s described as “a scathing look at the allure and pitfalls of fame.”
The Vault – Fifty Years of Music, Felder’s fourth studio album, features a collection of newly recorded versions of songs he’s demoed over the past five decades. It features guest appearances by such artists as Toto’s SteveLukather, David Paich and Greg Phillinganes; Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith; and drummer Gregg Bissonette and his brother, bassist Matt Bissonette.
Felder has a few solo shows booked for April and May, with his next gig happening April 17 in Tacoma, Washington. He’s also set to join Styx and REO Speedwagon‘s Kevin Cronin on their upcoming Brotherhood of Rock tour, which kicks off May 28 in Greenville, South Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at DonFelder.com.
Comedian Bill Burr is once again in the headlines for his interaction with a ’90s rocker.
You may recall when Burr was surprised by Billy Corgan during an episode of the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast after the Smashing Pumpkins frontman suggested that they might actually be brothers. Now, Burr shares that he had beef with Eddie Vedder.
During an interview on Late Night Thursday, Burr said that, as a hair metal fan growing up, Pearl Jam was “the band that made me realize my youth was over.”
“They always say, ‘Nirvana knocked [hair metal] out,'” Burr said. “It was Pearl Jam. When Pearl Jam came, that was another one of those grunge Seattle bands, and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh my God, this isn’t ending!'”
“And then all my bands, Skid Row and all of them, were gone, and it was just these sad guys singing about being under a bridge and not being happy,” Burr continued. “I’m like, ‘What happened to nothing but a good time and ignoring all your problems with cocaine?'”
Burr got the opportunity to tell Vedder his Pearl Jam thoughts when they sat next to each other during the recent SNL50 Homecoming Concert special.
“I did it in a good nature, I was like, ‘Man, I hated your band, you ended my thing,'” Burr laughed. “He was cracking up.”
Burr said that now that he’s older he’s become a Pearl Jam fan, adding, “Do you know how long it took me to admit how great a band Pearl Jam is?”
Also during the interview, Burr shared that he plays AC/DC for his kids, and his son in particular has become a big fan.
The Beatles made chart history by holding the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.
The songs in the top five were “Please Please Me” at #5, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” at #4, “She Loves You” at #3, “Twist and Shout” at #2 and “Can’t Buy Me Love” at #1.
The Beatles went on to become one of the most successful acts in the history of the U.S. charts. Over the course of their career, they have had 20 number one hits and 35 top-10 singles.
Their last #1 single was in 1970 with “The Long and Winding Road,” from the Let It Be album. Their last song to chart on the Hot 100 was the 2023 release “Now and Then,” which debuted at #7. It featured vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with new recordings from Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, and guitar parts George Harrison recorded in the ’90s during the sessions for the Anthology series.
L-R: Bruce Springsteen, Matthew Anthony Pellicano, Jeremy Allen White; Photo credit: Bobby Bank/GC Images
Movie theater owners at CinemaCon in Las Vegas got a look at the first footage of Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen in the upcoming film Deliver Me From Nowhere on Thursday.
According to Variety, attendees were shown a trailer for the film, and White was on hand to speak about the project, noting the pressure he felt to get the part right.
“It was incredible, challenging, and a dream come true. I feel really lucky. We all had Bruce’s blessing,” White said. “The film tells the story of a very pivotal moment, Bruce struggling to reconcile the pressures of success versus his past.”
The trailer gave attendees not only there first look at White as The Boss, but also of Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau. Strong was also in attendance at CinemaCon.
In one clip, White, as Springsteen, is at a New Jersey car lot, with the dealer saying, “I know who you are,” and White replying, “That makes one of us.”
The film centers on the making of Springsteen’s 1982 solo album Nebraska, and in a voiceover Strong talks about the making of the record.
“When Bruce was little, he had a hole in the floor of his bedroom. A floor that’s supposed to be solid? He’s supposed to be able to stand on, Bruce didn’t have that,” he says. “Bruce is a repairman. What he’s doing with this album is, he’s repairing that hole in his floor. Repairing that hole in himself. Once he’s done that, he’s going to repair the entire world.”
The trailer also provided the first taste of White’s vocal chops, with the clip ending with a snippet of White giving a live performance of the Springsteen classic, “Born to Run.”
So far there’s no exact release date for Deliver Me From Nowhere, although it will reportedly come out in late 2025.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote the songs for the 1973 double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in just 2 1/2 weeks, with Elton sometimes knocking out a tune in 30 minutes or less. So it’s not surprising that Elton’s new album with Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels? — which also features songwriting from Bernie and producer Andrew Watt— took just 20 days to complete.
Watt tells ABC Audio, “Elton is like a speed demon. It almost makes him feel good to work at a rapid rate — not to rush things, but, like, he’ll want to know exactly how long it took him to write that song, how long was he in the [vocal] booth,” comparing Elton to Michael Jordan checking“how many baskets he made.”
“It’s painful and beautiful at the same time,” Watt adds. “And [Elton’s] so hard on himself. You’ve never seen someone harder on themselves.”
But everyone else pushed just as hard. Notes Watt, “Once we started rolling, [the songs] just fell out. … It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, we got 20 days to do this.’ It was more like, that’s what it took. So these guys said everything they needed to say.”
And the new album has something else in common with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The exact same drum kit Elton’s drummer Nigel Olsson played on that album was used on the new album’s title track.
“I was really kind of a stickler about what I wanted the drums to sound like,” Watt notes. So Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who played drums on the record, tracked it down.
“Through his research … he found that Ben Stiller owns the kit that Nigel played on the album,” says Watt. “So he lent us the kit for the album.”
The life of The Band‘s Richard Manuel will be celebrated in a new biography due May 28.
Called Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band, the book by Stephen Lewis includes new interviews with Manuel’s musical colleagues, including Eric Clapton and Van Morrison, as well as friends and family, plus commentary on Manuel’s songs and performances.
Born in Stratford, Ontario, Manuel was one of The Band’s three main vocalists, as well as its pianist. He also contributed drums, organ and other instruments to the group’s records. In addition, he wrote or co-wrote a number of The Band’s songs. He died by suicide in 1986.
The book details Manuel’s early beginnings as a musician in Canada and his time in The Hawks — the group that became The Band. Also covered is The Hawks’ stint as Bob Dylan‘s backup band; their later musical collaborations with Dylan — including the Manuel/Dylan co-write “Tears of Rage“; and The Band’s own subsequent success.
The book, announced on The Band’s official Instagram page on April 3, which would have been Manuel’s 82nd birthday, is available for preorder now.
Elton John‘s new album, Who Believes in Angels?, is a collaborative project with his pal Brandi Carlile, because he says the last thing he wanted to do was make a solo album.
Speaking to Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Elton says that when his farewell tour was over and he decided to start recording, “I knew that I didn’t want to make the same album again.” He notes, “I wanted the album to move forward, because I’m always trying to look forward. If I had just made another Elton John record, I would’ve killed myself.”
Elton says that’s why he “needed” Brandi for the project, which is due out Friday. “I needed her talent, her energy, her humor, and her brilliant lyrics,” he tells Zane. “I’ve got two of the greatest lyric writers in the world, Bernie Taupin and Brandi Carlile. The lyrics in front of me, if you can’t write great songs for those … that’s my great talent, to be able to interpret those beautiful lyrics quickly. When we got going, it was like, whoosh, like an express train.”
Elton reveals, “I needed her to push me. I needed Bernie to push me. … I was scared. I was very scared. I wanted to make this album, and I knew what I wanted it to sound like, but that’s all very well. You’ve got to actually do it. I had a lot of fear, which is great. But I took it out on other people, which is not so great.”
You’ll be able to see Elton taking it out on other people in Who Believes In Angels? Stories From the Edge of Creation, a short film that documents making the record. It’ll stream on Elton’s YouTube channel starting Saturday, which is also the day Elton and Brandi will appear on Saturday Night Live.
