Classic Rock News

Neil Young is making some changes to how he sells tickets to his concerts. In a post on his Neil Young Archives site, the rocker shares that “very soon” he’ll stop selling Platinum tickets to his shows, which are often much more expensive than a regularly priced ticket.

Explaining why he sold them in the first place, Young writes, “My management and agent have always tried to cover my back on the road, getting me the best deals they could. They have tried to protect me and my fans from the scalpers who buy the best tickets and resell them at huge increases for their own profits. Ticketmaster’s High priced Platinum tickets were introduced to the areas where scalpers were buying the most tickets for resale. The money went to me. That did not feel right.”

Young noted that by getting rid of the Platinum tickets, there’s a good chance more scalpers will get their hands on tickets and then resell them at higher prices. But he shares, “I have decided to let the people work this out. Buy aggressively when the tickets come out or the tickets will cost a lot more in a secondary market.”

Young’s move to stop selling Platinum tickets appears to be inspired by The Cure’s Robert Smith, who kept ticket prices for their 2023 North American tour to under $70. Along with the post about the Platinum tickets, Young shared an interview in which Smith discussed the current state of ticketing, claiming it was “driven by greed.”

Neil is set to kick off his love earth tour with The Chrome Hearts on June 18 in Rättvik, Sweden. It hits the U.S. Aug. 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at NeilYoungArchives.com.

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Journey was forced to stop their show at Rodeo Houston at NRG Stadium on Friday after an electrical fire broke out when they were barely five songs into their set.

Fan-shot footage posted to YouTube shows frontman Arnel Pineda being abruptly cut off during the band’s classic “Don’t Stop Believin’” due to a power outage. Fans in the audience continued to sing along to the tune, but the band was eventually pulled off the stage and didn’t complete the show.

Journey’s drummer, Dean Castronovo, later took to Instagram to reveal that the power outage was caused by a fire that got a little too close for him.

“Hey, Houston! An act of God tonight! Fire broke out underneath the stage—right under my drum riser!” he wrote. “I was literally on fire for 4 ½ songs, all the power cables melted, and the show was a BUST! That doesn’t mean we won’t be back soon, because we love you all—and WE WILL RETURN! #dontstopbelievin God bless you all!”

According to setlist.fm, the band had treated the audience to performances of “Only the Young,” “Be Good To Yourself,” a guitar solo and “Stone in Love” before the fire ended the show.

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Toto’s Steve Lukather is clearing up speculation about his involvement in a possible new Van Halen album that Alex Van Halen was rumored to be working on.

The speculation began after the Dutch outlet De Telegraaph claimed that Alex had asked Lukather to finish some unreleased Van Halen material. The outlet quoting Alex as saying, “Ed and Steve Lukather were very good friends and they often worked together. There is no one who can do this process with me as well as he can.”

But Lukather has taken to social media to clear up any confusion, posting a new comment to an Instagram post he shared on Eddie’s birthday Jan. 26.

“For the record: Ever since Alex Van Halen dropped some we were gonna work together I think there is a huge misunderstanding,” he wrote. “I will NOT EVER play a guitar note on a VH song ever!”

“Al asked me to help him go thru a ton of unfinished recordings of Al and Ed writing and recording that never saw the light of day. As of now thats all I got,” he added. “The fact that ANYONE would think for even a second that I would play anything on this is ridiculous. I have too much love and respect for that and … I play nothing like Ed.. more as a co-producer or something.”

Finally he shared, “I am honored Al would ask me though.”

As of now, the only unfinished music Alex has released since Eddie’s death in 2020 is a song called “Unfinished,” which was released as part of the audiobook of his memoir, Brothers. 

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ZZ Top has announced that longtime drummer Frank Beard, ironically the band member who doesn’t have a beard, has left their current Elevation tour in order to undergo a health procedure.

A statement posted on social media reveals that Beard has “temporarily stepped away from the current tour to attend a health issue requiring his focus in the near term.”

In Beard’s place, the band’s longtime tech member, drummer John Douglas, will join ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons and Elwood Francis for the tour.

“Mr. Douglas has maintained a close relationship with Beard and the bandmates, having served with the group in the past,” the statement continues, adding that Douglas previously filled in for Beard in 2002 when he had to have an emergency appendectomy in Paris.

The statement adds that Beard is “looking forward to a speedy recovery.”

ZZ Top’s Elevation tour hits Hiawassee, Georgia, on Tuesday. A complete list of dates can be found at ZZTop.com.

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On This Day, March 17, 1984…

Van Halen’s sixth studio album, 1984, hit #2 on the Billboard Albums chart and stayed there for five weeks.

The album was denied the top spot by Michael Jackson’s Thriller – which features guest guitar work from Eddie Van Halen on the track “Beat It.”

While 1984 never reached #1, it did go on to sell more than 10 million copies. It featured such classic Van Halen tracks as their only #1 single “Jump,” “Panama,” “Hot For Teacher” and “I’ll Wait.”

1984 was the last Van Halen album to feature original frontman David Lee Roth, until 2012’s A Different Kind of Truth. It was also the last full-length album to feature all four original members of Van Halen, as bassist Michael Anthony was replaced by Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen on the 2012 album.

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Rod Stewart is returning for more Las Vegas shows.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has announced six new dates for his The Encore Shows residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, running from Sept. 24 through Oct. 4.

A presale for tickets begins Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT, with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Friday at 10 a.m. PT.

Stewart launched The Encore Shows on March 13, which was also his 200th residency show at the Colosseum. He was originally supposed to play his 200th show in August of 2024 as part of his Rod Stewart: The Hits residency, but had to cancel the show after he came down with strep throat.

Rod’s next Vegas show is happening Friday. A complete list of dates can be found at RodStewart.com.

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The Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward is out with some new music.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has released a two-track digital-only single that includes an orchestral rendition of the Dream Academy tune “Life in a Northern Town,” which he recorded with singer-songwriter, producer and conductor Mike Batt. The tune features Hayward on lead vocals, backed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The release also includes a live performance of The Moody Blues song “Hope and Pray” taken from a Kent, Ohio, performance on Justin’s Blue World tour.

The original “Life in a Northern Town” was the debut single from the British band Dream Academy. It was released in March 1985 and went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Hayward is getting ready to head out on another leg of his Blue World tour, which has him playing songs from throughout his career and sharing stories about those tunes. The trek kicks off April 15 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and wraps May 20 in San Francisco.

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at JustinHayward.com.

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Jack White and Eddie Vedder were rocking together in Japan.

The Pearl Jam frontman made a surprise appearance during the “Seven Nation Army” artist’s show in Tokyo on Saturday and joined him for a collaborative performance of Neil Young‘s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

That the two would jam together on that particular song seemed almost inevitable. Pearl Jam has long covered “Rockin’ in the Free World” during their live shows, while White just played it during February’s SNL50: The Homecoming Concert special, which also featured Vedder.

Eddie’s wife Jill Vedder also posted footage of White’s show from backstage, capturing his performance of the White Stripes song “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.”

White is currently touring in support of his latest solo album, No Name. Following a second show in Tokyo on Monday, he’ll return to the U.S. for a run of dates beginning in April.

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Pearl Jam and Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron has released a new EP with singer Shaina Shepherd.

The EP is called New Beginning and includes five tracks. 

If Shaina’s name sounds familiar, that’s probably because she played alongside Cameron and fellow surviving Soundgarden members Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd during a reunion performance at a December benefit concert. She handled vocals in place of the late Chris Cornell, who died in 2017.

Following the benefit concert, Shaina dismissed the idea of joining Soundgarden permanently, saying, “Soundgarden is a revolutionary band that changed my life, your life, the world. I could never front Soundgarden.”

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Envy of None, the band featuring Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, is sharing another new single off their upcoming sophomore album, Stygian Wavz, which drops March 28.

The latest is the track “The Story,” which songwriter and vocalist Maiah Wynne says is about “wanting to be better, to grow, and the sense of desperation that comes with that desire.”

“To me, the song is about the struggle of not being able to break bad cycles. I had been stuck for a very long time and was trying to be better,” she says. “Whether it’s habits, addiction, self-sabotage, or just unhealthy patterns, we all are trapped by something we are trying to break away from. If I had the power to write my own story, I’d want to be the hero, but so often I am my own villain.”

You can listen to “The Story” now via digital outlets and watch the accompanying video on YouTube.

This is the fourth song Envy of None has released from Stygian Wavz, following “Under the Stars,” “Not Dead Yet” and the title track.

Stygian Wavz is available for preorder now.

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