Classic Rock News

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen and his wife, Lauren Monroe, are once again putting on an all-star concert in New York City to benefit the city’s firefighters.

The couple’s Raven Drum Foundation will host its second annual benefit concert on April 25 at the Cutting Room in Manhattan. In addition to the concert, the event will honor former KISS drummer Peter Criss with the organization’s Legacy Award.

Criss, Allen and Monroe will perform at the event, along with former Blue Öyster Cult members Joe and Albert Bouchard, Mountain drummer Corky Laing, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts guitarist Ricky Byrd and more.

For the concert, Raven Drum Foundation has teamed with the nonprofits Friends of Firefighters and First Responder Resiliency Inc., with funds raised going toward mental health counseling, education and holistic care to help with post-traumatic stress.

Tickets for the event, which also includes a silent auction of rock memorabilia, are on sale now.

The Raven Drum Foundation, founded in 2001 by Allen and Monroe, uses storytelling, music, and arts programs and events to educate, serve and empower trauma survivors, with a focus on veterans and first responders.

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Paul McCartney is lending his support to a new PETA campaign that’s trying to get Peet’s Coffee to stop charging extra for plant-based milk options.

Peet’s currently charges 80 cents extra for vegan milks. McCartney, a longtime vegetarian, is speaking out, sending a letter to Peet’s Coffee President and CEO Eric Lauterbach to try to get him to change his stance on the charge.

“I must say this [vegan milk upcharge] surprised me as I understand that your company is committed to reducing methane emissions and water waste, yet cow’s milk significantly contributes to them,” McCartney wrote in his letter. “I would like to politely request that you consider dropping the upcharge on plant milks, just as Starbucks and Dunkin’ have recently done.”

He added, “I sincerely hope that for the future of the planet and animal welfare you are able to implement this policy.”

In addition to the letter, McCartney is set to appear in a nationwide PETA campaign against the Peet’s upcharge, launching March 17. He’ll also be featured in a billboard going up outside the Peet’s location in Oakland, California, which just happens to be near the Peet’s corporate headquarters.

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The Doobie Brothers are sharing another preview of their upcoming album, Walk This Road, which will be released June 6.

The latest is the single “Learn to Let Go,” written by Michael McDonald and producer John Shanks, and featuring McDonald, Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston on vocals.

“It’s a song about what might be the hardest lesson we learn and one of the last things we do in this life,” McDonald shares.

“Learn to Let Go” is available now via digital outlets.

Walk This Road will be the first new release from The Doobie Brothers since 2021’s Liberté and the first full album of original material with McDonald since 1980’s One Step Closer.

It is available for preorder now.

The Doobie Brothers will launch a new tour in support of the album this summer. The Walk This Road tour, featuring special guests The Coral Reefer Band, the late Jimmy Buffett’s backing band, kicks off Aug. 4 in Detroit. Dates are currently confirmed through Sept. 18 in Toronto, with more expected to be announced. Tour dates can be found at TheDoobieBrothers.com.

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In case you were wondering, all is good between Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nick Cave.

That, of course, was not always the case. The “Red Right Hand” rocker was infamously quoted as calling the “Under the Bridge” band’s music “garbage.” But 25 years later, he has warmer feelings for the Peps, especially regarding bassist Flea.

In the latest entry in his Red Hand Files blog, Cave describes his initial remark as “offhand and somewhat uncharitable,” noting that “it was just the sort of obnoxious thing I would say back then to piss people off.”

“There was no malice intended,” Cave maintains, though he realized he still may have caused some when Flea shared a response.

“Flea expressed how hurt he felt by my remark, but went on to say, in great detail, that he loved my music regardless,” Cave says. “I remember being genuinely moved by his words and thinking what a classy guy Flea was, and feeling on some subterranean level that I was unable to fully grasp at that point in my life, that Flea was a human being of an entirely different [caliber], indeed, of a higher order.”

Over the years Cave would cross paths with Flea, and they even played together live. Fast-forward to now, and Cave says he and Flea are working together on a collaboration with him singing over the bassist’s trumpet playing.

“It is not for me to divulge what the song was, only that it is a song I cherish more than most, with arguably the greatest lyric ever written, a song of such esteem that I would never have dared to sing it had Flea not asked me to,” Cave says.

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The long-awaited sequel to This Is Spinal Tap now has a release date.

Variety reports that the film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which reunites director Rob Reiner with stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, will be released Sept. 12.

A teaser for the film shows someone plugging in a set of amps and immediately turning two of them up to 11, with the final amp going farther, to the infinity symbol. The clip is a reference to the infamous scene in the original film in which Guest’s character, Nigel Tufnel, explains to documentary filmmaker Marty DiBergi, played by Reiner, that the volume on his amp goes past the standard 10, up to 11.

According to reports, the sequel will follow the band as they reunite after 15 years for a final concert. It will feature cameos from Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Books, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich and more.

In addition to the new film, a newly restored version of the original will be released in theaters this summer, followed by a digital and streaming platform release.

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After getting a quick teaser of the new John Lennon/Yoko Ono documentary on Tuesday, a full trailer for the film One to One: John & Yoko is now out.

The trailer opens with a recording of Lennon leaving a phone message, and the person on the other end of the line asking him to spell his name and then adding, “Are you a member of The Beatles?”

The film, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, follows the 18 months John and Yoko lived in New York’s Greenwich Village in the early ’70s. At one point in the trailer Lennon is heard saying, “I just got to see the Village for the first time. I really feel at home there.”

Yoko is also heard talking about how she’d been treated by the public, noting, “I was considered a b**** in this society. Since I met John I was upgraded into a witch.” It’s followed by an audio clip of John sharing about Yoko, “I fell in love with an independent, creative genius. I started waking up.”

The trailer features a variety of archival footage of the pair, with the film culminating with their 1972 One to One concerts, Lennon’s only full-length performances after The Beatles’ 1970 breakup. The trailer also includes video footage from the shows, including Lennon performing “Imagine.”

It ends with someone asking, “How would you like to be remembered?” to which Lennon replies, “Just as two lovers.”

One to One: John & Yoko is set to open exclusively in IMAX theaters on April 11. Tickets are on sale now.

(Video includes uncensored profanity.)

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Van Morrison is back with new music.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will release the new album Remember Now on June 13, featuring 14 original tracks.

Morrison has also shared the first single from the record, “Down To Joy,” which is available now. The tune was previously featured in the 2021 Kenneth Branagh film Belfast, but this is the first time it’s been released as a single.

“Looking back while moving forward, Remembering Now is one of Van Morrison’s most vital records yet,” reads a description of the album shared on YouTube, which notes it “marks a return to the transcendent, genre-defying rhapsodies that make Morrison truly unique.”

Remember Now, available for preorder, is Morrison’s first album of all new material since 2022’s What’s It Gonna Take?

Here is the track list for Remember Now:
“Down To Joy”
“If It Wasn’t For Ray”
“Haven’t Lost My Sense Of Wonder”
“Love, Lover and Beloved”
“Cutting Corners”
“Back To Writing Love Songs”
“The Only Love I Ever Need Is Yours”
“Once In A Lifetime Feelings”
“Stomping Ground”
“Memories And Visions”
“When The Rains Came”
“Colourblind”
“Remembering Now”
“Stretching Out”

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On This Day, March 12, 1971…

The Allman Brothers Band kicked off a two night stand at the Fillmore East in New York City.

The shows were recorded and later released as the double live album At Fillmore Live, which featured extended jams of such Allman Brothers tunes as “Whipping Post,” “You Don’t Love Me” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”

The album became a breakthrough hit for the band, with many critics considering it one of the best live albums of all time. It peaked at #13 on the Billboard Albums chart and went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA.

In 2004, At Fillmore East was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

The music of the Allman Brothers Band will be celebrated with two shows, dubbed The Brothers, at New York’s Madison Square Garden, April 15 and 16. It will feature will feature ABB founding member Jaimoe, along with band members Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Oteil Burbridge, Marc Quiñones and Chuck Leavell. Joining them will be Joe Russo on drums, Reese Wynans on keyboards and Isaac Eady on drums.

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This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead and they’ve got a huge treat in store for fans.

The legendary band is set to release a 60-CD collection, Enjoying the Ride, featuring recordings from 25 years of live shows, spanning 1969 to 1994, with recordings from 20 different venues.

The collection includes 450 tracks, most of them previously unreleased, which translates into more than 60 hours of music. Of the 20 shows, 17 are presented in full, with the other three containing songs curated from multiple performances at San Francisco’s Fillmore West, New York’s Fillmore East and Boston Music Hall.

“Going to see the Grateful Dead, following them from city to city, was likened to the modern equivalent of running away and joining the circus,” Dead archivist David Lemieux shares. “These 20 venues are where the circus took us, and the show was something we never wanted to miss.”

As a preview, Grateful Dead has shared three previously unreleased live performances – “Scarlet Begonias,” “Touch of Grey” and “Fire on the Mountain” – recorded July 13, 1984 at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. They’re available now via digital outlets.

Enjoying the Ride will be released May 30, although the set is limited to 6,000 individually numbered copies. The set comes in a custom keepsake box “inspired by the experience of traveling from city to city to see the Dead at legendary venues across America.”

It is available exclusively on Dead.net, and can be preordered now.

If that seems like a bit too much music, Rhino is also set to release a smaller compilation, The Music Never Stopped, on May 30. The 3-CD or 6-LP set is described as a “shorter route through the band’s diamond anniversary celebration.” It is also available for preorder now.

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Metallica has announced an “immersive concert experience” film created for the Apple Vision Pro headset.

The film features footage from Metallica’s 2024 performance in Mexico City, and showcases songs including “One,” “Enter Sandman” and “Whiplash.” It’ll be available for free starting on Friday.

“This project marks a new foray into immersive technology, using ultra-high-resolution 180-degree video and Spatial Audio to give fans unprecedented access from vantage points as close up as the Snake Pit to wide-angle views,” Metallica says. “It brings the live show to a whole new level, and to achieve this, Apple built a custom stage plot featuring 14 Apple Immersive Video cameras using a mix of stabilized cameras, cable-suspended cameras, and remote-controlled camera dolly systems that moved around the stage.”

If you don’t have an Apple Vision Pro, you can check out a preview of the film by booking a demo at your local Apple Store.

Additionally, an EP featuring recordings from the Mexico City performance in Spatial Audio will be released Friday on Apple Music.

If you want to see Metallica in person, their ongoing M72 tour returns to the U.S. starting in April.

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